Bluegill Food & Heavy Hook

Comment

Comment by Walt Foreman on February 24, 2010 at 5:01am

Would the second difference be that it's snelled?

It's interesting that you note that sometimes you cut the line on a large 'gill - I assume you're referring to times they swallow the hook, and that you've found the fish has a better chance of survival just cutting the leader than trying to remove the hook from the throat which often results in injuring the fish? I do the same thing - I almost never try to remove a swallowed hook but rather just cut the line. I know there have been studies done on mortality and that it's lower this way; of course I also read a study that said hooks don't necessarily rust out but that the fish has to pass them. Of course the size hook you use would be easier for that than a size eight.

Comment by Bruce Condello on February 23, 2010 at 10:07pm

Impressive. That's really takin' it to the limit!

Comment by Johnny wilkins on February 23, 2010 at 9:21pm

Did anyone notice another difference with this hook?

Comment by Johnny wilkins on February 23, 2010 at 9:20pm

Walt - I lose a few fish, but am able to get all of my fish off MUCH faster. I would guess I might lose 1 out of every 40 or so fish. Losing fish is a great question and Joe you had an excellent question too.
I have another model hook which has the most tiny barb which serves mostly to hold the bait on. What I find the majority of the time is that the hard mouth of the bluegill provides capacity in that hook Once the J is around that hard upper jaw, it rarely, rarely pops out. I will be excited this Spring to figure out just how many I lose on a catch of 200 fish and will report back. I will say this, I lose fish mostly because I am in a hurry to fly them in- not because the hook has released. I have a technique where I fly them in and bounce them off my chest -straight into the keep net. Sometimes in the air they hit my chest and flex and then go flying past the net.
Joe - the rig determines when the swallow the hook. I can adjust how far or how little I want that hook to go in their mouth. If they are swallowing the bait- I move the shot closer to the hook. Shorter distance between the split shot and hook creates a smaller pendulum.
When fish sip the bait in the water column, the long pendulum (shot far away from hook maybe 12" away) will swing without resistance. As I go to a 6" pendulum- move the shot down to the hook, it swings less quickly. Because the fish are generally sipping at the same strength as a group - pressure, water temperature, desire to feed, the hook then hits every fish dead center in the middle of their lip. Easy in, easy out.
When they are really aggressive, I will have the shot as close as 3" from the hook. Thus- the fish must sip in the weights as well.
Lastly - I have the best single hook remover available. I keep a couple in the tackle box. Place the end on the line, slide down to hook, bump, twist and out it comes in :03 seconds. In very rare circumstances - say a specimen giant gill, I do cut the light leader and release the fish. I damage fewer than .05% of the fish I catch - I have tested that because I usually keep them until the end of my session to make sure they swim away strongly. Sorry for the long post.

Comment by Xeev Xwm Vang on February 23, 2010 at 3:11pm

cool.

Comment by Joe Hinton on February 23, 2010 at 1:40pm

That's a really small hook there, John. Don't the fish tend to swallow the pretty often ? How do you remove it without killing the fish ?

Comment by Walt Foreman on February 23, 2010 at 12:57pm

That's fascinating stuff, John. Is that a barbless hook? How often do you lose fish with it?

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