Fishing A Deep Line - Hook Up Ratio Not Too Good

[Mike]

I generally do the lazy man deep line that consist of a 6oz egg weight threaded through the line and a rubberband to hold it there..

When fishing a live bait, i sometime put a treble hook in the back, but usually just a jhook.

We get quite a bit of bites on this line, but rarely are glued to the fish...

Should I be fishing ZERO drag on this and let the fish eat it?

When i slow troll, i like to put it on a release clip, but with the weight there i dont think it is needed...

Thanks
Mike

[bajakian]

Mike

I think it all depends on the kinds of bites that you are missing. If they are short strikes with very clean edges they are probably wahoo so I would use a trailing hook on wire embedded in the back of the bait. I would not use trebles for wahoo because they hit so hard that they can pull the hook particularly if foul hooked. I would use an ultra sharp Mustad or owner hook to ensure a solid hook up. Trebles do work ok on kingfish. I would not fish with no drag since a strong wahoo bite could result in a birds nest a loss of the fish. If you want to get the bait down without any weight you could try hooking it behind the anal fin.

If you are fishing the bottom and missing the fish, I would try using an appropriate sized circle hook with your bait. They are almost fool proof and all you have to do when you get a bite is reel. There is no need to set the hook. In this scenario, I would be letting out line and thumbing the reel to prevent a fish smoking you.

If there is something else that I have not answered feel free to PM me.

Richard

[Mike]

sounds good.. I plan on using circle hooks a lot more this year...

We missed a sailfish on saturday that hit the deep line and came up... it was a hook in the nose of a herring that was being slow trolled.