Circle hooks and baitrunners

[Tony_N]

used a double hook circle setup for the first time a week ago. I used them for floatlining into a burley trail with a baitrunner. As I said in a previous post, it was a very quiet day. However, I did get one very serious enquiry on the outfit. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ for 3 or 4 seconds while I put my bottom-basher down and just flicked the reel into the main drag system without picking the rod up. Nothing! it must have just slipped out of the fishes mouth

I had a whole pilchard with the bottom hook just pinning the mouth from underneath (maximum gape left unimpeded) and the 2nd hook (or at least the line near it)was bound to the bait with bait mate fine elastic, again to maximise the available gape in the hook.

It occurred to me that these hooks were developed for long lining so there would normally be no free running (as with the baitrunner) before the line came up short on the hook after the fish took the bait. So maybe the reel needs to be kept in gear for this sort of fishing with these hooks??

Anybody got any theories based on experience?

[finding_time]

Let it run Tony !! It is basically the same for live baiting your feeding the fish the bait , it takes it into its gullet and as it turns and takes off you apply the load no strike The circle comes out of the gullet and hooks the fish in the corner of the mouth.

If anything you could let it run a bit longer

Ian

[Tony_N]

Thanks Ian - what you say makes a lot of sense. I'll hang in there -

cheers

Tony

[finding_time]

No worries Tony. I've been fishing circles exclusively for about 18 months now and have nothing but praise for them!! I used to just use them on the paternoster rig but have swiched to all rigs and after a little bit of trouble ( striking, hitting to quickly) i'm having nothing but success I hardly ever drop a fish now. I snood them and always have the line leaving the eye towards the gap of the hook so as to make the hook present even more circle like.

Ian

[Tony_N]

Mate - i don't think I could have them on my paternoster rig - the strike is a really big part of the fun for me. Happy to persevere for a while with the floatline rig though. yeah I learned to tie the hooks so that they turn into the line as you say. thanks again

Tony

[Big_Ren]

Hi Tony, were you snelling them mate?

I read a thread on here once about circles and without regurgitating all the details the practical benefits of circles was simply explained by the use of a bucket.

Rig your circle on the end of the line and lower it into the bucket.....If you rip it out quickly (akin to striking) the hook would simply pull straight out, however, if you leant slowly and tried to lift the hook out slowly, it would almost always catch on the rim of the bucket (much like the corner of the fish's jaw).

Hope that explains it.

Cheers
Paul

[Dory4.1]

Tony,

I had no idea of what a circle hook looked like or works, the following site gives some good info. It says not to strike, but to simply allow the fish to swallow the bait and then wind in. Striking will pull the hook out of the fishes mouth.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/SG042

Good luck.

Rgs
Michael

[Tony_N]

Thanks Paul and Michael. Yeah I've done a fair bit of research on these hooks over the last few weeks, I'm pretty up with all that stuff.
As you will see from my original post - I didn't strike at all, I simply put my main drag into gear. I think finding_time got it right that I should have left the fish run more before engaging the drag (still without touching the rod)

Tony

[CamH]

I'm about to start using them as well. I read an article the other day on marlin site that said to use bigger sizes than you would normally use for J hooks.

[imnotoriginal]

I wouldn't call myself an expert (never fished for snapper) but I read an article by Geoff Wilson a while back and he suggested that you have around 1kg of drag on when you leave it. I believe he said it was enough to get the hook in, without pulling it through. If you look up his articles on a certain other website... you might get more info.
Joel

[Tony_N]

Thanks Joel - I'll have a look

Tony

MODIFIED:

Found it, thanks Joel. You're right he reckons about 1kg drag on all snapper fishing including using circles.