fishing report 9/4

[Kevin Turner]

Fishing tubes: I use 4 ought Eagle Claw keeper hooks, Texas rigged with 1/8-1/4 oz sinkers. Also, 50 lb (yes he did say 50 lb) Berkly Wiplash braid on my bait caster. I know I will jinx myself, but I loose very few fish. The braided line helps drive the hook home in the river current when sometimes you just can't keep the tight. I don't hafta retie often, as the heavy line helps pull most snags loose. And as we all know, the smallies in the ole Miss just don't seem to mind seeing the line...Kevin

[river rat316]

I use a braided line to and a gamaksu 1/0 offset hook ( hook 2 big?) and had no problem feeling em bite when I'd set the hook it felt real solid then next thing I know there off and they pull the texposed tube with intdernal weight down to the bottom of the hook it was like I couldnt drive the hook threw the mouth and it felt like the bigger the fish the more likely they were to get off well anyway I'm just a little miffed cause I rarely miss like that and today I had more misses then fish landed.
Well I think the problem is I need a good deal on a highpro so I can stop wading and just fish! lol

[river rat316]

I thought it was gonna be another slow bite on the miss this morning smallies wouldnt look at anything on the top, apparently I didnt have the right color senko's again and the old faithfull meps wasnt working either. decided to throw a tube after some experimenting with just about everything in my vest and to my surprise I was in smallie heaven!!! in a little more than an hour (all the time I had left) landed four fish over 17 inches alot under 17 and had 5 times as many long releases and most felt real good one did 2 laps around me and had me spinning around in waste deepwater then the tube came flying about 10 feet out of the water ohhh well. If any one has any ideas on how to rig so theyt cant keep spitting let me no, it felt like I had real good hook sets on most of these fish, the ones that I let take a little longer I gut hooked and I was almost out of hooks when I left, they were just inhaling that tube but yet I couldnt get a good hook on em any ideas?

[Lost]

river rat, what stretch were you in? And I just want to say congrats on some nice catches!

[river rat316]

I was in the Otsegp elk River stretch it seems to be the most productive for big fish ( for me anyway)

[fishface5]

From shore or from a boat?

[river rat316]

I usually wade most of the real good holes you either have to have a boat or prepare to get wet

[EBass]

river rat, what kind of rod are you using? A medium action should have enough power. How long is it? I like a 7' rod compared to the standard 6'6". I feel I can pick up slack quicker and get better hook sets.

Or maybe the hooks weren't sharp?? My hooks always seem to be dull to.

Hey on those gut hooked fish, were the hooks in the stomach or in the gills? If the gills they are probably a goner but in the stomach I know a nice trick to get the hooks out. Let me know if interested and I'll try to explain.

[T-water]

Smallies have hard mouths! It also seems like somedays you hook all of them others you can't get a set. Drives me crazy, I only use the Gamagatzu (sp?) 1/8 and 1/4 oz. tube heads. They have them in 25 packs at Galyans, can't find them in any other stores. Been fishing other rivers will be back to mississippi hopefully by the end of the month.

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T-water

[HawgTide]

EBASS, let us know your gut hook secret. The more Bass we save, the more I catch!

[BigMike]

River Rat - I'll get out with you sometime soon! Congrats on the nice catches... it's amazing how a presentation that worked yesterday doesn't produce and you have to work through your bag of tricks to get a bite.

As for missed strikes on tubes (which by the way are one of my fav's for fall & spring smallies!). A few things I would switch up: start using at least a 2/0-3/0 hook on 3'' tubes, I usually go with a 3/0-4/0 EWG hook on a 3.5-4'' tube (I pick the biggest hook for the tube i'm using, some tubes have longer bodies and therefore can be used with bigger hooks). One rule of thumb for hook size is try to get hook right through the last 1/8th inch of the tube body. Most of the strikes will come at the tails of the tube and if you are using a 1/0 hook, your hook point is going to be in the middle of your tube and not as close to the tails.

Another big thing to change up is stop using the internal weights! I really like the concept of internal weights (especially for river fishing) however when I've used the internal weights I instantly noticed a drop in hooking percentage. The reason being is the concept of texposing a tube is when the fish bites the tube collapses and the hook becomes exposed. When you have an internal weight (especially with a 1/0 hook) the weight prevents the tube from collapsing and the hook from getting a good shot into the lips.

If you are going to use internal weights, use at least a 3/0 hook. I would suggest using the bullshot weights 1/16-1/4oz pinched right at the head of the tube/hook. This rigging is WAY cheaper (those internal weights get spendy) and works great!

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Mike
TJ Tackle Pro-Staff

[This message has been edited by BigMike (edited 09-07-2004).]

[EBass]

When the hook is in the stomach here's a lil tip from uncle EBass. (this is more geared towards single hooks)

Steps:
#1, Remove said plastic bait from gut hooked bass. (tube, fluke...etc)

#2, Cut the line and leave about 12-16" of tag line.

#3, Feed tag line through, next to the first gill and next to the body, so the line is NOT between gills, rather next to the body. (Did that make sense??)

#4, Pull the tag line taunt and keep it taunt. (Tip, this helps with extra person holding the line taunt)This also turns the hookpoint facing down towards the stomach and the U of the hook facing up. (See where I'm going with this?)

#5, With the one hand lipping bass and the other hand with a nice set of pliers grab the hook and quickly pull straight up while the line is being pulled taunt. This will pluck the hook out causing as minimal damage as possible.

Thus leaving a bad tempered/sore throat smallie released to swim and eat again and you with your hook and a smile knowing that could've been a tragic meeting of you and said smallie/largemouth.

Make sense?

[HawgTide]

Thanks EBass!

[EBass]

Sure thing HT, did you know that one? Was I able to paint a mental image?

[BigMike]

I have some illustrations of what EBass was explaining that I'll post those tonight for everyone! It's real simple if you will just take the time to save the fish and not rip your hook out. It takes less than 30 seconds to snip your line, work hook out using the above method and retie... It takes that long to try and rip a hook out anyway so why not save the fish while you're at it.

Be sure to keep this in mind while fishing live bait. Gut hooking fish happens a lot with live bait.

Circle hooks (on live bait & senkos) are another good option to help reduce gut hooking.

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Mike
TJ Tackle Pro-Staff

[HawgTide]

EBass, i've seen that in a magazine before, but it's worth repeating. Save them hawgs.

[BigMike]

Here is the gut hook removal process Ebass was talking about:

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Mike
TJ Tackle Pro-Staff

[This message has been edited by BigMike (edited 09-08-2004).]

[river rat316]

Hey guys

BM congrats on your prostaff (your advice is always welcome) try a trailer hook but usually dont like those That was a real wierd dayu I dont know if its just cause they were hitting it so hard or what the deal was but even the long releases were fun to a point (real fustrating though)just to know they were down there and willing to bite Ebass I was using a 6'6" mh bait cast set up with high gear ratio so I can pick up the slack real quick I had no problem feeling the bite but they were hitting so hard and fast if I let em take it they would gut hook ( down in the opening if that makes sense) Im usually pretty skilled in getting the hook out in that situation with minimal damage but my rule is if there bleeding when I pick em up or I can see there bleeding before I pick em up I cut the line as close as possible to the hook and let em swim I dont know if its right but I hate to see the deep blood through the gills (thats part of the reason I have stopped with livebait altogether and ... thanks to you smallie nuts advice.... am getting pretty proficient at the tubes and senko's) and bm My internal weight was a splitshot! just didnt want to divulge everything lol I think you get way better action with that type of internal weight and you can tailor size of weight to current ( the less weight you have to use the better) This is a call to all smallie nuts bm, ebass, blb, ht, lost, juan or whoever else we need to hit up the otsego stretch again I have a couple of exceptional spots on that stretch that are some of the best I know (dont know about river heights with monsoon season last weekend) thanks all for the great advice gotta run.....
oops how could I forget the 2004 magnet eyeguy and greggles (if he aint a muskie addict now)

[This message has been edited by river rat316 (edited 09-08-2004).]

[BigMike]

River Rat - you crack me up... You may not have a job that lets you chat fishing online - but you have a set up that seems to let you fish every other night! Must be rough being you...

Speaking of trailor hooks, I don't care for them on spinnerbaits/buzzbaits, but I'm going to throw one on this weekend. I've been missing several big hits/blowups in the last few weeks and I need to start converting those into landed fish - especially on buzzbaits. Buzzbaits by nature have to be fished faster than spinnerbaits and naturally, fish will miss them or bump them on the first strike. I'm hoping a trailor hook will help convert some of those this weekend.

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Mike
TJ Tackle Pro-Staff

[tinman122]

Mike - I have not always done the fly fishing and when I was throwing buzz baits had the same issue you are talking about. Blow up but miss the hook - didn't have someone else along that throws right behind me catch the fish though. I did find a buzz bait that has small syrofoam floats right behind the props, these provide enough lift to allow a slower retrieve and increase the hookup percentage. Can't remember who the manufacturer is (I think it's Northland) the last time I replenished my supply was at Galyans in Minnetonka. Might be worth a try, of course you can always get into fly fishing when the "bait" weighs less than 1/16 oz. it can get on top faster.

[EBass]

River rat. I guess they were hungry, you have a proper setup. Thanks for the invite, too bad I'm limited to weekends now due to the sunset @ 7:30!! Cripes! So we'll have to set something up.

BM thanks for the illistration. That's what I was talking about. Helps with another person keeping the line taunt so the hook is straight up and down. Then it plucks right outa there. That saved many o smallie's arses.

Glad to see the action picked up. Just save some for me! I haven't caught a real nice smallie this year. My biggest this year is 17" with some 16" and that'll be about it.

[BigMike]

16 & 17 inchers... And you call yourself Pro-Staff... J/K! We'll get some to top that tomorrow EB! She you are 6:30 to drop my car.

tinman - your post inspired a topic on buzzing for smallies.

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Mike
TJ Tackle Pro-Staff

[This message has been edited by BigMike (edited 09-10-2004).]