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With Mustad in the Suitcase
Captain's Log, the Indian Ocean, Kenya

With a Norwegian captain and a Norwegian-owned boat, it was a perfect thing to bring a suitcase full of hooks and accessories from Mustad, as we set sea-legs in the deep-sea boat Anette in Turtle Bay along the shores of the Indian Ocean in Kenya . The hook is a very important part of the fishing gear, and we found it efficient to use circle hooks when fishing for various billfish species, sharks, GT and other big-game fish. Tag and release is important, and we're doing whatever we can to preserve healthy populations of big-game fish.

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A beautiful Dorado

We mounted seven rods in the main rig with circle hooks, and tried out a Mustad circle hook ref. 39951BLN size 11/0 baited with strips (strip bait is cut from the belly of fat fish species, which is cut to resemble a small fish and the bait is sewn onto the hook.) A squid skirt, made of silicon, covers the bait and the hook and the rig is being pulled after the boat at the surface.

 

Mustad Demon Circle: Extra Fine Wire, ref no 39951BLN

 

An important thing when using circle hooks is to set the drag as loose as possible and make the rig with the least possible friction so that the fish is allowed to swallow the whole bait before the hook comes up again. The process is as follows: the fish takes the bait from the side or from behind and swallows it fairly quickly, as the fish turns from the right to the left. It's important that the fish gets time to do this without any resistance (we count to 5 before we increase the drag on the reel and then turn it to strike-position.) The fish swims in panic away from the fisherman and the line rests in the right corner of its mouth until the hook is pulled up and then the hook is set behind the jawbone of the fish.

 

 

 

 

A Giant Trevally
(Karambisi)

 

 

 

 

 

We tried this out over four days and the result was really excellent, we got 36 Yellowfin Tuna weighing 10 – 20 kg , and all of them where hooked in the right corner of the mouth except for one. During the four days we didn't loose any tuna at all.

Other species, such as Sailfish, Wahoo and Baracuda, were also hooked on this circle hook, but we ought to decrease the size to 9/0 in order to improve the hooking. The sailfish struggled to swallow this hook, but we firmly believe that a smaller sized hook will be successful.

 

 

 

What's better than a beautiful Sailfish in your lap?

 

 

 

 

 

One important thing to remember when using a circle hook is not to cover the whole hook with bait, but sew the hook onto the bait so that the hook is exposed.

In order to hide the hook when fishing for wary fish, we discovered that a squid-tentacle will do the job.

 

 

 

 

A Yellowfin Tuna hooked in the right corner of its mouth.

 

 

 

 

 

In these waters, circle hooks are primarily used for fishing with live bait and then it is extremely important that the fish is allowed to swallow before the hook is set.

We continue fishing for Sailfish, Marlin and Tiger Shark in January

Thanks a lot to Mustad

PS: SIZE MATTERS

Kind regards:

Captain Alexander Nilsson

Crew : Torgeir Huset /Fundji

www.captalex.com

 

 

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Use of material only in agreement with O. Mustad & Son A.S.
e-mail: info@mustad.no

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