Circle hooks for giants

[birdhunter]

Just curious what size circle hooks the guys are using for chunking the giants off of Chatam.

[dunn6253]

One boat I know was using 9-0 super mutu's, and I saw another guy buying 13-0 circles, not sure what brand, in a tackle shop......

[BTH284]

39960D 16/0

[Mako Wish]

Super Mutu 9/0 to 12/0...

[Captain Fred Archer]

For us, 18 or 20 longliner circle hook, no barb, reduced point, bridled to a small bait, ideally a 9 or 10" giant squid fillet or tentacle. Little baits catch big swords because they don't try to chop 'em up, they just slurp 'em down. Dulled points wrap around jaw hinges like a champ and reduce chances of snagging. Snagged fish, especially big ones, usually pull hooks sooner or later. If you are fishing in an area with a lot of pups, no barb makes releasing and hook removal much easier than with the barb.

The rigging shown below is for swordfish, but can be used for whole baits or chunks, depending on what you're using for tuna. I still bridled whole baits or squid parts for tunas, but I usually and most others probably bury their circle hooks in chunks, so the size of the chunk becomes the hook size determining factor in that case. The one constant for us is the use of longliner style circle hooks and modifying them the ways that we do, but once again, if we weren't releasing smaller fish, we left the barbs on.

[N2theBlue]

For us, 18 or 20 longliner circle hook, no barb, reduced point, bridled to a small bait, ideally a 9 or 10" giant squid fillet or tentacle. Little baits catch big swords because they don't try to chop 'em up, they just slurp 'em down. Dulled points wrap around jaw hinges like a champ and reduce chances of snagging. Snagged fish, especially big ones, usually pull hooks sooner or later. If you are fishing in an area with a lot of pups, no barb makes releasing and hook removal much easier than with the barb.

fred, he's talking about bluefins, not swords.

[Captain Fred Archer]

B2.

Yah, thanks. I noticed and fixed it right after posting it.

Old age strikes again!

Just trying to help, though...stumble, stagger, wobble, etc.