Wire trace

[cd07]

Quick question lads. I was fishing for smoothies and bass in wexford last week and got bitten off by a tope. Rigged up again and landed a 35lb fish shortly after. Would using wire as a just in case put bass etc off?

[chuckaroo]

Probably, is my guess
But there won't be an easy solution if you are trying for smoothies with the hope of a bass as a 'by-catch'. An idea would maybe be adding a second hook to the trace with a lighter snood.. one hook for sharks the other for bass

[corkconian]

I don't think the wire will put them off as log as it's light enough The hooks on the other hand would be the issue here I think. I wouldn't be confident using a 2/0 or a 3/0 Aberdeen style hook on a tope but again I wouldn't use a 6/0 or 8/0 for bass. I'd go with a strong maybe 5/0 or 6/0 chinu or a 4/0 meat hook or possibly an O'Shaughnessy if your trying to catch both big bass, smoothies and tope. just my 2 cents

[cd07]

Thanks for the advice lads. I usually use 4/0 sakuma manta hooks and have had some decent congers with them so I think they're a decent hook. It was the snood that gave way. I did get the 35lb tope on a 10/0 meat hook tho using 100lb wire trace. It's tough tho ! The tope aren't always about and I'd hate to fluff a chance at a good bass doing the just incase approach!!

[corbyeire]

Quick question lads. I was fishing for smoothies and bass in wexford last week and got bitten off by a tope. Rigged up again and landed a 35lb fish shortly after. Would using wire as a just in case put bass etc off?

Fair play to you for being ready to rig up and then get the tope that bit you off - text book response - nice one

[cd07]

Hahaha cheers!