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Your Fishing Photos
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Broome Catches
Picture: A few barramundi are showing up around the local creeks (Photo courtesy of Mel Murphy).
Boats:
Broome Bluewater Charters put its first boatload of clients for the season onto some nice red emperor. The crews who have fishing within Roebuck Bay have been doing well on jewfish to a metre, cobia and trevally. Expect sailfish to start turning up in better numbers as the dry season progresses. Spanish and school mackerel are responding to rigged garfish and trolled bibbed minnows off Entrance and Gantheaume Point.
Shore-based:
Threadfin and bluenose salmon have been caught on baits and lures along Cable Beach and around Roebuck Bay. Both species have also been caught at the mouths of the local creeks as well as at the adjacent coastline. Several barramundi between 60cm and 80cm, and the odd bigger fish, have been recently caught in the Fitzroy River. Dampier and Crab creeks have also started to produce the occasional barra.
Hook size and gauge
Technical Rating: Expert
Some of the most obvious features of a hook are both its size (gape) and thickness (gauge) and when used appropriately in combination can make all the difference in effectively hooking and landing fish. It sounds fairly straight forward but can get very technical and start to be applied with a great deal of precision.
When fishing with strip baits it is fairly obvious how large you want your hook to be as it needs to match the thickness of the bait (slightly larger). The same can be said for choosing a jig head to use with a soft plastic lure, the length and gape of the hook need to suit the size of the lure.
Picture: Various hook sizes and gauges can be chosen to suit the size of bait or lure as well as hook strength and penetration required for different line classes.
Once the size of hook has been chosen the technical part is choosing hook gauge or thickness. Many jig heads come with a hook size in standard or heavy gauge, usually denoted by a H next to the sizing. The heavy refers to a thick hook gauge for heavier fishing applications.
A good rule of thumb is that you should use the finest gauge hook you can get away with, meaning use the thinnest possible hook that won’t bend or break under the breaking strain of line you are using. This means that the hook point is as thin as possible and will have the greatest penetration and hook up rate. If you fish a heavy gauge hook you need to use more force to penetrate the hook and if you are fishing light line, you might not be able to drive the hook through.
In some instances you might be fishing a large bait or lure with light tackle so the hook gape will be large but the gauge will be fine. Alternatively you might be fishing heavier tackle for something feeding on small bait and lures or using a bridle rigging technique where the whole hook is exposed from the bait so you would use a small hook with a thick gauge for strength.
Picture: Small, thick hooks are used for bridle rigging whole fish baits (like the dead mullet pictured above) where the full hook is exposed but strength is needed. Hooks on topwater lures sometimes look excessive but the weight of the hook along with the strength needed to muscle powerful fish is needed to fish the lure effectively.
Going deeper, topwater lure fishing is the pinnacle of tactical and technical fishing often pushing gear to the limits with ultimate precision. Topwater lures such as stickbaits and poppers are often carefully balanced to draw the line between positive, neutral and negative buoyancy. The total weight of a hook will affect how the lure swims and how it balances overall, if it sits horizontal or vertical in the water column or anything in between. Hook size needs to be matched to the size of lure for hook exposure but size and gauge both add to the weight of the hook and ultimately how the lure balances at rest. To be most effective in this style of fishing, a combination of the size and buoyancy of the lure along with hook size and gauge need to be accounted for and matched appropriately with the line class for good penetration. Many lures of various sizes and weights may be required to tailor to each situation.
Visit Tackle HQ for in-store advice on all your hook sizing needs and specialist technical advice on jigging and topwater lure fishing with WA’s most comprehensive range of lures and tackle in store and online.
