Trout landing percentage....

[Tokyo Tony]

If you've noticed a lot of my posts lately, you know that I've been doing a lot of trout fishing to get my fix since the rivers are not frozen.  I've been using almost 100% 3 inch Berkley Power minnows with an 1/8 oz jighead, and I've been catching a bunch.  The problem is, I only land about 50% of the fish I have on.  I'm not talking about strikes, I'm talking about having the fish on for a couple of seconds before he gets off the line.  Some of this is due to the fact that in the areas I fish, you have to crimp the barb down, but the main problem runs deeper than that, I think.

Do you guys have any ideas on how to increase my landing percentage?

I don't set the hook with trout like I do with bass, I just raise the rod to put pressure on to drive the hook home, like a fly fisherman would set the hook.  Is that the best way?

I think the main problem is that the bait is just a little too big for the fish, and that the fish aren't getting the whole thing in their mouths.  My hooks are razor sharp, so that's not the problem, and I'm keeping tension on the line 100% of the time, so that's not the problem either.

I can't really use smaller baits because I won't be able to cast them far enough...

Any other ideas???

Thanks.

[slomoe]

what about smaller baits on a split shot rig? I don't know anything about trout fishing, but this would be my guess.

[roadwarrior]

Try setting the hook HARD, I do.

[bassnleo]

I agree that the baits you are using may be a little too big for the fish.

What size trout are you catching just out of curiousity?

Here, we fish for steelhead this time of year. Steelhead are nothing more than a rainbow that runs into streams then back to the lake when spawning season is done.

Most steelhead we catch are in the 4-10 lb range, some may go over 10.

Our gear is 8-9 foot noodle spinning rods, 4-8 lb test, really small hooks, usually like a size 12-14 depending on water clarity.

My favorite technique is to drift an emerald shiner under a Drennan float. With that presentation we are setting the hook pretty hard for 2 reasons. One, the fish have hard mouths and two, current tends to throw a little slack in your line and a long hard hookset will get out the slack and allow enough power to put the hook home.

Here's a pic of a typical steelhead.

Best of luck!

[maxke01]

I set the hook not soft as your saying, not like a bass but somewhat in between, trout tend to swallow if you allow them to so set soon as u feel it hit. Also try smaller bait, could be that they are swallowing but the hook is nowhere near where u need it to be.

[roadwarrior]

Man! That's a great fish!

[Tokyo Tony]

Wow, beautiful fish there, and chunky too ;D The ones I'm catching are stockies, rainbows and browns from just under a pound to 3 pounds (my PB last weekend - brownie), but I know that there are fish in the 5 lb range in the area I fish.

Thanks for the tips guys. The baits I use are probably a little too big for the fish I'm targeting, but IMO it's worth it for a couple reasons. 1. I am not a huge fan of getting in the water this time of year, so I need to make long casts that are impossible with smaller baits. 2. I think a bigger minnow bait seems more appetizing to the bigger trout. 3. The bigger minnow bait is more visible than the smaller one.

I went out yesterday and tried the hard hookset option, and I didn't notice a difference. Still the same percentage landed per strike, but the difference was that I didn't have as many fish on the line that got off halfway through the fight.

I guess my best bet would be to suck it up, throw the waders on, and use a smaller bait, but for now, if I'm fishing from shore, I just have to put up with the low landing percentage.

Thanks for the replies gents

[jwo1124]

I fish for stockie trout in ponds, and I have never had a problem with fish shaking loose. Don't get me wrong, I have had a couple fish come off after hooking them. Typicall I'll use anything from UL-ML with 4-6# test. The rods I use are either ugly stiks or Cabela's version of the ugly stik - the Whuppin' Stick which is an all glass rod, not a bad rod for $20.

I use a slower rod because I mainly fish things like spoons, in-lines, and small jerkbaits with small trebles.

The true problem is probably the barbless hooks. I have never pinched down the barbs, never needed to, so I don't know of the added difficulty that coems from this while fighting a fish, but my guess would be it makes it harder. I have never used a soft plastic or jig for trout, and I would say try something with trebles, like one of the lures I mentioned, but it would be a pain pinching down all those barbs. But hey, you never know...

[Tokyo Tony]

Yeah with treble lures it's not a problem, even with smaller lures.  My main problem is that I have to use "big" lures to be able to reach the fishy areas.  

Also, treble hooks are not allowed in the area I fish - just single hook lures with no barb.  Before I knew that I had some decent luck on little LC Pointer 65's, and the fish wouldn't come unbottoned...it's just with those 3" Power Minnows.  I've had 25 fish days there, but with 100% landing percentage, it would have been a 50 fish day  :-/

[Troutfisher]

I had this same problem.  Here's what you can do:

If you are using small lures, don't use anything larger than 6lb test.  Try using some smooth casting 4 lb test line with smaller lures.  When you set the hook on the fish, set it very firm, not yanking it out of it's moth, just a good solid hookset.  Then, loosen up the drag and let the fish play itself.

If you are using bait or powerbait, try this.  Use one small to medium split shot sinker about 12 inches above a size 8-10 hook.  Completely cover the hook with the bait (powerbait, nightcrawler, mealworm, etc.) and cast to different areas.  When a fish picks the lure up, just let it take it, until it starts shooting out into the water.  Many times, fish will just play with the bait for about 5 minutes (agonizingly long when you're wanting a fish on the bank), so just let them play with it, and DON'T set the hook until they have it and are going out into open water.

If you are using bait and a float, same approach.  They will mess with the bait for a while, but when they have it under longer than 3 seconds, set the hook firm.

The results can speak for themselves!

Now that's some good eating!

-TF

[Tokyo Tony]

Now I like that idea a lot - using split shots and a hook with the minnow instead of a jighead.  Maybe that will help, especially because I can use really small baits with that rig.

Do you think I should T-rig the minnow on a mini worm hook, or just use a straight shank hook and rig it like a jighead?

Can't wait to try that out  

[Troutfisher]

Well, it depends on whether you're fishing a stream or a lake...if it's a stream, no t-rig, but if it's a lake, I would recommend the t-rig.

[Tokyo Tony]

It's a stream.  Why no t-rig?  You think it would twist?  

And since it's a stream, I won't let the fish mess with the bait for too long.  It'll be an immediate hookset so they don't feel the weight of the line.

[Garnet]

It might be a little over the top. I bought the minnow head mould so I could get 1/4 and 3/16 heads and still stay with the crappie/perch size hooks.

I use for steelheading and Crappie/perch fishing.

Garnet