[Gr8 b8 m8]

So today I was shore catfishing for blue cats on the tidal potomac and caught 4, 5 pounders, a 14 pounder, and a 40 pounder (I'm pretty stoked about them). On the other hand my commrade was having TERRIBLE luck, so for him 3 missed hook sets, 2 break-offs, and an old muddy tee-shirt later he finally hooked up with something, but halfway in it came lose. So when we looked at the end of the line to see if it was curly (broken knot) or shredded (broken line). The end of the line still had a perfectly intact knot tied on, and was just missing the circle hook on it as if the fish untied the knot, removed the hook, and re-tied the knot perfectly in the 10 seconds he was fighting it. How is this possible? Can someone's bad luck really break the boundaries of physics?

 

[pmcdaniel]

Slid through the gap in the eye of the hook, or it was a defective hook and it just broke at the eye.

 

[Gr8 b8 m8]

Broke the eye of the hook. The metal 4 ought circle hook is very thick, but I guess that's a possible defect.

 

[Guest]

That 4/0 isn't that tough when braid and Blue cats are involved. And if you got a 40 on that little hook that's pretty sweet

 

[Jollymon]

Are you running braid to the hook? , I would rig up with a short piece of mono snelled to the hook and a FG knot to the braid. My reason is twofold, First the mono won't slip through the small gap in the hooks eye, Second if you snag on to something in the Potomac like a log, shopping cart , bodies,mis. the mono is more likely to break,then you don't have to fight against the braid . That would be my plan

 

[spydermn]

Catfish barbels are magical.

 

[Guest]

I use the exact same drum rig that has been discussed on here except a 12/0 hook. If you want the ability to change hooks from small to big use a snap instead of a Snell knot at the hook or cut and re-tie a pre made snelled hook of a different size. Without a mono leader your just asking for that braid to get tore up on the bottom and bye bye fish and rig. I prefer the Snell because it locks on the shank of the hook and distributes the pressure so it all isn't on the eye of the hook. I also think offset circle hooks turn perfectly to the jaw using the Snell but that thread will be started another time.

 

[surffshr]

He wasn't using cheap hooks was he?

 

[Sandcrab]

Use the improved double palomar knot

Sandcrab