Chunkin!

[AnthonyN]

I am looking for some Opinion's on bait chunkin. It is rather simple and most of you think it might be a stupid question but I don't have many people that I fish with, and the people I have fished with don’t seem to have a better Technique than I do. So hopefully those of you who have some suggestions where I can improve tackle or gear wise let me know!

Typical R&R day of chunkin first I either buy fresh bait or catch it than I head to a spot spike my pole and rig up. I use either steel or mono 60lb depending on the blues. My leader is 24” long with a 6/0 mustad SS 9510XXXS Salmon hook. I change the size of the hook depending on the bait but this is my usual rig. With a fish finder and a 3oz to 5oz bank sinker. Now for my gear I usually use a 10ft Fenwick with a shimano BR 6500. Now I cast out take up some slack and set the baitrunner’s drag very loose. This way the fish never feels the line and gives me more time for a hookset. The only real big problem I have with this set up is gut hooks. I use big enough chunks so I don’t have to worry about schoolies but 2 or 3 this year swam away with a cut off hook in its gill or gut. I cut as close to the hook as I can and let them go and hope for the best. Also bluefish, I don’t keep many blues unless someone wants them so the same happens with them but unlike the schoolies they fight harder and end up bleeding to death so I keep them and give them away. I wish I could prevent this.

Thanks

Anthony

Also I know many of you will be saying use circle hooks. I tried them last year with little success I lost 10 fish to every one I brought on shore. I never set the hook I rigged the baits in different ways I always kept the tension on the line, I even tried not pumping the rod only for me to lose the fish anyway so I went back to my old style of fishing.

Suggestions ??

[redcrbbr]

pretty much the same way i do it anthony, i do reel in the slack once i have casted and loosen the drag. i use 20# trilene on my reels and very rarely use wire for a leader. i fish mostly at night and like using light sticks near the tips of my poles(usually work 2 poles when chunking off the beach). i don't use circle hooks, been a fan of bill dance for too long

[Tattoo]

Anthony, seems like you have it down pat. Give Gamagatsu octopus hooks a try. They are not a complete circle hook, more of a variation of a circle, and a standard hook.

How do you put a chuck of bait on a regular circle hook anyway?? I hate them things...

[AnthonyN]

My friend swears by the Gamagatsu octopus hooks but he misses a lot more hooksets than i do. He doesn't gut hook quite as many fish as i do but it is a rather small difference. I am in the biz of catching fish not losing them. Don't want to lose that trophy striper because of a bad hookset.

As for rigging the circle hooks its a pain in the a$$ putting anything besides squid on them. Half the time the barb is buried in the bait. The hooks i normally use have very long barbs. They are good for using big fat chunks without worrying about the barb being buried. I like to keep atleast 1/8inch of the barb sticking out for easy hooksets.

As you can see in the pic they have 1" barbs and wide gap good for chunking large pieces of pogies.

[Jaiem]

Ditto on the Gamas. Though I've taken fish on the circles I prefer the regular octopus, size 7/0 or 8/0 for chuncks.

[bloocrab]

...If your lookin' for votes, the Octopus is my personnal favorite..if its gettin too buried, dig into a different spot that will allow the tip to stick out..sometimes I thread the hook...meaning after I insert the hook I pull it through and hook it again....I never allow the spine to be in the way!..

...I try to place the hook close to the surface, not too buried...but berried enough to hold on to that 2 month ol' frozen bunker ...

..I try to avoid the spine, may get in the way ...Circle Hooks ..sorry, don't like em'...defeats my purpose. I want to hook the fish, and not the fish ~ hook itself... ..Sorry!

[ragfly]

Well, I used 6/0 octopus circle hooks alot this year chunkin macks. Out of the 400 or so fish I caught on them they were hooked in the corner of the mouth. the few I gutt hooked was because I lost touch with the bait. I use fireline which increases the sensitivity. I think the biggest atribute to my success is I do not use any weight because were I chunk it isn't that deep. Also I lost very few hookups, if I did it was because I set the hook (old habits) instead of just tightening it. Good luck!