Flounders & Dabs

[Ken Davison South Wales]

When fishing a sliding ledger with flowing trace in tidal estuaries almost every trip I catch a fish that has swallowed the hook down well past the gills.

 

I have purchased a new disgorger advertised on this site but on my last trip I was still unable to remove the hook from an under size dab without causing damage to the gills.

 

I think the problem arises because the fish swims up tide to take the bait and you are unable to detect a bite because of the slack line between the hook and the weight.

 

When fishing a two hook flapper the problem does not occur so much, but the catch rate drops I think because the bait is not so well presented.

 

I normally use a 4' flowing trace as light as possible to give the bait what I think is a better presentation.

 

Does anyone else have the same results?

 

Any ideas on how to solve?

[Kieran Hanrahan]

Hi Ken

 

Use a circle hook, I had this problem too and found using a VMC 1/0 reduces it to almost nil as the fish will effectively lip hook themselves, particularly useful on rigs such as you mentioned. Some people have recommended that I use a smaller hook but (a) I can not find circle hooks below 1/0 in size and ( I take the contradictory view that a larger hook has the effect of excluding very small fish from being taken in that they are unable to swallow the hook...

 

FWIW

[Bob on Stronsay]

I know it different species but the last three fish I have caught from a boat have been on a sliding ledger with circle hooks. The two I caught at scrabster and a 7 ½ lb Cod on my last boat trip. All three fish were cleanly hooked in the lips and bite detection was good. I will be trying the same rig with circles for flatties from the beach at the weekend and let you know how I get on.

 

Bob

[spanner]

I go with circles as well on flatty rigs, for exactly the same reason, I hate deep hooked wee flatties that I want to put back. I usually go with a 1/0 or 2/0 eagle claw barbless to try and avoid the smaller fish but still get little palm sized flatties with the whole thing stuffed down their gullet....but with a firm pull the whole lot slides out witout the point ever hooking them.

[Westie]

I'm really interested in this idea of circle hooks for flatties. Any particular brands of hook to consider? Also, any significant problems baiting up with angry rag on circle hooks? I find it difficult enough with standard J hooks sometimes! (I suppose the simple answer is "use lug"!)

 

Might start another thread...

[Ken Davison South Wales]

I use 3' to 4' of 8 or 10lb line a small swivel, then a bead 4" of semi rigid fine tube another bead and then the sliding ledger with a 2, 3, 4oz flat weight depending on the tide designed to bury its' self in the silt. It works very well very few tangles around the lead.

 

On slack or slow water or fishing from the main surf beach bites are always detectable, even the slightest touch of a crab. When the tide is running even large flounders seem to take the bait facing up stream, at a guess they move up stream with the bait little by little as they take it in. When they swim of all hell lets loose.

 

I use the same traces for bass and whiting and there is no mistake when they take, even a 6" bass will give a hit like a 3lb fish.

 

I will try changing my hooks this weekend.

[kentangler]

I also go with the idea that a slightly larger hook excludes tiny fish. It is surprising though how small fish can take a larger hook.

[Andy MacBog]

Yeah!

 

Those wee peskie dabs seem to be real experts at it. I had one that managed to thread its way onto a 4/O loaded with worm for cod!

[Kieran Hanrahan]

There's another thread here... what's the smallest fish you have caught on the biggest hook?

 

For myself it was a shorthorn sculpin, only last October, no more than 15 cms and half of that was the mouth (!) on a standard J shaped 3/0 hook baited with a big lump of mackerel.

[M.P]

A friend of mine told me that he has a perfect solution to prevent gut hooking. Not tried it myself yet, but heres how it is done.

 

Buy a packet of large sequins, slip a sequin onto your hook shank, then fill the rest will bait, Simple. He says it works perfect,helps keep your traces out straight in the tide flow, and also attracts more fish...Worth a try i suppose.