HACKED BY CYBER-ATTACK - ALPERENBTN

[Mapag]

Saturday night we were camped in the 50's in an area with a good bit of shell. We had three consecutive breakoffs where the 12' rods barely moved. All three times the line was broken off above the leader.

My setups are as follows, 2 12' rods, Diawa 30 SHV with 20 lb mono/ 30' of 60 lb mono shock leader, and a Diawa 50 SHV with 30 lb mono/60 lb leader. Both had 1/2 of a small skipjack as bait and were casted over the first bar up next to the second.

What do yall think? Should I incresase my line size. leader length or what?

[Curmit]

What did the end of the line look like? There is a very good chance that the same shark that was doing drive-bys in our camp chopping lines was doing the same to yours.

If a shark swam into your line and the line slid under him instead of over him the line would go right into his mouth in an ugly way with almost no chance of survival. There were over 12 chops in our camp Saturday night with most of them in the second gut but some in the first. The end of the line would come back with curly cues cut into it and a clean slice thru the line.

Welcome to shark fishing on Pins.
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[tyler]

I had that really bad the other day around the 18. I let the rod sit out for about a half an hour and twice as I was reeling in I noticed the line was frayed almost to breaking point. This was 25lb big game. This happens sometimes. I suspect that may have happened to you and that when a run came it snapped at the weak spot.

Tyler

[Bender]

Just wanted to let you know that the same thing happened to me on Saturday and I was wondering the same thing. My line did have the curly cues and a clean slice and it was a 50# test. We were camped around the 17. However I was able to retrieve my lead a few hours later when it got wraped up in some seaweed and my other line got tangled in it.

[SurfRunner]

My theory about that. And, I am probably wrong.

I think what happens is that as your line sits out there, organisims attach to it which draws little bitty toothy critters that eventually nibble your line through while feeding on the organizms.

On surf casted baits, it seems it happens more in clean water than murky. It seldom happens on the upper coast, but occasionally on PINS.

As far as yakked baits, it happens on the upper coast occasionally, but it seems it happens when the water is clear.

I think the clear water carries the little critters that chew on our lines.

This is only one of many reasons why you get cut off while your line just sitting there.

[Guest]

Considering the time of year, water conditions and where your lines broke or were frayed. I'd think sharp-toothed fish have been mistaking either your swivels or just the area where the line cuts through the surface of the water for prey. A common situation is where the line parts with little or no disturbance, much less while under a strain. These are signs that one of the subject three fish just made a pass.

All you can do when these guys are suspected is to use black swivels, and to check your last 20 feet or so of line frequently to see if there are fresh gnaw marks it. Look at the bright side and pitch a spoon or finger mullet back where you just got cut off. Spanish mackeral and bluefish smoke up very well, and you can use the jacks for shark bait.

[Curmit]

The curly cues I am referring to could not have been made by anything other than a shark, there was 130# line chopped thru like it was butter. In fact you would have a hard time to duplicate what was done to the line with a razor blade, and no there were no swivels within 20 yards of the cut section and they are all black none shiny or silver. The line is getting cut underwater in the middle of the gut often with a very substantial hit to the rod that peels drag. In fact recently Old Salt even had some 700# mono chopped into pieces identical to what has happened with serrations visible within the cut.

In my opinion I just don't see how it could be anything but a shark swimming into the line due to the visable damage to the mono that could come from nothing but a large set of teeth.
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[Guest]

Curmit, we're talking about two kinds of cut-offs in this thread. Mapag described break-offs of 20-lb above the leader while his rods barely moved. Your first response did not mention either the size of your line or that it was cut during drag-peeling runs. Tyler's response mentioned 25-lb and fraying found while reeling in after half-hour waits, but did not mention runs except to say a line in such condition probably would have broken had there been one. Bender's response described "curly cues" on the end of 50-lb, but again said nothing about having an associated run, and he got the leader back later, which seems to me unlikely if a shark had taken it and rubbed or bitten his line in the process.

SurfRunner and I have similar impressions of relatively little, non-shark culprits for those cases when "you get cut off while your line just sitting there." That implies razor teeth more than great strength. If you have something pulling drag on heavy line when the cut-off happens, THEN sharks come to mind.

[repofish]

GET EM JOHNNY! LOL

[Curmit]

I think you are right we are talking about two different things and I confused the circumstances, sorry didn't mean anything by it.
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[Mapag]

Curmit & Johnny,

Let me clarify. When I say above the leader what I mean is the main line was cut off substantially above the (shock) leader, not at the knot. There was no hardware to be hit.

I'm leaning towards the "toothy critter" hypothesis because of the lack of a "run". I only saw the rod move one time and it was not a substantial movement. One line was a High Vis line while another was Green Big Game so it still is perplexing that both were cut off.

[Guest]

I know you didn't, Curmit, and I don't think you were any more confused than I was. I've never shark fished, so when get my 20-lb pompano gear chewed in two by those mystery fish, I don't think shark. You're just as specialized in pursuit of sharks. Naturally, when we theorize about the ones that got away, we conclude they were something we wanted and could have caught if the fish were playing fair. In reality, we're like the blind men and the elephant, letting our imaginations run away with us. That's part of the fun of fishing.

Tight, unbroken, lines!

[Guest]

Mapag, we may never know what the elephant looks like. Sharks have denticles (little teeth) in their skins that can abrade the hell out of a line if they catch it just right, such as at the angle of a fin and the body. Stingray skin has similar properties, to say nothing of their barbs. Even pen shells, those fan-shaped cousins of the clam, are sharp-edged enough to carve those "curly cues" in a line and even sever it. Aside from the usual suspects among the "toothy critters," I bet there are dozens more that under the right circumstances could contribute to the mystery bites.

Your specific situation sounds a lot like the one where the line makes a disturbance, such as a flash, a trail of bubbles, or a sound right at the water's surface, some distance above the shock leader. Feeding fish, sharks among them, target all of these signs of agitated or wounded prey. Even if the type of line in use were perfectly invisible in the water, it would still have to disturb that surface, and perhaps fool a fish into striking at it. Zzzzziiippp!

[tyler]

Spanish Mackerel will hit hi viz and other line and so will Kings. None of mine was high vis but again we were talking about two different things.
I have had bar rubbing issues not associated with quick runs and cut lines.
I do recall fishing the first time with Captain Sandifer we had a run on the shark rod and it came back cut off way behind the huge leader material he was using. His explanation was that a king mackerel must have got the line somehow with his mouth open. With the finger mullet around, we have seen king mackerel in the wade gut after them. In fact Rodney aka Buda, Dad, and I were at Mansfield jetty fishing the area next to the rocks oone day in October when finger mullet were literally at our ankles, they would not move. We found out why after watching several folks on the rocks get big runs followed by a "BING" and a cut line. Finally we saw why the finger mullet were at our ankles unwilling to move, there were king mackerel coming into the wade gut tearing them up and they were practically on the sand trying to get away from them.

[Curmit]

To add a bit of info, the vast majority of chops that I have seen happen were at night, I know the sharks are active at night but are the other culprits actually active at night?
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