Loosing salmon

[nijajordan]

I launched out of olcott on August 28 for about 1.5 hrs of trolling. I went 1 for two with the one I caught

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[nijajordan]

Sorry didn't finish my post.

I went one out of two with it being a 21 lb king. On Aug 29 I went one for four with it being a 24 lb king. All hits were identical and believe they were all kings. Is it normal to have that many hits and so few landed. They hit hard, pulled rods out of holder and they were gone. I was in 90 Fow all using magnum Dipsey with 30 lb wire. I was using spin doctors with flies.

Nick

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[zackblain]

sharpen replace your hooks, also it's possible they were hitting your sd's not the actual fly

[Sk8man]

Zack is exactly right....I've had them hit dodgers and flashers (teeth marks on tape etc.) so it is "for sure" as a possibility and they can be "savages"

[ray koziatek]

dyspy to tight?? do it every time

well most of the time

[mr 580]

Keep your dipsey drags loose to the point they are creeping or use a rubber band so they are loose when fish hits and breaks band. Don't say if you use snubbers, but I use them and feel they help with hook up to landing ratio on the wire. I use the clear stealth snubber not the older style colored ones. Doesn't hurt to get in habit of loosening drag as you pull dipsey from rod holder either.

[nijajordan]

Thanks for all the replies. I will make the dipsy pop easier and let them in the holder just little longer with my drag set looser. At least I am getting hits but just want to be a little more successful with my hook ups.

Nick

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[Yankee Troller]

It's just that time of year! The Salmon are transforming. Digestive systems are shutting down which means they are striking to feed necessarily, but out of anger. Sunday morning out of the Oak we went 12/31 on Salmon in 45-65' of water. Some days are better than others. Monday we went 6/12.

[dvdegeorge]

Close to J plug time

[baitrigger]

We had a fall about two years ago where all of our outings where below a twenty five percent land rate. We bit the bullet over the winter and put all new owners hooks on everything. It made a huge difference. Every comment above is true. Being consistant is the answer. Improve and test one item at a time. In ten years, you might have it down. Good luck

[Has Been]

What kind off hooks? If they are sharp & they hit home good, the only way the fish should get off is  if the hook or line breaks.

 

 

 

 I set my releases as tight as I can on my riggers to drive the hook home. Same w/ my dipseys.  To loose a drag  will drop a lot of fish. Keep the pressure on and keep that hook buried.

 

 Two hits on J plugs Sunday. Landed one.

Edited September 3, 2014 by Has Been

[BAZOOKAJOE]

I've been keeping my dipsey drags loose and doing the rubber band trick. Has upped my catch rate. No snubbers in my boat.

[Little Crappie]

can you sharpen hooks and if so how? or is it better to replace. I had something (likely a salmon) hit hard!! bent the treble hook real nice

[BAZOOKAJOE]

I sharpen my spoon hooks. I usually just change my leaders/hooks on the flies after they start to get beat up. I use a rapala hook file. If you're bending hooks...your drags are too tight IMO. When I say loose on the dipsey rods. I usually have to half-hitch a rubber band (and hook on the reel handle) every so often. Maybe 15-20 minutes. Because the dipseys will creep out and break the bands. But they're cheap and my catch rate is definitely better. The salmons mouths get hard and their k9 teeth are developing for the spawn. Besides they seem to fight a heck of a lot harder this time of year! Hope that helps.

[on the lam]

I'm kinda missing the point about having a loose drag on your dipsy and trying to sink a hook into a hard mouth pre spawn king? That is kinda opposite of the objective? Getting the hook set in a hard jaw would require resistance, so a tighter drag will accomplish that.

I keep my drag as tight as possible without locking it down. 50# dipsy leader and a 50# fly leader! Your rod will break or terminal tackle fail before you will break off a leader. And I've never broken a rod. So let em pound on it. Then back off on the drag ,,, and no snubber. Just my opinion.

And I agree it's the time of year. Hard mouth and short hits equals rough landing percentage.

[Sk8man]

Little Crappie - If the hook is otherwise OK (not bent or rusty etc.) you can "touch them up" with a hook sharpening file found in many sporting goods stores or online) or a small stone with diamond chips in it and some have a special groove just for this purpose. My preference is for a fine file to get them really sharp. Basically you sharpen the hook as though it has three sides (all but the inside on the point curvature) and on a slight angle usually going away from you and then test it to your own preference. It should catch slightly on your test finger with just very slight pressure applied

[nijajordan]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Going to make it back up the end of next week and give hell.

Thanks again

Nick

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[BAZOOKAJOE]

I'm kinda missing the point about having a loose drag on your dipsy and trying to sink a hook into a hard mouth pre spawn king? That is kinda opposite of the objective? Getting the hook set in a hard jaw would require resistance, so a tighter drag will accomplish that.

I keep my drag as tight as possible without locking it down. 50# dipsy leader and a 50# fly leader! Your rod will break or terminal tackle fail before you will break off a leader. And I've never broken a rod. So let em pound on it. Then back off on the drag ,,, and no snubber. Just my opinion.

And I agree it's the time of year. Hard mouth and short hits equals rough landing percentage.

Doesn't make sense to me either. But i've lost fewer diver bites sInce I started doing it. I do tighten down on the fish after i grab the rod out of the holder. I only do it in mid-August thru the last trip. The rest of the year the drags are tight and I rip their faces off! Edited September 9, 2014 by BAZOOKAJOE

[darkfisher]

Bigger hooks in the fall.  we up the size of our cut bait hooks to 1/0 or even 2/0 gamakatzu trebles in the fall.  the #2 owners that come on the Atomic flies are nice hooks most of the year but miss a lot of hits in the fall.  Great flies, all I use but I definitely noticed a bad hook up percentage on them this fall, where as 80% of the kings hooked up on the cutbait rigs hooked up well.

[darkfisher]

some days are tough though.  we went 5 for 14 during KOTL amateur tourney this year. Not much hooked up that day.

[Little Crappie]

Little Crappie - If the hook is otherwise OK (not bent or rusty etc.) you can "touch them up" with a hook sharpening file found in many sporting goods stores or online) or a small stone with diamond chips in it and some have a special groove just for this purpose. My preference is for a fine file to get them really sharp. Basically you sharpen the hook as though it has three sides (all but the inside on the point curvature) and on a slight angle usually going away from you and then test it to your own preference. It should catch slightly on your test finger with just very slight pressure applied

hey thanks for the info, just looked at this now.

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[devilfishIII]

Bigger hooks or lose the snubber if u have one. Tightening the drag doesn't help IMO. I think they yank it right out they get so pissed. I think when they r still biting out of hunger they don't hit as hard especially when there's a lot of bait fish around. WHo knows tho

[Gill-T]

Curved Kyped jaws that are hardening daily.  Nipping verses eating/engulfing bait.  Except the challenges of catching salmon this time of year as par-for-course.  I will say that you can do little tweeks to make the hooks stick.....such as extending your J-plug or trolling fly trebles back a little further to stick those short strikers.