Bowbreaker
Member
Funny you should mention this... We think very similarly!Have a few goals with this and I've had some decent success with a few different variations.
1) Reduce possible damage to the fish of the second hook
2) Making fish easier to release given there is only one hook and minimize that second hook flopping around and getting me. lol
I don't go directly to a split ring. The two ways I have done this is by:
- Siwash open eye big river bait hook to a barrel swivel then to a split ring and to the jig. Allows the hook to rotate and flop around. 3/0 and 5/0 is what I've used here since they are not a short shank hook. This has been my most successful way.
- have also tried single 5/0 and 6/0 owners tied on a short assist cord to a steel ring and then split ring to jig. This also works but i didn't stay buttoned up as often.
I spent 4 weeks out there trying different things and the siwash is the best so far. The factory hooks that come are good but the assist cord to the hook is garbage and had numerous come apart on fish so I started rapping them tight with big fly thread and gluing them right out of the package before they ever touch the water. This got rid of the hooks coming off problem.
Still think the best option will be a good single that holds fish.
I spent A LOT of effort on trying different single hook options this summer. I am tired of releasing undersized fish missing an eyeball. Seems like a very unfair way to interact with these fish and unsporting. Also, my hands get abused by the second hook in the net and I am very concerned about my 11 year old daughter unhooking fish with two hooks in the mouth.
Here is what I learned:
*I start to tie my own single hook set ups with a fly tying vice and braid for thread. I used heat shrink tube over the braid connection point. I varied the length of cord and size of hook.
*Smaller owner or gami hooks (2/0 and 3/0) generally straighten out very easily. I lost a LOT of fish from bent hooks.
*Shorter cord length resulted in less solid hook ups. I lost count of how many times my jig would stop falling, I'd "set the hook" and the get a few head shakes before the fish would come free.
*Some days the fish will be more aggressive and my land ratio would be respectable and other days less aggressive (the way I see it anyway) and the hook to land ratio would be dismal (like 5 out of 20).
*I worked my way up to larger hooks (4/0 to 5/0) and longer cord length (2" or so) and still had awful landing ratios...
*What did seem to work well was using the 2/0 owner assist hook (that comes with the smaller flat falls) as a single (cutting off one of the second one).
Overall, not very successful bit of experimenting and I did go back to small, double hooks at the end of the season to land a few more (lost some really big fish that I would have liked to have seen close to the boat). A friend of mine seemed to do OK with singles for most of the summer, so not sure on the difference there. I am using a parabolic, slow pitch jigging rod (Grappler Tyle Slow J) with a strong cranking reel (Shimano Ocea Jigger). That rod was cranked over tight and the hook was still pulling free...
I fished with another diehard jigger this year who uses large open siwash hooks as well and swears by them. This sounds like the way to go and I look forward to giving it a try. Thanks for the tip!