Hey guys when pulling lead or long lining, where do you tend to keep the drag set? I’ve lost a couple nice fish the last two times out. I’ve had the drag set pretty low because I’m by myself in a snaggy area, and fishing 2 poles. Does this low drag create a “weaker” hook up or should I just set the hook a little after the fish is on and tighen the drag alittle. Thanks
Check the obvious first: Are your hooks sharp!
When running lead or superlines, I tend to have my drags set on the light side. Go ahead and give the fish a little hookset with your thumb down on the spool, but once the fish is hook, we’ve lost very few big fish when the drags are set a bit on the light side.
Over the past six years guiding the one thing that I’ve learned about fighting big fish like walleyes, pike & muskie is this: If a big fish can’t get line when they try to make a run, they’re coming off almost everytime. The excetion is when your using large lures with big hooks.
One other thing to look at is the size of the hooks on your lures. The treble hooks on #5 jointed shad raps for instance are one size to small. I will exchange the back hook on these lures with one size larger treble hook than the the one it comes with. I’ve noticed my hook-up ratio is quite a bit better with the bigger hook on the back.
Hope that helps!
Boog
I run the drags on the light side also. My set ups are 7.5′ tide masters with 20# power pro for long lining. Seen to many fish come in with a single hook in the skin of the lip or may be a cheek. These are the ones that need to take line when needed. Drag settings may change from day to day depending on how the fish are biting to. Some days they are really hitting the lures and you couldn’t miss one if you tried. Other days its the opposite and you need to play around with what works best.
Some other things I do to help get the fish in the boat is taking the boat out of gear when a fish gets hooked up. Some times even moving the boat towards the fish in high current situations. On larger fish I try to turn the boat to the side so we are not fighting around the motor when netting.
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I will exchange the back hook on these lures with one size larger treble hook than the the one it comes with. I’ve noticed my hook-up ratio is quite a bit better with the bigger hook on the back.
Does the bigger hook increase the amount of snags you get Joel ? or is a snag a snag and you’re going to find it no matter the hook size? I know I get lucky and bounce #5’s thru some snags so I was thinking that if I had a bigger hook it would be more prone to get snagged up but increase fish hook-ups.
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I will exchange the back hook on these lures with one size larger treble hook than the the one it comes with. I’ve noticed my hook-up ratio is quite a bit better with the bigger hook on the back.
Does the bigger hook increase the amount of snags you get Joel ? or is a snag a snag and you’re going to find it no matter the hook size? I know I get lucky and bounce #5’s thru some snags so I was thinking that if I had a bigger hook it would be more prone to get snagged up but increase fish hook-ups.
Its hard to quantify, but I haven’t really noticed an increase in snags using the bigger hook at the back of the lure.
The back hook will usually ride a bit higher than the rest of the lure. Most snags seem to come on the bill of the lure or the front hook and with a little practice, you can retrieve a high percentage of snagged lures.
I guess in the end, even if I do get a couple more snags, its worth it to me if a few more fish stay hooked up because of the bigger treble hook.
What type, strength, length of rods are you using? You might not have enough flexibility in the rod when fighting these fish using little to no stretch line?
Jami
With hardline, I use a softer rod and set my drags light with the clicker on–this allows some give to not tear out the hooks. Once fighting the fish, I can tighten up the drag.
Jeremy
So joel what size is the back trebble hook on the #5 jointed shad rap? I have a problem looseing some fish on these. I have lost a couple nice fish on these and its very frustrating. Thanks for the help joel.
I carry two of the old cannister style film containers full of red treble hooks in my tackle box. One cannister carries size 4 and the other size 6 treble hooks.
The film cannisters use less space in my tackle box than leaving the treble hooks in their original package.
It looks like the JSR-5’s come with a size 8 treble hook. (don’t quote me on that) I’m not possitive, but it looks like I’m upgrading to a size 6 treble hook.
A lot of good info. above in regard to sharp hooks, soft rod tips and light drags. One other thing to remember when you troll with leadcore, there is an “S” in your line and I usually tighten the drag a little bit more versus long lining due to the fact there is more play out there. When using planer boards, I will tighten the drag just so the board does not pull out any more line.
If I’m fishing a lake, I will also not shift the boat out of gear. I will slow down but I want to keep the momentum going forward and putting pressure on that fish. Reel in steady and slowly with no rod pumps and try to keep the fish in the water until you get it into the net.
Good point on not shifting the boat out of gear on a lake Brad. I would bet this may not be a good practice if you have a lot of different lines out either. I do like to do this in the river especially if there is a lot of current. Even a little forward motion of the boat in a fair current can equal a lot of pressure on a fish.
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