Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike P
I fish jigs and plastic almost exclusively. If I deep hooked 20% of what I hooked, I'd have to re-think my approach. I'd say that 97% to 99% of the fish I land are jaw hooked. And when they inhale it, they're hooked in the roof of the mouth, in the hard cartilege, not in the gills. If you're deep hooking 20% of what you land on jigs, with all due respect, you're doing something wrong. Maybe you're fishing mono and don't feel them until they have it swallowed?
If by "rubber" you mean those small Storm or Tsunami swim shads, yeah, fish inhale them. If you care about what you release, don't use them or at least crush the barb. Or use the ones that are 6" to 9" and target bigger fish.
|
Well, you said it well Mike. One of the keys to reducing C&R mortality is crushing the barbs. Even if the fish is hooked in the roof of it's mouth you can reach in and take out a Storm or Tsunami very quickly.
It always amazes me to see guys fishing with 3 treble hooks on a pencil popper and not crushing the barbs. Even if you are an absolute expert at C&R, 3 trebles do a ton of damage. 1 treble in the middle and a Siwash on the tail with all the barbs crushed and at least the fish has a chance of surviving.