Owner makes different strength hooks. Today I'm going to buy some light wire hooks to help float my power mice. 2 months ago I bought some tuna hooks that wouldn't break in the mouth of an #150 tuna. So even though a hook might be new, it's strength of breaking vary all over the map. Know what your buying, ask a knowledgeable sales associate at a good tackle store if your not sure. (the girl at Walmart just won't cut it) lol
I was using a #10 mosquito hook with 15-pound fluoro on a 20-pound mainline. my blood knot. nothing. i had a guy tell me he tried those hooks on steelhead as well. with bad results. he told me gamakatsu is the way to go. i use to just use mustad. wanted to see if those were better. going to bass pro in rancho tomorrow. you ask them about steelhead and you get blank look. i had to explain to one salesman what a steelhead was. his reply was i don't think they have those around here.
You might have just gotten a bad hook in the whole production batch. Just because 1 hook broke on you shouldn't really make you not a fan of the brand. If you had multiple occasions where the hook keeps breaking on you while fighting fish, then I wouldn't be a fan of it anymore.
Things happen, just put it in the past and get another hook on and get out there and fish on.
Sucks that the hook broke but like I said, don't let this one situation ruin it for you. It was probably a faulty hook in the whole batch.
A 15 lb. steelhead is a beautiful fish, a true trophy and one none of us sees in SoCal so it's no wonder the guys at BPS were of no help. Props for hooking one. I have seen those hooks come out of the package with a nick in the shaft or bend, presumably from the sharpening process. That being said, I'm not sure a #10 Mosquito was the right hook for the job. Not hitting you up or anything, but getting 15-lb. to pass through the eye of that #10 should have been a hint that the hook might be too small. If your drag was set to protocol you were pulling about five pounds. I straighten out those hooks with 2-lb. all the time trying to get out of a snag so I can attest that they will bend under a lot less pressure than 5 lbs. Chalk it up to a lesson learned, not Owner hooks.