Check this out - 11ft, 600lb mako on FLY!

riverandreef.com/artman/publish/article_126.shtml

Gully

finished another two weeks of work. time to fish for the next week. wats the out look for the week any good days ahead.

couple of us are thinking of heading up next year with a boat, has anyone here made the trip before?

cheers street.

http://www.mackerelislands.com.au/fishing.html

SUMMARY REPORT

"A COMPARISON OF CIRCLE HOOK AND "J" HOOK PERFORMANCE IN RECREATIONAL CATCH AND RELEASE FISHERIES FOR BILLFISH"

Eric D. Prince, Mauricio Ortiz, and Arietta Venzelos
National Marine Fisheries Service, Miami, Florida

This study evaluates the performance of circle and comparable size "J" hooks on Atlantic and Pacific sailfish. Terminal gear performances were assessed in terms of fishing success, hook location and bleeding associated with physical hook damage and trauma.

• 360 Pacific sails were caught in Guatemala to assess terminal gear performance: 235 sail were on circle hooks and 125 were on "J" hooks. Circle hooks used on sailfish had hooking percentages that were 1.83 times higher compared to "J" hooks.
• Significantly more sailfish were hooked in the corner of the mount using circle hooks (85%vs27%) whereas significantly more sailfish were deep hooked in the throat and stomach using "J" hooks (46%vs 2'%).
• Only one sailfish was foul hooked using circle hooks while 11 sailfish caught on "J" hooks were foul hooked.
• Sailfish caught on "J" hooks are about 21 times more likely to suffer hook related bleeding than those caught on circle hooks.
The study of the Atlantic Sailfish was primarily and compared the use of variations of offset circle hooks while live baiting for sailfish in S. Florida.
• 75 Atlantic sailfish were used in this study. No differences in catch percentage or bleeding was found between circle hooks with no offset, minor offset (about 4 degrees), or severe offset points (about 15 degrees).
• The percentage of deep hooking in the throat and stomach for circle hooks with severe offset (44%) was comparable to the deep hooking percentage for "J" hooks (46%)
• In general, use of circle hooks resulted in measures of fishing success that were comparable to or higher than "J" hooks.
• Circle hooks minimized deep hooking, foul hooking, and bleeding.
• Thus, the use of circle hooks has considerable potential for promoting the live release of billfish in recreational fisheries.

MORTALITY

• Stocks of Atlantic Sailfish, blue marlin and white marlin have been identified by ICCAT as either over-exploited or fully exploited for more than two decades.
• The most current summaries of stock status for Atlantic sailfish and marlin note the historically high rates of fishing mortality observed in recent years.
• Recent reports indicate that circle hooks used in rod & reel recreational fisheries for striped bass, Chinook salmon and Atlantic bluefin tuna have been shown to significantly reduce deep hooking and thus promote the live release of these species.

RESULTS OF STUDIES

• Circle hooks showed significantly higher hooking percentages compared to "J" hooks.
• Odds ratio tests indicated that on average, circle hooks are 1.83 times more likely to hook a sailfish than a "J" hook.
• Circle hooks are closely associated with hooks in in the corner of the mouth while "J" hooks were closely associated with deep hooking and foul hooking.
• Seventy on of the 125 sailfish caught on "J" hooks were observed bleeding, as compared to 14 of 235 sailfish caught on circle hooks. This difference was highly significant and the Odds ratio test indicated that a sailfish caught on a "J" hook was 20.75 times more likely to bleed compared to one caught on a circle hook.
• Correspondence analysis showed that "J" hooks were highly associated with minor/moderate/severe bleeding, while circle hooks were associated with no bleeding.
• Seventy-five sailfish were caught on circle hooks using live bait in the recreational fishery off South Florida. Conclusion showed that severe offset circle hooks were associated with deep hooking, while minor and no offset hooks were associated with jaw and corner of mouth hook locations.

FISHING SUCCESS

• One of the first concerns in attempting to change the terminal gear in any recreational fishery is that such a change will negatively impact fishing success. This study showed that catch percentages were unaffected by a change in hook type using the different terminal gears during the fishing in Guatemala.
• Sailfish catch percentages were also high for circle hooks fished with live bait off Florida. However, it should be noted that catch percentages and catch rates for circle hooks depended on the novel forehead hook placement used to rig the dead natural baits, as well as a certain amount of training to implement a more passive approach to setting circle hooks.
• Circle hooks fished in the manner described were found to have a higher hooking percentage for sailfish compared to "J" hooks and this result was corroborated with field observations. For example, it was observed that "J" hooks often de-hooked during the fight when sailfish jumped out of water and this was less likely to occur with a circle hook. The curved point of the circle hook appeared to reduce de-hooking under these circumstances.
• Overall, catch percentages, hooking percentages, and catch rates reported in this study were generally comparable to or higher for circle hooks compared to those for "J" hooks. These results are likely to encourage recreational billfishing constituents, who might not otherwise be receptive to changes in their fishing tackle, to consider the use of circle hooks as a terminal gear alternative to "J" hooks.

PHYSICAL INJURIES DUE TO HOOKING

• Hooks found in the jaw hinge or mouth, or fish bleeding from these locations, were not considered life threatening. Conversely, hooks found in the upper palate, throat, pharynx, esophagus, or in the stomach and fish showing lacerations or bleeding from these areas were considered potentially lethal.
• The results of this study clearly indicated that the use of circle hooks can minimize deep hooking and foul hooking in the recreational trolling/pitch bait fisheries for sailfish.
• Several instances were documented where "J" hooks were foul hooked in the eye. If eye injuries result in blindness, then this injury could potentially affect survival because billfish are highly dependent on daytime sight feeding in the upper portions of the water column. Blindness in one eye would negatively impact peripheral vision and could seriously inhibit the ability of these species to feed. Numerous instances were also documented where "J" hook injuries that were not caused by foul hooking could have caused eye damage. In some cases, "J" hooks caused deep lacerations to the upper palate, which, on occasion, affected the occipital orbit and resulted in hemorrhaging in the eye. These injuries are deceptive and are difficult to see in the fish at boat side. In addition, upper palate injuries can also affect the integrity of the cranial cavity by making this area susceptible to possible infection. However, these injuries are not immediately evident upon capture.
• The evaluation of bleeding indicated that significantly more sailfish caught on "J" hooks bled compared to circle hooks. This result may be the single most compelling finding in this study, as sailfish caught on "J" hooks were about 21 times more likely to bleed compared to those caught on circle hooks.
• Bleeding from the gills was found in 10% of the sailfish caught on "J" hooks and 1% of the sailfish caught on circle hooks. However, circle hooks were not found embedded in gill arches or filaments, whereas numerous "J" hooks were found lodged in these structures. After closer observation, it was determined that monofilament frequently became caught behind the gill plates during the fight, regardless of the type of terminal gear. Monofilament coming into contact with the gill structure appeared to irritate the gill filaments and resulted in mostly moderate or minor bleeding. This was non-hook related bleeding.

CONCLUSION

"The current high rate of fishing mortality and depressed stock status of most Atlantic billfish justify development of alternative approaches for reducing hook induced mortality for these species. One such approach would be the modification of terminal gear in order to reduce hook related injuries and trauma experienced during catch and release fishing. This study compared circle hook and similar size "J" hook performance while trolling/pitching dead bait or drifting live bait for billfish-methods often used by anglers targeting these species. Rates of fishing success and hooking percentage were comparable or higher for circle hooks compared to "J" hooks. In addition, use of circle hooks resulted in lower rates of deep hooking, foul hooking, and bleeding compared to "J" hooks. During live bait experiments, severe offset circle hooks (>15 degrees) were associated with increased deep hooking percentages (44%) that were similar to percentages observed for "J" hooks using dead bait (46%). Given the multiple benefits of minimized hook related injury and comparable or improved fishing success and hooking percentages using circle hooks in dead or live bait recreational fisheries for billfish, this terminal gear appears to have potential as a means to promote the live release of these species.

Courtesy of Scott Forbes, EGFC

Hi guys,
I'm new of this forum and I fish very far away from you. I'm very intersted in top australian lures - here we got River2Sea but I think that there are other AU or Japan brands... please post your favourite selection, topwater and minnow...

thanks a lot, after I will talk about the plugs we use here!

Bye
Antonio

Here you go folks - Gamex dates for next year for those who are interested.

17th-24th March

So who is thinking of making the pilgrimage??

hey guys going out tonite chasing mulloway till about 12ish...ne spots that will have a good chance produce ing the mulloway? i herd mosmans is a go but dont know of ne spots... can ne one inform me plase halp fwends :D

I am just wondering if anyone has used these line counters before and would like too know whether they can be easily removed from the reel. Any ideas???
Haqve people used them?
What are there benefits?
Do they get in the way?

Spooled..........

[img_assist|fid=53179|thumb=0|alt=Line counter]

Hi all just wondering if anyone can help me or push me in the direction of a good middle of the range colour sounder. I dont need split GPS because I have a separate chartplotter unit. I only need the sounder. Anything around the $1000 to $1500 mark would be good. Still learning a fair bit about the specs on these machines but my cheap Lowrance has just about had it. I have been looking at a LOwrance X107C but if anyone has any views on this unit or can give me directions that would be much appreciated.

Spooled....

hey guys im heading out next wk end of mandurah, im quite new to the area and i was just wondering if someone could give me some GPS marks to get me started and if i find any new ones out there ill send em back, thanx alot u can PM me if u want...

hey neone up ofr a victory fish at the narrows after the footy tonite? let us know if you are and weel sort out a place and time...i was thinking sum were in the river...maybe a spot with a chance of muloway.. :D

There are quite a few on the net but i tend to use this one

www.fishkona.org/calculator.html

I am about to get a Stella for my birthday from my dearest other half, now the biggest question is what to get. There are 3 choices for me, basically the FA which I can easily get over here, and the SW in HG or PG which I need to get from overseas. I am now more keen on the SW as i heard it comes with 2 spools.

Question now is this, shall I get the HG or the PG? I will be doing mostly sambo jigging and the occasional trip to exxie popping for GTs. I am now thinking of getting the PG for the big spool capacity but am still wondering if I can get the best of both worlds by getting a spare set of HG internals for popping chucking.

Has anybody tried to see if the internal gearings can be swopped and is the process easy to handle? I am pretty handy at servicing my own reels but the stella looks a little intimidating compared to my Penns. Also, what are the parts I need change for the conversion and where can I get the parts. As much as I love to own 2 reels, its hard to justify that to a non fishing partner even if its for my birthday, but hey whose complaining......

I'm still looking for an overhead outfit for bottom fishing and jigging. I'm thinking I might go up a notch from what I was previously looking at and now I'm considering the Trinidad and Saltiga (overhead).

I've heard some problems about the anti reverse on the trinidad can anyone confirm this? I also heard that the saltiga has a better and a higher max drag than the trinidad, is this so?

Which one is the lighter reel as this is a major factor when I look at overhead outfits.

I haven't heard anything bad about the Saltiga which is why I'm leaning towards it a bit more over the trinidad.

The models I'm looking at will be the Trinidad 16 or the Saltiga 20 or 30 loaded with 50lb braid. Oh I also heard that the Saltiga 30 doesn't have a clicker, does this mean it doesn't make the noise when drag is pulled.

Thanks for your oppinions.

PS. Would it be worth the extra $100 for the Z model or the 30T, and what is the differences?

hahah herd the funniest joke on the radio at around 3 30am at the jetty.
one sperm says to another "how far to the ovaries?"
the other sperm replied "still got a while to go, we only just passed the tonsils..." :D no fish tho cept for a few herring which was really wierd. not even a squid :(

Anyone used or bought one of the new penns yet? They feel pretty good not like the clunky old things no anti-reverse probs to worry about either

haven't we already had enough on the market? ;) ;)
http://fishing.shimano.co.jp/body/product/salt/sephia_spin/title.html

Slots in just above the Japanese Twinpower and the Stella SW Series.

wait til you see the other double-paddle reel... wtf.. not cheap either, at 40,000 Yen.
http://fishing.shimano.co.jp/body/product/iso/t_mg_searea/searea.html

Daiwa spews out exist, certate customs, exist steez, TD aegis, TD Sols, airitys, TD Fuegos, TD Emeraldas, and whatnot, and this is what shimano releases?
o.O

G'day everybody , I have heard some whispers that there are some monster AJ's off Hillaries in 100m plus water , can anyone confirm for me , I have friday off and the weather is looking good for a trip out wide , might head out there to get amongst them .

I have some home made slim jigs I want to try out before I post pics of them .

PS is there any type of structure out in 100m of water I should be looking for ??? probably will be heading west nor west from Hillaries or Ocean reef.

CHEERS , MAV.

heading to palm beach in about 20 mins hopefully hook up to sumthing big... :D neone looking to kill a feew hours come down. neways have a good one :P

What is PE Braid? I thought it was explained somewhere here before but I couldn't find anything.

How's it going everyone?

I wanted to make a query on this forum about whether or not any of you were considering going to the international sport fishing show in Tokyo next January. The reason that I'm asking is because I am looking to put together a charter for a one of the days around then to have a jigging expedition for any visitors who might be interested in seeing how we do it here. We'll be going after yellowtail and amberjack, but there's probably a possibilty to boat a few tuna as well. If any of you are intereted, drop me a line when you get a chance. I'm simply looking to get a ball park idea of how many people are interested. If you have any questions email me.

ive just bin downloading someof the sambo videos and i really wanna catch one now aye...no wonder y they call em freight trains.the ones on honsu's day out was scaring me sitting at my chair. i cant wait to get out there n get one now :D

What is the toughest fish to tame pound for pound in OZ waters? Have you ever been awestruck by the fighting capabilities of your quarry?

last night i caught a herring so i put it out live, and handed the rod to my friend thinking it will be hours be fore nething happens and ive got time to get sum squid. She never goes fishing (especially with nething that big) so when she said it feels like sumthigns biting, i said nah itll be the live bait kicking around on the bottom...and soon as i turn my back and take one step the thing GOES OFF...HARD. rofl shes standing there going to me "i think sumthings on it now" as soon as i grabbed the rod the fish drops it. that would be bloody right aye.i was out there till 4 am trying to get another run..but could only manange sum more herring and sum squid for tonite. lol,that ever happened to neone else?

okkk from what i have heard GT fight like a sambo on steriods but from what i have seeen with some of the movies on this site im not 2 sure i recon a cloes call! and because i have only caught one species i wouldnt no! anyone tackled them both??? i sapose they both fight quite differant!

i ahve just been watching multiple episodes of ifish and i have noticed how long the boys on it leave the fish out of water it couldnt bee to good for them you would think???

hey ant 1 heading out tomorrow ???
were at rotto tonight so if any 1 wants to meet up there it could be arranged
cheers breno

hey just wondering if any one is experianced in switch baiting, and have any spreads/patterns they would like to share or tips on the trolling style as im going to give it a bit of a bash next trip 2 exmouth in november???

Help !

Does anyone know how to splice DOUBLE BRAIDED rope ?

I am having one hell of a job and waisting my rope trying to master splicing an eye on this stuff.
Have downloaded info off the web but my tiny mind has trouble understanding .
If someone has some simple steps to follow I would appreciate your help.

Thanks in advance
Terry

Well, last month there was one of the biggest US tackle shows on, suprised nobodys mentioned much about it. Just had a look about a week ago at the winners of the best of shows. The new Penn torque looks not bad,kept the unique International shape to em.

Fireline crystal won best over all. The new Evair boots look intersting too by shimano.

link to rest of the winnershttp://tackletour.com/reviewicast06bestofshow.html