nickihoyboy

I answered this question a while back on another thread. I was curious to see if switching from trebles to a single siwash would decrease my hookup rate, so last summer I switched from a treble to a 5/0 Gamakatsu on a mag Carbon 14, a mag UV Green Jeans and a mag Wonderbread to see what might happen. First release on the Carbon-no hookup, so I was already thinking the siwash might be a bad idea. To my mild surprise, I think that’s the only hookup I missed on the siwash hooks for the next two or three weeks. So, pun intended, I’m hooked, for so many reasons. The single siwash does far less damage to the fish, allowing fish to be released unharmed. Much easier and quicker to remove the hook, far fewer tangles in the net and that big hook really gets a solid set behind the fish’s jaw. Also, much less chance of getting a hook into you when a fish starts struggling while removing the hook. As a bonus, no struggles separating lures that you might have just thrown in a plastic container earlier. Only downside I’ve found is mag spoons with the 5/0 siwash drag on the bottom in my maxi-mate because they’re so long. I have since switched to 4/0 hooks on the mag spoons and 3/0 hooks on the standard size spoons. I do agree with Orangediablo about the split ring situation. Replace any split rings that don’t close all the way. I too have had a hook start to work it’s way back off of a ring that didn’t close tight. Many siwash hooks are open eye that are easily closed with a good pair of pliers. And I highly recommend the Texas Tackle green handle (large) split ring pliers for removing and installing closed eye hooks.

Hoping all you Bills fans can have a little satisfaction in the fact that the Eagles just totally dominated the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. While I’m happy that the Eagles won, I’m almost as happy to see Kansas City knocked down a notch. While they’re still an excellent team, it’s nice to see Andy Reid and Mahomes on the losing end for a change. Loved hearing the Super Bowl crowd mocking the KC tomahawk chop chant when they were down 40-6 in the 4th. quarter. Go Eagles, go Bills!

Just my experience, and a really small sample, but I think it might. Fished out of the Oak for three weeks last July. I always ran black Shark weights, but had two chrome Sharks as backups. One week into my trip I lost one of the black weights when the split ring breakaway below my Fish Hawk probe cut loose. I had no choice but to put on one of the chrome Shark weights for the rest of the trip. To my surprise, I would estimate that about 75% of the releases I had on the two downriggers came on the chrome side after that. Sunny or cloudy, didn’t seem to matter. Granted, the fishing at that time was lights out, so I don’t know if the chrome might scare fish when conditions are tougher, but I will definitely be running at least one chrome weight this coming year to get a better idea if there’s anything to it.

Mahomes and his babysitters wearing the striped shirts!

Just wanted to say congratulations to all LOU Bills fans for beating the Ravens tonight. Happy to see my second favorite team advance to the AFC Championship game, and I’ll be pulling for the Bills to beat the Chiefs next week. I think we are all sick of seeing KC winning another game with the official’s help, and I truly think the Bills are a better team. Hope to see you guys in the Super Bowl against my Eagles, that would be an awesome game no matter who wins. Go Birds!

I tried switching a few spoons to Gamakatsu siwash hooks this year for the first time. I run mostly magnum spoons during my three week fishing vacation in July and August and do a lot of fishing solo so I figured I’d give them a try for a lot of the reasons mentioned previously. I wasn’t sure what size to order so I bought some 4/0 and some 5/0 hooks hoping that big 5/0 wouldn’t affect the spoon’s action. First spoon I tried was a Moonshine magnum Carbon-14 and, wouldn’t you know it, the first hit was a miss! I decided to give it more of a try and boy am I glad I did! Hookups have been solid and it seems like once that single is buried there’s nothing to shake it loose. They hook and hold, they’re relatively easy to remove from the fish (especially important when releasing fish), they don’t get tangled in the net, and they don’t get tangled up when putting them with other spoons, which can be damn frustrating. So I’m a convert, albeit a recent one, and a lot of my spoons have been switched to singles. I haven’t noticed any effect on the spoon action with either the 5/0 or the 4/0. Just as an aside: anyone switching or replacing hooks might want to buy a pair of the green handle split ring pliers from Texas Tackle. They work awesome on most any size split rings and make switching hooks a breeze. I did buy the open eye siwash hooks, but with those pliers I wouldn’t worry about buying closed eye hooks either.

Hey guys, this may sound a little weird, but I have a complaint about the new style Shimano Tekota 600 linecounter reels I purchased this past spring and just started using with wire line and dipsys. So far the reels have functioned flawlessly mechanically, landing many good size kings without any problem, but my problem is with the ergonomics of the reels. With the linecounter mechanism located in the projection off the left side of the reel I find that, while fighting a good size fish and reeling with my right hand, that projection is constantly hitting the inside of my left forearm just above the wrist. Not a big deal really, but after several fish that spot on my arms gets pretty sore and slightly bruised from that projection. I know, I know, you guys are saying what an awful problem to have, getting sore after catching a bunch of fish, but I find this problem pretty annoying with a reel costing over two hundred bucks a pop, to the point where I'd rather hand that rod to somebody else when a fish is on. Just curious, has anybody else encountered this aggravation, or am I just being a cranky old guy?

Perfect, thanks guys. I fish out of the Oak, so that’s right in my area.

Could use some help. Besides FishUSA, do any tackle shops along the south shore of Lake Ontario carry the Deep Rig Tackle cut bait plastics?