Catching salmon on empty hook?

[ihtus]

My friend told me that he is always fishing salmon with an empty hook, no sacks with eggs, nothing.
He claims that the fish is not feeding when spawning, the fish is just moving in the creek/river with open mouth and when a hook is encountered => fish on.

like all the fishermen, he throws the hooks with the sinker in the middle of the creek.
The difference is that other guys put some eggs on the hooks, and he puts nothing.

The hooks are not moved at all (like as it would have eggs), and then waiting when the fish will "bite" the empty hook..

It's hard to believe, but every season he is catching the fish...

What's your opinion?
Is it worthy preparing eggs sacks, or using artificial eggs?

 

[Boulton90]

.

 

[ChromeAddict]

Your friend is doing one of two things:

Snagging: He is most likely snagging the fish, which basically means hooking the fish in the side, fins, tail, head etc. Snagging fish is illegal, and any fish snagged accidentally need to be released.

Flossing: Flossing is another form of snagging, where the line drifts into the fish's open mouth, and is then pulled tight, hooking the fish in the corner of or around the mouth.

Either way it's looked down upon by fisherman.

Try casting lures around the mouths of rivers or in the rivers themselves. I find it much more fun than fishing with roe.

 

[ihtus]

like all the fishermen, he throws the hooks with the sinker in the middle of the creek.
The difference is that other guys put some eggs on the hooks, and he puts nothing.

The hooks are not moved at all (like as it would have eggs), and then waiting when the fish will "bite" the empty hook..



Here is says what flossing is: http://www.ifish.net/board/showthread.php?t=168116

"Flossing is dragging a line through the water in hope that it will enter a fishes mouth"


So flossing is when dragging the line.
In my friends way: the line and the hooks are not moved, the hooks are on the bottom of the creek.

Could this way of fishing be illegal???

 

[ChromeAddict]

Why would a salmon bite an empty hook laying on the bottom of the river? If you are sure he is not snagging fish, I am 99% that what is happening is this: The fish swims into the line mouth first, your friend pulls the line tight and hooks the fish around the mouth. The fish is still not willingly biting. Hopefully someone else can chime in on the legal status of flossing, as it is a bit unclear to me. It is definitely frowned upon though.

 

[ihtus]

ChromeAddict: well I don't know, I will tell him about your opinion. thanks for sharing.

 

[ihtus]

another thought: considering that everybody are saying that salmon does not eat while spawning, the way how I fish and others, with sacks of eggs, there are equal chances to catch the fish as you descibed:
"The fish swims into the line mouth first, your friend pulls the line tight and hooks the fish around the mouth"

I mean in that case (swims into the line mouth first) it does not matter if the hook is empty or not...
that could mean that everybody are hooking around the mouth....

 

[steve7321]

Fishing with a bare hook with no bait, lure, or artificial attractant is illegal. At any time you fishing with a bare hook you could get into trouble. Always check your hooks for bait. A bare hook will imply to an officer that you are trying to snag or illegally hook a fish. So what he is doing is completely illegal. Even a cigarette butt will count as bait.

 

[ihtus]

steve7321: wow, I will let him know asap.
can you give a reference in the legislation about bare hook?

 

[chasingfish]

This is a highly debatable topic and I'm afraid you will not get any answers here. I think we're talking ethics nots laws (for flossing). But fishing with an empty hook will get you into trouble for sure (please tell me how you are going to explain it to a CO that you're not trying to snag fish).

 

[rick james]

It is a myth that salmon won't bite once upstream. In fact they'll take various presentations, like roe sacks to flies, especially when they're fresh run and not spooked. What your friend is doing in my view is completely unacceptable and goes against the spirit of sport fishing and there should be no place for it on our streams. Please tell him/her to stop. Instead he/she should try educating him/herself about how to catch salmon ethically by reading and watching and talking to more experienced guys/gals on the river.

 

[Chunk]

It's snagging, nothing more. Even if the hook's baited it's still a snagging (flossing) technique.

 

[NADO]

I mean in that case (swims into the line mouth first) it does not matter if the hook is empty or not...
that could mean that everybody are hooking around the mouth....

Bingo, there really is no difference but fishermen feel better about themselves when they put a bait on the hook to convince themselves that the salmon took it willingly. Do yourself a favor and chuck spoons off of the piers rather than dead stick. The fish that hit will hit willingly and it is much more enjoyable feeling a salmon smash your spoon rather than feeling a salmon get their teeth cleaned on your line.

 

[Dozer]

'tis the season to be flossy! Fish will hit in the river but not an empty hook - although an empty hook COULD look like a little worm or most likely in this case - a 3 legged octopus ( or 6 legged if tandem ). Tell your friend to put something on that hook ( or near it ) otherwise he might be telling you about an undercover officer giving him a hefty fine or worse off a tussle with some local boys standing up for the resource.

 

[ihtus]

I went fishing for salmon on a creek this saturday, and I can say that it bites the eggs and not the line.
I used this rig, but without the bobber:
http://www.theoutdoorline.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/bobber_fishing_king_salmon.jpg

If it would bite the line, then after "flossing" the sinker would hit it's mouth and would not permit the hook to penetrate.

The bite was really slow (like a carp) and did not look accidental.

I can conclude that specifically this fish was feeding when entered the creek and tried to eat my bait (eggs in sack).

 

[miles]

If you rig a hook like you would if fishing weedless but with a thick piece of mono you won't floss or foul hook any fish, but no one does that because then they wouldn't catch any fish in the creeks :razz:

 

[christotheashto]

Salmon will willingly hit lots of presentations if the timing is right. I've got chinooks on streamers, roe, beads, buggers, you name it. I find the best bang for buck bait with salmon is fresh skein.

 

[[email protected]]

if you get the fish when its fresh in the mouth of the river/creek, they will hit and hit hard, if they've been in there a few days, they will rarely strike, and only do so out of aggression, its why presentations with kwik fish work so well for salmon, you can literally hang it in the current in front of the fish long enough to piss it off enough to eat it

 

[rich_ace_G]

Kwikfish & hot n tots are your best bet for salmon hardware...i'd put mini wobblers there as well...majority of the people i know who fish with beads and roe bags are actually targeting browns and bows...not salmon...

 

[ihtus]

tried for about 20 minutes a popper lure (shallow water) at xyz creek, nothing.
Perhaps mine was too big for salmon...
Is popper effective for salmon?