What do you think the truth is??!?

[sportfishingusa]

Do you think that 298 of those boats fishing the wmo and the couple hundred doing other tourneys around the world are 100 percent conforming to the circle hook rule?

Just a question i have always asked myself!

[Robja]

Are you insuating that fishermen/fisherwomen LIE???????

[T380Fisher]

Now with the Lie detector requirement...I think they are. It's too risky with all that money on the line. Alot of guys are pulling artificials to get around the circle requirement and the true pros, are well versed at rigging and hooking up with circles.

We have been using them all season so far this year....Non-tournament fishing and we have been getting better and better at rigging and hooking up. Almost all of our hookups have been lip/corner of mouth.

[Salty Tiger]

we have been fishing them for the last 2 years and they are far more productive than the j's and the "snag anything routine", I wouldn't trust a tournament winning fish in the spread without them, although you will loose some baits to the peanuts, the lines aren't a tangled mess.

[Swami]

Yep, I think most everyone's playing by the rules, and the ones that aren't will eventually get caught. The winners know they can be polygraphed if they win any amount of cash at all.

"Let's see, $5,000 entry fee, another $10,000 in calcuttas, $7,500 in fuel, bait, ice, dockage...Hey, I've got an idea--let's cheat and pull J-hooks in our ballyhoo, maybe we won't get caught. You can lie pretty good, right Fred?"

Doesn't add up...and personally, I wouldn't have a J-hook ballyhoo rig anywhere on the boat if I were fishing a tournament like the WMO or Pirate's Cove, just circle rigs and hooksets for the lures.

[sportfishingusa]

Yep, I think most everyone's playing by the rules, and the ones that aren't will eventually get caught. The winners know they can be polygraphed if they win any amount of cash at all.

"Let's see, $5,000 entry fee, another $10,000 in calcuttas, $7,500 in fuel, bait, ice, dockage...Hey, I've got an idea--let's cheat and pull J-hooks in our ballyhoo, maybe we won't get caught. You can lie pretty good, right Fred?"

Doesn't add up...and personally, I wouldn't have a J-hook ballyhoo rig anywhere on the boat if I were fishing a tournament like the WMO or Pirate's Cove, just circle rigs and hooksets for the lures.

Thats what i say.. no j hooks anywhere except on plastics!!

[Squidnation]

Yes - Seriously doubt that people would jeopardize their winnings because of a j hook.

[Fritz]

Yep, I think most everyone's playing by the rules, and the ones that aren't will eventually get caught. The winners know they can be polygraphed if they win any amount of cash at all.

"Let's see, $5,000 entry fee, another $10,000 in calcuttas, $7,500 in fuel, bait, ice, dockage...Hey, I've got an idea--let's cheat and pull J-hooks in our ballyhoo, maybe we won't get caught. You can lie pretty good, right Fred?"

Doesn't add up...and personally, I wouldn't have a J-hook ballyhoo rig anywhere on the boat if I were fishing a tournament like the WMO or Pirate's Cove, just circle rigs and hooksets for the lures.

I agree 100%. Besides the morality issue, no seasoned billfisheman is going to use j-hooks anyway. Circles just have a better hookup ratio period.

[Captain Fred Archer]

I want to believe that there is no cheating of any kind in any tournament of any kind. Sadly, there has been some that I know of. A shame.

I agree emphatically with those on this thread who not only say that they wouldn't cheat, but that they would much rather use circle hooks than J's anyway for all of the good and accurate reasons mentioned. I am talking about people who have been using them a lot this year and those like Fritz, who have been doing so for years and who have learned the real truth about them and have also learned the best ways to rig and run them.

If you have been around this site for very long you know full well that it wasn't very long ago that only a handful of "crazy" people were praising and espousing them and were getting dumped on regularly for it. And like it or not, in the final analysis it took the NMFS to make the circle hook rule to actually force many fishermen to start learning about and using the circles, after, of course, a huge outcry and much bitter complaining and "we ain't gonna be able to catch fish anymore" stuff.

I know that some don't like hearing that, but it is a clear and true statement of both recent history and fact and you can confirm it for yourself in the archives.

Ah, well, no matter what it took to get the job done, it is finally done, at least partially, and that is better for both the fishermen and the fish, so it's all good.

Now, circle hooks in lures? "Impossible!" "Crazy!" "I know it wouldn't work!"...

Sound familiar, does it?

It should.

And kindly remember, I have zero to gain no matter what kind of hook anybody fishes with.

Just like it was with the bait.

Hmmmm.

I didn't mean to piss anybody off here...it just goes with the territory, I guess!

[thecubanfishy]

we have been fishing them for the last 2 years and they are far more productive than the j's and the "snag anything routine", I wouldn't trust a tournament winning fish in the spread without them, although you will loose some baits to the peanuts, the lines aren't a tangled mess.

X2,I used them for the first time last week and I love them now