How to stop catching small fish?

[gonefishing]

What size hook do i need to use to stop small fish taking the bait. It becomes a bit of a joke when a less than palm size bass will take a 4/0 and a 4in plaice will take a 2/0...im seriously considering debarbing my hooks after tonight, but im concerned that it wont make much difference to the greedy gobblers, or i may lose flatties that seem to swim with the hook even against tide.

[SandTiger]

Debarbing must make a difference to the throat-hooked lilluns?

 

Discuss...

[Davy Holt]

Hiya,

 

Probably not, a de barbed hook will penetrate more than a barbed hook which on normal sized fish is fine but on small deep hooked fish you are looking at the ability to cause untold damage internally to the fish due to the size of the hook in relation to the size of the fish.

 

best bet would be to hit bites earlier or use "circle" hooks, if you are constantly deep hooking fish then you are doing something very wrong

 

As for loosing fish on barbless... nope if you keep your line tight at all times they are no different to normal hooks.

[Jim Roper]

Put a small fish on as bait!

[Kieran Hanrahan]

Boy do I hear you in relation to hook size and small fish!

 

I had a 1 lb coalfish take a 6/0 loaded with a whole joey mackerel, hard to believe it even with the fish in front of me.

 

If the surf is really big (and presumably the same goes for strong currents), my experience is that only the larger bass or other fish will forage as the smaller fish get knocked about or find it too energy sapping. This means being prepared to fish in the stormier conditions.

 

If you locate a shoal of small fish, put on an extra big bait and cast to the edge / beyond / in front as the larger specimens seem to frequest the edges or you might pick up a predator hunting the smaller fish...

 

If a small bass has taken a 4/0 then a pennel rig set of 5/0s or even 6/0s should not scare a big un! But you might miss out on the fishing!

[spasor]

gonefishing.

The simple answer is? You can`t!!

3 years ago whilst anchoring a wreck in Lyme bay aboard `Our Joel`, the crewman John. Whilst offering half a side of a large mackeral ( head still on), mounted on a 10/0 hook. Caught a

4lb 8oz black bream!! ( Picture can be seen on the stairs of Paignton sea angling club)

I generally use a size 2 hook for black bream because they don`t have the cavernous mouth of other smaller fish? But this one managed to get fairly hooked on a 10/0. The hook was half the size of the fishes head! You`d be hard pushed to force a hook that size into a fishes mouth?

No. Small fish don`t take the hook into their mouths. They just happen to get caught on the barb whilst picking at their dinner..

Having said that, I`ve caught small plaice who`ve swallowed 4/0 hooks.

Maybe they`re just too ambitious?

Paul.

[gonefishing]

i hear what you say about deep hooking, luckily only one had a nasty one, the others came out clean through the gills or where hooked clean.

 

The problem is that these little guys give such a slight bite that its barely percerptible on anything but a mill pond still day even on a carp rod...the only time i know they're on is when the line goes slack and thats it...they just sit on the bait and gobble. Its the flatfish that are the main problem, the small bass are just a pain for the most part but when theyre bad they gobble bait down the throat within seconds of it settling. At least they tend to run away an give the rod some more movement to let you know their on. The bass are more of an annoyance than a problem with swallowing hooks.

 

What are these circular hooks your talking about...?

 

I think ill stick to big hooks for the bass, but im up for ideas for flatties...

[spasor]

gonefishing.

If I understand the science behind circle hooks??

The barb of the hook ( well the whole hook itself) swings into such a position as to hook fish in the scissors of the jaws when you pull on the line?

I know they work. Well at least my mates say they`ve gut-hooked far fewer fish since switching to them.

For myself? I like to keep the rod in my hand, even for the slightest twitch from big skate!

Paul.

[Newt]

I love the circle hooks for any fish with a 'normal' mouth - that is with a boney jaw. If the fish happens to swollow the hook, it will usually pop right out of the gut and hook in the scissors or in the lip behind the bony ridge.

 

My favorite is the Gamakatsu Octopus Circle pattern.

 

But there are quite a few others. Here's a Mustad hook that is similar. I just don't like the narrow gape (point to shaft distance) as well as I do the wider one with the Gammy hook.

 

Our smaller channel catfish (fresh water) are horrible for doing as described and just lying on a bait and eating it. Often the thing is deep inside when you either notice a twitch, notice the line moving slowly away to one side or another, or pull in to recast and then find out you have a fish on. With most hooks it's either work at getting it out, cutting it off, or killing the fish. With circle hooks, you can usually make a firm pull on the line and the whole thing will just pop out. When the fish does the same in the water by starting a run, the hook gets to the mouth and usually just locks right in.

 

And when a fish is hooked with one of these, they very rarely get loose until you have boated them and removed the hook.

 

[ 10. February 2004, 03:54 AM: Message edited by: Newt ]

[gonefishing]

hmm...that sounds worth giving a go for sure.

 

anywhere online that does them and is there a conversion needed to be equivalent to normal hook sizes?