I think the worst sickle hooks I used were Matzuo. I loved the design of the hooks initially but man, the shoddy QC. Either the leg length was too long or the barb was completely missing or the eye of the hook was closed to the point of being oblong or the eyes were not closed enough. In a box of a thousand, easily 150 had to be tossed and one had to go thru the entire box to eliminate the junkers before he dared casting. EC's seem like a decent hook but I find that the wire doesn't possess much consistent temper and they'll straighten quite easily or snap off if given a decent tug when snagged.
The few Victories I have cast and fished [size 4 in the Aberdeen style] have been easy to cast and are tough enough for my style of fishing. I'll be casting a few of the #6 sickles this afternoon: Why I don't know as we haven't been above zero all day and the only open water around here is on the internet.
I used the Matzuo hooks and also saw some issues with them, but still not as many as with EC. It's not that any of them made bad hooks, there was just too many bad hooks in a package sometimes. I still have some Matzuo hooks, and also the EC sickles. I recall getting some Matzuo O'Shaughnessy hooks that had a very sharp spot at the hook eyes, and they would cause line breaks. It was how the hooks had been formed, and if I spent the time filing them, they could be used, but was a pain to do it. I had bought them to use for tying some flies, and instead used them for making spinnerbaits, which worked fine since it buried that sharp spot in the lead. Otherwise, they were decent hooks and when I did get some that didn't have that sharp edge issue, they worked great for some flies I tied.
I've been sorting through my supplies and have some Matzuo sickle baitholder hooks that they sold with wire weed guards. I've used them for tying bass flies and they actually work great. I bought a bunch of them several years ago, and cheap, because folks had some issue with them. I try to look at what I can use them for and work around the issue when it's possible, instead of condemning the brand.
I got into a heated "discussion" with another fellow, who also ties flies commercially when he called all brands except what he uses "junk". He's on the "pro staff" of the hook company, and, to me it's not a fair or true statement that everything else is junk. He's entitled to his opinion, but it does a disservice to make such a statement, particularly to folks who are looking for a good balance of use & cost, and the hooks that guy is pimping are expensive. It also makes the rest of us look like we don't know what we're doing and I resent that! I've been doing this longer than that guy has been alive and we used a lot of different hooks before his brand was even thought of. I don't get many customer complaints!
I very much like the EC 253 & 254 styles of hooks, as I've used them for a lot of years to tie flies, and still will use them. They're not high tech, but they are strong. I think a lot of folks now have become spoiled with what's on the market, and what we used years ago as normal, they now consider as junk. To me that's a shame, but it's how people are and it's not true.
To my eye, the victory hook turns in more toward the eye of the hook in comparison to the EC which "should" lead to better hook to land ratios.
I like the Victory hooks, but frankly, if a hook is sticky sharp, and use a proper rod & line and set your reel drag properly, it doesn't matter a whole lot about the hook style that you use. I still use the round bends hooks, old styles that need to be sharpened and "better" types that are chemically sharpened, and still catch fish with them all. I think some folks put way too much stock in single parts of fishing, like the hook, when it's all got to work together and that includes the person holding the rod.
Where I live, near Lake Marion, (Santee Cooper) some folks will fish along the causeway for the road out here from town where it crosses a part of the lake. I'll sometimes stop & chat with them. I fish there too, but these will be ladies, kids and sometimes older fellows, and they're primarily fishing with floats & baits & I like to fish with lures. I stopped one day & watched this older lady killing them, using a long bream pole, and old style Aberdeen hook, and crickets. She knew exactly when to set the hook and she missed very few hook sets. There was a young guy next to her with spinning gear and he couldn't buy a hook set. The difference was I think that lady paid attention and the young fellow thought his gear made him a better angler. I had to chuckle about that lady, as she was bringing in fish on almost every cast and all the young guy was doing was complaining about his gear!
