Sportfishing ran an interesting article titled: "D.O.A." by Ron Ballanti. The article describes approaches to raising large fish which have died during the fight. Definitely not an easy process, so the tricks mentioned should be a big help if you find yourself in this situation.

The key point: when this happens, you can not pull straight up on the fish. Your best chance of success is to go down current (or swell/wind), and move off a fair distance before you start pulling. The idea is to get the fish to plane up, rather than try to lift it directly. If you try to plane the fish against the current, a head-down attitude can actually cause the fish to dive deeper.

Offset circle hooks (ones in which the point is twisted slightly off plane from the rest of the hook) are as bad as J hooks when it comes to gut-hooking fish. Offset circle hooks should be flattened, or thrown away if you are interested in using them for catch-and-release fishing.


Owner JOBU hooks are becoming popular on the West Coast for trolling lures. These have shorter shanks and wider gaps than hooks like the Mustad 7731 or 7691.


• Should you try to sharpen circle hooks? The general recommendation - DON'T. If you change the angle of the turned in point, it will not seat correctly in the corner of the fish's mouth. If such a hook gets dull, you should discard it.

When using a loop-to-loop connection to join Spectra to a mono topshot, be sure to pass the topshot 2 or three times through the Spectra loop, rather than just once . Otherwise, the topshot loop may be cut by the Spectra loop.


Spectra melts at a lower temperature than nylon monofilament. In situations where Spectra and monofilament lines are tangled and allowed to run over each other (as in multiple simultaneous hookups), the mono will usually cut through the Spectra due to heat buildup.


• Many people use a splice to join mono or fluorocarbon to Spectra. The usual way to finish the splice is with adhesive and thread over the end of the Spectra. Another way to finish it is to use Sato crimps , which are very small precision-made aluminum crimps. Believe it or not, these are as small as a thread finish, and much faster to do. Sort of pricey, but highly regarded among long range fishermen. See: http://www.satocustomtackle.com/procrimpkit.htm

Not mentioned in the article is the issue of the strength of Bimini Twist knots in Spectra. Bimini Twists used to be known as "Twenty-times around knots" because in monofilament, 20 twists will yield 100% knot strength. In Spectra, it is clear that more twists are needed to reach 100% strength, however, there is some controversy about how many more turns are needed. Recommendations we have seen range from 30 twists to 100. We're sticking with 100 turns, or a coaxial splice, as mentioned in our Volume 1, Issue 3 "Tips and Tricks" column.