North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

Last time I went for sailfish a dropped a lot - this time and am going to try a shorter drop back, less drag and different hooks.

Which one in the photo would be best? Last time I had a 5/0 owner (the thinner gauge one but with the off set eye)

Thanks
Jon

this weekend we tried circles big j and small j hooks
we had gut hooks gill hooks tail hooks and straight through the back hook ups
1 out of 3 of the circle hooks ups was in the hinge of the jaw 1 in the throat gill area and another up above the eye with a circle
1 j hook had to be cut off rather than try and mess with the fish for to long trying to remove and the rest where all removed
i personally think we had better hook up in the mouth area using a small j hook i think a 5o saltwaterfly gamakatsu hook rather than the 10o gamakatsu
an still missed at least 3 hook ups with the circles that should have been fish !!!
one brand of cirlces is the green owner circles you have there i dunno the other brand i just bought a heap of them think they were 5 and 6o sizes

I use 7/0 inline(must be inline) circles. Never really had a noticeable issue.

The demons are nice and thin, but dont put to much drag pressure on em because they can bend pretty easy.
The tournament legal owners are good, use in line hooks to minimise gut hooking and you got to be patient with the fish let them stop before you up the drag and dont strike it, let it hook it self.

John, I took Frenchy from the Tacklebox out on my boat last Friday. He knows a bl..dy a lot about catching Stickfaces. We used J Hooks and they were the Gamakatsu Saltwater fly hooks, I forget the specific sizes, but they worked a treat. He is the man to speak to. He is very helpful and willing to share his knowledge. Not sure if you are out Palmerston way or not, but pop in and see him buy a couple of packs of hooks and you will better than well armed with the equipment and knowledge.

Cheers,

Doors Off

I am definitely no expert in the matter but have just switched over to the Owner SSW in-line hooks in 5/0 and got 2 from 2.

I have been using other circles including the other Owner, Mustads and Gamakatsu but was losing everything. J hooks might be the go...just look at the results from Doug from the weekend.....but the SSW are my preference from now on.

Cheers

Warren

thanks for the reply guys - i will see if i can drop in to see frenchy

I use the same.. Gamagatsu saltwater fly in 10 from memory ... Strong enough for most of our bill fish and thin enough to penetrate easy...

doors off wrote:John, I took Frenchy from the Tacklebox out on my boat last Friday. He knows a bl..dy a lot about catching Stickfaces. We used J Hooks and they were the Gamakatsu Saltwater fly hooks, I forget the specific sizes, but they worked a treat. He is the man to speak to. He is very helpful and willing to share his knowledge. Not sure if you are out Palmerston way or not, but pop in and see him buy a couple of packs of hooks and you will better than well armed with the equipment and knowledge.

Cheers,

Doors Off

Ditto Kp NT, in line circles only to stop gut hookin and forget a count and striking. - each fish is different, freespool for as long as it takes for the fish to stop or it detects the hook and jumps or takes off (unless of course it doesnt know its hooked and the bl..dy thing comes up to the back of the prop and sits there) then bring the drag up. Plays with your nerves waiting for it to stop as it can take ages. We've always had a high success rate doing it this way.

I think with the with size up here it is pretty hard small baits they will engulf and be gut hooked even with circles and to big of a bait and they don't seen to eat the bait well enough to sink the j hook
Bring on some broome sails in July

for light tackle marlin fishing these are the only hooks you need..thin in gauge and strongest of the lot..

doors off wrote:John, I took Frenchy from the Tacklebox out on my boat last Friday. He knows a bl..dy a lot about catching Stickfaces. We used J Hooks and they were the Gamakatsu Saltwater fly hooks, I forget the specific sizes, but they worked a treat. He is the man to speak to. He is very helpful and willing to share his knowledge. Not sure if you are out Palmerston way or not, but pop in and see him buy a couple of packs of hooks and you will better than well armed with the equipment and knowledge.

Cheers,

Doors Off