fragmeister Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 (edited) Hi Raiders, I hate to lose a fish as much as the next man and I can't count the number of good fish I have lost over the years. In my earlier years I have to say that I mostly blame my poor attention to detail. There is nothing worse than losing a fish because you have not paid enough care to your terminal tackle. I lost way too many good fish before I learned the invaluable lesson to take extra care every time because the one time you don't you will lose a quality fish. Today, I am very careful to use quality rods and reels, I use superior braid and fluro leaders. I use quality brand hooks, swivels etc to make sure I get away using the smallest ones possible and practical and I check and sharpen hooks regularly . I inspect the line periodically for damage and cut off the offending section and reattach the terminal tackle. I look for pieces of bait stuck to the line in case some picker has a nibble on it and damages the line. I have learned ( and still learn) better knots and rigs. I use scales to test the drag settings I put on my line and while I don't always set them at the time I do now have a feel for how much drag I am setting on a fish. I replace line reasonably frequently and I look after my tackle post and pre fishing trips. However, I still lose fish and of course they are the bigger fish and, while it is part of what brings me back to fishing, it is nonetheless very frustrating. I guess I may be stating the obvious, but losing fish is inevitable because not everything is in our control. If I look at my most recent lost fish I can see than many of these things I couldn't really have influenced many of these events. Yesterday I was busted off on on 3kg gear by something that took an unweighted strip bait intended for a bream/trevally. It reefed me. I could have set the drag a bit higher and stopped the initial run but sometimes that can also pull hooks so sometimes being conservative gets more fish. I could have used heavier line but I catch more bream with unweighted baits on light lines. Also yesterday, I have a dead squid taken by a freight train of a fish ( shark/ray I think) who was heading out through the heads regardless of what my plan was. I wound up the drag in a vain attempt to stop him and I pulled the hooks. The rig was meant for a jewie so I don't think the rig helped the hookup. Not so sure I could have ( or would have wanted) an hour fight with a big shark on 20K gear anyway. I have lost count of the kings I have lost when I have hooked them on a unweighted squid bait intended for something else. I often get rat kings when they pop up in a burley trail and I drop a tiny piece of pilchard with a small almost bait sized hook hidden inside. There is no way they will take a bigger bait on heavier line but it is great fun trying to keep them out of the structure on a little 2 kg bait rod. At this stage I think its Kingies 19 and me 1! There is certainly value in paying attention to detail. That will always catch you more fish but I have finally come to the conclusion that losing fish is an inevitable part of fishing and that if we never lost a quality fish the whole mystery and excitement of fishing just wouldn't be the same. Having said that... I welcome other readers to add their own tips and tricks for keeping the "fish that get away" to a minimum Cheers Jim Edited June 21, 2014 by fragmeister Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Witha Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Wise words and hard learnt lessons mate. Can definitely relate. After only starting to tackle real gear testing fish in the last year or so damn I've had some gut wrenching losses to failed knots and overtight/ undertight drags. I reckon one of the least practiced things is checking drag weights on the scales when the rod is under load. The results surprised me the first time I tried! Lost a stonker of a flatty the other night to hooks pulling, using a blade with little trebles and didn't realise I should have backed off the drag forever learning. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elferoz777 Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 My issue has been right line fir tight fish. Fishing for salmon tailor or kings on 6lb line is asking for it but as you aluded to you can never pick your by catch. I think it comes to experience which is why it is always the quiet older guy who seems to bag out whilst we struggle to catch any thing using the same method. Its definitely what keeps me at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filthmonger Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 One that sticks out in my mind was last summer, downrigging live squid amongst the moored boats in gymea bay in the Hacking. I got a massive hit and the rod buckled over so hard the tip was in the water (T-Curve Deep Sea Jig 200, 80 pound braid, 120 pound fluro, almost locked drag) by the time i got the rod in my hands the fish had already taken an unbelivable abount of line all i could do was hang on until the inevitable happened and it busted me off. Either one of The Hackings mythical Spaniards or Yellow Fin or a Hoodlum of unlandable size. Im pretty sure its the latter. I can only speculate but id say a fish between 30-40kgs. To answer your question i dont think there is anything anyone could have done about that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefisherman6784 Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Very well said Today I was fishing sow and pigs fly fishing for bream/trevally and hooked something big It took me strait in the reef Couldn't stop it Early that day we got a Samson fish but syd thinks it was a salmon Anyway, what ever it was, it was a good fish Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davemmm Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 My boat gets a bit of a wipe down after each trip but gets a full cleanout and gurney every nine months or so. I recently learnt that in order to land good flathead consistently you need to put the landing net back in after cleaning the boat. Its not always about attention to terminal tackle detail. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sydneyfisher12 Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 some fish mouth are softer than other yakkas have a really soft mouth so you don't strike or rip them but kings have strong mouth so you can really put some hurt on them and sometimes off the hook it too small it can just pull out easily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 My boat gets a bit of a wipe down after each trip but gets a full cleanout and gurney every nine months or so. I recently learnt that in order to land good flathead consistently you need to put the landing net back in after cleaning the boat. Its not always about attention to terminal tackle detail. Dave LOL. Forgetting to pack the net. Now who hasn't done that eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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