"HK" wrote in message
...

I use light wire circle hooks for drift fishing and bottom fishing in the
Bay. I've always got a rod handy for sight fishing or to cast a lure into
a pod of breaking fish, but on those lures I do not use circle hooks. Gave
up trolling for fish years ago. I just can't tolerate the mindlessness of
it.


Sure doesn't seem like much of a 'sport'.
Throw out a line & hook... drive boat around slowly until some hapless fish
gets snagged.
......... and people say watching sailboat racing is
boring....................

"Don White" wrote in message
...

"HK" wrote in message
...

I use light wire circle hooks for drift fishing and bottom fishing in the
Bay. I've always got a rod handy for sight fishing or to cast a lure into
a pod of breaking fish, but on those lures I do not use circle hooks.
Gave up trolling for fish years ago. I just can't tolerate the
mindlessness of it.


Sure doesn't seem like much of a 'sport'.
Throw out a line & hook... drive boat around slowly until some hapless
fish gets snagged.
........ and people say watching sailboat racing is
boring....................


Until you have 3 tuna hit your spread at the same time, or a 35lb bull
dolphin grey-hound across the top of the water, I really can't explain the
excitement that trolling brings to fishing.

And I don't just "throw out a line and hook". I have anywhere from 4-6 rods
out at a time that we're constantly working/adjusting, two of them off
outriggers. Meanwhile, the captain is constantly looking for temperature
breaks, upwellings, debris, weedlines, rips, or birds working schools of
fish.

This isn't like pulling a little Rapala minnow behind your johnboat in
search of a 3 pound walleye.

NOYB wrote:
"Don White" wrote in message
...
"HK" wrote in message
...
I use light wire circle hooks for drift fishing and bottom fishing in the
Bay. I've always got a rod handy for sight fishing or to cast a lure into
a pod of breaking fish, but on those lures I do not use circle hooks.
Gave up trolling for fish years ago. I just can't tolerate the
mindlessness of it.

Sure doesn't seem like much of a 'sport'.
Throw out a line & hook... drive boat around slowly until some hapless
fish gets snagged.
........ and people say watching sailboat racing is
boring....................


Until you have 3 tuna hit your spread at the same time, or a 35lb bull
dolphin grey-hound across the top of the water, I really can't explain the
excitement that trolling brings to fishing.

And I don't just "throw out a line and hook". I have anywhere from 4-6 rods
out at a time that we're constantly working/adjusting, two of them off
outriggers. Meanwhile, the captain is constantly looking for temperature
breaks, upwellings, debris, weedlines, rips, or birds working schools of
fish.

This isn't like pulling a little Rapala minnow behind your johnboat in
search of a 3 pound walleye.





I wouldn't do that, either. :}

On Jul 22, 9:51 am, HK wrote:
NOYB wrote:
Noboby catches more fish than a rod-holder.

And circle hooks are perfect for catching fish from the rod holder.

Here's another advantage of circle hooks:
I've caught a countless number of sharks, mackeral, and even barracuda using
circle hooks and monofilament or fluorocarbon leader all because the circle
hook lodges in the corner of the mouth away from the teeth. With a regular
J-hook, there's almost no way those fish are caught.

The one limitation to circle hooks that I have found is mid-to-high speed
trolling. The experts say that it can be done, but I don't buy it. With
the boat moving 7+ knots, the hook is jerked away from the fish on the
strike. And circle hooks don't like to be "jerked away". I alway use
j-hooks when trolling.

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 21 Jul 2007 20:41:05 -0400, "D.Duck" wrote:

I find that with circle hooks you are much less apt to gut hook the
fish.
Usually catch them in the corner of their mouth. Easier to remove the
hook
and much easier on the fish.
That's true in general, but...

I've seen circle hooks get caught in odd angles - they don't work all
the time exactly the way they are intended to work.

Depends on the bait used and how much.
I agree, but I'm still convinced they're better than other designs.
It all depends on the situation. I use circle hooks a lot when
drifting down on structure in salt water or trolling around for
walleye/lake trout - those types of fish.

For example, stripers - circle hooks have something of an advantage
because stripers are side strikers - they generally won't come at
their forage from the front/angle or rear - they almost always come at
the bait from the side which gives a circle hook an advantage.

Other fish, like large mouth, while still ambush predators, will take
forage food from an angle or from the rear which doesn't give an
advantage to circle hooks.

Size, both hook and fish, are also considerations. If you are hitting
on primarily school or second year class fish, circle hooks have no
significant advantage over others.

In JWAFM's case, circle hooks wouldn't be any advantage at all because
he tends not to use the rod for striking power. He also has a
tendency to point the rod at the fish which loosens the line and gives
the fish a change to disengage. He's not really setting with the reel
either - he's basically allowing the fish to hook it'self. He also
has a tendency to let the line slack on retrieve so he can't feel the
fish when it takes or hits - that's an issue of touch and experience.

I'll eventually break him of these habits - I have a cattle prod I can
use everytime he does it. :)

Or maybe a shock collar would be better....

Hmmmm - need to think on that.

I use light wire circle hooks for drift fishing and bottom fishing in
the Bay. I've always got a rod handy for sight fishing or to cast a lure
into a pod of breaking fish, but on those lures I do not use circle
hooks. Gave up trolling for fish years ago. I just can't tolerate the
mindlessness of it.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I troll a lot, that's why I bring a guitar and other distractions. My
boat is also set up as well for just playing around, floating and
swimming, as fishing. I dunno, it has never really bothered me that I
don't catch a lot of fish, I just love fishing. But I do want to get
better so I am working on it. Took the family to Mashapaug (400 acre,
fresh water, NE CT) the other day. Fished for a while, found a great
calico bass spot for fall, and spent the rest of the day on a little
Island with Mrs, JW, my youngest adn my dog, just floating and
sunning...

On Jul 22, 4:51 pm, wrote:
On Jul 22, 9:51 am, HK wrote:





NOYB wrote:
Noboby catches more fish than a rod-holder.

And circle hooks are perfect for catching fish from the rod holder.

Here's another advantage of circle hooks:
I've caught a countless number of sharks, mackeral, and even barracuda using
circle hooks and monofilament or fluorocarbon leader all because the circle
hook lodges in the corner of the mouth away from the teeth. With a regular
J-hook, there's almost no way those fish are caught.

The one limitation to circle hooks that I have found is mid-to-high speed
trolling. The experts say that it can be done, but I don't buy it. With
the boat moving 7+ knots, the hook is jerked away from the fish on the
strike. And circle hooks don't like to be "jerked away". I alway use
j-hooks when trolling.

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 21 Jul 2007 20:41:05 -0400, "D.Duck" wrote:

I find that with circle hooks you are much less apt to gut hook the
fish.
Usually catch them in the corner of their mouth. Easier to remove the
hook
and much easier on the fish.
That's true in general, but...

I've seen circle hooks get caught in odd angles - they don't work all
the time exactly the way they are intended to work.

Depends on the bait used and how much.
I agree, but I'm still convinced they're better than other designs.
It all depends on the situation. I use circle hooks a lot when
drifting down on structure in salt water or trolling around for
walleye/lake trout - those types of fish.

For example, stripers - circle hooks have something of an advantage
because stripers are side strikers - they generally won't come at
their forage from the front/angle or rear - they almost always come at
the bait from the side which gives a circle hook an advantage.

Other fish, like large mouth, while still ambush predators, will take
forage food from an angle or from the rear which doesn't give an
advantage to circle hooks.

Size, both hook and fish, are also considerations. If you are hitting
on primarily school or second year class fish, circle hooks have no
significant advantage over others.

In JWAFM's case, circle hooks wouldn't be any advantage at all because
he tends not to use the rod for striking power. He also has a
tendency to point the rod at the fish which loosens the line and gives
the fish a change to disengage. He's not really setting with the reel
either - he's basically allowing the fish to hook it'self. He also
has a tendency to let the line slack on retrieve so he can't feel the
fish when it takes or hits - that's an issue of touch and experience.

I'll eventually break him of these habits - I have a cattle prod I can
use everytime he does it. :)

Or maybe a shock collar would be better....

Hmmmm - need to think on that.

I use light wire circle hooks for drift fishing and bottom fishing in
the Bay. I've always got a rod handy for sight fishing or to cast a lure
into a pod of breaking fish, but on those lures I do not use circle
hooks. Gave up trolling for fish years ago. I just can't tolerate the
mindlessness of it.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I troll a lot, that's why I bring a guitar and other distractions. My
boat is also set up as well for just playing around, floating and
swimming, as fishing. I dunno, it has never really bothered me that I
don't catch a lot of fish, I just love fishing. But I do want to get
better so I am working on it. Took the family to Mashapaug (400 acre,
fresh water, NE CT) the other day. Fished for a while, found a great
calico bass spot for fall, and spent the rest of the day on a little
Island with Mrs, JW, my youngest adn my dog, just floating and
sunning... - Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

And hacking the "sicks" string, fortunately Mrs, JW said "I do" to
"worse" too !

On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 13:28:59 GMT, "NOYB" wrote:

Noboby catches more fish than a rod-holder.

And circle hooks are perfect for catching fish from the rod holder.

Here's another advantage of circle hooks:
I've caught a countless number of sharks, mackeral, and even barracuda using
circle hooks and monofilament or fluorocarbon leader all because the circle
hook lodges in the corner of the mouth away from the teeth. With a regular
J-hook, there's almost no way those fish are caught.

The one limitation to circle hooks that I have found is mid-to-high speed
trolling. The experts say that it can be done, but I don't buy it. With
the boat moving 7+ knots, the hook is jerked away from the fish on the
strike. And circle hooks don't like to be "jerked away". I alway use
j-hooks when trolling.


I agree with everything you said. Circle hooks are not good for trolling,
and rod holders provide just the right action to do the job with a circle
hook. The hardest part of keeping the fish that just took the bait is
patience. Most folks want to jerk to rod or begin reeling before the fish
has tried to escape and set the hook itself.
--
John H

On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 11:19:13 -0300, "Don White"
wrote:


"HK" wrote in message
...

I use light wire circle hooks for drift fishing and bottom fishing in the
Bay. I've always got a rod handy for sight fishing or to cast a lure into
a pod of breaking fish, but on those lures I do not use circle hooks. Gave
up trolling for fish years ago. I just can't tolerate the mindlessness of
it.


Sure doesn't seem like much of a 'sport'.
Throw out a line & hook... drive boat around slowly until some hapless fish
gets snagged.
........ and people say watching sailboat racing is
boring....................


It's a shame trolling isn't as easy as you describe. There'd be a lot more
fish caught and a lot less gas consumed! It sounds like maybe you've never
rigged a boat to go trolling, with more than one rod.
--
John H

On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 20:51:59 -0000,
wrote:

I troll a lot, that's why I bring a guitar and other distractions. My
boat is also set up as well for just playing around, floating and
swimming, as fishing. I dunno, it has never really bothered me that I
don't catch a lot of fish, I just love fishing. But I do want to get
better so I am working on it. Took the family to Mashapaug (400 acre,
fresh water, NE CT) the other day. Fished for a while, found a great
calico bass spot for fall, and spent the rest of the day on a little
Island with Mrs, JW, my youngest adn my dog, just floating and
sunning...

You want calico bass, we'll go to Black Pond.

I'm bringing the Princecraft back home now that I have a boat down
here so we've got the right boat for the pond.

Not that the Brockaway isn't a nice...er...um...craft. :)

wrote in message
oups.com...
On Jul 22, 9:51 am, HK wrote:
NOYB wrote:
Noboby catches more fish than a rod-holder.

And circle hooks are perfect for catching fish from the rod holder.

Here's another advantage of circle hooks:
I've caught a countless number of sharks, mackeral, and even barracuda
using
circle hooks and monofilament or fluorocarbon leader all because the
circle
hook lodges in the corner of the mouth away from the teeth. With a
regular
J-hook, there's almost no way those fish are caught.

The one limitation to circle hooks that I have found is mid-to-high
speed
trolling. The experts say that it can be done, but I don't buy it.
With
the boat moving 7+ knots, the hook is jerked away from the fish on the
strike. And circle hooks don't like to be "jerked away". I alway use
j-hooks when trolling.

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 21 Jul 2007 20:41:05 -0400, "D.Duck" wrote:

I find that with circle hooks you are much less apt to gut hook the
fish.
Usually catch them in the corner of their mouth. Easier to remove
the
hook
and much easier on the fish.
That's true in general, but...

I've seen circle hooks get caught in odd angles - they don't work
all
the time exactly the way they are intended to work.

Depends on the bait used and how much.
I agree, but I'm still convinced they're better than other designs.
It all depends on the situation. I use circle hooks a lot when
drifting down on structure in salt water or trolling around for
walleye/lake trout - those types of fish.

For example, stripers - circle hooks have something of an advantage
because stripers are side strikers - they generally won't come at
their forage from the front/angle or rear - they almost always come at
the bait from the side which gives a circle hook an advantage.

Other fish, like large mouth, while still ambush predators, will take
forage food from an angle or from the rear which doesn't give an
advantage to circle hooks.

Size, both hook and fish, are also considerations. If you are hitting
on primarily school or second year class fish, circle hooks have no
significant advantage over others.

In JWAFM's case, circle hooks wouldn't be any advantage at all because
he tends not to use the rod for striking power. He also has a
tendency to point the rod at the fish which loosens the line and gives
the fish a change to disengage. He's not really setting with the reel
either - he's basically allowing the fish to hook it'self. He also
has a tendency to let the line slack on retrieve so he can't feel the
fish when it takes or hits - that's an issue of touch and experience.

I'll eventually break him of these habits - I have a cattle prod I can
use everytime he does it. :)

Or maybe a shock collar would be better....

Hmmmm - need to think on that.

I use light wire circle hooks for drift fishing and bottom fishing in
the Bay. I've always got a rod handy for sight fishing or to cast a lure
into a pod of breaking fish, but on those lures I do not use circle
hooks. Gave up trolling for fish years ago. I just can't tolerate the
mindlessness of it.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I troll a lot, that's why I bring a guitar and other distractions.

Why does John Belushi's scene from Animal House (breaking apart a guitar)
come to mind? ;-)

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 20:51:59 -0000,
wrote:

I troll a lot, that's why I bring a guitar and other distractions. My
boat is also set up as well for just playing around, floating and
swimming, as fishing. I dunno, it has never really bothered me that I
don't catch a lot of fish, I just love fishing. But I do want to get
better so I am working on it. Took the family to Mashapaug (400 acre,
fresh water, NE CT) the other day. Fished for a while, found a great
calico bass spot for fall, and spent the rest of the day on a little
Island with Mrs, JW, my youngest adn my dog, just floating and
sunning...

You want calico bass, we'll go to Black Pond.

I'm bringing the Princecraft back home now that I have a boat down
here so we've got the right boat for the pond.

Not that the Brockaway isn't a nice...er...um...craft. :)


What? You found some marginal dealer who sells etec-rigged boats? :}