moss 4/23

yeah, I was not really prepared to net when it first came up.
In fact I have never netted a fish before. ever. 
but I have done some 'visualizing', I think I will learn quick enough.

But that fish was hot, I knew it hadn't figured out it was in trouble yet, and sure enough once it
realized it was near a boat it ripped out drag no problem. I would have whiffed I think, but it's possible
I might have got that fish netted before it knew what was up. we'll never know,  .

I was just getting ready to try netting and started horsing it a bit and the hook came loose. I don't think
I let it have slack. I don't know what happened, I was pulling and all of a sudden no weight. maybe it
just wasn't hooked real well, who knows.

As for tying the rigs, I
am running the line through a bead twice as a kind of stopper. The bead goes up inside the FBR head.
then I just uni-knot-snell to one 5/0 octopus and with the tag end tie on a second hook, so far a little smaller,
I had a 2/0 owner light muto circle for the second hook on that rig that
lost the fish, maybe I will go with 2 larger hooks next time. second hook was at the tail of the bait, the
first was mid-bait, sometimes I was hooking the first hook under the dorsal of the bait.

based on how mangled the bait was, i think the hook positioned mid-bait hooked the fish, not the circle hook.

I don't know, I kind of make this one up as I go along and use whatever hooks I have lying around. I don't
have a system yet.

you could post a picture of how you rig an FBR if you get bored.

J

Glenn and Justin at Fishermans Warehouse really talk up using two 5/0 Gamy Octopus hooks, complete with barbs, for their trolling rigs. They use egg loop knots, with the eye of the trailing hook even with the bend of the leading hook when used with an FBR. If you leave about an inch and a half between the eye of the trailing hook and the bend of the leading hook, you can use this setup to put a slight bend in an anchovy. So you have a nicely twirling bait, with no additional bits and pieces. Probably similar to the actions you get from plug cut bait.  I've only tried this out once, and it seemed to have a nice action to it, but I've yet to boat a fish with it, so take that with a grain of salt. Be sure to use the ball bearing swivel though, or perhaps a bead chain. A standard swivel is not enough. Ask me how I know

I might get motorvated, and post a picture of this, as it is dead simple, and takes about 2-3 minutes tops to make up a leader. I've got a couple for FBR's and a couple for straight bait pre-made, that way it's just the work of a minute or so on the water, to make a change.

Regards,
Scott

scott, they would have to crimp the barbs before they put them in the water.  pretty sure on that one.

blue, what do you use to keep the hook spaced below the head of the fbr? I guess a swivel?

maybe I should go by FW and look at the rigged versions,  . I bought two unrigged heads.
gee, only cost $8 or something for what are two plastic cups. franko better have a nice boat!

I could not help myself and I did trim the wings a little and round off the diving lip a bit because
I had the giant herring heads. they looked a little drag heavy.

The bead is inside the head of the FBR by the way. just need something big enough to not
go through the hole. A swivel or a tuna ring would work. The bead allowed me to adjust distance
of the hooks. maybe a 'carolina keeper' one of those rubber things with the slits would work.

A crimped barb will have a hump in it making for a little more resistence when backing out, factory barbless slide in and out with no resistence (I've seen some guys put a slight bend near the point to prevent that but I've never tried it myself)

art, I'm using crimped barbs. I agree those factory barbless look sketchy. I do have a
few factory barbless circles. they also aren't kerned (right word?) (twisted, offset)
at all either which I don't like.

on the comment about no stretch, that's a good theory, but the sinker release
itself should act as a snubber to some extent. maybe I will pull a little more carefully
next time tho.

the rod is 8.5 foot graphite, the action is pretty fast. It's probably not real forgiving,
but it is real sensitive. it's also super light.

If I farm the next 8, well, maybe I will retire that rod and get a slower action rod.

out of curiosity I bought a fiberglass 8.5ft 10-25lb with roller guides from cabelas for $30
(on sale from $60) thinking that for trolling it would be good and
the line would not get worn out as easy. But now that I have it, I see
the guides would be very unfriendly to the
line if the rod flipped upside down and I don't have a rod holder that prevents that.

I posted about the crimped barbs cause if the guys at FW recomended barbed hooks that most likely the reason why.  I use factory barbless cause I seem to be a magnet for a-hole law enforcement of any kind, they can't cite for a bad crimp if there's no barb to begin with.  Path of least resistence for me. I do think the crimped barbs are better though.     

At depths of 60'+ mono stretch is measured in feet depending on brand and weight class whereas the travel on a release is less than an inch.  Salmon have a soft mouth just be gentle with them......at least till the fur bags show up.  And if you farm the next 8 I will start the buy jmairey a slow action action rod fund     

you can probably just make fun of me and I'll cough up the dough for one, 

the 8.5 foot job with roller guides is slow action, I just need a holder that won't flip.

Or maybe somebody will trade me their slow action 8.5 foot plus fiberglass rod for
my roller guide model.

Or maybe I'll just be a little more careful next time.

I knew I pulled that hook loose. I could feel it riiiiiip slowly. didn't go "doink" like
when the line snaps. now you tell me they have soft mouths,    .

Do you always see the sealion (I can't quite bring myself to say furbag) take the fish
or does it ever happen down deep? cause I guess that could have happened.

John,
My $.02 for the next time (assuming there's no sea lion in sight).  I wouldn't try to net a hot fish.  Much easier to lose them as they thrash and you scoop and miss.  Also, another thing I wouldn't do (though it takes a bit of discipline) is to NOT tighten the drag.  Rather, enjoy the fight.  Let the fish make a couple of runs and tire itself out.  Then scoop it up, head first as you work it in.

If a seal is in the mix, all bets are off and horse it in as fast as you can.

BTW, a sea lion generally grabs the fish underwater or boatside.  A lot of times, they're hanging out looking around or just following boats.  Just like you and I can see another boat fight a fish and get a net ready, a sea lion does the same.  Smart creatures. 
You know your in trouble when a seal pops up in front of you, blowing air, when your fighting a fish, then goes down.  Chances are, its a goner.  The fish knows it too and will try to escape, but when that happens, its too late.

Or, sometimes you see a sea lion in the distance and you know he's onto you.  The race is on!!!  I've won a few and lost a few.  Its all part of the early season game.

Then when they grab the, they're trashing it on the surface and the birds are diving in for scraps.  I'll admit it, its kind of funny to see it happen to someone else, but it sucks big time if its your fish.  Feels like you've been violated.

May, June, July will be better months.  Bigger fish, less sea lions and better weather.  Right now, I'm sitting on the sidelines, conserving WAF and waiting.

Stuart



 

I'd concur............very violated.  Its worse than that sinking feeling you get when when a fish spits the hook   Then when they pop up 50' away laughing at you......I mean thrashing your fish......

I'm like 0-10 in sea lion tug o war........I consider myself lucky when I get the head back cause at least then I get my gear back. 

cabelas had 10'6" 12-25lb graphite+E glass 2005 depth master II
trolling rods on sale for $17.50, 1/2 off, so I ordered one. not quite a shimano talora,
but it ought to do the job for a few trips anyways. enough for me to figure out if something
like that will work for me.

the 2006 models have stainless guides and are $45.00.  2005 have aluminum oxide guides.