Morning Glory Part II

[Makaira]

Set out at after lunch at about 2pm on Friday. Holy smoke!!!!!!!! We did not check the PSI reading before heading out, but it must have been waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy over 100. Visibility was less than 2km, so we made our way very carefully to the buoy we normally jig for bait. Not much bait to be had, so we decided to head straight out to the first spot. We got hit by a squall, but lucky for us, it subsided in double quick time and we settled down for the late afternoon’s fishing. Nothing eventful at all until at about 6pm when some denizen of the deep woofed down our BIG bait. Rod arched over; game over . The structure claimed another victim. The running count is now Fish 7 – Angler 0. As the sky was getting prematurely dark; no thanks to the haze, we upped the anchor & headed for the night spot.

A very tough night of fishing -- one small angcho, two groupers, a couple of pearl perches and a handful of timuns. The squids were around but were holding very deep because the water was exceptionally clear. Had to use a live squid teaser to bring them up one or two at a time for the net. Managed to get quite a number of live squids, but the fish just wasn’t co-operating. It was a long and painfully boring night of fishing . Dawn seemed to take forever to break. The bewitching hour for angcho produced nothing. By about 6:30am, we were pretty demoralized .

Since we had quite a number of live squids left in the bait tank, we decided to try a particular spot that occasionally produced daytime angcho when we had live squids, so off we went. Alas, the current was raging and nothing but bait stealers chomping away on our beautiful live squids. Not good, we told ourselves, and as it we had a few more hours before one of our buddies had an appointment, we decided to head back to the spot to seek revenge on the giant groupers.

The current was running nicely and we anchored spot on. Out went the baits, staggered nicely using different sized sinkers. Within 15 minutes, my buddy's rod tip dipped and it was on. Up came a nice grouper of about 4-5kg. As it went into the icebox, my rod signalled a take. The tip started to arch down, a few quick cranks to set the hook (circle hooks so no striking) and I was on!!! The GUSA SW65H went into a beautiful bend & my tiny orange 870N was performing flawlessly as usual. Eight to ten minutes later, we could see colour & up came the fish. It was joy all round as we finally managed to bring one up after 7 miserable losses. I was especially happy because both 10kg plus specimens so far this season were landed by this set This fish pulled the boga beyond its 30lb limit. Over the next 15 minutes, we had two more misses; one missed the hook, as for the other, the circle hook buried its tip into the bait & therefore could not register a hookup. There were no more signs of life for the next hour and it was time to head back to the marina. So endeth this catch report.

[stickbom!]

FWAH!

Wonderful stuff Field Marshall!! Time to bring out the bigger jigs... HAHAHA!

Just curious, what circle hook are you using and what kind of knot do you use to attach your FC to it?

[edylie]

Awesome catches for local water man!!!

Finally KK 1 and Grouper 7


Cheers,
Edy

[Makaira]

Originally Posted by stickbom!

Just curious, what circle hook are you using and what kind of knot do you use to attach your FC to it?

Hi Mikey,

Good question. We've always been using the Mutu circle lights. This was the first time we tried out the Owner SSW INLINE CIRCLE HOOK (5/0).

http://www.ownerhooks.com/pages/prod...irclehooks.htm

Here are some initial observations.

1. I like the wire gauge. Appears slightly thicker than the Mutu lights, but not too thick to affect bait presentation too much imho.

2. No gut hook (so far) compare to the Mutu Light which has a very high incidence of gut hook eventhough they are circles. Every fish I caught with the inline circle last night was hooked on the mouth.

3. The bad thing is that with the inline circle, the hook tend to turn itself on the bait. This resulted in one lost biggie. Through out the night, I noticed that the bait would come back with the tip buried into the bait occasionally. Didn't think much of it until the lost bite the next morning. My buddy also noticed the same problem. Anyways, the 14kg fish was caught with the inline circle squarely hooked at the corner of the mouth, just the way it should be with a circle.

Knot-wise, I either snell the hook with the leader going towards the hook point through the eye of the hook, or I simply use a uniknot.

Best regards,
Makaira

[MarkR]

Revenge is sweet...yeah! Great write-up and awesome local grouper!

[stickbom!]

Thanks for the input Makaira! Are the SSW Inline Circles available locally? Personally I find that the leader tends to break easier if the hook eye is straight and you try to pass the leader throught it after snelling. Its not so obvious with heavier leaders but if you try it on, say 30lb leader, you can tell the straight eye actually breaks your leader very easily. I prefer Clinch knot/Uni knot/Palomar knot when using hooks with a straight eye.

Yeah the Mutus are pretty good at gut hooking fish... despite being a so called circle hook. Stopped using them for a while now because I've had too many sailfish hooked in the gut during my Rompin escapades years ago. I'm pretty happy with the Mustad Demon Lights but the wire on them is really thin and I've deformed quite a few when unhooking fish. Been looking for something like the SSW Inline! Anyone tried the medium wire Gamakatsu Circles?

[rascal]

Hi Makaira

That's pretty good action and a biggie. Envy!
We visited your playground on Wednesday, from 9am to 6pm the 8 of us only had 1 miserable bite. Well not miserable, it was a strong take and a 9kg grouper was brought up. After that there was none, not a single bite. Guess it's one of those days. Thus, we're now planning our revenge.
Once again, envy!

[Makaira]

Originally Posted by stickbom!

Are the SSW Inline Circles availble locally? Personally I find that the leader tends to break easier if the hook eye is straight and you try to pass the leader throught it after snelling. Its not so obvious with heavier leaders but if you try it on, say 30lb leader, you can tell the straight eye actually breaks your leader very easily.

My friend got them in bulk packs of 37 hooks from Sabre for $20 or something like that.

Yes, you are right. The leader will run a higher chance of breaking on thinner diameter if you thread it though the straight eye towards the hook point. That, unfortunately, is suppose to be the correct way to tie a circle hook to make it works the way it is suppose to work. Anyway, I simply use a uniknot these days, a lot easier to retie hook to leader on a rocking boat.

[stickbom!]

Thank dude... will see if my buddy can swing by Sabre and pick up a pack for me before next Sunday By the way, did the grouper bloat and feel like dead weight halfway up?

[MarkR]

I used too fish with a guy who says he pioneered the use of circle hooks for Rompin billfish. No reason to doubt him, pretty experienced fisherman and was one of the first Rompin guides for Glen Chee.

He doesn't snell nor use a uni-knot for his Owner mutu lights. What he taught me to do was to tie a small Rapala knot (creating a loop) for the Owner mutu lights. I've used the Rapala knot for mutu lights to target Rompin sails many times and it has held up pretty well, hook-up ratio is also good but bear in mind the loop has to be small. We used to hold the record for most number of sails caught in one day on a Rompin boat- 25 landed in one day with Ah Kai some years back.

When i'm lazy however, I just do the snell and thread it through the straight eye

[stickbom!]

hmmm... there was some debate on another forum sometime ago about tying loops or soldering rings onto circles. While some folks claim that a free swinging circle works best, others thinks its a complete waste of time. I've used em all and somehow everything worked. I'll still stay clear from passing my leader through a straight eye when snelling though

[DaFrogman]

Mak,

Awesome catch dude, I haven't tried the SSW CIrcles, yet, just the Super amd Light Mutus.

Actually, I reckon the offset SSW Circles in the link you gave are the business to prevent the point burying itself in the bait, but soem people do say that offset hooks tend to gut hook more.

Great catch anyway, strangely enough the weather is cooperating here, but with Hari Raya Aidilfitri due in the next day or 2, my hands (and gear) are tied....

Once again dude, great catch for your local waters.

Saimee

[stickbom!]

What you doing here Saimee!! Shoo shoo!! Go help your Mrs make more Kuay kuay!!! LOL... Selamat Hari Raya to everyone @ home and the crew dude. Have a good one

[Sashimi]

That's a big grouper! Very NICE!!!

[DaFrogman]

Originally Posted by stickbom!

What you doing here Saimee!! Shoo shoo!! Go help your Mrs make more Kuay kuay!!! LOL... Selamat Hari Raya to everyone @ home and the crew dude. Have a good one

Mikey,

SHHHHHH!!!!!..... I have just completed my "Hardware" chores for the night and have sneaked to my laptop in my workshop..... Thanks for the wishes and I will pass on your salutations to the family and crew....

Sighhhhh..... sea so calm, moonphase just right.... maybe this'll hold for another 2 weeks... (yeah RIGHT!!!)

Saimee

[Makaira]

Originally Posted by rascal

Hi Makaira

That's pretty good action and a biggie. Envy!
We visited your playground on Wednesday, from 9am to 6pm the 8 of us only had 1 miserable bite. Well not miserable, it was a strong take and a 9kg grouper was brought up. After that there was none, not a single bite. Guess it's one of those days. Thus, we're now planning our revenge.
Once again, envy!

Hi Rascal,

If you are talking about the same playground , it is essentially a hit or miss spot. The 9kg fish you guys got there would qualify as a success. That is why very few charters are willing to take customers there. If anglers expect high catch rate, they will most likely be disappointed. Zero catch is actually pretty normal for that spot. Imho, for better catch rates, overnight will give you a higher chance. Keep us posted on the "revenge" trip.

Best regards,
Makaira

[rascal]

Howdy Makaira

Have to agree that catching 9kg grouper makes a successful outing but wished we had a couple more bites n bust offs to make the day more exciting. Well, that's fishing. Spoke to the charter skipper yesterday, seems his trips to the spot (over in the east) has produced just over 20 big groupers thus far. We've picked a date for a night outing but we'll be heading west instead of doing a revenge trip. Cheers!

[Makaira]

Originally Posted by rascal

Howdy Makaira

Have to agree that catching 9kg grouper makes a successful outing but wished we had a couple more bites n bust offs to make the day more exciting. Well, that's fishing. Spoke to the charter skipper yesterday, seems his trips to the spot (over in the east) has produced just over 20 big groupers thus far. We've picked a date for a night outing but we'll be heading west instead of doing a revenge trip. Cheers!

Looking forward to the Catch Report of your trip to the western end of Singapore. I hear the angchos are firing again!!! Good Luck!!!

[rascal]

Thanks Makaira, our outing isn't till the following week. I will post a Catch Report if we catch something. Cheers!