Avoiding Snagging/Flossing

[bharkasaig]

Hey all,

I'm targeting Salmon for the first time this year. I've been learning lots on this forum but would appreciate some opinions on what is acceptable vs. not. It sounds stupid as I write it, but there was serious temptation on the water today.

I took a long lunch today and hit a creek. I did a little leg-work and found a handful of salmon hanging out in a channel attached to a waist-deep pool. Water was clear. I was on the pool side, which they occasionally broke off into for a rest before heading back into the main current. I tried my luck with a bead setup, casting it into the current about 10' ahead of them then letting it drift past them with no luck.
So I was thinking, if that doesn't work, do I go to the other side and cast a spoon/spinner into the pool and see what happened? I could see them, so I could cast right across them, using the current to present it in front of them?

I didn't, as I had to go. But I am left wondering, if I had, would you consider that flossing or snagging? Is targeting fish you can see basically a no go? How does that differ from casting lures into areas you expect to hold fish that you can't see thanks to mud any different?

Thanks for the advice

 

[bigugly]

Targeting fish you can see is not flossing or snagging. It can be tough though as they can see you. I've been using a fly rod a lot lately and a lot of fish I e hooked up on is because I watched the fish attack my fly. Watched a steelhead yesterday devour my bead/pinkie setup. If you drag a bait till its behind the fish and you swipe at it. Flossing is your line goes through their mouth durning drift and you set hook on that. I target fish I see all the time especially clear water steelhead.

 

[MuskieBait]

You will always incidentally floss or snag some fish. With a pool or run packed with salmon, it can be difficult to avoid it. But it's one thing to snag a fish by accident, and another thing to actually play the fish out to exhaustion simply trying to get your hook back. Just point the rod to the fish, hold the spool, and pop of the hook.

You can avoid flossing fish by keeping the leader short. What I call the leader is the length of line between your last shot (or swivel) to the hook. A leader that is 12" to 18" is reasonable depending on clarity. But more than that is ridiculous and asking for flossing. Another way to avoid flossing is to avoid having your last split shot bounce along the bottom while your bait (floating bead, roe bag with styrofoam beads, ear plugs :roll: ) to float up while using a long leader. That's also a recipe to floss.

You can avoid snagging by slowing down your drift (holding the float back a little to trot the float) and watching the way your float reacts. When the line crosses the fish, it will either cause your float to twitch and bounce a few times as the line runs off the back or side of the fish. Also, as opposed to a real bite where the float sink straight down, a line rubbing on a fish will often cause the float to point up current. Ignore these twitches and the line will roll off the fish eventually. I see people set the hook on every little twitch and snag fish all the time.

I actually prefer fishing clearer water because it allows me to see if I'm drifting correctly...whether I set my lead too long and fishing too low to the fish (increases snagging and flossing) or whether I'm too shallow and not even putting the bait at the level where the fish is suspended (they are not always on the bottom).

Most of the salmon I caught this year on lures came from pods of fish I spotted and targeted. It is actually difficult to snag a salmon if you swing a lure properly, or retrieve the lure in the pool properly. You don't want the lure running too low. I find they like the lure to run just above them. They can feel the vibration anyways and if they want it, they will come up from the bottom or swim across the pool to hit it. If the lure runs too low, they seemed to get spooked. If you are swinging the lure in the current, you want to present the lure in front of their faces, not over the back or behind the tail. Getting the lure too close to their body (and not the head) increases the chance your lure will bump the fish and it is a sure way to spook an otherwise willing fish to stop hitting your lure (or swim away).

 

[bharkasaig]

Muskie - what do you mean by pop off the hook?

I tried my luck today and foul-hooked one. I tried the 'point rod at it' but couldn't get the hook to pop off. If you mean break my leader then I'll have to lower my leader's test strength, I use 10 lbs and have retrieved every snag in the river by pulling on my line, no lost setups yet.
So for me to break my leader I wonder if I might do more damage to the fish than playing it out?

I did play it out, removed my hook, and revived the fish.

 

[[email protected]]

i think your leader may be the issue. pay attention to the fish as your bait is coming through the pool, are they moving? if yes, your leader is too heavy and they are swimming around it, causing your hook to catch on tails and fins. go down to say 8lb leader and see what happens.

last time i was out, end of september, i started with 10lb leader on my fly rod, first 3 cast, it was pretty obvious the fish were swimming around my line, switched my lead down to 6.8lb and with in 5 casts, had a fish trying to kill my fly. grabbed it, and started giving some viscious headshakes before i set the hook. yes, its a light leader, but still plenty strong enough to hold and turn those fish. go light on the drag and use your hand to add or remove pressure from the reel. if using a spinning reel, that can be a little more tricky

 

[bharkasaig]

Ah, I should have stated it was a lure. No fly fishing for me yet, until I up my rod wt. Soon...

 

[MuskieBait]

Pop off the hook = breaking the line. You can break 10lb line...but a little difficult. 8lb breaks pretty easily.

If I'm fishing something inexpensive, such as roe bag, a bead, pinkie, even a fly...I would just break the line.

But if I accidentally snagged a fish with an expensive lure, I may bring it in as quickly as possible and release as quickly as possible.

Usually, I don't snag a fish on a lure. The odd times that had happened, usually the fish missed the lure and hooked itself on the side of the head or in the pectoral fin.

Fish often fights until exhaustion when it is snagged. An exhausted fish has very low chance of survival. However, it is illegal keep a snagged fish and it MUST be released. So by fighting a snagged fish, you are killing a fish that you legally cannot keep. This is unethical. It is for this reason that you should break your line if the fish is snagged.