fine wire hooks?

[m.b3]

i have used these hooks with reasonable success. presentation is definately improved/ they bend out of snags/ etc. but the problem lies with lost fish. i have landed good wrasse and codling when fishing rock marks in the summer on them, however i have 'bumped off' lots of doggies on the strike or early part of the retrieve. it seems that the problem occurs on my stiff tipped beachcaster, whereas on my soft tipped rod and carp rod this problem has not occured. i think it's because these rods have more give. what experiences have u guys had with these hooks? i am unsure about when i should use them due to irregular results. any info. would be much appreciated, thanks.

[George]

Fine wire hooks are used alot during matches as they allow for delicate presentation of worm baits the best all round model is the kamasan B940m which is a match version of the original hook. I wouldn't recomend these hooks if you were fishing rough ground or after large fish as they can be very brittle and tend to snap. They are perfect for scratching for small fish during early spring with small baits. These hooks do bend out of snags but most of the time they snap and there are other hooks on the market such as uptide models which bend out as easy but are stronger and will result in more fish. You are right in that a stiffer rod will put more pressure on the hook causing them to bend out

[m.b3]

thanks for the info George. these uptide hooks u mention, i think kamasan have a model, have u tried these? i found a spot for white ragworm today, a lot better than my last, after collecting my peelers. i got 25 in 25min. digging. is this good? they were all about 5 inches long. how many of these worms would you dig for a 5 hour match? would you use half or full worms for tipping other baits? sorry 'bout all the questions! cheers.

[George]

I think they are called B940u. White Ragworm eh :wink: About 25-30 is perfect for a 5 hour. One wriggly is all you need to tip a bait, but it can depend on the size of the worm and the bait already on the hook.

[kieran]

Hi M.b3

Whites are nice and as rare as hens teeth. Keep the location to yourself! 5 inches is okay but they can grow larger. Lucky you! Over here on the west coast, we have problems getting the common ragworm, never mind silvers. I have been searching for five years now and only have a few poor beds located so far... and they can be very hit and miss. :cry:

Ahh sure the sandeels have arrived, the pollack can't be far behind.

FWIW...

[m.b3]

thanks for the replies lads, much appreciated. i was talking to a match angler today (of to scotland to fish a competition- serious stuff) whilst out fishing, always makes me nervous! proud of myself that i didn't botch a cast whilst under scrutiny! anyway, he told me that sometimes 100 white rag are needed for a 5 hour match! he speaks of using 4 or 5 on a hook at a time. the good news is that he also told me where to dig big 'snake whites'!! great! bad news is that i lost a decent fish to the rocks today....makes it harder to get backing into working mode and face the week ahead. thanks again lads.

[m.b3]

yes! the pollack, forgot that was this month. snapped off on fifteen pound line this month last year. i could see the fish turn on its side coming through the water. thinking the pollack (nick named 'Sid Vicous' due to the shiny silver hook in his gob) was beaten i started to heave him to the top when he made one hell of a run. don't believe those books that tell you pollack only make one intial run! George, we'll have to start landing the big ones!

[SOD]

Where did you fish m.b3 .

[m.b3]

the long pier at Howth harbour, outside wall anywhere from the lighthouse back to the bend. this is a very underated spot. floatfishing between 6 and 20 feet sees mainly pollack and wrasse, but sometimes 'one off' good coalies and the odd mackeral. fishing here in may can be slow. to better your chances make sure you fish the rising tide. this causes a crease in the water which u will easily see. the pollack seem to take advantage of the tide rip and this is by far the best time. trotting float tackle down in the current works. before u real in to recast you can hold the float in the current causing the bait to rise- dosen't work all the time but somedays it's a winner. you can catch all the fish of the day in an hour. come june, this is not so critical to success as pollack numbers increase. i have taken pollack here into mid september and haven't tried for them any later than this. the same day i lost this large fish my friend had a 3 1/2 pound fish and we both had one each about a pound. the time we fished was the second half of the month. great fun spinning here in summer/ autumn. fish a toby with a feather about 1- 3 feet above the lure on a short dropper to cover more water/ species. i have caught pollack here before around the five pound mark, not many, but there is always the chance of another one. try and fish a 'clear' sea. if the sea is coloured in front of you cast out past it and fish the float deeper (this is when 20 foot is good). there is rough ground out all the way in front of you. at this time of year fish between 10- 40 yards out, between 12 and 15 foot deep for results. small king rag, one up the shank with some tail left, and the other 'head hooked' is the bait. mackeral better later in the year. the pollack seem to gorge on shrimp this early in the year, similar to those at the bailey. i think this is enough info. for now SOD! cheers.

[SOD]

I agree a very underated spot . I havent tried fishing it on the float . I always fish on the bottom taking mainly whiting and codling . They are always better than ones that you get from Balscadden .

[George]

Snake Whites :shock: As for the amount of whites, if dogfish are appearing in huge quantities I guess bringing more would make sense but it depends on the size of the white.

[m.b3]

thanks George, i suppose it does make sense! after using the white rag i on sunday (i underestimated their size, they were mostly around 6" in lenght) i found they were better as a tipping bait. threading them up a size 1 only spoiled them. i will definately consider using 3 or 4 partially hooked on size 6 hooks when things are tough (jan./ feb. and march). i think hooks larger than this in size will need to be fine wire to keep good presentation. i hate to bring this up again (!) but do you know what casting the soft 3 piece rods is like in relation to soft baits, ie. head hooked maddies? do you still need to use bait clips to keep the tails on?

[George]

If you are unsure I would clip rigs anyway especially with delicate baits.

[m.b3]

it is just in relation to using booms and light lines. i know Gemini make booms that can be clipped down but i favour plastic booms for movement, only using metal ones to pin baits on the bottom in rough seas (works well for rockling if your having a bad day- all the rockling i have caught in the last 2 years have fallen to this rig which is saying something). cheers.

[SOD]

When fishing delicate baits a soft tip rod and a smooth cast stops baits being splattered all over the beach . George, I have found that unclipped traces tend to out fish clipped traces if fished at the same distance . As for booms , last year I brought back long plastic continental style booms from Spain . They can be deadly when scratching around when the going gets tough (especially when used with light line) .

[m.b3]

SOD can you tell me what these booms are like, ie. what length are they? also, how light a line do you go? i recently got myself some 8lb. maxima for light snoods (plan on getting some Wychwood flourocarbon soon, maybe 10lb.). how long would you fish these light snoods? i know people that claim the hooklenght should not be longer than the boom to avoid tangles. however, in general my catches have been dramatically better on boom rigs when the hooklenghts have been 2 feet and over, particularly in clear/ calm conditions. the only exception being whiting in winter and one or two beaches where long snoods are rubbish!? a 2 foot long 10lb. snood seems like trouble? i know i will try it for myself anyway but what do you think?

[SOD]

These booms came as long stips of plastic and you cut them to your prefered size . I have used snoods as light as 6lb with the rig body around 30lb without any problems most of the tangles seem to happen when the trace is being reeled in with a fish on . I would only use light gear like this when the sea is calm otherwise it always seems to end up in a mess .

[m.b3]

thanks SOD, appreciate that. cheers.

[Steve O'Hanlon]

Mark,

If you are worried about splattering soft baits when casting try putting a small piece of elastic band on the hook. Push the point and barb through the band, and trim to leave about 2 millimetres either side of the hook. This will cushion the bait when you cast, and won't allow it to slip back over the hook point. It works very well with worm baits.

[m.b3]

i haven' t tried this yet Steve, i' ll give it a bash. normally i don' t have many problems with splattering baits, but occassionally the odd worm (usually when tipping and only head hooked) flies off! this could be the answer- thanks.