Stopping vs Not Stopping When You Hook Up With A Fish

[terek]

I have scotty light releases. and yes, most koks in my area are around 12-14. We have a big overpopulation problem, so they stay fairly small. F@G just stocked a bunch of chinook to try and bring the pop down.

[MackayGuy]

terek.....assume you are from the sw idaho area from your posts talking about fishing the local to boise area reservoirs. Is there something documented about the "big overpopulation problem"....again assuming you are talking about the kokanee and not the influx of californians into the boise area. I would think with the increased kokanee fishing in the local to boise reservoirs there would not be a big over population of kokanee issue. If there's some big over population issue, maybe the F&G shouldn't stock it for a year or so????

[terek]

correct, sw idaho. Its mainly at anderson ranch res. And there is by no means lack of fishers up there. Its not uncommon to land 30-50 in a day, and with a limit of 25 ea, people can fish the crap out of it. Sometimes I will just turn the sonar off, because the constant beeping can drive ya nuts. There are several articles about it, ill scrounge some up. Something to do with it having 5 rivers for them to spawn up. Also, we had a very bad burn in 2013, and the run off minerals are making them grow fast. Was hunting deer from the boat this season, and you could see a bluish mineral line in the sand every morning as the water dropped. Average fish last year was 11-12 in. The chinook are supposed to eat the kok fry, and a lot of locals estimate the 2 year stockers to be between 3-6 lb. this year, after fattening up all winter.

[MackayGuy]

Thanks for the clarification. Yeah, that makes sense for Anderson. I guess I was thinking of Leaky Peak or Arrowrock when I asked the question. We kinda drifted off subject of the original post, so in an attempt to redirect....downriggeral has a good suggestion re the chamberlain release. I started using those last year and really like em. Don't tow the little guys around for a swimming lesson anymore. As far as stopping....I usually don't stop only because there's too many other lines in the water that just drop down if you stop. I have stopped on occasion, but it's a reel everything in situation if we throw the kicker into neutral. I have hit the idle on the trollmaster which keeps you moving, just drops the rpms to idle.

[terek]

Thought i would add to this again. I rarely stop, but last week I hooked into a 17" koke (yay!) And when he saw the boat, he just went crazy. Shaking and pulling and taking lots of line out. When i realized how big he was, i stopped all movement and just focused on this fish. We had quite the battle, but in the end, I won. The best part is i was right in front of some bank fishers, and they saw the whole thing :)
So, I rarely stop, UNLESS its a real big one. They just pull too hard to drag em around the lake. Too easy to rip there soft faces

[SuperD]

terek, why do you think it is always sweeter when it happens in front of witnesses? LOL! I used to have a great hunting dog and my favorite moments were walking into a field that hunters with a pack of dogs were just leaving and Jake and I would drop a bird before they were in their truck. Nice job on the big, early season Koke.

[DLM]

I very rarely stop. I use a very light drag to allow them to take line whenever they want. I also reel very slow. The light drag and slow reeling allow them to wear themselves out without much danger of ripping a lip and they are exhausted when I get them to the boat. It takes a while to get them in, but I lose very few.

[mrmike]

DlM is right on. I also won't stop my forward motim. I won't that tension on my line. When fishing the surface and with close to 80 to 100 ft of line out I won't as much tension as possible to control my fish.I also want my other poles still fishing. The biggest problem I notice through numerous hook is when a fish is lost they are ripping out from the hooks they aren't shaking the hooks. I understand most don't agree but some will figure it out.I went back to double snubbers (double).I heard it all like, I use this special pole some times it not enough.I use custom 5 weight fly rod blanks. With them wickiup fish they now stick like I'm using super glue.

[terek]

I now have a new way that i bet a lot of you will not agree with, but I have not lost one yet, or feared of loosing one. I hold my pole high and get the fish to the surface as fast as possible. Then, I just reel fast and drag it across the surface and flip it in the boat. They are not allowed to shake heads, or spook on the boat or net. You only get to play with them half the time, but my goal is to put fish in the freezer for winter. I can play with bass any day i want, as lake lowell is about 2 min. from my house.

[sawtooth]

Terek,
That technique might work early in the season when the fish are near the top, but I am betting that it will be more difficult later in the season when the fish are larger and down around 50 feet down.

[terek]

very true.

[downriggeral]

My brother "surfs" the fish in. Not too much fun in my opinion. Freezer meat is good though. I fish year around so most of my fish don't go in the freezer.

[platypus]

--When fishing by myself with two rods I will usually keep the boat moving.
--One person per rod then bring in the other lines... and drift... or have person actually manually driving the boat to help with the catch.
--I target larger fish thus want the drag and ror to be working the fish without adding boat speed.

--by myself... I will stop the boat if no wind and using two rods if they are on the downrigger with shorter setback and little chance of smagging bottom.

--My boat has high canopy and is a pain in the wind. Once you move to the back of the boat it will spin and for the first time ever I put a line last week through my prop... when I stopped... thought I would get a steady drift with the wind but is spun me instead. Just ordered prop guard for next trip.

--The line was on my downrigger with a lyman plug (which floats up at low speed) I hit the auto downrigger and didn't realize the clip had not released so it brought the line up right into the prop (dumb or what?)

--So I guess I'm saying I try to do what is right for the situation... rather than a rule. Most times I get it right but that was a new one on me.

--I have first auto stop set so that the line would normally be below the motor but because a had a lure that floats it brought it up into the prop.


--I should add that I mainly fish in British Columbia... so the rod rules for fresh water are one rod per person except when fishing alone from a boat allowed to fish two rods.
--So to have three rods out you would have to have three licensed people on the boat. Not two rod endorcement like in Washington state.

[clawman]

I have been using Chaimberlain releases with good success. You can set the rod tension separate of the release tension. I just hit the idle button on the iTroll if the wind is not blowing when I get a fish on. Sometimes you have to run more throttle if the wind is blowing to maintain boat control. Lots of times I have had the other rods go off while we are idling along landing a fish.
For salmon I always leave the troll speed going until the other gear is cleared then I may or may not hit idle while we play the fish. I will also slowly turn towards the the fish to help keep the fish to the side of the boat and away from the outboards. I also like to fish the outside in a crowd so I can leave when the salmon hooks up.

downriggeral;
After reading the first three sentences of your post I had to look to see if that was my post! X2!
My boat with the Yam 9.9T with the iTroll my speed is .9 at idle so I just hit idle button and that maintains boat control yet slows me down enough so as to not pull the fish off.
The Chamberlain releases are so sensitive you can set them to where anything releases them and a slight flick of the wrist releases the line when you want it to release. SWEET.
Hunt mode-do you have it and do you us it?

[downriggeral]

I do have the Hunt mode; I think. I need to contact iTroll for the code. Seems the paperwork has gone missing. Have you used it?

[clawman]

I do have the hunt mode but do not know how to program it. The standard mode that comes in the unit does not change anything while in hunt mode.
The sheet you get with the unit is like a bowl of red, green, and black spaghetti. Doing it over again I would save the $100.

I do have the Hunt mode; I think. I need to contact iTroll for the code. Seems the paperwork has gone missing. Have you used it?