Solo Saturday

[GPSguru]

45 minutes ago, JDP said:

Pretty sad to loose a tired fish with a gaff shot in it. Maybe think about doing this style of fishing with another person onboard for the welfare of the fish until you become experienced enough to target them solo. The truth can be harsh but this kind of report doesn't favour regulations to be changed.

The fish wasn't gaffed, probably a ‘loose’ description by Josh.

The proper name of the tool we use is a lip hook. It looks like a gaff, but is carefully inserted under the chin from the lower gill flap, or in the mouth and out of the chin gill flap. It is a safe and recognised way of holding the fish at the side of the boat for recovery whilst motoring forward at 3  - 4 knts to ensure oxygenated water is flowing over the gills.

Mine is made from 12mm stainless with a T bar handle so it can be roped if required. For the rope I use a long 24mm soft  multiplatt. i know that Josh uses the same tool.

 

Edited November 26, 2021 by GPSguru

[Josh]

On 11/25/2021 at 11:22 PM, JDP said:

Pretty sad to loose a tired fish with a gaff shot in it. Maybe think about doing this style of fishing with another person onboard for the welfare of the fish until you become experienced enough to target them solo. The truth can be harsh but this kind of report doesn't favour regulations to be changed.

Agree with you JDP

the trip was on for 2 man crew as always to be fair  general safety and costs of the trip.

my friend fell ill and could not attend I couldn’t get anyone on the same days notice unfortunately…

I suppose to be successful we have to learn what unsuccessful is sometimes too.

 

[Josh]

On 11/26/2021 at 12:07 AM, GPSguru said:

The fish wasn't gaffed, probably a ‘loose’ description by Josh.

The proper name of the tool we use is a lip hook. It looks like a gaff, but is carefully inserted under the chin from the lower gill flap, or in the mouth and out of the chin gill flap. It is a safe and recognised way of holding the fish at the side of the boat for recovery whilst motoring forward at 3  - 4 knts to ensure oxygenated water is flowing over the gills.

Mine is made from 12mm stainless with a T bar handle so it can be roped if required. For the rope I use a long 24mm soft  multiplatt. i know that Josh uses the same tool.

 

Yes that’s right GPS

I assumed by my post that ‘gaff’ would of been seen as lip hooked in the chin where the fish doesn’t suffer. 
that is what I did managed to do all but not for very long … 

certainly not gaffed to kill .

 

[JDP]

2 hours ago, Josh said:

Yes that’s right GPS

I assumed by my post that ‘gaff’ would of been seen as lip hooked in the chin where the fish doesn’t suffer. 
that is what I did managed to do all but not for very long … 

certainly not gaffed to kill .

 

Why the long leader and not simply a wind on that you can literally wind the hook to the tip of the rod if you like. Lucky you didn't get the line wrapped around the rod ending in a snapped rod or even wrapped around the prop in a big mess. Theres also the chance of getting wrapped in heavy loose line yourself, which could end badly with such heavy fish. Not being funny but these bigger fish really need two people for catch and release, different matter catch kill. 

Its fantastic to see so many of these fish about, not sure what's going on with tuna generally but here we normally get a 2 week opportunity on bluefin and about the same with yellowfin (both like different temp water). However we have had around 7 months of combined tuna and albacore which at times are in land based reach. This isn't just our part of the coast but a stretch of water 15000km long has been getting similar catches which hasn't been heard of in many years. Bait fish, mostly mackerel have been in such massive schools that you quite literally drive over them all day along the continental shelf. We are pretty lucky that most of these bluefin are small 20-40kg which are easy work fishing solo with quite light spin gear. 

[Josh]

31 minutes ago, JDP said:

Why the long leader and not simply a wind on that you can literally wind the hook to the tip of the rod if you like. Lucky you didn't get the line wrapped around the rod ending in a snapped rod or even wrapped around the prop in a big mess. Theres also the chance of getting wrapped in heavy loose line yourself, which could end badly with such heavy fish. Not being funny but these bigger fish really need two people for catch and release, different matter catch kill. 

Its fantastic to see so many of these fish about, not sure what's going on with tuna generally but here we normally get a 2 week opportunity on bluefin and about the same with yellowfin (both like different temp water). However we have had around 7 months of combined tuna and albacore which at times are in land based reach. This isn't just our part of the coast but a stretch of water 15000km long has been getting similar catches which hasn't been heard of in many years. Bait fish, mostly mackerel have been in such massive schools that you quite literally drive over them all day along the continental shelf. We are pretty lucky that most of these bluefin are small 20-40kg which are easy work fishing solo with quite light spin gear. 

Yeah the leader was too long that’s how long I thought I wanted it JDP, but next time I’d go shorter.

Bites  haven’t been like the mackerel fishing so if their was any doubt in spooking tackle I wanted to increase the fluro length..

I know people who use

wind ons 

short hook lengths 

long hook lengths 

 

The Post already says that the long leader went around my rod eyes and very nearly got into the prop.

already said about needing two people but in this case wasn't possible.

fact its done the fish swam off 

And Im alive so untill next time 

🎣 

[Odyssey]

19 hours ago, Josh said:

Yeah the leader was too long that’s how long I thought I wanted it JDP, but next time I’d go shorter.

Bites  haven’t been like the mackerel fishing so if their was any doubt in spooking tackle I wanted to increase the fluro length..

I know people who use

wind ons 

short hook lengths 

long hook lengths 

 

The Post already says that the long leader went around my rod eyes and very nearly got into the prop.

already said about needing two people but in this case wasn't possible.

fact its done the fish swam off 

And Im alive so untill next time 

🎣

We keep on learning….

I look at my shark set up now from when I first started and its changed completely… from rods, reels, chum mix way I dispense chum, rate of chumming, bait size, bait type, hooks, T bars….

Only thing that have stayed the same are boat and angler…. It’s all been refined and improved and hopefully keep on improving to boost catch rate 🙂

[JDP]

4 hours ago, Odyssey said:

We keep on learning….

I look at my shark set up now from when I first started and its changed completely… from rods, reels, chum mix way I dispense chum, rate of chumming, bait size, bait type, hooks, T bars….

Only thing that have stayed the same are boat and angler…. It’s all been refined and improved and hopefully keep on improving to boost catch rate 🙂

Yes agree totally, when I look back at the ridiculously big heavy gear I used to use in the UK with wire traces more suitable to jaws, all on outfits that were so hard on the angler and not the fish. The thing is these days with social media there's so much info on targeting bigger fish from other parts of the world where they've been doing it for many years.

Now you can use small virtually unbreakable rods that put the power curve to advantage the angler in using far higher drag settings in order to release fish quicker rather than have an exhausted fish slowly kick away most likely to keel over and drop to the bottom. 

Ive targeted marlin, tuna and sharks from small boats for over 30yrs and constantly changing techniques and tackle doing so. Traditional broomstick rods with big 24-37kg reels are extremely difficult to use with heavy enough settings to catch and release big fish in small boats. On a big stable boat with a crew fully prepared is far different as the angler can then use the gear fully loaded.