Topwater Caranx Ignobilis: Giant Trevally (GT) > Tackle & Techniques

Discussion on various trebles

(1/9) > >>

Brandon Khoo:
this topic has been split from the thread on a trip report to New Caledonia in Janaury 2011 by Brandon Khoo. It continues a discussion on the use of lighter gauge trebles

ST-66s are not as strong as other hooks in the market but I don't see much difference between then and the Fishermans or Decoys in an equivalent size. Over time, I've straightened pretty much every hook in the market and even an ST-76 last year in Elusive. if a fish is able to exert direct pressure on the hook (s), it is going to be in trouble.

 The advantage of the thinner guage is it goes in much easier and I strongly suspect that I have better hook-ups with them than the heavier guage hooks. Conventional wisdom is to strike a few times really hard to drive the hooks home. After popping for so many years, I think I've come to the view that the striking is often futile if the fish has a solid hold of the lure in its teeth. In the past. I've been dumb enough to fish PE12 on a SP78UHL.   :o  ::) Yes, I know I was delusional but most of us go through that stage. I used to strike hard enough to pull a bloody tree down and I've still dropped fish almost instanteously after a few solid strikes.

I landed a 55kg, a 45kg and a couple of other slightly smaller fish during the five days on ST-66s. The only hook which was compromised was on the 55kg but that was after a 40 minutes fight and I did not lose the fish. I'd also point out Malcolm landed his monster using the Fisherman 6/0s which are not much stronger than the ST-66 in my opinion.

I just don't think the ST-66s are as weak as many people make them out to be and they do have the advantage of a lighter weight. Surface stickbaits in particular are very susceptible to weight and the heavier hooks dull their action. The difference in the action of a 200 Gamma between using ST-66s 5/0s and Decoy 10/0s is very significant.

It's a compromise at the end of the day and I am currently using the ST-66s again at this point in time.

Rick Smith:
Ever hear of anybody using the 6x vmc trebles? I realize they are not especially popular...

Aaron Concord:
Rick,

I still run 6x VMC's on smaller lures.
It's more about the lack of bigger sizes in the VMC's than their strength.
I had a bugger of a time re-fitting lures that needed bigger than 4/0's until the likes of Owner, Fisherman and Decoy trebles started to filter into the country.
Most GT lures require at least a 4/0 or larger and that's where the 5/0 to 10/0 sizes from the Japanese companies come into their own.

Brandon,
My largest GT came in on ST-66's too.  I feel the same way about penetration vs meaty looking reef pick style hooks.  A hook that is only partially into the fish will bend far more easily than a light hook that has jaw bone right up to the bend.
I stuffed up 4 big fish in a row off Townsville in 04 when I tried an 8/0 Recorder as a belly treble.
It didn't matter how hard I belted those fish using Eddie Kazama's big red Fisherman stick, they just fell out!
I had never had that happen before and I have been wary since.

Aaron.

Mark Harris:
Brandon this is a very interesting subject and thanks for your updated insights. Hooks are probably far more important than other tackle that gets discussed far more widely!

I routinely use Owner ST76 in 5/0 and sometimes 4/0 on smaller poppers and sticks. Have steered away from ST66s as they look as they will not stand-up to a large GT. Fishermans and Recorders are right out due to the price (and the fact that Fisherman is not a hook maker!) and I don't especially like Decoys as I have straightened these.

The point about a better hookup from the thinner gauge hook had honestly never occurred to me. It does though make inherent sense. The fact that ST66s stood up to the almighty task you placed on them recently in New Cal tells me a lot. I can certainly see myself giving these smaller gauge hooks a go and saving a fair bit of money along the way.

If ST66s will stand up to large GTs then I guess Gamakatsu Treble 16s 5/0 probably will as well (?) as the steel size looks very similar. I have a few boxes of those stored away in the "look too flimsy" category :).

Aaron Concord:
Mark,

A lot of GT's including a couple of the bigger sized GT's landed on Nomad back in the early 2000's were on Treble 16 5/0's since there were nothing else around in a large treble.  Not in Australia anyway and certainly not in any quantity.
We bent a heap of them though we rarely lost a fish outright due to hook failure.
Admittedly, it was before the time of PE 10-12 class rods and 16+ kilos of drags too.
That was our motivation to look toward heavier hooks: the evolution in larger lures, heavier braid and mega drag settings.
It was a 'stop it or pop it' mentality in a number of locales where big GT's looked as though they needed a fair degree of bullying to stop them busting you up.
With the increase of drag and braid, all of the terminals were upgraded to a very heavy calibre, though I reckon we missed some great fish we should not have by sticking to slightly less heavy hooks.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.............

Aaron.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page