Sea fishing Questions

[MrTurtle7]

Hi guys, I just came back from a trip to pulau sibu island fishing and have a few question to ask.

One problem is when i fish using live bait such as selar, needlefish, potato fish, I use a braided mainline up to 60lbs follow by float or balloon then a meter of FC leader and around 20cm of wire to the hook(may be double or single depending on size of bait)
However, my line keep getting cut by the fish, either the FC line or my main line. The longest the fish caught stay on was around a min then my main line was cut. Any suggestions to improve the situation?

Next question would be, i keep seeing fish jump out of the water, it look flat and shape like a ray, any idea what fish it is?

Also, any one got suggestions on which sabiki hook is best for fishes such as selar and potato fish, just interested to try different type of saibiki hook.

Overall Pulau Sibu was a very good place to go for fishing. There are plenty of fish from very very big fish to bait fish and it not a expensive as renting a boat in singapore

[Peace]

First you want to be sure that your line is cut by the fish and not due to mishandling or improper knot tying. Next is your reaction time, you need to keep an eye on your bait/float and react as soon as it is favourable to set the hook. Sometimes the fish can turn towards you and accidentally/intentionally bite your main line if you leave too much line slack or give the fish too much time before you react to their take. Another possibility is that there's a school of toothy fish attacking your line when they bump into it.

If reaction time isn't the problem, then you need to see exactly where the line is cut to decide on beefing up/lengthening your FC or wire leader.

Stingrays do jump out of water, but I am not too certain of the reason. I've witnessed it several times before, but all of them are large rays. What's the size of the fish that you saw?

For Sabiki, if it's off the shelf I like to use Hayabusa brand Sabiki. It's not the best for tamban but for Selars and Yellowtails they're suitable. Its hooks are very sharp but there are imitation in the market. If I have the time, I would hand tie the sabiki rig myself since I can choose to use quality small hooks with some muscle to wrestle with the bigger Selars and Yellowtails.

[MrTurtle7]

Hm... I was quite sure the line was tied very well. But is the set up okay? Is there even a need for FC leader? I was wondering if i could connect the wire to my braided mainline.
I think i shall try again next time with longer wire.

The size of the fish that jump out of the water was very large, wingspan of arond 0.5 to a meter. Cause I find it weird to see rays jumping out of water.

[Peace]

You probably can attached the wire leader directly to the braided main line but it probably won't help you since you mentioned that your main line gets cut anyway. If you were to replace the portion of the FC or mono leader with an entire piece of wire leader, it can get pretty long and hinders casting and not too rod guide friendly if you were to wind it in. (unless you're using handline)

I would suggest keeping the FC and extend the wire hook line a little longer. Perhaps rubbing the front end of the braided line with a bit of candle wax will keep it afloat so it won't get targeted. I'd still advise keeping watch on your float and react to fish takes in the earliest possible time.

Wingspan of 0.5m isn't very big for a ray, at least for ones I've seen leaping off the water. It would be a Kodak moment if you can capture a shot of it leaping.