Live lining

[fireguy274]

Can you guys give me some advice on where to place the hook when live lining Mackeral? I was out this past weekend live lining Macks for Striper and the Macks we caught were pretty big. We were hooking them through the bottom lip out just below the eyes. The fish keps spitting them out before we could set the hook. I know smaller Macks would be better. What is your way of hooking the Macks..Thanks Artie

[cudacat]

Not sure about mackeral, but we hook blue runners for tuna live baiting on through the back, and inch behind the eyes.

[Bullshipper]

Nose hook for surface swimmers
Back hook for harder casting to boils
Tail hook if you want the bait to swim deep

[mtcfish]

Try a 7-0 Circle or a trebel hook...

[anythinggoes]

Fireguy,

Just caught a 30" striper on livelined Mack out of Salem.

Used a 6/0 circle through the top of the back about 1" behind the head. Make sure the point and barb are well exposed.

[stripertom]

You might also want to give the fish a chance to take the bait and run for a few seconds before setting the hook. I've found that if you set the hook immediately you are just pulling the bait out of the fish's mouth.. I'm only talking a 4 or 5 count, and use circle hooks to help prevent deep-hooking.

Its hard to let the fish run when you feel the mack get whacked and the line is peeling off the reel, but give it a shot.

-- Tom

[Salmonseeker]

Also make sure that there is not any scales on the hook point, a common problem when fishing Bunker Chunks