Lost Trout, Why?

Blind Bobber · 09-17-2007, 07:37 PM

My kids and I were fishing North Fork Res a while back and we were all getting lots of strikes but none of us were able to set the hook. We easily missed 10 strikes. Our hooks were same size as always and sharp. We were trollin wedding rings with worms and power nuggets. We altered baits, tried different placements and worm lengths just could not hook up. I had this happen once before at Pine Hallow res,. An after thought would be a trebble hook. Any thoughts on why this happens and what to do about it? We plan on trying again this comming weekend.

BLIND BOBBER

uhmw · 09-18-2007, 11:09 AM

I fished a gin clear lake(jump-off joe) near granit. the lake was teeming with red band cuts. I stood on a log and casted at the fish witch I could see plain as day take my fly. I was amazed how many times it took them hitting the fly till I actually managed to hook one. I also went to a salmon seminar where they film from a down rigger and they explaind its about a 20 to one shot on a hook-up and most of the time the rod showed no sighn of a hit.

Wilmyster · 09-18-2007, 02:45 PM

We were recently fishing at Riffe lake in Wa for silvers, and were using small flatfish and quickfish, had a lot of hookups and lost halfway to the boat. We ended up removing the treble hook, replaced with a Siwash style hook, our percentage increased greatly. We did add a small twist to the hook tip. I wish i coi=uld claim credit for this, it was my fishing partners idea.

Wilmyster · 09-18-2007, 02:46 PM

Sorry, should asked , did you have a snubber on your line?

Blind Bobber · 09-18-2007, 07:25 PM

No, no snubber used, though I could have. Do the wedding ring people make a wedding ring with a trailer hook? Hmmmmm
BLIND BOBBER :smile::smile::smile:

Rick on Rogue · 09-19-2007, 02:21 AM

Yes they make weddings with double hooks (tailer hooks) I just picked up some at WalMart about a week ago. Not sure if it will help with missed strikes though. I got them to hold store bought shrimp better. By the way, for that; they work really well.

Bandy76 · 09-19-2007, 09:12 AM

If yoy had a brass swievle above the wedding ring maybe they were hitting that.

Duckenfuss · 09-19-2007, 09:20 AM

I would not be surprised if the fish were simply too small to take the presentation. I know that at Pinehollow, the lake is teeming with small bass/bluegill that love to strike but mouths are simply too small. Is that a possibility?

Last Cast King · 09-19-2007, 08:20 PM

If you were using flashers then I would have tried a longer leader length between the flashers and the lure. I got a tip once from an old timer once that if you were trolling with a flasher/wedding ring setup and not getting any hits to shorten the leader and if you're getting hits but they aren't sticking to make it longer. I think the idea behind this is that if visibility is low and your leader is too long then the fish might see your flashers but not notice the lure behind them, and if visibility is good then the fish might not want to get too close to the flashers and so they dart in for quick bites that are less likely to stick. Regardless of whether this reasoning is correct I have found that following this advice has helped most of the time.
The other thing that helps sometimes is to slow down a little, this usually helps only if the water is extra warm or extra cold making the fish sluggish. Then again some days the fish just seem to want nibble more than bite.

Wilmyster · 09-19-2007, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Last Cast King

If you were using flashers then I would have tried a longer leader length between the flashers and the lure. I got a tip once from an old timer once that if you were trolling with a flasher/wedding ring setup and not getting any hits to shorten the leader and if you're getting hits but they aren't sticking to make it longer. I think the idea behind this is that if visibility is low and your leader is too long then the fish might see your flashers but not notice the lure behind them, and if visibility is good then the fish might not want to get too close to the flashers and so they dart in for quick bites that are less likely to stick. Regardless of whether this reasoning is correct I have found that following this advice has helped most of the time.
The other thing that helps sometimes is to slow down a little, this usually helps only if the water is extra warm or extra cold making the fish sluggish. Then again some days the fish just seem to want nibble more than bite.

We were actually running no flasher, just the small Kwikies and flatfish with the single hook setup, tipped with corn. We kind of went away from the flasher setup, which was working so we could actually feel the poor lil guy fight, makes it a lil more fun.

Blind Bobber · 09-20-2007, 07:31 PM

My trolling speed was rediculasly slow with the Min Kota. Leader length was standard wedding ring which is very long. I'll give small kwikies a try, may rig up a single hook. Also have added a second hook to one wedding ring. Will report back Sunday night. Thanks to all. See ya out there, or not.

Blind Bobber · 09-24-2007, 08:10 PM

To those who gave advice I can now give you an update. I tried the trailer hook and snubber this past weekend with my two kids and found that, as was suggested, the fish I was missing were too small anyway. I got some of these with the trailer hook so took it off not wanting to hurt the little guys. The snubber really worked well for my kids, ages 5 & 8, who were slow to set the hook. We came home with eleven keepers between us. So thanks much to all.
BLIND BOBBER

5 Salt · 09-26-2007, 09:31 AM

Why not tied up your own double hook leaders - works like a charm for me. Just rebuild your wedding rings on the new leader and you are set. Good activity in front of the TV during the week.

I like the tie the hooks one right behind the other. Egg loop knot is the ticket.

Wilmyster · 09-27-2007, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blind Bobber

To those who gave advice I can now give you an update. I tried the trailer hook and snubber this past weekend with my two kids and found that, as was suggested, the fish I was missing were too small anyway. I got some of these with the trailer hook so took it off not wanting to hurt the little guys. The snubber really worked well for my kids, ages 5 & 8, who were slow to set the hook. We came home with eleven keepers between us. So thanks much to all.
BLIND BOBBER

Did ya try the small style flatfish or Kwikfish with the single hook?

skaha · 09-29-2007, 11:26 AM

-I've been trying circle hooks lately. It doesn't seem possible but fish get hooked on them.
-I'm trying to eliminate catch of small fish as larger siwash hook seems to twist and kill the fish. I'd rather they get off easy.
-Some lures just don't seem to work well if treble is removed I've been experimenting with different sizes of the circle hook tryng to get similar lure action.

-I did use treble with pinched barbs but still release problem with small fish especially kokanee and one larger fish actually got all three of treble in its mouth and appeared to almost drown no real fight. The hook was all three pionts not taken deep.
-I've never seen this before. These are new lures that I haven't fished before so maybe getting the speed wrong.

-I guess wouldn't be much fun if the worked right out of the box without adjustment.

-Anyone else had much luck by replacing with circle hook? I've only been using them a few days so not sure how to size them etc.
-Used them very successfully when using with bait for halibut so decided to try them on other lures.

-I'm usually targeting larger fish and release them unless they are injured, excessive bleeding etc.

-Have had similar experience of few hook ups, lots of bites and choose to believe they were smaller fish.