Brankim

The big salmon I got in sydney was on my cheap alixpress jigging hooks, and that hook was able to lift +_ 3kgs of kicking salmon up almost twice the height of my 12ft rod! And after lifting the first 12ft, had to run backwards to drag it up the rest of the way. So that would have been probably 5+ kgs of strain atleast.

I used to use those hooks. Besides not being able to thread centrepede worms on them, I had that same problem with bream breaking them! They do normaly have a good rate of hooking up though I've found on whiting, I don't miss many on gamakatsus though! I'd rate them as excellent for hookups! Baught some today in size 6, and got 70cm + carp on one. Only missed 1/4 bites, and like miscreant said, once they set, I found its very rare they ever pull out! And I put a lot of pressure on my fish!! For probably up to 8-10lb, you will most likely break your line before u bend a size 6 occy

Very sharp, good hookup rate, only problem is around rocky areas, the tip of the point can bend. Just have to keep checking them when baiting up.... Oh, and occasionally you get 1 with the eye not closed up tight enough. Fine to close the gap with pliers. Haven't snapped any doing that yet. And they don't streighten, but they do snap with a lot of pressure. Good for everything apart from snapper I rekin. Then again, I've had gamakatsus and black magics snapped by snapper crushing them. (Guess that's why they called snapper)

These are the only exception that I've found...

Me too, but after buying 1000 jigging hooks for $10 off aliexpress and having quite good results using them bait fishing, thought some of these new brands might be worth checking out....

Obviously not!!!

Them a go lol.. Might be ok for times when the puffer fish are hassling me.

Thing I like about the hooks I normally use for yellowfin, I've also landed most of the other bigger fish that have surprised me.

And I caught my biggest carp on a size 6 Gamakatsu I took off a tangled whiting rig I found in my boot, as I left my hooks at home by mistake that day.

Haven't tried the owners yet. Have to give the a go!

Yeah, those chemically sharpened hooks in my experience don't seem to bend.

They snap instead tinker

But what happens when you hook something unexpected fishing for bait or whiting Nanman?

It's always a possibility.

I might give them one last chance on the yellowfin though before I do anything that drastic

I'm not going to mention the name... But the Gamakatsu is the hook on the left.

I went down to one of my spots on the torrens this arvo to wet a line, and after a slow start, eventually started getting some action...

But every time I hooked up, as soon as I turned the fish after it's first run, as it did it's first head shake, the hook pulled! Over and over again! The same way every time! I lost 6 fish that seemed to be solidly hooked after the first 5 seconds of the fight?!

I changed to a new hook, same thing... Out of 7 hookups, only managed to land one catfish.

Not to mention the other 5 or so bites that I struck for and didn't get the hook in.

VERY FRUSTRATING!!!!! The only cheap hooks that look similar(ish) that actually work well, seem to be the high carbon jigging hooks I bought online from Asia somewhere.

The top left is the jigging hook, the one next to it is my first mistake from a few years ago... Only 2 out of those four are worth buying, the rest I might as well throw away to be perfectly honest!!!

Bought some hooks Afew days ago on special for $1.50 per pack of 8, that I thaught looked exactly like my favoruite... Gamakatsu octopus.

I have made this mistake in the past, buying similar looking hooks, and boy were they crap!!!

Despite my past experience, I thaught these looked too close for there to be any real difference....

Looking at them, I'm sure most would agree?

I wasn't knocking it mate thought it was a good idea

I used the fg in sydney, joining 40lb mono and 30 lb to 10lb braid, got stuck a couple times and had to strait stick it and it didn't bust anywhere near the knot. Also casted beautiful! To me, it's a perfect knot for what I used it for! But to be honest, I don't know, and have never tied the pr knot. Have seen the gt knot, but it looks too bulky for any of my applications.

Good for noncasting applications. Like boat bottom fishing, or gamefish trawling. (Imo and from my experience)

Strength is good, but having 2 knots for the ripe of fishing I do, will definitely reduce my casting distance!! Bimini is a very strong knot! Almost, or apparently the closest knot to a 100% knot that you can tie, but it's all dependant on how accurate you are a centering you're leader... And if it doesn't have a good twist rate, on longer doubles, you get unevenness from the way it lays on the spool, and you're double strength is lost... Also the end of that gradually comes undone with three wrap hitch on the finish in my experience.

Imo. Bimini is a tournament/ igfa record seekers knot. Not very practical for day to day fishing.

But there is no question, when tied correctly, and joined to leader correctly, it's one of the strongest doubles and leader joins going (in perfect conditions) ie perfect line lay, and tight twist rate with the two strands.

It looked like a half hitch in the tail, to stop it slipping any further. Obviously not...

It's a thing we do in net mending to finish and start.

Sorry sparden, you lost me with you're video! I've tried 3 times, but can't follow your finish. Good video though still!

Had to change the leader as the braid had some frayed areas near the leader.

 

Heres a pic of one of my FG knots with half hitches after a year & half of fishin for snapper

 

30lb braid to 70 leader, the 70 lb leader is used for fishin around razorfish beds.

 

 

 

FG knot.JPG

Do you put a half hitch on your braid tail moggy? I thought about it... I've been finishing with a tripple, so forms figure 8. Hard to pull tight without slack loops, unless you pull bit by bit and keep the figure 8 formation by pinching it and pulling it away from knot as you go.

Or a clove hitch with two turns on final hitch. I'm starting to love this knot more and more! I'm definitely converted now!!

That twin power at the top with shallow spool looks good! Just wish they made them in 2000 size! Even 2500...

I've used a sinker, with 3 trebles up the line before and recoverd 3 of mine successfully.

Think I'll take the mrs car in future

Thanks for the heads up on that!! That's a bit of a worry!!

They better have wheels if they did that to my car!

Should have tried for some gold

Good fish

Hook size also comes down to line breaking strain too. If you're fishing light, a thinner gauge hook might be best, as you don't need to strike as hard (Unless you use circles) I have found if you go too small though, when I had crystal clear conditions, the smaller hooks come right out their mouth sometimes when you strike without piercing anything. The fish doesn't even notice... I wouldn't go smaller than size 4. If you fish heavy and with a lot of drag, you might srrIghten or snap size 4's though.