Stripers Forever

[piemma]

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.

[Fly Rod]

all my bards on lures are crinched. Why do people have to use a gaff on stripers or bluefish? It is beyond me.

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by Fly Rod

all my bards on lures are crinched. Why do people have to use a gaff on stripers or bluefish? It is beyond me.

I've never gaffed a bass. Some people are afraid to put their hands anywhere near a blue's mouth. I used to be one of them, but you learn over time.

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by piemma

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.

I think that a fish could even survive being hooked in the gills if there's just one small barbless hook involved. The real damage to the gills gets done when the barb tears them when you remove the hook. The small puncture that a barbless hook makes might not prove fatal.

One of my friends from NJ has this to say about 3 hooked lures--the belly hook is for bass, the tail hook is for blues, and the middle one is for fingers.