top stuff Opti, thats fishing
cheers Murf
i re rigged the rods this morning ,im pretty much at maximum drag at 25kg ,if i try to get more its more or less locked up,thats on the torsa,s and stella.ive made new 200lb live bait rigs with two hooks ,some crimped and some snell ,with owner 9/0 gorilla hooks.the engines are running all the time on the drift so driving away will be easy to do .ive got to get one of these guys up to the boat.il update progress,thanks for the help
Good luck mate!
"Elempi" American Bertram 33, 3208T Caterpillar power
How are you managing to hold onto 25kg of drag. At about 16kg i recon it feels like 50kg on the end of the rod. My jig stick feels like I am holding onto a 50kg fish dead weight at that drag. The Stella 18000SW certainly can cope with it by my puny arms can't.Originally Posted by OPTI
I recon if you combine my idea of flicking the bail arm over before driving away to get that angle on him it will be your best chance. At those pressures if he is not cutting the leader on the structure those hooks pulling must either be rubbing on the reef or tearing a hole in his mouth. Making him take 2 or three runs before he gets you to the structure is surely going to have to increase your chances. Sure no tension on the line increases the risk of him shaking the hook out but so far everything else is failing and a hoodlum isn't doing Mahi Mahi like shakes in mid air.
Democracy: Simply a system that allows the 51% to steal from the other 49%.
yes i agree with your thoughts ,ive read that technique where land base anglers release the drag to turn the fish ,its worth a try for sure ,im determined to land one of these monsters,its actually pretty cool to still have fish this size in my area ,hopefully il be able to take a photo and release it.
trying to test the drag at that weight is pretty scarey ,let me tell you ,the rod looks like its goin to explode.
hi mate not sure how ur weighting ur baits down but have seen sinkers sliding up to the swivel or snap an hanging down behind the fish as it runs getting hung up on the reef causing bust offs, can be easily fixed by tieing on your sinker via 1-2lb mono so if does hang up it will bust off easily
i know one thing that braid pisses off kings and ambos at 30kg plus sizes more than mono and i've always caught larger specimens in excess of 40kg on 50lb mono more than 80lb braid i don't know how it just dosen't piss them off as quick you can get them up halfway before they even know they are hooked, but setting live baits higher in the water column helps give you a few meters head start and larger live baits like trevally, pearlies or snapper tend to choke the fish more and make them more landable, but with braid it dosen't matter how much i'd prefer to use it you just don't get the xos fish like you do on mono and the fish if hooked near structure don't need to take line the problem might be that your using one of these new jig sticks that load too much and let them get their head down and into the bottom bruit force isn't always the key fishing smarter is as kings when they start getting over 20kg prove demoralizing but ajs are a bit easier.
Freespool em mate.. it works for sure.. heaps easier to do on a lever drag over head and alot (not all) of the time they will swim out, smooth but not hugely heavy pressure will generally work better than trying to bash them out, that just pisses them off.
dont knock on deaths door... ring the doorbell and run... death hates that!!
happened again today ,i nearly boated a good fish [est at least 25kg]it snapped the braid above the double,i had him 20m under the boat,i changed hooks over to mustard 9/0 v pro circle ,these were giving better hook ups than the owner 9/0 gorilla circle hooks in had been using.
im not sure weather ive got too many joins in my rigs ??i run a bimini twist knot on the double then a cats paw to the wind on leader,then crimp a loop on the leader,cats paw to the snap swivel ,then my bottom rig,which is a snell not on the v circle hook,running up to a cats paw loop,crimped then the sinker running off that.
i dont know why it let go at the double,i felt a slip and then snap,is there a better way to do this ,sould i delete the wind on leader and tie the braid straight to the snap instead??
i was so close to day ,it was one of the toughest fights i can remember,my mate videoed it on his phone so il post it when i get it,so you guys can see what im dealing with
hey opti i would run the double to a snap via cats paw then on your leader instead of making a small loop an crimping it make it a bit longer ie about 2 inch loop then crimp it then put this loop through your sinker an attach to the snap, then just snell your circle of choice. the less knots an joins the better imo, if that makes any sense
What Drag Cam are you using in your torsa? Try a BFS 50 (50lb of drag and maintains free spool) or maybe the BFS 80 (80lb) if it will work in the 30. I have a BFS 50 in my torsa 20 and the steep drag curve comes in very handy for getting brutes off the bottom! Sounds like some awesome fishing, and sometimes the bust ups are as much fun as landing the fish! Keeps you coming back for more that is for sure!
Anthony
This may sound unconventional but this is how I rig mine.
I make my double by using a spider hitch, it's easy and quick to redo if you have to. I find it very strong also. I then catspaw that onto the dacron of the wind on leader. A loop in the end of the wind on is crimped with the large snap swivel and a little piece of clear sleeve to protect the line from the snap. That stays like that all the time and I change my rigs on the snap to suit my fishing. For jigging the snap goes straight to the jig. For live baiting I tie two separate rigs, one is simply a short line (30cm?) with a loop in the end for putting a snapper lead on with a swivel at the top and I use light line for this around 10-15lb. The other is much heavier line around 80-100lb with a swivel at the top and snelled hooks running up to 50cm from the swivel. They are both snapped onto the snap separately just in case a fish gets me into the wreck and the lead snags it should break off leaving the second line with the hook in it free and connected to the fish. It lets me get down to them with heavy weights some times without having the leads too close to the liveys.
Democracy: Simply a system that allows the 51% to steal from the other 49%.
ok so i should keep the wind on leader??is the bimini twist the best knot to use on the double on the braid??
il try a different cam on the torsa ,cheers anthony.i was actually on my stella 20000 whith this brute ,i quickly found on some smaller fish that 30kg drag was to much for the initial bite and pulling the hooks ,so i backed it off to around 15kg ,and then just increased it from there,when i got this fish on i got the first 10m pretty easy ,i thought he was only an average size,then he realised he was hooked and off he went ,the drag quickly went back up to 30kg,im thinking now in hind sight maybe i should of backed the drag off a little as the fight went on as i had him pretty well up ,just constant heavy pressure .i think my bimini not on the double is my problem.
here i s a pic of the rats we landed,the one i lost felt 5 times as heavy
Definitely keep the wind on IMO. There simply isn't a better way to get huge protection for that bottom 10m of line and if you have some big structure that the kings love it is great insurance. I think the Bimini is very strong and u got unlucky. Because the Bimini needs to be tied perfect every time to negate breaks I stay away from it when boating and stick to the spider hitch.
Democracy: Simply a system that allows the 51% to steal from the other 49%.
I've caught hundreds & hundreds of then jigging at the Peak Opti, the trick is not to pump them up with the rod just guide them up by gently winding the reel on a very light drag.
You don't want to even let them know they're hooked.
It's not very exciting but if you want a thrill just give them a pump when they're at the boat and all hell will break loose.
My best is 35Kg cleaned on 10Kg mono, we never need to fish heavier than that.
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