Quality steel hooks began to make their appearance in Europe in the 17th century and hook making became a task for professionals. Norwegians as late as the 1950s still used juniper wood to craft Burbot hooks. In many cases, hooks were created from multiple materials to leverage the strength and positive characteristics of each material. Man has crafted fish hooks from all sorts of materials including wood, animal and human bone, horn, shells, stone, bronze, iron up to present day materials. Examples of some of the earliest recorded fish hooks were from Palestine about 7000 BC. The fish hook or similar device has probably been made by man for many thousands of years. Fish hooks are designed to hold various types of artificial, processed, dead or live baits ( bait fishing) to act as the foundation for artificial representations of fish prey ( fly fishing) or to be attached to or integrated into other devices that represent fish prey ( lure fishing). Fish hooks are manufactured for a range of purposes from general fishing to extremely limited and specialized applications. Sizes, designs, shapes, and materials are all variable depending on the intended purpose of the fish hook.

There is an enormous variety of fish hooks in the world of fishing. Fish hooks are normally attached to some form of line or lure device which connects the caught fish to the fisherman. In 2005, the fish hook was chosen by Forbes as one of the top twenty tools in the history of man.

Fish hooks have been employed for centuries by fishermen to catch fresh and saltwater fish.

A fish hook is a device for catching fish either by impaling them in the mouth or, more rarely, by snagging the body of the fish.

Fish hooks names