Shark hooks and traces?

[mangler]

OK, so here's my stupid question for the week.

I'm looking at getting into a bit of sharking over summer, anyway I have a question about hooks & traces.

I know why you need a plastic coated wire trace, but what I don't understand is why does it need to be plastic coated when the hooks aren't???

Is it just an old fishing myth that you need a plastic coated wire trace to catch sharks? Or is it just that the relatively small size of a hook, compared to a 1.5m wire trace,is much less detectable to the sharks???

Cheers,

Matt

[adri4n]

I've thought of that question myself matt, I've tried on a few occasions to get onto some sharks but haven't yet. i don't know how true it is but they say the moment the shark bites down on a non-plastic coated wire it'll feel some sensation, much like how we feel when we bite on aluminium foil and let go. thats what i heard but i'm not sure how true it is.

[Davo_Dinkum]

plastic coated wire or they wont go near it

they can feel the small amount of electricity given off by the salt water reacting with the wire.thats from another thread,jeff f info. so i guess thats why.

[Cowfish13]

Yep what Davo said, and with the Sharks that you would be going for (I'm assuming smaller Bullies from the river around 0.8-1.2m long?), the hooks needed for that don't need to be coated as they are only relatively small. But I have seen some serious shark fisho's tape their hooks with electrical tape to cover them up as well (massive hooks though)

Adri4n wrote:

I've thought of that question myself matt, I've tried on a few occasions to get onto some sharks but haven't yet. i don't know how true it is but they say the moment the shark bites down on a non-plastic coated wire it'll feel some sensation, much like how we feel when we bite on aluminium foil and let go. thats what i heard but i'm not sure how true it is

The reason why we experience a small shock/sensation when we bite a piece of aluminium foil is because it sets up a redox reation between the foil and a metal filling. Only people with metal fillings in their teeth experience this, so sharks won't get this effect.

Good old year 11 chemistry:silly:

[adri4n]

you're right about that part abt the fillings cowfish, i just didn't want to put that in to confuse things. anyways, just wondering why you are asking the question in the first place mangler? is it just curiousity or is coated wire much more expensive than normal wire?

[Terry H]

One ideology is of the consensus that:

Bare wire making contact with the salt water can create small electrical fields, can put off some sharks. You will notice in any picture of my large hooks, they are taped to the barb.

The 2nd belief is:

The electrical current can actually help attract, or induce a hit as the small electrical current could be realistic of a live bait.

Two completely different thoughts. You will probably find more anglers leaning towards the first belief though.

[Feral]

I always take the "electric current " theory with a grain of salt, seen plenty of footage of massive sharks caught on drum lines with chains and steel hooks etc, none of it covered.

However most wire comes coated, and I've never heard of any saying the coating slows down the catch, so why not? just a little extra bit of insurance.

[Smiderman]

may be if the sharks are attracted to the nominal electricity in the wire it chomps the trace rather than the hook

[mangler]

Cool, thanks for the replies everyone pretty much explains what I was after. Was only curious as to why you'd use plastic coated wire, but still have exposed metal hooks, had never seen the taped up hooks before, so that makes sense now.

[Gazza]

I use that twist weld one and crimp it as well never had one let go

Gaz

[Gad]

Interesting subject,science also,

I`ve always leaned towards Ferals way of thinking,because,pre coated wire days you had a choice,bare wire or thick mono.Sharks were still caught on wire.but sharks were not as prolific in our estuaries as they are now,maybe a combination of many factors??

[harley]

hi harley here i rig up plastic steel trace no 8 or 9 hook and do quite well shark fishing

[flatty_catcher]

sharks also have an awsome sense of smell

maybe they just smell the metal and think yuck or its suspicous

where as plastic is no where near as reactive.

I mean they can smell a small amount of blood 2km away, so the minute amount they can sense is well down at the molecule level, very sensitive, most metals give off ions, especially in salt water, its a very reactive environment.

Dan

[werewolf]

harley wrote:

hi harley here i rig up plastic steel trace no 8 or 9 hook and do quite well shark fishing

I take it you mean 8/0 or 9/0 mate?

[Feral]

Have a hunt through the old articles, there is a brilliant one on shark fishing in the rivers from Schultzy

[mangler]

Yes, have read that article many times, excellent article.

[harley]

I have recently caught sharks from about 80-90cm in length at tennyson and doing well mainly early mornings tide run out:fishing:

[Rocket75]

I've read in previous posts that it's more to do with the electrical charge/current that fish pick up from metal in water...some people do also wrap their hooks in tape (except the point)

[Judge]

Well, I'm no expert and can only tell you what has been working for me.

I've had 7 bull sharks on my line in the boat, 4 got away because I was using mono, when I switched to nylon coated wire, they were caught.

On shore I've landed 4, all with nylon coated wire.

I use a long 3/0 bait holder hook, most of the hook is in the bait so no prob's with potential electrical charge.

Seems to work well.

Judge

[Smiderman]

Feral wrote:

I always take the "electric current " theory with a grain of salt, seen plenty of footage of massive sharks caught on drum lines with chains and steel hooks etc, none of it covered.

However most wire comes coated, and I've never heard of any saying the coating slows down the catch, so why not? just a little extra bit of insurance.

perhaps the shock theory is relative to size. I'm guessing that whilst the detectable voltage that is generated between the salt water and metal is nominal & would not doubt remain constant regardless of the piece of metal. the voltage effect a smaller shark than a larger one ... just a theory

[Gad]

Gad wrote:

Interesting subject,science also,

I`ve always leaned towards Ferals way of thinking,because,pre coated wire days you had a choice,bare wire or thick mono.Sharks were still caught on wire.but sharks were not as prolific in our estuaries as they are now,maybe a combination of many factors??

I don`t know if they still use set drum lines,these days or recently,

In the late 60/70`s,up in Bundy,the surf life savers used to do a couple of fund raisers each season,we`d set a number of set drum lines out about 4/500yards out from the beach to catch sharks and put them on display in the boat shed and charge 3pence to see the display.

Tigers,hammerheads and grey nurse were the usual casualties,back in the unenlightened days.

These set drums were made from 44gallon drums with 2 rings welded to them one on the bottom edge,one on the top edge,so when they were put in the water,the droms would float on their sides and a chain with an anchor attached to one ring would anchor the drum and a chain attached to the other ring,at the end of this chain was attached a pro sharkers hook(a Big mother)with half a split pigs head as bait.

A similar method of these drum lines were used up and down the qld coast untill shark nets off the beaches came in.

cheers

[benno573]

a 60-120lb nylon coated wire trace is essential. make the trace a bit longer than any shark you plan on catching if possible. i usually aim for about a 2m wire trace. make sure you crimp it well, i use 2 crimps at each end.

hook-wise - well depending a lot on bait. i usually use live mullet about 20-30cm and use shogun 10/0 tuna circle hooks, only one. they are strong as all hell and i have landed a BIG tiger on them. if fishing with eel bait it is a good idea to go to a 2 hook rig.

the nylon coating... sharks have electrochemical sensors in their rostrum. this is to pick up on minute electrical currents produced in the muscle of fish and help them hunt in the dark/murky water. (this is why people get attacked by bull sharks during hours of darkness and in murky water but very very very rarely in clear water during the day - the shark is relying solely on these senses to locate "food").

when fishing for sharks with bait the nylon coating eliminates the chance sharks may get attracted to the wire by the electro pulse sent out. i've found with live baits the need is minimised as the bait sends out much more powerful pulses. however, as feral said, pretty much all wire is nylon coated so why use uncoated stuff? as for taping hooks... i do when fishing BIG. like using stupid big hooks. never had an issue in the river with untaped hooks.

hope this in some way helps.

cheers,

benno <'>-<