...and we're back from the rockin' and rolling SOA July 1-4 3-day!

[pjstevko]

You're probably right.....

[Bill B]

Bravo Zulu to all.  Alan's Victory at Sea charters (That would make a great charter name, hint, hint 😉) irregardless of the catch, are always an adventure.  Looks like more fish were caught on this trip than June.  Sux to get sick, seasick or otherwise.  Captain Brian can be kind of a wet blanket, but he WILL put you on the fish.  Kudos to Wai for fishing the single speeds.  You know if Mark got sick, well then it definitely was sporty.  Tight lines everyone!  Bill

[dgrayson92027]

Thanks to all on board, Captain, crew, deckhands crew, Alan and the gang. I haven't been sick on board in over a decade, but I was. Missed the bft bite, but eventually made it on deck to land a few rats. I still wouldn't trade in the time. See you next time.
...
Ok 20 minutes into my work day, my desk has picked up about a 2 foot swell. Not unpleasant, just unexpected.

[oldmanjoe]

Thanks to all on board, Captain, crew, deckhands crew, Alan and the gang. I haven't been sick on board in over a decade, but I was. Missed the bft bite, but eventually made it on deck to land a few rats. I still wouldn't trade in the time. See you next time.



...
Ok 20 minutes into my work day, my desk has picked up about a 2 foot swell. Not unpleasant, just unexpected.

 

[Porthos]

...Kudos to Wai for fishing the single speeds...

Alan's facepalm and head-shaking in disbelief when he learned of my line-up of fifteen antiques and spinners onboard was priceless...

[jurelometer]

It turns out I was really, REALLY lucky because the assist hook at the top that hooked the BFT got its loop-thru chewed on and was close to failure (you can see the fraying).

I can see the chew  marks on the shrink tube where it would make sense to be with a circle hook in the jaw.  It would be pretty hard for the fish to abrade the loop at the ring junction.  The ring gets in the way. My bet would be that the split ring was causing the abrasion.  Any sort of line rub on split rings is usually not a good idea,

Some folk tie the main line and attach the top assist hook to a solid ring, and then use a split ring to attach the solid ring to the jig.  Other folks go a bit further and use two or three hole solid rings to further isolate the split ring from line abrasion.

I have looped an assist hook on a split ring in a pinch for dorado, and have seen wear pretty quickly. Not a jumbo tuna guy myself, but I still prefer to rig completely with solid rings and avoid split rings whenever possible.

Good on you for using a circle hook for the assist hook! I have been wondering how well this might work for tuna. Those bridle rigged circle hook setups from your earlier post look  really intriguing.

Old school tackle, mini-lights, circle hooks.  Much more interesting  than 25 guys lined up at the rail fishing the identical hot setup of the month

-J

[MarkT]

I wouldn't ever put an assist hook like that on a split ring! Put it on a sold ring and put that on the split ring.

[Porthos]

It was attached to the lure's top eye since the bottom eye also had a matching assist hook.

Referring back to the hooks' packaging, and seeing the outcome of actual use, unsure if 180# Dynema (the hook is blocking the "1") is the optimal material for assist hooks.

[jurelometer]

It was attached to the lure's top eye since the bottom eye also had a matching assist hook.

Referring back to the hooks' packaging, and seeing the outcome of actual use, unsure if 180# Dynema (the hook is blocking the "1") is the optimal material for assist hooks.

My guess is different flavor of the same problem.  You have  chafing edges  on the the split ring ends and where the casting runs up the eye. All in a confined area due to the small eye ring.
 
Plus with the crowded eye ring, you are probably not helping the action, although the action may already be pretty minimal with a long skinny jig fished deep with heavy line.

Thicker cord is just going to be jamming more stuff into a smaller area.  Faster chafing, and more inhibited action. The fibers are going to break individually.  Thicker cord just means more individual fibers of the same thickness.  So maybe you buy a bit more time, or maybe not, but it might be better to address the fundamental problem. 180 does seem a bit lighter than necessary, but I would wager that rigging is more of an issue here.

A couple more notes:  the alloy required to keep a skinny jig from bending also makes for  some pretty hard and sharp flash.  I have cut my fingers on flash when cleaning up my castings of these kind of jigs.  I also clean off the flash/overflow that runs up the eye rings. I am especially careful on the bottom eye, as I am willing to loop assist hooks in here, as lure swinging and levering,  and ring chafing won't be a problem on the bottom of the jig.  Commercially produced jigs are often not prepped as carefully.

If you are attaching only soldered or split rings to the eye, you won't need to worry much about chafing edges where the jig body joins the eye.

-J

[Porthos]

My guess is different flavor of the same problem.  You have  chafing edges  on the the split ring ends and where the casting runs up the eye. All in a confined area due to the small eye ring.
 
Plus with the crowded eye ring, you are probably not helping the action, although the action may already be pretty minimal with a long skinny jig fished deep with heavy line.

Thicker cord is just going to be jamming more stuff into a smaller area.  Faster chafing, and more inhibited action. The fibers are going to break individually.  Thicker cord just means more individual fibers of the same thickness.  So maybe you buy a bit more time, or maybe not, but it might be better to address the fundamental problem. 180 does seem a bit lighter than necessary, but I would wager that rigging is more of an issue here.

A couple more notes:  the alloy required to keep a skinny jig from bending also makes for  some pretty hard and sharp flash.  I have cut my fingers on flash when cleaning up my castings of these kind of jigs.  I also clean off the flash/overflow that runs up the eye rings. I am especially careful on the bottom eye, as I am willing to loop assist hooks in here, as lure swinging and levering,  and ring chafing won't be a problem on the bottom of the jig.  Commercially produced jigs are often not prepped as carefully.

If you are attaching only soldered or split rings to the eye, you won't need to worry much about chafing edges where the jig body joins the eye.

-J

So I oversimplified my configuration. Will bring back the solid ring.

[bchen]

That was a good trip because of the conversation and the chance to pull on big fish. I also learned a new uni-to-uni from Alan.

I was really hoping to see the folks with spinners work on 100-pounders or to watch Wai and his single speeds.  Something special about that level of masochism...

Anyway, let's do it again!

[Maxed Out]

 Well, I'm happy to say I'm fully back to myself again. I screwed up and my first Dramamine wasn't until after we left the harbor. The boat ride was amazingly good in the sloppy seas. The part that really started me getting sick was that dang double swell. One dominant tight swell, and a slightly smaller but noticeable 2nd swell that was about 25° off from the main swell. My hats off to everyone that fished without falling or getting body slammed into the boat. There was no pattern to which way the boat tipped on those confused swells, which made it nearly impossible to stay planted and gimble the body on the swells. I've been in these very conditions several times in my own boat and it makes fishing much tougher and always causes one or 2 of my crew to chum a bit. We live by the motto "puke and rally", cause we're not running in 40+ miles till we get all our limits. I have chummed a couple times on my own boat, but only had to give the helm away once, and that guy had 100 ton license and it gave me time to recoup and fish later that day. I just want everyone to know I'm not a seasick kinda guy. Ron Jones can attest to that LOL.

 I really enjoyed getting to chat with a lot of the guys and of course getting to meet them too. I was overly impressed with the weaponry I gazed upon. Old school, new school, and some middle school. As a first timer, I was doing a lot of observing. Lots to soak in.

 I did fish a few kelp patties with no luck. After about 3 kelp pattie's I had to head for the bunk. I regret not getting to do some night fishing,  and lots of the day, but I have zero regrets about the overall experience. Hope someday there is a "next time".

 Thanks to Alan for getting me to and from the airport, and for bringing his gear for me to fish, and being my tour guide the night before departure.

 Long story short, sweet boat, great bunch of guys passionate about a fishery I know nothing about, good times, weather sucked

 Ted

[Ron Jones]

To be clear, I have helmed the boat quite a bit, but only so Ted can run the downriggers and get us on fish!
I was surprised to hear that he got sick, we have been in some nasty stuff without issue; and he ain't lying; We've been in sideways rain with a current so fast that Ted ran the mains to back troll and I STILL couldn't get the 600ft bottom with 1200 grams, but we didn't come home without fish!

The Man

[Maxed Out]

 Thanks for the kind words Ron. I re-read my post and it makes me sound like a whimpy whiner. My apologies. I do want to thank David hall for tolerating me as the worst roommate imaginable. At one point I didn't have the gumption to get out of my bunk and get a cup of water to try and down more Dramamine. David was on it. Sad to say about 5 minutes later it came back up. I'm still getting rehydrated, and eating like a horse

[JoseCuervo]

What a harsh ride! The vid I saw even made me queasy and I haven't chummed in 40 years.

It sounds like it was still fun, kind of.

One day I will do a 3-4 day, beyond that is a bit too much for me. Plus, I hate flying.