Blowin' In The Wind

[Nimrod]

I had a chance the other weekend to fish with Capt Fin Gaddy in Mexico and practice baiting and hooking sailfish with circle hooks. We were ultra fortunate to have DOZENS of shots at fish and a knowledgeable crew to help us learn the right way to do things.

After missing several fish early in the day, Capt Fin came down off the bridge himself to give me some one-on-one instruction. He took a rod and dropped the reel into freespool. He pointed the rod tip towards the water as I had been doing all morning and said, "See the line? This is what you are doing wrong. Look at how the line is pulling straight off the reel." You couldn't help but see the 20# Suffix Hi-Vis making a nice straight line behind the boat as the trailing ballyhoo sank slowly beneath the spread.

I was a bit baffled. It seemed that I was doing what I was suppose to - drop the reel in freespool, point the rod tip towards the fish and wait until the fish eats it good before pushing the drag back up. Apparently I was making a crucial mistake.

Capt Fin says, "You don't want that line coming straight off the reel like this. That is creating too much resistance and the fish can feel it. You want the line Blowing In The Wind. Pull some off the reel if you have to so that the line just floats out there in the breeze past the rod tip! You do that and you will start catchin' more fish."

It made perfect sense. And for the rest of the day I found myself staring at the line making sure it looked like a kite tail as it headed toward the water. My hook up ratio improved dramstically (that's right - I said dramastic! ) and I ended up with 11 sails for the day.

I feel much more confident with the circles now and almost feel it is easier to feed and hook the fish with the circles over a conventional j-hook. Turns out that for me, the answer my friend, is indeed Blowin' In The Wind!

[O-SEA-D]

Great report Paul. Thanks for taking the time to explain that to everyone. Pretty work on your sails dude. Sounds like you had an awesome day on the water.

[JD5652]

Paul-

Thanks for the tip! .....it's indeed a brave new world out there with the circles....

[gottaflylee]

Paul, If I under stand it right what your saying is that you want line comming off the reel faster than it would in freespool so there is slack in the line??

[babalaza]

what circle hook rig were u guys using

[biebs]

Paul, If I under stand it right what your saying is that you want line comming off the reel faster than it would in freespool so there is slack in the line??

BINGO

K

[Nimrod]

Paul, If I under stand it right what your saying is that you want line comming off the reel faster than it would in freespool so there is slack in the line??

Lee - sorta. The goal was to reduce resistance and get the line from the tip of the rod to the water looking like a wet noodle rather than a taut chaulk line. Sometimes just dropping the rod tip as you freespooled was enough to create the slack. Other times I might have to help it get started by feeding some extra line out of the reel by hand. With the light line it was real easy to get it blowing around. Once I got the visual of the belly in the line above the water it all clicked for me.

what circle hook rig were u guys using

Your garden variety Guacamole Rig or swivel-through-the-head deal held on with copper strands. Not fancy but effective.

[WAHOONBOX]

THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.....SIMPLE...TO THE POINT...WORLD CLASS TIP !!!!........

[Capt. Brian Daley]

its nice when it all comes together thanks Paul