Which barbless hook holds salmon the best?

[Orca]

Does anyone have any advice on a hook to get that will hold fish well? This is my first try at Ocean Salmon, and I sure hooked and lost a lot of fish. I am using some unknown hooks that a season vet gave me as rigged hoochies.

[finclipped]

Mystic, it has been my experience that you inevidably will lose fish. Barbless hooks aren't helping your cause. I would guess that on a good day, I have a 80% hook up rate and on a bad day 40% hook up rate. Just remember these coho are short strikers, and you can do everything right and still lose fish. Sometimes you do everything wrong and still catch them.

I like to use solid tie mootching rig with 4/0 and 5/0 hooks, with about 1 1/2 inch between the hooks. I always tie my own, as I haven't had a lot of luck with pre tied liters. Waiting to set the hook is important for Chinooks, but I don't think it is as important for the Coho.

[superfly]

Vision Makes an awesome barbless hook if you do not want to pinch the barbs yourself.
Peace Superfly [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[HOGTIDE]

This sounds strange, but sometimes dropping 'down' in hook size, when fishing for coho, actually results in more fish in the boat. Fine-wire hooks, smaller gauge steel just seems to be 'stickier' when it comes to keeping silvers buttoned on. Try a siwash trailer of size 1 or smaller. If trebles are legal, size 6 and 8 trailers are good...really!

Spent a summer on Discovery Passage where the 'tiny hooks' truly turned a frustrating trip into a successful one.

Good Luck,
HOG

[img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] Hey, I wanna fish on the ocean, again, someday! How much does a charter cost these days?

[Ramstrong]

For fishing hoochies, the gamakatsu Octopus barbless circle hooks in 5/0 or 6/0 are pretty hard to beat (however I haven't tried the Visions yet . [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] ) Last year they had a pretty good hookup to landed ratio (as long as you don't have any farmers in the boat). I think that the most common mistake I see beginners make is to think they've lost the fish and stop reeling. Often times the fish has just turned toward the boat, and all you need to do is reel faster. Never stop reeling until you can see the hoochie. Slack line is what loses fish when you're fishing barbless.

[HOGTIDE]

Thanks ST.ZO.,

That's a bit of cash for some coho fishin', but comparatively,it may not be that bad.

$80 vs.

Truck gas 35 gal.
Boat Gas 37 gal.
4 doz. baits and salt gear
boat wear and tear
Friends ding boat on dock
Skippering/ no chance to fish
Friends dump pop in boat
Midnight cleaning & salt flush

* Sometimes showing up as a 'clueless sport'on a charterboat can be an economical and relaxing experience! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

[STRIKE ZONE]

Hogtide,
Charters are runnin around $75.00 to $80.00
Bucks a head these day's.Good luck, Book now!
STRIKE ZONE

[Orca]

Thanks for the help and ideas. The coho really do run hard for the boat after you hook them, and keeping a tight line was a problem. Since I am just starting out, I had thought the fish had come off. After I finally saw one squirting along on the surface I realized what they were up to.

This idea about a stickier hook makes me think that you might be able to file the shank and in effect produce a whole bunch of miniature barbs. Just hit the hook enough to take the shine off of it and give it some drag. A little rust might even work wonders.

Hogtide, after taking my boat out for halibut, getting beat to sh.., burning 50 gals in boat, losing $100 worth of line/tackle/bait (was just a bad day), and coming home a complete zombie after so much driving and fishing, the $175 halibut charter didn't look so bad. But then we did have 4 people aboard, got our fish, and I got to go out and do it on my own. Where is Warren anyway? I may be in the area someday and will need to take you out.

[Oregon Angler Magazine]

Barbless hooks, I have found that since using a circle hook I have never lost a king yet !!! (Knock on my wifes head) I have retied all of my rotary Killers to a Gamakatsu circle hook. Instead of leaving the hook flop around during the troll I use the small dental rubber bands and face the hook upward just in from the end of the tail. The fact is yesterday here in Brookings we boated several nice kings on rotary's and herring with circle hooks.
Have a great day. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[4Salt]

Gamakatsu's get my vote. 2/0 - 3/0 solid tied leader. I tie my own so that when the lead hook is attached to the plug-cut herring, the trailing hook is slightly behind the tail. I don't insert the trailing hook into the herring, I use small dental rubberbands to keep it right next to the bait. Also if you're holding the rod when a silver strikes, instead of setting the hook, drop the rod tip back, so the fish gets a good hold on the bait, they'll usually set themselves if your trolling fast enough. And like everyone else has said, try to avoid any slack line if possible. Silvers love to twist in circles while fighting, and that's when you will usually lose them. Since I mostly catch and release wherever I fish, I use barbless hooks all of the time. Luckily, I haven't really noticed that I lose any more fish than when I used the barbed hooks. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[DF]

HOGTIDE

charter sounds good.. Tyler and I have been talking about this for a long time. Email me. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[boater]

i tried factory barbless hooks once and went back to buying barbed hooks, i dont just bend the barb, i break it all the way off, that way you still have a "small" legal barb still on the hook that i personaly think helps hold the fish on, just my 2 usual worthless cents worth...

[Backlash2]

Just a little note for you, boater....I have seen gamies run a piece of wool across crimped/broke off barbs....if any fiber gets stuck there, they'll stick you in the pocket book [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

[Crusin]

Not to sure on the barbless part, but I switched from Gama to the Owner hook line, they seem to be sharper and not as brittle as gama,,,but.....I still keep gama around...