Light Line Steelies

[Flatfish]

Did the Nestucca Sat. for summers.Hooked one on 4# leader and a microlight rod.Owner hooks #4s(yes they were super sharp).Have never hooked one on such light gear but figured it might work.Well sort of..Freedrifting a shrimp tail and I feel tug tug tug,so I set.Only problem is about when I am ready to drive the hook home a second time the rod is buried and any added pressure will bust it.The fish sulks in the bottom of the hole then comes to the surface and surface and spits the hook.I am sure that the hook NEVER went home due to the weenie hookset that the rod delivered.
I really liked the soft presentation here because it looked way better than my partners 8#Trilene xl.I wanna stay with it if I can.
See you on the river.
Mark.

[David Johnson]

I was backbouncing in the Clackamas on Friday with 40# leader, a 4/0 hook and a gob of eggs and shrimp to cover the hook. Besides the chinooks that we hooked I hooked a ten pound steelhead on the set up. So much for needing light leader. The water had at least six or seven feet of vis.

Now if I was targeting steelhead I'd have been running much lighter gear as it would given a better presentation......

[David Johnson]

I like the banana on your name.....

[Dan Christopher]

you think thats bad you should here my owner hook set (or lack there of) storys.trebles are great but the bait hooks ????? my son missed 2 more today on owner hooks runing diver and bait.?thats 10 straight :shocked: for him sence i went to owner????

i have a hole bunch of owner hooks i will sell you half price.if no one want then for half price they are going in the trash at the end of the week.im done with them,

[Salmonator]

I'll take 'em...

[Flatfish]

Dave,
yeah I know that light gear is not necessary ,but I beleive that under certain conditions lighter gear puts more fish in the boat.To be honest it was not necessary on Saturday because there was some color to the water.And thanks Dave,the banana is cool!
Madwiz,
o fer 10 on dnb with Owners huh?What size hook and what bait?If you don't mind.Do you have a corkie above the hook(s)?Maybe they will go into the garbage...Odd though cause I have caught fish on their 2s but not on a 4 yet.
Maybe Salmonator will do good on this post .
See ya on the river.
Mark.

[santiam slayer]

What about flourocarbon leaders? Never tried 'em, but it seems that would be a bit stronger line with the no-vis factor. Just a thought

[Dan Christopher]

diver and bait with shrimp both needle point and cutting point sizes 1/0 2/0 3/0 factory and with my bending an offset.on a rag,spin glows,birdies,corkies, with a bead above the shrimp.sharp on your finger and solid hard take downs holding for about 5 sec. then pop it some times there on for 20 sec. tell they pop it .my boy is setting it nice and hard and always has a bend it the rod but???i have set the drag light and hard in the rod holder and it makes no differance.i think i have try every thing an less you can think of any thing else.im going to sell them to (Salmonator) :grin: then latter he can sell them off when he get p.o.ed

[RichH]

Madwizerd, let 'em eat. can't wait too long in my experience. I've let ;em go for a minute or more. By then its a formality setting the hook.
Of course, if there are nates in the area it could be a problem cuz they tend to come up bleeding.

[Dan Christopher]

these are fish that have it and are running,and the hook wont set deep enough.

[Flatfish]

Madwiz,
hmmmm.Dunno what to say.I have caught fish on Owners,so I.m not giving up on them yet.You say something about bending the hooks?I had a dry spell in the Eighties on plugs once.Missed something like 7 or 8 before hooking up again.Now I understand that once in a while you miss.But 7 or 8 back to back!!!Had a friend miss something like 9 chums on Mustad hooks before he figured out what was going on.After he switched hooks he did the next 5 bites to the bank.So your theory may have some merit.If you are using corkies you probably know to make sure that the hook gap is larger than the diameter on the corkie.Never fished a rag behind a diver.Hmmmm.Do fish pink worms behind a hot n tot and have missed probably 1 in 4 or so.Amazing hard hits and then nothing.They get the wiggler but not the hook(gammies here so the hooks probably aren't to blame).The only other thing that I could think of is:Are you using a limber rod.Say 4-8 or 6-10?Maybe this coupled with a slow action rod would make any hookset tough.Or are you runnong real long from the boat.Like over 100 feet?I have missed many more hooksets on 6-10 and 8-12 rods than with heavier sticks like a 10 -20 or even a 8-17.The stiffer sticks simply pull harder and waste less energy pulling the line tight and transfer more power to the hook.Not as much fun to battle a steelie on but if numbers are your game...Now I understand that this gear is a bitheavy for summer conditions but Nates and winter hatch brats will almost never see your line.Just a few thoughts.
S. Slayer:yeah I have used it but under the clearest conditions lighter line,in my opinion,gives a better presentation.For other techniques like bobber and jigs they shine(except vanish,which will never shine in any application,and thats not a good thing).But for ultra perfect drift presentations the good old mono is softer and looks better.That and I can't afford 10 bucks for leader material for 20 leaders.Yep thats what I'm payin.At least for now.
See ya on the river.
Mark.

You might try a bigger hook, #2 are the smallest I use.

[ 05-20-2002, 09:20 PM: Message edited by: Keta ]

[Salmonator]

Keta, it looks like the smallest hook he's using is two sizes bigger than a #2. You never mentioned what you were fishing for Wizard? For springers I like a 4/0, falls a 6/0. For winter steelhead I do well with #1's and for summers #6's or #4's. Owner hooks are top notch, sometimes we just find out why they call it fishing and not catching. I think the cutting points are the best hooks ever made and the super needles are too close to gammies to really tell the difference... Joe

#4's are smaller than #2's where I buy my hooks :grin: .
Now a 4/0 is biger than a 2/0 but he said #4.

[Flatfish]

Keta,
not sure if your posts are directed at me or another.If they are for me, here are my thoughts.
#4s have caught a bundle of steelhead for me in this and other applications.They are plenty big.
Since I was using a super ultralight I chose a smaller hook that was made of finer wire too.Less force necsessary for a good hookset.#2s are a low water favorite for winter brats and summers with somewhat limited visibility.I have caught steelies on #8 hooks before.Although I wouldn't reccomend a regular use of them.
When using sandshrimp tails I know most steelies will pretty much swallow the bait and hook so once you get the barb buried its just a matter of wearing the fish down without breaking anything(please don't use this practice when Natives are a large percentage of the catch).
If I were using a corkie or anything else that may block part of the hook point, then I would have gone to a larger hook.
Hope this helps .
See you on the rivers.
Mark.

[Dan Christopher]

ok for a refresher on the problem... drift boat,diver and bait ,lamiglas hot shot magnum rods,50lbs power pro with a 20lbs big game 6 foot leader,1/0 2/0 3/0 onwer cutting point and needle point hooks for steelhead with 10 strait take downs and running fish,so maybe i sould try and go down in hook size. corkies are above a hole shrimp so thats not it.any other ideas????

[Salmonator]

Ooops, sorry Keta. I thought you were replying to MADWIZARDS post :blush: ... Joe

Salmonator,
No problem. I've been known to make mistakes too. :grin:

.............. [img]graemlins/stupid.gif[/img]

[ 05-21-2002, 09:06 AM: Message edited by: Keta ]

[Bryan]

Here's the deal,

There are two kinds of fish:
1. Aggressive! They will hit anything! You could run dacron leader line and they'll hit. These fish you'll see if your the first to a hole OR if the fish moves into a hole.

2. Pressured Fish. These are fish that have seen everything from everyone all day long. With these fish leader size does matter along with size of bait. Here is a little advice. If you go to your favorite hole and it has been pounded all day by people using big corkies and huge shrimp, use the smallest pink corkie you have with little scent.... There have been many times that I have hauled fish after fish from a hole that had been pounded all day by guys throwing the same things all day. I don't understand why guys don't switch up and think a little bit!
To recap:
Aggressive fish, they'll hit almost anything.
Pressured fish, use your head and eyes to see how you can fish differently from the crowd.
bryan

[Flatfish]

Madwiz,
the only thing I can think to do (besides dump the Owners) is to try monofilamint line.I fish 50 tuf on plugs from time to time and miss far fewer fish on the mono.I'm talkin steelies here,not chonook.'Bout the only thing I could think of.Either that or a softer rod.Maybe an old fiberglass unit?
Good Luck.
See you on the rivers.
Mark.

[Flatfish]

Madwiz,
p.s. try smaller hooks.I rarely go bigger than 1/0 on dnb.Usually go to tandem hook rigs.Upper hook 1/0 or 1 and lower 1 size smaller than upper.Like a mooching rig, but fixed hooks.The stinger gets most of em. 1s and 2s just slide down perfect.By the time they realize their mistake.....Hee Hee Hee
Boy howdy is it fun to make their eyes wide :shocked: .
See you on the rivers.
Mark

[Dan Christopher]

i picked up some smaller hooks today so i will try that first thanks guys

[husker]

i rarely miss steelhead and use nothing bigger then 1/0 and nothing smaller then 1's....match the corkie to the shank size......to big of a corkie and you'll miss fish.....most fish will swallow hooks that small....

[Chris Nordling]

The d-n-b single hooks are only the start of MADWIZERD's Owner hook problems...... :shocked: :shocked: :grin:

Sorry Dan :tongue:

Chris