Losing fish

[madeincanada780]

The girlfriend and I were fishing the Bow tonight and she lost one and caught one and I lost 5 and caught one...all rainbows.
She keeps her barbs on her hooks and I pinch mine...are we doing something wrong or is that just the way she goes when fishing for trout in the Bow?

[Crankbait]

losing fish makes the reason for going fishing sometimes.

keeping a tight line is key though. I watch a lot of fish being lost when the angler gives a bit too much play in the run. a sharpening stone is key too.

all in all, I'd say you had a great day on the water regardless of losing some.

[MrDave]

Sharpen your hooks after pinching down the barb. I actually sharpen my hooks every time I put them on. New or used.

[RavYak]

Need more info. What type/size of hooks/lures? Rods/reels used? Line used?

There is no reason catching trout out of the Bow would be different then any other river but it can be different then say a lake because of the added pressure from the current.

Trout have soft mouths and it is easy to rip lures out if you try to put too much pressure on the hook. Smaller hooks rip out easier, trebles increase your chance of hooking a fish but larger single hooks usually increase chance of landing a hooked fish. Heavier lures like rapalas or bigger spoons swing around when a fish shakes it head etc and it can be significantly tougher to land a fish on say a rapala vs a light fly.

Since it is easy to pull out hooks you need a rod/reel/line setup that absorbs hard pulls, head shakes etc and doesn't put extra force on the hook when a fish pulls hard. That means using a longer more flexible rod, reel with smooth drag(and don't set drag too high). Using braid vs mono will significantly affect rod selection and drag setting too. I prefer braid but it doesn't stretch so you want a longer more flexible rod then if you use mono.

Some times trout just are biting lightly or bump your lure etc. This can make it so the trout isn't ideally hooked and is easier to lose and it can be due to the day/attitude of the fish. If this was a one off event then don't worry about it but if you are losing significant amounts of fish every trip out then yes you should make changes. You will lose more trout then some other species but you should probably be able to land 75+% of hooked trout.

[bobalong]

River fish can be harder to keep hooked for sure. Using side pull on your rod can help a lot rather than up and down.

[cube]

Originally Posted by madeincanada780

The girlfriend and I were fishing the Bow tonight and she lost one and caught one and I lost 5 and caught one...all rainbows.
She keeps her barbs on her hooks and I pinch mine...are we doing something wrong or is that just the way she goes when fishing for trout in the Bow?

You will certainly land more fish with hooks that have barbs on them. I believe the stats are about 10-30% more.

As others have mentioned a properly set hook and drag is key of course as well as the rod and line type.

One thing that was not mentioned is the quality of the hook. I have found that cheap hooks will often act like a spring and straighten out under tension only to recover their shape after releasing your fish. I had suspected this happening and it was finally confirmed for me watching a fishing show where they were doing tests on hooks and that`s exactly what happened during the testing.

I do find it difficult to find lures with good hooks but they sure make a difference when trying to land hard fighting large fish, especially in current.

[madeincanada780]

Originally Posted by RavYak

Need more info. What type/size of hooks/lures? Rods/reels used? Line used?

There is no reason catching trout out of the Bow would be different then any other river but it can be different then say a lake because of the added pressure from the current.

Trout have soft mouths and it is easy to rip lures out if you try to put too much pressure on the hook. Smaller hooks rip out easier, trebles increase your chance of hooking a fish but larger single hooks usually increase chance of landing a hooked fish. Heavier lures like rapalas or bigger spoons swing around when a fish shakes it head etc and it can be significantly tougher to land a fish on say a rapala vs a light fly.

Since it is easy to pull out hooks you need a rod/reel/line setup that absorbs hard pulls, head shakes etc and doesn't put extra force on the hook when a fish pulls hard. That means using a longer more flexible rod, reel with smooth drag(and don't set drag too high). Using braid vs mono will significantly affect rod selection and drag setting too. I prefer braid but it doesn't stretch so you want a longer more flexible rod then if you use mono.

Some times trout just are biting lightly or bump your lure etc. This can make it so the trout isn't ideally hooked and is easier to lose and it can be due to the day/attitude of the fish. If this was a one off event then don't worry about it but if you are losing significant amounts of fish every trip out then yes you should make changes. You will lose more trout then some other species but you should probably be able to land 75+% of hooked trout.

On the Bow I'm using a 6'6" Ugly Stick Elite medium action, 10lbs braid, was using cd7 and cd9 rapalas last night. Never even thought about adjusting the drag...usually have it set pretty high in case of snags.
We were losing them as soon as we got them reeled in to shore...they would do one last jump and shake and then gone!

[RavYak]

Originally Posted by madeincanada780

On the Bow I'm using a 6'6" Ugly Stick Elite medium action, 10lbs braid, was using cd7 and cd9 rapalas last night. Never even thought about adjusting the drag...usually have it set pretty high in case of snags.
We were losing them as soon as we got them reeled in to shore...they would do one last jump and shake and then gone!

Touched on most already but with these extra details would put it down to 3 things.

1) Crankbaits are a bit tougher to land fish with. As you noticed it is usually when they jump/shake head that they get off because the weight of lure flying back and forth rips the hooks out. You have to fight fish lighter on crankbaits in order to land them consistently.

2) Definitely adjust the drag. That will probably be the key since if I had to guess they are jumping/shaking their heads then making one hard pull which rips the hook free. If the fish can't pull drag when it pulls hard then your drag is too high. You can't horse trout in using rapalas like you can with say pike or walleye, the hooks will just pull out of their softer mouths.

3) When you get the fish close to shore go easy on them. You know they are going to make one last ditch effort to get free so be prepared and try to sneak them into the net before they can do that last explosion. Or make sure drag is good and loose so that they make a run or two away from shore first then net them. Maybe a better net would also help land more fish? I don't like the small hand nets most guys use for river fishing although they sure are a lot nicer to carry around then a bigger net with longer handle.

[cube]

Originally Posted by madeincanada780

On the Bow I'm using a 6'6" Ugly Stick Elite medium action, 10lbs braid, was using cd7 and cd9 rapalas last night. Never even thought about adjusting the drag...usually have it set pretty high in case of snags.
We were losing them as soon as we got them reeled in to shore...they would do one last jump and shake and then gone!

Perhaps a long handled telescopic folding net would solve your problems.

like this with the 35-62 inch handle https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/bass...ng-landing-net

You can find nets with even longer handles as well. One should watch some British shore fishing videos as to how to use them properly though. Because if you use them like a scoop to lift the fish they will break. This is a common mistake I see with many people when they catch a large fish. With these type of nets you need to bring the fish into you while still in the water then lift the handle in a more vertical orientation so as to relive the stress on the hoop where it attaches to the handle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el0BgTJ0dlo


As Rav said you can back off the drag when they get close to shore or have your reel switched so you can back reel to releave some of the strain when needed. If using a bait casting reel you can click it so it is in fee spool and control the drag with your thumb when close to boat or shore.

[wildbill]

As well educated fish know how get off the hook

[pinelakeperch]

Too small of a sample size. The Fish Gods were blessing the fish on that day. I find keeping your drag set properly is the single biggest factor. Not light enough that you're giving 3 yards of slack when setting the hook, and not heavy enough that you're pulling the hook when setting it.

[Pikebreath]

Originally Posted by pinelakeperch

Too small of a sample size. The Fish Gods were blessing the fish on that day.

Yeah,,,,,,,,

Some days you get the bear,,,, some days the bear gets you!!!

or should we say,

Some days the fish fall off the hook,,,, other days you get even!!!!

[sundancedan]

I always remove the center hook on my Raps when I fish the river, I find I loose less lures this way.