Just got off the horn with Greg. Hitting a local spot, he had several hits before getting a 34 pound, 44-45 inch bass on an eel... Unfortunately, he was unable to revive the fish which was gut hooked on a circle hook (jury is still out on how effective with eels).

As this fish was unrevivable, he got a weigh slip, and we'll see how he stacks up against Slipknot in the SB Year Long Tourney... Sounds like it may have been fatter but shorter than Bruce's....

Nice catch Greg - sad that she didn't survive though. Next year, it's sounding like all fish will be C&R, verified by a board member, with weight determined on a 50# Berkley Digital so you all may want to put those on your Christmas lists...

Nice fish Greg, congradulations you deserve it. See patience does pay off, BC and I are very happy for ya. WAY TO GO!!!!!

nice fish SCHOOLIE,YOU EARNED IT // ENjoy!!



JohnR, after reading the last two weeks of posts we are [except Block] in the wrong place!! let me know if you want to do some searching, I,ve got that one place I really want to try, but not on weekends//

Clammer, Napatree is warm to hot too but I got somewhere else in mind... Give me a buzz as your # was on my trashed machine.,...

Congrats othe catch! Local spot Hmm... Looks like my local areas are worth a try as the Ditch is slowing a bit and a longer drive.

That's a nice fish for sure, sorry you couldn't release her, but that happens with and without circle hooks. I hope you got some pics, I'd love to see a picture. Congrats your hard work finally paid off :).

Awesome fish Greg, congratulations! Looks like you may have the lead. Eels work great at night, what a feeling when you realize the fish you set up on is not an average fish. I love to hear the drag, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Now get some pictures up on the board we want to see it too. I ate some of my fish Wend. night and it was delicious.

Congrats Schoolie. What kind of circle hook were you using? The offset ones will gut hook. Don't feel bad about that fish. As long as it isn't wasted, there is no need to feel bad.

You've inspired me to go out and use some eels tomorrow night. I'll be at the Reef at about 9:00. High tide is about just before 7 and sunset is at 8:30 so I figure I'll hit it a little late but better late than never! Once I run out of eels, I'll just switch over to large plugs.

Good job Schoolie!

Greg was telling me that the only thing in her was a 1 pound lobster...

C-Ratt - you know the area...

Patrick, every circle hook I've ever seen has somewhat of an offset, that's the ONLY way they'll work... When you go out to the reef, how are you going to fish them?

Thanks folks... I was pretty excited and it was a great fight. It was a standoff for awhile. Went back saturday night and got another decent fish in the mid-teens, then John showed up and the spot went dead... go figure. Just kidding, had a few hits after that.

Both fish came shortly after dark on eels. I really wanted to release the fish, but it was hooked deep and completely exhausted. I actually quit fishing after that despite having another couple hours of good tide. I had several solid whacks before that and looking back, I should have stayed 'cause I think the spot was loaded.

Anyway, I took her to the sportsman's den in the morning and she weighed 33 lbs. 4 oz. and was 44 1/2". I got 34.6 lbs. friday night with my berkley digital. It was excellent as far as table-fare. I rate fresh striped bass right up there with any fish... maybe I'm biased.

Well, it tops off a pretty good stretch for board members, Fisherwoman, Got Stripers, Slipknot, and now me... all got some big fish over the past 2 weeks. Can't even fathom a 50lber. at this point... must be an awesome sight.

John have not fished there this year but may give it a shot mid-week after work. I work second shift get out around midnite. I'll have to check out the parking my secret parking areas change every year you know the game.

Nice fish Schoolie Monster! At least it wasn't a little fella that you would have had to release dead. You get to take that one home & eat 'em!

Nice fish Schoolie Monster. Thats a beauty. I don't know about circles with eels. Not for me. I like a big gap on an eel hook. For a circle hook I'd probably want 12/0 to get the big gap. Stick with Live bait hooks. I believe Slipknots fork length was 431/2 inches. What was yours?

Tape measures don't need calibrating. This is an example of why scales should be calibrated. I doubt that fish lost that much weight.

Most of the scales used to have a calibration adjustment. If you can find a certified weight , you can pick it up and dial the calibration screw til the scale reads right. I have a fifty pound spring scale and may get it calibrated at work (NBS traceable). We could then use that to calibrate other peoples scales if they like. Or maybe I can get them to certify a weight for me and people could pick that up at one of the next two legs and either calibrate their scales or at least get an offset which is added or subtracted to get the correct weight. Anyway , I'll see what I can do. I still say tape measures need no calibrating. :)

Congrats on the fish.

Nice fish shoolie, sportsmans den sounds like your in my neck of the woods. We should get together sometime. I buy my bait there all the time, I live right up the street.

Specialist, Schoolie and Captain Ron go way back, hehehe...

He was one of three shops I frequented up there when I lived in Q/B. Sportmans Den, Fore River, and my favorite Eel shop, Belsans in Scituate...

Saltheart, like a dumb@ss, I didn't measure the fork length. I thought I remembered that for the year long, we needed a weigh slip unless we were with another board member. I was only thinking weight, not length. The dude at the sportman's den measured it for the mass saltwater fishing derby... maybe 44 1/2" was the fork length. I wasn't paying all that much attention 'cause I was giving a seminar to a few of the customers who were grilling me about where I caught it. I gave a very political answer... massachusetts. Do you think they measure fork length or total length?

I haven't scanned my pictures, but fisherwoman notified me that Ron at the Sportman's Den posted a few pictures at:

http://www.basspond.com/photos/photos_jul15_sport_den.shtml

For those that don't know me, my name is Greg. John, you may know the guy at the bottom of that page.

To be honest, I wouldn't even have weighed the fish in if I could have revived her. Though, I was by myself, so at least I get to brag a bit now... and it fed me for the whole weekend.

As for the circle hooks... the 14-15lb fish I caught saturday night was hooked perfectly in the side of the mouth. I might have set up just a little bit on the big one which I guess may have led to the deep hook. I'm gonna keep using them to try and get a better idea of their effectiveness... both from a hook up percentage and a gut-hooked percentage. I definitely appreciate the input. At the end of the season, we should revisit this topic as it sounds like some of us are using them, some not... I think I'll add a column to my log.

schoolie,
got about 50 fish up to 25# last week, all on circles. Only three were gullet-hooked. If it makes any difference, they were all small as well. I didn't set the hook on any of them.
Finally, I was using chunks; the fish might hit the eels in a different way, so who knows.
I've been using circles for the last three years, and I don't think I would go back to regular bait hooks, but like I said before, I don't use the snakes very much.
Later, Rick

Thanks Rick. You mean the hooks were small? Do you know what size you were using? I'm not sure what size I'm using... I'm not big on the details, what reel, what blank, this line, that leader...

I usually just eyeball stuff, hooks, lures, whatever and take the size I like. I would guess I'm using a 6/0... maybe 5/0.

So you're thinking maybe the smaller size slips out of their throat a little easier in the event that they swallow it quick... that sounds logical.

Did you have a good hookup ratio?

Sounds like you had a good week yourself. Tight lines.

John,

I'm going to disagree about all circle hooks being offset.

I originally posted this on WMI to a guy asking about circle hooks.

"This is how a circle hook works. A fish picks up the bait and swallows it. Since the hook point is pointed in, the fish won't be hooked in the guts. Now, the fish starts moving off with your bait. The hook starts sliding up the fishes's digestive tract towards the mouth. As it reaches the edge of the mouth, the hook's gap (the distance between the point and the shank of the hook) slides onto the cornor of the fish's mouth. Now, when you "set" the hook, the shank of the hook is designed to give it the right torque and will push the point out the side of the fishes mouth."

The point of the hook point being curved in, is so there isn't an exposed area to poke the fish until it gets nabbed on the lip.

yes , Mustad makes a circle hook that is not offset. That is why I bought them. I had some Gamatszu but they were offset to the side a little and I was sometimes gut hooking bass with herring so I looked for and bought non-offset circle hooks. There must be others too.

Schoolie Monster , I guess we got a problem for the "Chief Cook and Bottle Washer" :) As I understand it , the weight of the fish makes no difference unless there is a tie for fork length. In which case we go to weight. The weight can be calculated using the Length/Girth formula or actually weighed with a scale. If there is still a tie , the fish that was actually weighed using a scale wins over the one who's weight was estimated using the formula. Anyway , that's what I think.
BTW , I would think all tackle shops measure overall length now which includes pinching the fork in the tail down and measuring all the way to the end.

I hate to see someone disqualified for a wrong measurement (its a great fish you caught) but I also hate to see Slipknot's fish , which currently leads with a properly measured fork length of 43.5 inches , bumped out by anything but another properly measured fish.

So I guess I'll pass the buck. John , you're the boss!! :) How do we handle this?? ???

Oh no, there is no problem... I think we have to view mine as 44 1/2" overall length. That's the official length on the slip and as far as I know, that's what they measured. And as far as the weight vs. length issue, whatever was set is fine with me. If its based on length, the Slipster is still leading. I'm in no way upset, disappointed, or concerned about the tourny. Like I said before, I really would have released the fish if I could've.

I think its great that the fishing has been pretty good and most of us are getting some nice fish... and I'm thrilled that I caught the biggest fish of my life. That's all I am concerned with... that and when am I gonna get back over there... tomorrow night if possible.

Those fish ain't holdin' up anyway... I have faith that some big ones will come in before all is said and done. Too much sheer fishing expertise and talent among all of us...

What a bunch of BS... one of us will dumb into a 40 lber. before the end of the season.

I'm of two minds, but mainly I think it was fork length (which is getting estimated as the bait shops are measuring total length as opposed to fork length) in which Slip's beats Schoolie's by 1/2 an inch... The other school of thought is just to keep it simple and do overall instead of fork with the tie being weight...

I believe Slipknot actually measured the fork length. It wasn't estimated from overall.

Since I haven't gotten any big enough to enter at all :( , I'm happy with whatever John decides. However , if I already had one in and it was properly done , I might feel a little diappointed if the rules changed. Whatever we do though , we have to nail it down once and for all.

Not to be a pain in the side, but the environmentals police measure your fish they measure with the tail squeezed together as well as all the tackle shops I go to. Maybe next year you should switch to this measurement.

schoolie monster (07-18-2001 16:33):


Those fish ain't holdin' up anyway... I have faith that some big ones will come in before all is said and done. Too much sheer fishing expertise and talent among all of us...

What a bunch of BS... one of us will dumb into a 40 lber. before the end of the season.


I tend to agree with Greg, I think some better fish will be brought in , after all it's only July.

And it makes no never mind to me if you guys want to go with overall length from this point on but I think you have to give enough notice to everyone if that's how it will be. I didn't get an accurate measurement of the overall from Mike T since I knew you wanted fork length(for reasons still a little fuzzy for me). I am not sure all bait and tackle shops who measure length will squeeze the tail, I don't think Bud's bait did it that way, I watched him flatten it out actually and that slip went to the Mass Striped Bass Tourney year round. Oh and by the way that formula thing isn't all that accurate, it can be a couple of pounds off. I find the berkeley digital scale to be very accurate.

We chose fork length just to avoid all the bull associated with squeezing the tail. Some do , some don't , how much , etc. For a fork length , you don't manipulate the fish at all. Just put the end of the tape on the nose and read a number at the v of the fork. Ive seen guys stroke that tail for 5 minutes trying for 1/4 inch and then the fish is dead . Fork length is quick and easy.

Bruce, I know what you mean by "fuzzy"... I had that fish for hours and forgot to measure the girth and fork length. I think you just get excited about the fish and forget... hey, that's my first 30lber and the biggest creature I've ever caught.

If we get to the end of the season and there's still controversy, we'll get together and have a fish off. Or we can break the rod in half and split it... maybe that's not a good idea.

LOL :D

I think that Slip's fish had the nod by half an inch so if we deducted the same inch difference for fork on Schoolie's that we did on Slip's, the ditch fish still leads... So, for now, I think Slipknot is leading the adventure... I'd be suprised if that remains the biggest by the end of the year anyway.
Here's the scoop. Saltheart and I figured that fork would be best for several reasons; first, that's how the cows were measured in the old days - well, really they were reffered to in pounds but as far as the ruler goes, it was fork length. Second, we figured that due to, uh, mild boasting of some shops & anglers (none here of course as we represent the best of the world ), some inconsistencies of how the tail is handled could impact the length of the fish. I have NEVER squished the tail for an extra 1/4 inch and I don't think I've seen it done at the handfull of shops that I've used to weigh in a fish...

How does this sound? Fork length on all fish. If a shop marks a fish as total length on a slip, they can either include fork length as well or we can assume a deduction of one and 1/2 inches from the total length to provide fork length...

Remember to put those digital Berkleys on your Christmas list for next year....

One and a half inches is a pretty accurate adjustment too for a fish in the 45 inch overall length range.

Don't forget Smokey's 42 3/8 inch (fork length) boat fish!! (I still need to turn in the slip)

He got 2-30 pounders that same week everyone else on the board got their big fish.

Why wait for Christmas to get the Berkley, there is still plenty of good fishing left this year.

John now that there are some entries, can you make a page with the standings, or add it to the tourney page. This way we can all track the whole thing.

I hope to get some more pages done this weekend, including a running stats for the tourney... Saltheart - get that in to me soon please... BTW - I like your article. Sorry not to have replied but it's a doozy :P

Bill - that's a great scale -

Thanks John. I plan on combining everything and correcting the spelling etc . Just wanted to get soemthing up quick so a board member could have the info before a trip he's planning.

I'll get the slip in. Can I email it somehow?

For you? Scan it and e-mail... All slips from weigh shops must be mailes though...

BTW - How does this sound:

Linesider Technologies
PO Box 9183
Warwick, RI 02889

That's where it can be mailed if anyone would like...