I've been using the circle hooks and just setting my poles in the pole holders. I've been strictly shore fishing. Sometimes I hold the poles in my hand and wait for a strike and start reeling in slowly. I cant even begin to explain the amount of hit and spits I've been getting. Last night I fished a small cove on the piscataqua river under the general sullivan bridge and I just kept the bail open because I'm wondering if the striper are spitting the bait when they feel the tension. I also have the Avenger baitfeeder reel and I've been playing around with that some. Using the open bail method I managed to catch 3 lousy eels...I should have live-lined the eels but they were a little big for the gear I had.
OK... all circle hooks are not created equal... Jon has made some very good and valid points and I agree with them.. but want to avoid the political side of this..I've been "testing" and using circles for about 20 years,in both fresh and salt water... to be short and sweet about it, if you must use circles, the Owner Matu tournament light is the best circle hook I have found bar none, and I've tried a ton... as much as I love Gamakatsu ( I've been using them since '86), their circles are fish killers, I've found that more than half of the fish get gut hooked. and about 10% of the ones that are not come un buttoned..The Owners rarely miss, and better yet, rarely gut hook, I've taken ( C&R boat side) over 100 fish this season over 20lbs.. only 1 was gut hooked ( most of these were taken on eels).. Ive taken ( caught ) more fish under 10 lbs than I can count with only a miniscule amount gut hooked.. most are buttoned neatly in the jaw hinge.. I have only 2 problems with this hook( and I can get over both of them) #1.. the rust easily, a few nights in the salt and they are toast, which actually is a good thing should I gut hook a fish and have to cut line , leaving the hook behind...#2, they only come in ringed eye and cannot be snelled, so I use a palomar knot and forget about it...FWIW... IMHO.. J hooks are superior for fishing eels, I rarely gut hook a fish using them, but seeing my commercial days are long over, If I miss or loose a fish at this point of my life.. well... there is no crying in fishing.
Thanks Joe. I guess I could have left the political aspects out of it, but its maddening.[/quoteYour.good...IMHO you handled it just fine..I just don't see the need to aggravate myself..That aside, those hooks make releasing fish boat side easy... I keep hearing how poor the fishing is, I'm not fishing hard( by my standards) and I'm having the best year numbers and size wise in about 10 years.
here's 1 of 13 last night that all were buttoned neatly in the corner of the jaw..
Nice job, Joe.I've seen lots of striper pics this year plus plenty of nice cows. Seems to be a good numbers this year for those in the know.
Really good fishing, rivaling the "good old days" inside ,outside, doesn't matter, if you know the tide and water temp. that's producing, it's game on... a lot of very respectable fish, and tons of small ones, I just wish I didn't see so many undersized floaters.I've been releasing most fish in the water, some are double hooked where the hook came around and rehooked the fish, "sewing" the corner of the mouth...I've found that once the drag starts, you can "punch" the barb home and you eliminate the dropped fish, but the hook must be "in place" before you set it.Lobsters are crawling good too. Some of the biggest keeper lobsters I've seen in quite some time.
Good deal on the fishing and bugs. I think both the slot and circle hooks are double edged swords? Too many people don't know how to handle and release fish correctly and quickly for better survival. I've read lots of stories this year about deep hooked line siders with circle hooks. Maybe more knowledge needed there, too?
