Hard going at Holland yesterday, so much so that the flounder rig was out by midday. If like me you don’t like to injure those flatties not destined for the pot and are not aware of this trick, read on.

I use blued Aberdeen’s size 2 modified at the point and the shank with a pair of long nosed pliers.
Even though both flatties yesterday had swallowed the hook it still came out with a gentle pull with no damage to either fish. It doesn’t always work but often enough to justify the mod.

View attachment 1066960

Why not tease down the barbs Miz?

 

Why not tease down the barbs Mix?

I think with my method the point doesn’t actually penetrate, the hook lodging in the throat by virtue of its shape, particularly in small flatties. I’ve had several bass to over 6lbs on these hooks and I wouldnt want to be barbless with those. But your alternative may be just as good.

 

You might want to wear safety glasses to avoid any accidents!

 

Pair of micro pliars

 

Caught that one at Grays Wharf using those hooks while sole fishing.

6lb 2oz bass posing with awesome Okuma Nitryx and Shakespeare Flattie(?)

• Miz Git
• Jun 23, 2010

 

Nice bit of live bait that Miz?
Size16 barbless but you need to elasticate your worms on, been known to miss a few bites though

 

Looks a good idea its always nice to be able to return fish without harming them , until I saw this I was thinking of using circle hooks , has anyone tried them ?

 

Ive used circles and found they are far Superior to J hooks but not 100% solve the problem of swallowing. And if the fish swallow the circle Ive not found a way to unhook them cleanly.

Also I find you want a bigger circle than you think. 2/0 is probably my common size.

 

Flounders are beggers for swallowing hooks down. I use long shank Aberdeens where possible....i use the same for Eels too.
I like the bent hook approach and can see why it would work.
A good tip.

 

Interesting that pic, what we used to call "a bent hook" for carp fishing. Lots of fisheries banned them because they said it caused deep hooking!!!!!!!!! Never did understand that argument though.

Den

 

Caught that one at Grays Wharf using those hooks while sole fishing.

6lb 2oz bass posing with awesome Okuma Nitryx and Shakespeare Flattie(?)

• Miz Git
• Jun 23, 2010

You will shot on sight if your caught taking pics like that this year

 

If I catch any more that size locally Ian I’ll turn myself in!

 

Nice tip there miz will try that thanks

 

A pleasure SM......it’s worth doing

 

A bit of info to share , this year I kept getting good tugs off plaice but failing to connect with typical j hooks stop not /bait stop , beads etc , I changed the stop knot for a size 10 carp hook so pennelling with the size 1 and picked up nearly every take, the odd thing about this was a lot of the time the 10 was within 10mm of theyre lips and the size 1 main was either not embedded or flapping about outside its chops , a 10 is really easy to extract with a pair of forceps in a typically narrow /small gob, even stranger still since I have done this not once has the size 10 been outside its mouth in probably 30 fish

 

Hard going at Holland yesterday, so much so that the flounder rig was out by midday. If like me you don’t like to injure those flatties not destined for the pot and are not aware of this trick, read on.

I use blued Aberdeen’s size 2 modified at the point and the shank with a pair of long nosed pliers.
Even though both flatties yesterday had swallowed the hook it still came out with a gentle pull with no damage to either fish. It doesn’t always work but often enough to justify the mod.

View attachment 1066960

Here in Southend I always fish with a steel trace as well because you never know what is going to swim by.

 

Hard going at Holland yesterday, so much so that the flounder rig was out by midday. If like me you don’t like to injure those flatties not destined for the pot and are not aware of this trick, read on.

I use blued Aberdeen’s size 2 modified at the point and the shank with a pair of long nosed pliers.
Even though both flatties yesterday had swallowed the hook it still came out with a gentle pull with no damage to either fish. It doesn’t always work but often enough to justify the mod.

View attachment 1066960

I use different named spools as well:

Flounder
Plaice
Dab
Sole
Turbot
Brill
Megrim
Topknot
Witch

They all hold the same rig but I like to target sessions at particular species.

 

Only ever catch flounders, are the others foreign?

 

Only ever catch flounders, are the others foreign?

Blame the Europeans, roll on brexit then we can blank on proper British fish

 

Have you guys tried Fishophoser’s method of unhooking any deep-hooked flatties by using forceps through the gill cover? Works every time and once the technique is mastered is quick and easy. Need to make sure you have forceps that are long enough, as you may find it more difficult with the larger fish. Will also work on round fish. There have been posts on the forums detailing the method and I‘m sure you can find it via our old friend Google, so I’m not going to detail it here.

Bob.

 

Have you guys tried Fishophoser’s method of unhooking any deep-hooked flatties by using forceps through the gill cover? Works every time and once the technique is mastered is quick and easy. Need to make sure you have forceps that are long enough, as you may find it more difficult with the larger fish. Will also work on round fish. There have been posts on the forums detailing the method and I‘m sure you can find it via our old friend Google, so I’m not going to detail it here.

Bob.

Don’t need it .....sorry and yes I do know of it.

 

the other way is use circle hooks
or
shrink tube at a 37 degree angle rolls the hook into the mouth
a { carp tack tick }