Tips and Tricks

How to open a hank of monofilament without all that tangling

Monofilament for longline comes in hanks (or skeins) and not in spools. When monofilament is spooled, it will “spiral” when taken out of the spool. So we have to open the hank without the mess of making a birds nest. This goes for hanks of mono for snoods, and ready longlines with swivels.

Snoods

Commercial fishermen use mostly 130cm length (Hake, Sea bass, Trout, Halibut, Dolphin fish, Croaker, Pollock, Mackerel, Conger) such species is found in the mid-water or 5-10 meter over the sea bed. 130cm is achieved by cutting the whole hank over once. 65cm is used for bottom fish such as Cod, Snapper, Grouper, and Breams. 65cm is achieved when cutting the hank twice. Any other desired lengths for fishes such as large pelagic fishes (normally 8-12 meter length) or custom lengths, the hank have to be opened and each snood measured. Two F-Clamps are mounted on a table with for example 1 meter between, and the mono is taken out of the hank and turned around. When finished, cutting once will give a snood of 2 meter.

Opening a hank of longline

The hank of longline will most likely end up in a basket (how to make a longline basket) with the snoods knotted to the swivel and the hook fastened on the rim of the basket.

The best way to open a hank of monofilament is to use a normal chair with backrest.

1. Cut off the threads around the hank while the hank is laying on a table.
2. Find the start of the line.
3. With both hands, place the hank over the backrest
4. Start taking out the line, avoiding any loops to get over the top.

If the end of the line are pulled out, free it and tie it to a leg of the chair.

How to keep the fishing bait over the sea bed

The fishing bait shall be placed where the fish you target swims, on the bottom, mid-water or surface. Baited hooks CAN be on the bottom but only for fish that “grasses” such as flounder and cod. Most likely crabs will finish the bait before the fish comes along. On elevated seabed, rocky bottoms etc. the line can be stretched over the elevations, putting most of the hooks above the sea bed. Artificial lure has to be in free water, they do not fish while on the bottom. On flat bottom it is necessary to use “depth regulators” or “stone / float” that consist of four elements: - a lead ball with hole or a purse seine lead tube, you get those asking the commercial fishermen at the port that fish with seine nets. The lead tubes (sinkers) can be up to 500 gram (more than one lb) each, sufficient for a sinker. Normally 250 gram would do. - 3mm braided Polyethylene thread that is floating, and have a stiff appearance. The thread can be 2-10 meter long depending what you are fishing for. - A float that suits the lead weight, large ring float in PVC that is used for gillnets or a foam float for the small purse seines. The fishermen has always a stock of these, cheap and used will do. - An 80mm snap fixed under the float. The fishing snap is snapped on the line when it goes out.

Have the regulators coiled in a separate bucket, and employ them each 50-75 meter to keep the hooks above the sea bed. When hauling the line, the regulators are snapped off the line and coiled back into their bucket. Of course we can sell you those with your order.

Choice of fishing hooks simplified

Commercial fishermen have a far more relaxed approach to fishing hooks than the sport fisher. They are making simple choices and it work for them.

1. Ring, Eye or Flat end:
   Fishing hooks with ring are today limited to hooks for large pelagic fishes. When you mount the hook to the mono, the hooks with ring will move better in the current and attract more fish. Hooks with flat end are faster to mount, these hooks are also less expensive than the hooks with eye. Our workers can mount up to 200 hooks per hour. If you prefer to mount the snoods with sleeves, flat end cannot do. Mounting with sleeves require an eye. Sleeve-mounted hooks gives a 30-35% stronger snood than with a knot, a knot reduces the breaking strain of the mono with 40-50%
2. Material:
   Commercial fishermen do not use expensive fishing hooks. Many fisheries change the hooks daily – only fishing once with a hook. Commercial hooks are priced at a third of a quality hook – but they fish the same first 3-5 soakings. After that, the commercial hook will corrode, at a speed of 3-4 times faster than a quality hook. Carbon steel hooks comes in two versions, single dipped (cheap) and double dipped (such as Mustad) Carbon steel is stronger than Stainless steel, small and thin hooks of Stainless Steel will be too weak.
3. Performance:
   A commercial and cheap fishing hook is 3-4 times more expensive, the hook have the same penetration performance in the barb the first 3-5 times of fishing. The fact is that also the expensive hooks lose its sharpness long before it start to corrode. For commercial longline, expensive hooks do not pay. The main manufacturers of all types of hooks have developed the right flexibility so the strength and flexibility is not a big issue when choosing hooks.
4. Style:
   All types of fishing hooks, as long as they are fitting into the mouth of the fish. The main choice is to employ a straight hook (type Round Bent Sea) or a hook with offset / twist (Kirby, Pico de Loro)
   
   A straight hook will go down to the belly of the fish, and a twisted hook will catch the side of the mouth. Therefore, straight hooks should be employed for fish with weak mouths since a twisted hook would easier be ripped out of the mouth. In long lining, a fish can be alive on the hook for the entire time of the set, as contrary to the single line fishing where the fish is brought on board within minutes.

Longline baskets and leader boxes? how to make them yourself

A longline basket is a round tub with an edge to fasten the hooks, used when the snoods are fastened directly to swivel on the longline. When you use snap-on snoods (with a snap to fasten the snood in a bare /naked line) you store the snoods in a leader box and keep the main line in a tub without rubber edge.

LongLine Baskets

They are bulky and cost a lot of money to transport, and can be made where you are. The standard basket is a hard PVC tub 60cm in diameter and 25 cm high. It will hold up to 1000 meter with 1.4mm line and 200 hooks. We sell those baskets, both for artificial bait and for fresh bait. Hooks with artificial bait is fastened into a hard foam rim and the basket can hold 200 hooks. When you use fresh bait, we prefer to sell a rubber edge with slots for the baited hooks to hang outside the basket. Such basket can hold 150 hooks in slots.

The best tubs for making yourself are from the pots that the greenhouses use for growing trees and large plants. They come in sizes from 50 liter up to 1000 liter and are made of very strong PVC/PP already with holes in the bottom for drainage and two carry handles at the sides. On this tub, you mount a hard foam rod cut in half (the type that the children use on the beach) drilling holes in the side of the tub and fasten the foam rod with straps. If you will use fresh bait, a 0.3-0.5mm thick strip of rubber,10cm high, is glued with super glue to the rim after sanding the PVC and rubber for better grip of the glue. Bolts are mounted each 10-15cm (flat head on the inside to avoid mono hook-up) At last, you use a sharp knife to cut slots in the rubber, 15mm deep and 15mm between each.

Leader Boxes

A leader box is a square box, type garden storage with lid, and galvanized thread rod of 5-6mm diameter on each upper side of the sides of the box. Each tip of the thread rod is closed with a stainless steel nut (round headed) on the outside and a normal nut on the inside. The snoods that can be from 50cm to 15 meter long are mounted as follows:

1. The snap is snapped on the thread rod.
2. The mono is put into the box.
3. The hook is placed into its proper snap.

When shooting the line, you snap of an entire leader (the last one you mounted) drop the hook in the sea and snap on the snap to the main line. When hauling, each snap-on snood is placed back into the box.

Bait? Fresh or Artificial?

Artificial bait works ? but fish less than fresh bait. At the same time, you can employ far more hooks with artificial bait than fresh bait; fresh bait takes time to mount and is expensive. Artificial bait has to be free in the water mass and not on the sea bed. A typical & successful example is the Bass surf line, set in front of the surf in mid-water, where the bait is "dancing" in the current and attracts the Sea Bass when hunting. The fish's attraction for artificial bait is mostly due to other reasons than the bait itself. Small creatures such as crab and shrimp is curious about the artificial lures, they creates activity around that bait that the fish cannot resist. When attacking, it ends up eating the artificial bait when the live creatures escape.

1. Octopus skirt has the hook inside the plastic body. First the hook is mounted, then the skirt is threaded onto the hook by cutting a small hole in the head of the skirt, and then the snood is knotted to the swivel on the main line.
2. The crab lure has the hook through the body before the mono snood is knotted at the other end to the swivel of the main line.

Do lights and fluorescent pearls work?

There are fish species that are attracted to light and other that fear light, a general rule is that fish with few enemies are more curious about light than fearsome fishes. This is not always so, this curiosity can change with geographic location and season. On this question, there is no straight answer, and use of light must be tried out where you operate.

1. The commercial fisheries use light (light sticks and electrical lights) for large pelagic species, with improved catches. Also, research institutes in five countries in Europe (Norway, Sweden, Germany, Denmark and the UK) have purchased our electrical lights for experiments, with report of some increased catches.
2. Pearls A pearl is a small fluorescent ball about 9x18mm placed over artificial bait. It increases the activity of small crab and shrimp around the bait that again get the attention of the target fish. Light itself can be attractive for Sea Bass and Sea Trout. Sea Breams / Snappers are interested in the activity around the light, when they are on safe grounds.