head-rigged poppers circa 2013

[Corey Howell]

very much out of the loop up here in the Sols, but being totally committed to running head-rigged poppers - for the sake of the fish and the odd hapless angler who ends up with a hook in them instead of in a GT - keen to hear how broadly the head-rigged single hook is being adopted.  any charter operators aside from Nomad insisting on rigging single? the difference in releasing GT hooked with a big single in the jaw hinge vs one with two trebles worth of facial reconstruction......no contest, but also appreciate anglers spending $$$ on their once-a-year are prone to hedging their bets when it comes to landing every fish they can - appreciate any feedback on how anglers - and the GT industry - are running with this

[Luke Wyrsta]

There's no doubt that head-rigged assists provide for an ideal hook placement with lower risk of pulling hooks. However, on the otherhand - the hook-up ratio is very poor.

Hook retention fantastic, opportunity conversion poor.

My fishing and the practices I teach is that all fishing should be considered and applied on the actual circumstances, variables and environment presented. This means I fish a variety of hook types and configurations.

A majority of lures are designed to be fished with trebles. The hook exposure is superior to singles, however, the damage can be significant. It's encouraging to see a number of boutique lure craftsmen addressing the industry with poppers and stickbaits suited to running single hook configurations. It's always going to be a trade off with single hooks providing poor hook exposure and unfavorable characteristics in respect to working with a lure to swim and sometimes enhance action. I still observe the occasional foul hooked GT via singles which is an absolute nightmare to fish - the rear single placement is perfect for hook-up in gill-plate, gulls and flank.

At the end of the day, we need to accept some things for what they are. Trebles, in my opinion, will always have a place in GT fishing. Singles, are becoming increasingly popular and I will use them when the conditions dictate (such as high-level, frenzied feeding where GTs coming back for multiple attacks is a sure thing).

GT fishing is the ultimate hunt. We need to find the right compromise between catching our quarry whilst promoting the safes and most efficient means to both fish and angler.

Luke

[Corey Howell]

thanks for the insight Luke!

[Trevor Skinner]

Brandon,

I need a 'like' button for Luke's post.



Trevor

[Corey Howell]

living in GT country one can be afford to be a helluva lot more forgiving when it comes to strike/hookup ratio than those of us who have just the regulation <expensive> week or two in the zone

its also a dark art interpreting whether missed strikes are due to head-rigged single or just GTs being in that half-arsed mood that no luremaker or fisherman can do anything about

interesting to compare evolution of singles-for-GTs with that of the circles-for-billfish history, many similarities. esp as GT fishing keeps growing. we all want to connect on that crazy smashing head-and-shoulders-out-of-the-water strike - but no one enjoys having to extract a pair of embedded trebles from a big old GT. hopefully developments in lure/hook design will move GT fishing towards the sort of hookup AND healthy release rates that allowed Ron Hamlin and colleagues to convince all those mega $ anglers to switch from J-hooks to circles

again, thanks for the insight Luke - great to be able to throw these ideas around

be great to hear from anyone out there with feedback on healthier releases

thanks!

Corey

[Luke Wyrsta]

Some valid comments there Corey.

I am all for GT conservation. We have been instrumental in this initiative amongst others, encouraging the catch and release ethos via the most practical and safe practices.

I look forward to seeing how the industry progresses in the future. I will always support the use of single hooks, however, in some instances they can be akin to throwing a hookless popper - reminding me of a recent expedition where no a hook-up ratio of 1 to 20 would've been rather generous.

I don't think anglers should be frowned upon using barbless trebles as opposed to singles, this is fishing afterall. We can rest assured that as a global GT community that we are amongst some of the most conservation minded and preservation aware anglers in the world.

Luke

[Corey Howell]

We can rest assured that as a global GT community that we are amongst some of the most conservation minded and preservation aware anglers in the world.


true that!!!

[Corey Howell]

ok. barbless trebs representing a happier medium between landing fish and releasing em in good condition

any prefs out there regards hook type/brand ? filing off barbs on ST-76's or is there a better option?

[Mark Harris]

Highly recommend you use proper barbless trebles Corey. Apart from anything else you are then supporting the manufacturer who has the correct ethics. In the GT world that means Gamakatsu GT Recorders. The only problem with these is availability - not always easy to find and sometimes, impossible.

I am actually pissed off that major Japanese companies have only this year released new trebles clearly designed for GT fishing and they are barbed. Sends completely the wrong message.  This is of course demand-led and tells us that many GT anglers out there still prefer barbed trebles. It needs more anglers to put their hand up and not buy them.

As for singles, I really like using the head/assist rigging on chuggers and some sinking stickbaits. Hook ups are so good, but as Luke said, you will miss more fish. And on some lures the head rigged assist will kill the action altogether. It is a matter of trial and error - you soon figure it out.

[Corey Howell]

thanks Mark! appears the industry's got some serious catching up to do. if its that tough sourcing responsible hooks from there, from out here in the islands and most other GT destinations........

recall when Billfish Foundation, IGFA, Ron Hamlin, and some other dedicated organisations and industry people really got behind the circle hook and bingo - cheap and widely available. i guess for this sort of thing to happen with GT tackle it needs to come from Japan and not the US.

have actually been using filed-off trebs for front hook on floating stick baits as bakers kept fouling

pity not more lures as single-friendly as these big GT Ice Creams

[Luke Wyrsta]

I can understand both sides. They won't lock out customers that also use these hooks with barbs (and for other applications such as large trolling divers and vibes etc). Whereas manufacturing the hook with the barb allows anglers to grind/file and remove the barb themselves. In a business where product is small QTY, materials are high quality and margins are overall tiny compared to many other fishing sectors - it's definitely a business decision.

If Japanese anglers fished with more barbed hooks - then perhaps this will change as you mention Mark. It's interesting to see more Japanesr anglers also fishing with single hooks.

Luke

[Corey Howell]

It's interesting to see more Japanesr anglers also fishing with single hooks.

[/quote]

thats good to hear

[Antonino Augugliaro]

I'm a really rookie in GT fishing and off shore fishing in general, so please consider this intervention as it is.
Speaking of poppers, I have had positive results using a single treble in the belly. The popper was balanced in the tail by a large willow leaf blade, but I think it would balance in so many ways (for example, the Hammer head G cup short method).
Benefits identified:
a) I have selected the size of the GT, smaller specimens were attacking the blade and did not stay hooked, the larger species attacked whit violence, swallowing it.
b) the fish were not damaged after fight (I think that the presence of 2 Trebles produce levers and twisting in the mouth of the fish, with consequent damage. The single treble did not show similar dynamics).

Unfortunately, I tried this solution not enough and can not tell you if there are also negative aspects. Hope that someone will try it more to understand better positive and negative aspects.

What is important is to use everytime barbless Trebles

[Andy Rowe]

On my last 3 trips i have practiced use of de-barbed singles almost exclusively on GT lures, stick baits included, (except for gammas, still working on this though). I have not done it with every popular type of popper out there but have found either tow point and tail or belly and tail single hook arrangements work fine, for skipjacks, GT3, GT2, hammerheads and a couple of the shell shaping poppers whose name escapes me. For stickbaits i have tried blue fish, craft real baits, and heru ulua's with singles on the belly and tail. Not presuming any statistical precedence here but successful captures have either equaled or bettered others on board using trebles, essentially no issue.

Based on what I have seen I don't think there is a significant disadvantage over trebles on hook up rates, when the fish are aggressive/committed I just don't think it matters. Improving hook up rates is about reading the conditions, and positioning and presenting the bait along with angler skill during the initial strike. Using singles is all about trial and error and creativity. If in the end i am proven wrong by statistics, I don't care, and am happy to live with overall lower success rate knowing I have increased the sportingness and hopefully decreased potential side effects of the capture. It's a bit zen, and not at all intended to be dogmatic, just an approach to try and improve sustainability of the game.

Corey also refer to this thread on fish handling FYI;
http://www.gtpopping.com/forum/index.php/topic,5793.0.html



 

[Luke Wyrsta]

Therein lies the point, when fish are in aggressive mood and staging multiple attacks - it doesn't matter what hook configuration you use. It just so happens that we can use single hooks in this scenario and achieve decent hook-up ratios.