bb, I guess I haven't kept up with some of the new fancy hooks and stuff for mackerel fishing, I'm sure they've made some advances with some products. We used the eagle claw 1/0 4x treble, it's the same one I and a few other people use to cobia fish with and have never had a problem with them bending or failing as far as I remember.

  I have noticed that some people are going to a 3 hook rig even with regular hardtails, seems to be working fine. Heck we caught a pile of fish on a single 6/0 long shank eagle claw we used to run as a short bait, the two biggest that I recall weighed 49.96 lbs and 54.40 lbs. All the other fish over 50 we weighed in tournaments were caught on the regular two treble rig. And we never did catch one over 50 on a big bait three treble rig for a bluefish/spanish, which kinda surprises me. One tournament I fished with Crieghton Parker we caught a pair of 50 lb twins one day the one we weighed was 52.80 and we fished with a #2 in the front and a #1 in the back, we finished second in the division that year with the smaller hooks and 25 lb line. I've seen people who were successful use REALLY big tackle and REALLY small tackle, whatever works best for your style I guess.  

Kinda get excited talking about mackerel tournaments again, too bad gas is so high, sure was a lot of fun.

Hot Spots Charters
Pensacola, Florida
hotspotsfishing.com
850-418-5333

I started just like you in the corner of a charter boat and on the pier trying to find what works.  Try things out, see what works the best for you and most importantly, the way you enjoy it the most and within your budget.

There is really no all knowing best way to do this stuff.  I've seen guys go out there and catch the biggest king of their life using a 9/0 with braid, 100# mono leader and 9/0 circle that beat every fish caught in a tournament happening the same day.  Sometimes it's just your day......

Matt, when I first started this we we're no where near the level you and Rag-Tag we're at and I still started to get bored with the tournaments and prepping.  I really don't like all of the whispering, two faced deception stuff that's still going on around the tournaments but it's part of it, I just choose not to be that way.

My partner and I made some changes a few yrs ago and now I still get excited just prepping for tournaments.  My partner and I kinda took a different approach to kingfishing the last two years that has made a huge difference for us.

We don't fish against other teams anymore and trying to beat a specific team or find out what or where a certain angler is going.... We fish against ourselves and how we did before, we also both started fishing a lot more with our daughters and they are now our primary anglers.  It's gotten to the point that I would be happy with never touching a rod again and watching my daughter on the bow with a big fish.  Because of this, I get alot more time to watch what's working and what's not and how I can do things better.

For whatever reason, with the changes we've made, we have seen some of the biggest fish and consistently more large fish coming to the boat than we've ever seen before.

now that we've finally found a combination that works well for us and we're having fun at it, it's getting so expensive that we can't hardly afford to do it.  I'm seeing fewer boats in just about every tournament so far this year.  I'm just hoping that we can continue to do what we're doing with our kids for at least a few more years but I just don't see it happening short of one of us winning the lottery.

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Scott

34' Luhrs Open "Dream II" - FOR SALE

and SKA fishing Team "SET 4 Life"  http://www.teamset4life.com/

http://www.forumpictureprocessor.com/gallery.asp?gallery=351

backlash as Scott said find what works for you and the more your out on the water or pier, the more you will learn....good luck and i hope to meet you down there one day......tight lines and good day

Stephen