Major Duh-h-h-h- aboard Miss Dale

gerrys

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Once in a long while I tell one on myself....Out of Jupiter, FL this morning I trolled a variety of bait including some ballyhoo and some new lures I bought known as tuna feathers. Four bally on and a long shot of an orange tuna f, and a short shot on of a blue/white tuna f. Regular hits of albacore on the long shot, hooked and caught them all. The short shot kept getting hits of dolphin...no hook ups - my analysis was that they were shorts anyway. Then we get into a pod of sailfish and they won't leave the short shot alone. Strike after strike...no hook up! They were only 30-40 feet behind the boat, clearly visible and going wild. No hook up. As I closed the baits up for an early in, I reeled in the short shot to find that I had failed to remove the small tubing that protected the hook points during packaging. Is this what they call a clean release? My face is a little red right now but what a sight watching those sails go ballistic.
 
You didn't want to waste all that time reeling the fish in anyway.
 
Gerrys,

Don't feel bad - i did the same thing with Storm lures trolling for grouper.
 
They should make those hook guards bright red or something. I have ever left the clear ones on - more than once.
 
Thanks

gerrys,
Just wanted to thank you. Took my Grady to Marathon and used the outriggers for the first time. Had picked up some tuna and dorado lures and, thanks to your posting, remembered to take off the clear tube hook protectors. Caught both tuna and dolphin on the troll although at one point we dragged a dolphin around for a while until I learned how to set the release clips. Poor thing drowned!
Thanks again!
 
You must have spent a lot of years in therapy to make that kind of public admission. Actually, I did something similar (little rubber tubing on the hooks of a deep diver), but I'm never admitting it to anyone!!!
 
Don't feel too bad, I think we've all done this with a pre-rigged lure at one point. Must have been pretty cool to have all those strikes!