The default data for the Hookshots gives the short one a distance of 50 and the long one a distance of 99, but the distance seems to be measured in tiles, so 50 is still all the way across the screen.
[1296 Windows] Hookshot 1 goes all the way across the screen.
Try setting the Hookshot length to 5, and see what it does then.
I did. That's how I figured that it's measured in tiles. 8 is about right for half the screen.
Default data for short hookshot is now fixed.
In build 1313, no it's not! Seriously, whenever Dark Nation makes bug fixes, he never mentions them in the change log, and they don't get merged in with the newest build.
That's just because he always forgets to hit 'commit' on his SVN program.
Its default data still remains unchanged, but hitting the default button changes its default length to 8.