Abstract: A method and apparatus for baiting circle hooks includes a baiting station and a surface upon which a piece of bait rests at the baiting station. A groove extends away from the surface. A piece of bait is positioned over the groove. As circle hook is fed to the baiting station the point and point bend of the hook are engaged and hidden by the groove, thus hiding the point of the hook from the bait as the point traverses past the leading edge of the bait. Thereafter, the hook is caused to rotate so that the point impales the bait. Preferably, the hook and bait are thereafter counter-rotated so that the bait piece fully engages the hook and resides on the hook bend.

Abstract: A fishing line being drawn around a pulley has spaced hooks hanging downwardly. The hooks are drawn through a chute where they engage a brush which acts to orient all hooks in the same direction as the pulley directs the line away from the chute which pulls the hooks upwardly through the brush while also moving along the chute. The oriented hooks are caused to engage over a fixed bar from which they can slide onto a hook-holding flange on a container in which the line leaving the pulley is being coiled.

Abstract: A vessel is provided with a power driven wheel or gurdy for hauling in long lines having gangions and hooks at spaced intervals. The line and gangions are guided into a rotary coiler which deposits successive loops of the line on a moving conveyor belt, thus displacing each successive loop from the previous loop to facilitate manual selection and baiting the hooks without undue tangling of the line and gangions. The conveyor belt then deposits the coiled line in a suitable receiver with the coils more or less concentrically superimposed. The conveyor is also laterally oscillated when the belt is stopped to minimize snarling of lines when coiled in a single stack. Selectively operable manual controls are used to regulate the speed of the conveyor belt and the oscillation thereof.