WARNING Upgrade Split Rings....Too Late!

[Blue_Escape]

I know the fishing books & magazines always go on about upgrading the hardware on lures as most manufacturers go the cheap option....It was always one of those jobs that I was going to do "next rainy weekend"!

Well last Sunday was absolutely beautiful and my lovely wife gave me a leave-pass to take the boat for a run. I had heard that there were some Tuna around so had the fingers crossed to get my first Long Tail into my boat!

On the water about 6am and greeted by the sight of a few medium sized pods busting up on the surface with the occasional fish jumping clear which I id'd as good sized LT's....the chase was on.

Now I have learn't on a few occasions the last 18 months back in Brissie that LT's are at times the biggest Pr1@k Teasers in the ocean. I spent the next couple of hours along with 2 other boats following them around trying to get within casting distance.

Finally everything came together...I worked out the direction one pod was heading and anticipating the spot positioned the boat...a minute later 10-20 LT's burst up 5m infront of me...my hands shook as I clumsily cast out a slug and started to wind madly....then bang zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...WOOHOOO hooked up to a nice LT!

I fought the fish (estimate 7-8kg) on 7kg braid for about 10-15 minutes when it started the classic tuna circling down deep with the occasional shorter run...then miraculously it started to glide up to the surface seeing the boat it turned away in another run...then everything went slack!! ARRRGGGHHHH!

Was it my knots? the line? a nick in the leader?....winding in my line to find the lure still attached......minus the split ring and treble...You could have heard the screaming from the boat ramp!

May this be a lesson for others...upgrade before it's too late....I know what I'm doing this weekend!

Cheers
Blue

[BrandonH]

Bad luck mate :'( I had the same thing happen to me at Faust last year!! Dam Barra was fighting for about 3 mins b4 he had one big run towards yet another lump of trees, down goes the thumb slow him up and then....... wound lure back in minus one middle trebble, standard Barra classic tripple wind split ring streached into the shape of a U still hanging on to torment me >:(!!!!!!!!!!!

Good on ya for posting the idea/problem!!!

Its usually the fish of a lifetime that exposes the weakest link :'(

Brandon...

[Jonli]

;)

Albeit it's too late , for information , I have yet seen Owner Hyper Wire splitring to fail me and specifically in GT fishing where I use initial drag setting of !0-12 kg with 100 lbs braided line , my choise of splitrings are either #10 ( 200 lbs ) or #11 ( 220 ) . For YFTs , I tend to use smaller splitrings ( 120 lbs ) because the initial drag setting is lower ( 6-8 kg ) and the braided line is 60 lbs to get enough capacity into my Stellas . ::)

There are many other splitrings in the market but Owner Hyper Wire is my ultimate choise from way at the beginning . I use solid rings too , again from Owner to facilitate quick lure change in
combo with splitring . ;)


JonLi . 8-)

[hogesTS]

any idea where to get owner spit rings and trebles? i havent seen any for sale before in any of the big stores.

[Fishin_Dan]

Hoges - Mossops at Wooloongabba have them. Not sure if that will help you up on the SC though... Give them a call. They may post them to you as they'd go into an envelope no problems.

[hogesTS]

cheers dan, might have to stop in on my way home from uni one day. i might cheack around the local tackle shops, somebody is bound to have them

[Jonli]

::)

Guys ,


Here are what the packagings of OWNER Solid , Regular n Hyper Wire rings look like .

JonLi .

[Tony_N]

Love it that "sprit" ring is spelled the way it is pronounced :)

[Darryl]

Bought some of those 220 pound jobbies last week for my jigs, hard enough to get on the jigs with pliers, so cant see them letting go in a hurry.

[Jonli]

Crestcutter ;D ,

You need a special splitring opener plier for the task , I use DUEL brand but there are many other brands including Owner , Shimano , Accurate n Fisherman , etc. . ;)

You can fashion a home made one by welding the bit to an ordinary plier too , many fishing mates of mine do just that and they work well . ::)

JonLi . 8-)

[Darryl]

Well those would have saved some swearing in the shed. :-/ ;D