clare dragoon, sharking, 19/9/9

People: jw tommy plus 2 lads

Duration: 0900-1730

Tide: strong spring tide

Weather: west 14 knots veering n/w

Bait: mackerel

Rigs: shark traces

Results: 3 blues and haddock/whiting off the bottom

Report: I had a close run battle with a 100lb blue, he nearly straigthened the owner circle,
won't be risking them again

5178 SSW Circle Hook
Owner circle hooks are well respected in big game fishing areas and are more then up to the tasks required of them in UK waters

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two more blues. Interesting this year there seems to be fewer blues around but they
are of a bigger size

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Interesting this year there seems to be fewer blues around but they
are of a bigger size

Maybe your just getting better at catching the big 'uns

Interesting point on the hook choice

Especially after your recent post

Nice sharks....bit worrying when owner hooks cant be relied on as they are a great wee hook for live-baiting

Well done john and tommy lovly blues you got there. very lucky with the hook did it happen because you had the drag on too hard and the strength between the reel and hook was too much so it bent,or just the hook wasn't up to the job

Good fishing JW, but you were lucky with the hook, As I said earlier the owner ssw is not suitable for this type of fishing, if you want to use that type of hook in a 10/0, Daichii make a blood red version which is very similar to the owner but much much stronger in the wire and also has a barb on the shank to stop bait travelling up the line and possibly blocking the gape.
It's my hook for choice in the Keys for tarpon and sharks if I am using a circle hook.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... hasJS=true

Nice to get the Haddies on the bottom, we never get them when sharking down here.

Hi All,
that was really nice day on the water. At start weather wasn't looking good, but clears as soon as we arrived to Carrigaholt.
We got a first run after just 40 minutes. John ably landed our biggest shark of the day, 223 cm long female blue. She was really aggressive and biting stuff around.

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And yes - the fish was heavy, just look at our faces... (at second photo Roch (the guy on the right) is laughing at me...)

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Then Luke the skipper, want me to kiss another 174 cm long female, sure I refused.

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We were just about to come back, when Luke spotted small shark that was swimming under dumped rubby-duby. We started to slowly retrieve the lines and after while TPE got his shark. I'm really glad that TPE my good mate got his first blue. Next one surely will be bigger!

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Wow, nice blue sharks you've got there gents congratulations , surely your backs and arms are still hurting battling it out, you really made up for last times misfortune .
Some of you (no names mentioned) look as they could do with some weight lifting exercises, should I ask Iain for a rate reduction in the gym ?

thanks for that link about the hooks, the red ones appear out of stock at the minute, but i found
what looks a suitable heavy duty version of the owner circle hook. I definately think circles are the
way to go for tope and sharks as it avoids doing serious injury to the fish.

The other thing is at one stage the fish ran under the boat so the 40lb mono was dragging across the hull,
I lightened the drag but thought i would surely lose it then, got it back eventually. You wouldn't
have a snowballs chance in hell of landing a fish like that with a light braid outfit.

going to the gym now to train for the next one