breaking hook lengths

[Graeme]

Hi All,

I am looking for a bit of advice, as this is my first year fishing, on a problem I am having with hook lengths. I have been out feeder fishing on a lake which mainly contains tench and bream with a few carp in it. I am having quite a bit of success, 9 tench and 2 bream so far, but it could be better as I have lost 8 fish now to snapped hook lengths. I lost 5 fish to bought hook lengths and to be honest I was not impressed with them. I cannot remember the make but they were size 16 spade ends on a 3lb line with an overhand to connect to the main line. They tended to start falling apart after a few hours in the water.

I took the plunge and bought some 4lb kasam line and decided to tie my own (I do a lot of climbing and rope work so I am quite good with knots, well the fear of falling has a lot to do with that). I am still using size 16 eye hooks which I attach with a tucked half blood; there is then about a 14” of line leading to the overhand. I attach this to the mainline with a loop to loop connection. I know from my rope work that the line efficiency is reduced due to the knot so for the overhand it is around 65% efficient therefore it is no longer a 4lb line but more like 2.6lb line.

My full setup is a Ron Thompson Panther Feeder rod; shimano alivio 4000ra reel with 10lb main line (lots of weed in the lake); on the main line is a swivel with a 40g kasam block end feeder, a shock bead and a stopper to protect the overhand knot on the main line. I then connect the 4lb hook length with the size 16 hook on a loop to loop connection. The block end usually has 25% hemp seed and 75% maggots and the hook has 3 maggots on it. I always make sure that the drag on the reel is set so that I can pull line out with a bit of pressure; usually about 3-4 clicks passed a full feeder taking line.

I have only recently bought a set of scales and weigh sling so I can only give the weights of the 2 tench I caught the other day they were 3lb 3oz and 4lb 13oz. from the pictures I have of previous fish, my aching arm after a few good fights and talking to other anglers I know there are bigger fish in the lake, so at least you know what size I am dealing with.

The problem I am having is the line is snapping at the overhand of the hook length during the fight with the fish, usually a tench as there is normally a deposit of slime on what is left of the hook length. Any advice on the set up etc or what might be causing the breaks would be great.

Graeme

[Greenheart]

Welcome to the forum Graeme.
I think your problem is that you are fishing a bit on the light side. For feeder fishing for Tench & Bream I would normally use 8lb mainline & a 5-6lb hooklength.
I have never trusted ready tied hooks & always tie my own. I use spade end hooks up to size 12 as these give a neater & less bulky presentation.
And I use a matchman hook tyer to tie them on. These are available from most tackle shops. See link http://www.swiftys-fishing-tackle.co...7e4009ede7d5fa
When you tighten your hook knot, a bit of spit will lubricate the knot & help it to bed down securely.
For hooks larger than size 12 I use eyed hooks tied on with a tucked half blood knot for monofil line See link http://www.fishandfly.co.uk/knots/tuckedhalf/print.html
Or a grinner knot for flourocarbon hooklengths. See link
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/aquarium/d...s/grinner.html
On cheaper reels, set your clutch a little lighter. The clutch may stick when playing a hard fighting fish. I tend not to use the clutch at all, but prefer to backwind when the fish runs. I find this gives me better control. You will have to decide which method works best for you.
I hope this helps Graeme. Good luck.

[Graeme]

Hi Greenheart,

Thanks for the advice on my problem. My gut feeling was that the line for the hook lengths was not strong enough, especially after a couple of cracking fights with the tench. I am out again on Monday so will tackle up on Saturday with a stronger hook length line and see if I can get some spade ends with a hook tie . Thanks for the links as well, they are really useful. I let you know how I get on.

Graeme

[fishypaul]

sound advice from greenheart,
i always fish with as fewer knots as possible,
i sometimes fish with the mainline straight through to the hook with just a figure of eight loop for my feeder,the fewer the knots the less possible weak spots there are.

[Rob M]

Originally Posted by fishypaul

sound advice from greenheart,
i always fish with as fewer knots as possible,
i sometimes fish with the mainline straight through to the hook with just a figure of eight loop for my feeder,the fewer the knots the less possible weak spots there are.

Same here, straight through on my float set-ups. As Paul says, less knots, less chance of a weak link

Rob

[Graeme]

Hi Greenheart, Fishypaul and Rob M,

Thanks for the advice. I got out on Thursday and set one rod up straight through on 10lb mainline and one with a hook link of 8lb on a 10lb mainline. I caught 2 tench (4lb 5oz and 3lb 2oz) with the hook link and a perch (1lb 8oz) on the straight through. I lost a big tench which snapped the 10lb straight through and I lost the fish friendly rig I set up. I had a good fight with the fish and was bringing it in to my net. I set the drag to high as the fish was not ready to come in. I knew this because as soon as it saw me it decided to go on a run again and then snap. I have learnt from the mistake as my next fish did the same thing but I left the drag low so when it wanted to go it went with no problems. Then when it was ready I was able to land it.

One quick question on tench - do they sing to you? I was sure I could hear it singing and then it stopped.

Graeme

[biggun]

The one that got away, did the song sound anything like -Na,na,naa na - na,na,naa,na - hay haay Goodbye?

[Graeme]

thanks for that biggun. I could not really say what it was singing as being new to fishing I do not speak tench. is there a translation website you can put me on to? On saying that you post was worth it just to think about Banarama for a couple of minutes!

Graeme

[biggun]

Glad I could be of some help!

[Vagabond]

Originally Posted by Graeme

Hi All,

using size 16 eye hooks which I attach with a tucked half blood; on the main line is a swivel with a 40g kasam block end feeder, a shock bead and a stopper

Graeme

Two suggestions that might help, Graeme.

1. Set up. Keep it simple

Working from the hook end.

Hook, 4 lb trace, small swivel.

attach main line to swivel after having threaded feeder and a small rubber bead on the main line.

Once tied on, pull the end of the swivel into the rubber bead (less likely to tangle that way)

2. Learn the grinner(AKA uni-knot or Duncan loop) knot. It has 80% efficiency or better if properly tied.

Use it for all three knots on the set-up (hook to trace, trace to swivel, swivel to main line)

I'll try to find a link for the grinner

http://www.deltas.freeserve.co.uk/knots.html

Once you have learnt this knot (it is much easier than it looks in the illustration) it is very quickly tied.