big fish little fish lol

[bribones]

after following gary and bobs debate on the skill involved in fishing i thought id ask in general ,personal best for me this year has been 2 and a 1/2lb codling and i thought that was a struggle lol ,im using a 4/0 hook and at a guess i think im missing a lot of the smaller fish due to the hook size ,ive got to agree with gary though hes went out and targeted the big fish and got a result while i think for the smaller ones theres only luck involved if there there youl catch em if not you wont,smaller fish might tend to ignore the big baits im not sure which is why im asking ,so lads please feel free to continue,i might learn something

[gag1]

Some good points there Bri. Most of the mags that we come across, (TSF and SA), advocate big baits for big fish and smaller baits for small fish. I have never really seen the logic behind this as its natural to go for the biggest meal when you are hungry wahtever species you may be. No doubt that the boat lads/lasses will probably say that the bigger the bait at sea, the bigger the fish and its probably true but I havent found this to be the case whilst shore fishing. If you are a hungry little bugger and you come across a nice big fat cluster of worms you are going to have a bite regardless of the size.
cheers mate.
george.

[micky-quayle]

small baits = more fish of ALL sizes
big baits = less fish but of a higher average size
thats my view anyway
the reason i think this is so is that small fish will nibble away at oversized baits on big hooks but invariably not be hooked whereas small baits will be taken by both small and large fish alike with a very good hookup ratio. i find this is true for both my sea fishing and even more so for the pike fishing i do.

[colossus]

I\'ve been experimenting with different sized baits. On three recent trips to Roker pier I had 2 codling on each trip all between 2 & 3 pounds. I tried a 3 hook trace with 1/0 and 1 size hooks and a pennel with a 3/0 and 2/0. Single rag and lug on the small hooks and whole squid plus worms on the pennel. Thought I\'d avoid small whiting on the pennel. Best codling of nearly 3 pounds came on the small hooks and the smallest whiting managed to swallow the entire squid and worm bait! Having said that most of the codling did come on the pennel.

Colossus

[CODHEAD]

big bates BIG fish
little baits little fish
photos dont lie
little baits some times big fish
big baits most the time little fish
on that day bri out of 24 anglers on 2 boats i was the only 1 who fished all day for big cod with a big cod bait
your right mate

[Ell]

Big Baits and slightly over tackled for me every time. If you\'re scratching for whiteys in a club comp different game .................If you\'re after the cod of a lifetime............... it\'s gotta be big IMHO

[IanW]

If you luck\'s in when the fish swims past and it decides it likes the look of your bait then it\'ll go for it.

Always fish big baits, and have had may different sized fish on them.

Normally fish 6/0 pennels on the shore and have had fish smaller than the bait take them.

Normally fish 8/0 hooks on the boats with sides of macky .....never had a double yet.

Quite a lot of luck in it I reckon.

[willywetegg]

Got to be honest I fish with big baits all the time, one of the reasons I don\'t catch a lot during the summer. It doesn\'t bother me because one day it will really pay off. I hope lol. Fished with 3/0 hooks tonight mind, never use anything under 4/0 as a rule but someone told me to give them a go. One of my favourite hooks is the Bass hook very strong and you can get some really big baits on them.

Jim.

[CODHEAD]

IAN,
i think your going a bit big there mate and if your after cod ,to be honest mate you dont stand a chance .6/0 hooks ,rag ,runnydown,small squid,or a big squid head on for a tip hope this helps.think ive had 6 doubles this year and about 10 last year ,i would rather fish for cod than ling but,if i worked out the money its costs me it would be a lot cheaper to buy it lol.i spend £100 a week in the boat season i use all my pocket money lol


gary

[boblydon]

all good points raised lads,however i think it depends a lot on where you are fishing also and the conditions, the original debate did not mean to mention any skills involved was not meant to be one of somebodys skill in landing big fish or small ones, boat fishing i feel is easier than shore fishing as when on a boat you rely on the skippers skill and judgement to put you over the mark,shore fishing its up to you to find the fish, tactics and experience of course can give you the edge in both situations

[micky-quayle]

try this for a dozen sessions lads. when out for the cod fish two rods side by side, use the same rigs, same baits but reduce the hooksize and bait size considerably on one rod. you may get a suprise at the results.
i tried this many years ago for a full winter (at that time i was fishing at least 3 times per week) i came to the conclusion small baits caught more fish of all sizes. give it a try and post your results !

[Davyred]

Mick, sorry got to disagree. In a big dirty sea, theres no way I will fish with small hooks and small baits for the following reasons.

1) Big bait = bigger scent trail= more chance of ANY fish coming to investigate.

2) Small hooks = nipping arse cheeks when the fish of a lifetime eventually finds your small bait. Its not my idea of fun nursing a 15lb+ cod through kelp etc on a small hook.

Another point is...could the reason your idea worked for you is you\'re fishing a big bait alongside your small baits? Which do you think attracted the fish in the first place? Take the big bait out, fish with small baits only and would the results be the same? I very much doubt it.

Granted, if you\'re fishing for Whiting etc in calm seas, small hooks/bait are the order of the day, but if you watch any decent Cod angler, you\'ll see the same up and down the country...big baits on big hooks.

[Edited on 30/11/2004 by Davyred]

[Edited on 30/11/2004 by Davyred]

[Edited on 30/11/2004 by Davyred]

[bribones]

i think the thing here is to seperate the 2 types of fishing boat/shore
big hooks might work well in the deeper water where the big fish tend to hang out but beach and rock marks have a tendency towards smaller fish,i find even with a 4/0 i get more hook snags than weight snags and less fish which i put down to the large baits im using and the fish as stated above are nibbling and not taking the whole bait,ill try micks idea but just change the rigs to smaller hooks instead of taking 2 rods or ill bait up 2 hooks per rig large and small and see what happens

bob sorry to disagree but i think landing a 15lb cod takes a lot more skill than landing a 2lb cod,knowing how to play the fish etc and not just bully it in with a risk of tackle loss if you get a bit exited

[Davyred]

Bri, the point I was trying to get across (as far as shore fishing goes) is big seas = better chance of big fish = big hooks.

Adapt your hooks to the conditions/ground you\'re fishing. Certainly don\'t drop your hook size because you\'re getting them snagged all the time. If you do that, when will it stop - before you know it, you\'ll be fishing with a size 16

[Chippy]

I certainly bow to everyone\'s greater experience. Howecver what it boils down to is horses for courses. You wouldn\'t fish a rock mark with rag tipped with mackerel on a size 4, chances are you wouldn\'t fish and estuary with three lug wrapped in a whole squid on a 6/0 pennel.
Personlly I usually fish two rods, one with a big bait on a large pennel for that large one that never comes, and a second rod with two or three size 1/0 or size 1\'s to keep the bites coming. If it\'s a long session, and after a few hours I\'ve not had a knock on one, and the the other is going mad, I usually change the rig.
Another thing I\'ve used to keep the scent trail up with small hooks is a freshwater feeder stuffed with pigs liver.
Because you can\'t see the fish feeding, who knows if the large bait on one rod attracts the fish to the small baits? Personally I think some of it, just a little bit is down to luck. Anyway, I\'ve had pin whiting on on a 6/0 pennel so what do I know?