Out by myself with my dozen herring. Found fish on 50 foot hump adjacent to river channel. Bite was still weird, just pecking at it and slow pull downs rather than the vicious strikes I’ve seen before, but they were there and active.
The bad part is I had three break-offs at the hook. Have not had any problems like this before. I use the Palomar knot with Octopus Circle Hooks. Now three trips ago, changed out all my leaders and started using Fluorcarbon Clear which I think helps and improves getting bites. No problem last two trips. Is there something I don’t know about Fluorcarbon? At the very least I’m going to replace all of my leaders.
The real bummer was the slow pulldown prior to the sudden flight, stripping line all the time and it was the first time I was unable to get the rod out of the holder. Line broke off at the hook. Followed was a moment of silent reflection.
Thanks, Tim, great video. I figured there was something going on that I was not aware of. Encourage all to watch the video. Doesn’t ease the pain of the missed “line-stripper”.
BTW, the slow pull downs are normal at the end of the summer as they are feeling the stress of being so deep in the water column with the low O2.
Overall though, from what I’m seeing anyway, they don’t seem to be in particularly bad shape for late summer. Not seeing any real red “rash” looking marks on them and they seem to be pretty fat for mid August. Often by the end of the summer they look like snakes.
Back when I striper fished I measured and retied every leader after each trip. I was using 12 lb mono, and eagle claw J hook, but never had any problems. That was in early 2000, not sure back then I new about fluorocarbon.
Those fish will spoil you they hit a bait so hard most of the time.
I also like to snell my hooks. With the circles I use, the knot gives the hook a rigid cam action for better hook penetration. I too have seen a lot of sheepish bites lately and agree with Tim on the cause. On my party last week, we still managed to put 19 in the box, but it took a lot of bait to do so. We were getting short struck quite a bit.
James “Captain Fog” Lindler
Team Hardcore
Xpress HB-22
F150 4 Stroke Yammy Jammer
For guide service, search fogmanfisheries on Facebook.
Fog, when you are using circle hooks on down rods do you have much trouble with the hook turning back into the bait? I use circle hooks on my planer boards and pulling the baits I don’t have much trouble but sitting on spot locks with down rods, it didn’t work as well. Do you find most of your fish hooked in the mouth instead of gut hooked? I don’t miss a ton of fish on Kale hooks but man it gut hooks a bunch of them.
May or may not have mastered the Palomar knot with Fluorocarbon. However, think I’m going to use the knot Shawn Grigsby recommends. He says its the best. Bottom line is that fluorocarbon leaders are now on a very short leash and I will abandon them if I get spooked. Circle hooks virtually eliminate being gut hooked, though it can happen. Agree that any suggestions on preventing them from turning back into the bait is helpful.
May or may not have mastered the Palomar knot with Fluorocarbon. However, think I’m going to use the knot Shawn Grigsby recommends. He says its the best. Bottom line is that fluorocarbon leaders are now on a very short leash and I will abandon them if I get spooked. Circle hooks virtually eliminate being gut hooked, though it can happen. Agree that any suggestions on preventing them from turning back into the bait is helpful.
After trying lots of different ways to do this, I wound up going to Bait Buttons after a suggestion by Chipman I believe.
A hole puncher and a coffee can lid works wonders and they dont tear like some of the other purchased products…they will last until i change hooks and leaders which is about every 3 trips…
“All fisherman lie. And if they say otherwise, then they’re lying”
Another to remember when tying a Palomar knot (or any knot for that matter) is to make sure to adequately “lubricate” (spit) the know BEFORE cinching it tight. Heat caused from friction will cause the best fluorocarbon in the world to break easily. I use the Palomar knot on 99% of my rigs and have for many many years and learned the hard way about properly tying the know (like in the video) and properly lubricating the knot. In my opinion, it’s one of the strongest knots out there and definitely one of the easiest to tie…when done so properly.
Fog, when you are using circle hooks on down rods do you have much trouble with the hook turning back into the bait? I use circle hooks on my planer boards and pulling the baits I don’t have much trouble but sitting on spot locks with down rods, it didn’t work as well. Do you find most of your fish hooked in the mouth instead of gut hooked? I don’t miss a ton of fish on Kale hooks but man it gut hooks a bunch of them.
I do occasionally have the bait double hook itself. That happens less often since I quit going through both nostrils. I go through the hard tissue between the nostrils and try not to fish a hook that’s too big. Right now for the bait we’re getting, that’s generally a #2 or#1 Owner Mutu. As for gut hooking, the larger fish are usually perfectly hooked. It’s the squealers that often are got hooked.
James “Captain Fog” Lindler
Team Hardcore
Xpress HB-22
F150 4 Stroke Yammy Jammer
For guide service, search fogmanfisheries on Facebook.
