Depends greg. I go between 7/0's and 8/0s. All depends on bait size, line class and species. When there are plenty of sails around with pillies or little yakkas on 8kg or less I am happy to use 7/0's. With big slimies or when most of the fish are blacks I like using the 8/0's. It must be how the blacks feed and the shape of their mouth but we had a little bad run on the 7/0s. Last season we got somewhere around 100 fish from about 115 bites between my boat and craigs. The majority of those were lost on 7/0s before we changed over. I always look to what the blokes in central america are doing when it comes to sailfish- they get more sailfish there than we could ever hope to see in a life time, and they all use 7/0s.
Ive gone to 15kg out of my boat most of the time now to get them to the boat quicker, so 8/0s are my hook of choice.
Like any cheap hook they are a throw away item. I generally throw mine away after each trip even if i dont get a fish on the one i have had out. Unless of course we go the next day or what ever.
Last edited by jeffo; 08-01-2011 at 07:53 AM.
Originally Posted by GPB
Jeff, are you using 7/0 EL's on the 'Billies'? they were my goto hook for the last 8 years, but after 2 breaking on me last year made me wonder.
I got my local tackle guy to order me some EL's and he ordered the L2004F(eagle claw circle sea) instead by mistake. Same shape as the EL's but @$3 and start at 10/0. Slightly heavier gauge with a fine point.
Expensive...yes, depending on how many you use but nothing compared to a hook breaking on a good fish....
that makes sense - maybe it is because last years run of blacks was a bit bigger - I lost a bunch of strikes that I initially thought were properly hooked up on the 7/0's on 15 kg - played the fish for 10 minutes and then they threw the hook
then on a few more, the 7/0's bent, or broke
I'll try some 8/0's this season
thanks
Mick
It hurts when you lose 3rd spot on countback in a comp (Jeff won) with two broken hooks in the mix, own tackle failure I can deal with, Smithy had one as well but got the Tag in
.
Thanks Jeff, 8/0's it is.
Limit your Catch - Don't Catch your Limit
Dont get my wrong guys, the 7/0s still have their place. When the sails were around with the pillies i was still using them, and little yakkas.
I have snapped one before and straightened plenty on the leader but in general they have all been great.
Yep I used 7/0's on the sails on the pillies Jeff and they couldn't have been more perfect in the hook ups. I use the 8/0s normally (EL's in both) and I use the heavier 2004's for 24kg and up. I lean toward the 8/0's when looking at them on the bench, but those little 7/0's were the perfect hook when you saw where they were hooked on the Sails.
I have used the 7/0 and 8/0 EL's for trout fishing out of Cairns with hand lines and they are great!
The heavier 2004 in 7/0 and 8/0 are my go to Red Emperor and Nanny hook up there too. Can't beat em, and no more straightened hooks or lost fish due to leader failure in their tough mouths since switching over from Gamakatsu J hooks.
Cheers,
Myles
remind me Myles and I'll give you some really decent circle hooks to try on the big reds - cheaper and heavy gauge - those fish won't be spooked by the heavier gauge. not really a light tackle billfish circle hook though...
they are offset circles, but can be straightened to be inline (which i do all the time), although on redfish I wouldn't bother
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