Most of you know full well how venomous I felt about circles when they got forced on us. As a lure guy I first felt the bite as central American countries mandated their use and rendered my combo class lures a very hard sell and virtually useless. I started "trying" years ago to come up with something that might help my cause. I got very creative but the batting average remained totally unacceptible.
This year marked the beginning of the mandate down here so I had to shut up, stop the whining, and get some kind of game. I had used circle with only limited success on nakeds before and never caught a fish on combo/ circle so I had a lot of work in front of me...
Using them with live bally hoo the first go caught a bunch of fish but not like they were supposed to. Some thought I was blowing smoke when I asked what I was doing wrong but finally some simple advice turned that corner for me.
By snelling you actually "Increase" the circle effect. My efforts for years had been directed at minimizing the circle effect and trying to get it to work like a "J". Wasted years.... I watched how the baits rode and how the fish bowed up utilizing the circles and finally the ball got rolling... Understanding that one fundamental thing opened all new windows.
Next on the plate was dead bait. I have a stack of printed out how to's for various rigs currently in use. I sifted through and found a few that I could tollerate but had certain traits in each that were actually very good. I crawled into it deeper and came up with a rig thats kind of a hybrid of a few others. Success was almost instant... J be damned I've crossed and wont be looking back ... Unless dolphin fishing where I need quick pin rigged stuff my remaining J series hooks will be retired into sharkin.
From the rig I came up with the mack rig was easy to morph into. Actually a couple rigs I learned years ago in Mauritius and South Africa suit that task nicely too...
Now we move on to combos. As stated in the beginning of this post the ratio was near zero despite dozens of attempts at comming up with a rig. Also stated earlier though is that I was chasing the wrong theory... I go to the local tackle shops here frequently and see new designs and sizes showing up all the time. Hooks that could never play even with my new rigs were once all I had to work with. Now with the new choices comming fast and furious windows open all around. The rig I'm using coupled with the "right" hooks has breached the barriers of even a couple months ago.
No I'm not ready to declare 100% victory but I'm close. Next week will be the big test to see if I have it nailed. If I do, I will share. Sometimes good things come from contempt. I had so much anger built up over circles I was ready to explode. I just had to beat them. Well, since I couldn't get rid of em that same energy from the anger chanelled into making them work... Most of that path has been paved smooth now and a rig better than ever before is around the corner. I can taste it...
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... Unless dolphin fishing where I need quick pin rigged stuff my remaining J series hooks will be retired into sharkin.
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