Tough Fishing Tuesday..Smart trout!

[15FOOTER]

It was too damn nice out :( Brought 4 smallies to the boat mostly smaller 2-3lbs 17-18" and one larger one 21" 4.9lbs. Missed every trout we had on as well (some good ones). I can not for the life of me figure out a better method to get them on herring. Stingers dont work to well because I swear they see it and the rod with the stinger wont get touched. We have tried circle, octopus, and trebles and theres really no difference. Any creative ideas guys? Noticed most of the boats out really deep around 150' in no mans land. Fish are definitely feeding just not as aggressive with the cooler water.

[jimmythegreek]

What I do for other species is 2 things when having that trouble. First when downlining (which is how i mainly fish herring) I use a larger egg sinker, like 1oz or 1.5 oz and extend my leader to 5-7 ft long, and keep the reel in gear not in free spool w clicker on. This gives the fish alot longer to keep the bait in their mouth and do the spin to suck it down head first, and they usually hook themselves. The other thing that works if ur using slip bobbers is to up the weight on the slip bobber to the point the bobber almost sinks, when the fish pull they feel little or no resistance to the float. they actually make hollow bobbers u fill with water to keep them neutral for such things, didnt know about them til I saw them in gander mountain

[acabtp]

how are you hooking the bait? hooked right in front of the dorsal fin using a light wire hook i have very few run-offs

[15FOOTER]

We actually use the same method jimmy said..4ft leader after a 3/4 oz egg sinker with a small treble through both nostrils so we can drift..lots of takes and short battles but when the browns go nuts and dart in different directions the hook never stays

[GetANet]

Even using GAMI'S I loose fish sometimes both trolling and drifting. Can't give them ANY SLACK at all and can't press em' too hard either. It's a very fine line ya walk meaning very hard to do. You got it down (Your system ) sometimes it's the fish sometimes angler error LOL !!! I fish with a very loose drag almost always and adjust up if i need to. Keep on doing your thing and you'll get em' next time! My worst fishing trip was being at hopatcong at night and loosing several nice fish missing strikes that were so hard they were blowing out of the water and being hooked up to a fish that i never saw. It slammed my lure and burned about 50 ft of line, couldn't even slow it down with my thumb on the spool as well and then: JUST GONE!

[FASTEDDIE29]

You guys are always on the fish, no worries. You'll definitely get em next time. You caught some nice Smallies, it's all good!!!

[bigfishy]

Well said !!! We rarely have trouble puttin fish in the boat but fair weather fishin isn't ALWAYS best...barometer was f'd too which i think impacts rese fish more than river fish....way to bring em back to earth eddie....Cant have a STELLAR day every time out...

[go_fish]

If you are losing a lot of fish because the hooks are pulling, you might want to try using a fishing rod with a soft tip. This may help to avoid pulling hooks. If you are using braided line you might find that mono might be a better choice as it has more stretch and provides a cushioning affect. Don't give the fish any slack line, I would not pump the fishing rod either - just reel in slow and steady. Set the reel with a light drag. Make sure your hooks are razor sharp. Just my thoughts.

Can anyone tell me what size/type hooks they use that work well for drifting the herring?

[jimmythegreek]

I use uglystik downrigger rods in Light action, they have the softest tips Ive ever used and good backbone, I nail hundreds of hybrids on them w no trouble and even a small fish feels like something, great rods and only 50bucks or so. Line I use 10 or 12 trilene mono for mainline and 10-12-14 seaguar floro leader, I never lose fish and Ive broke off 2 fish all year, one was not changing leader due to laziness the other was a fish in the prop which is sharp and cut the mainline. Hooks I use only Owner mosquito hooks, they are small wire very strong. For hybrids I use size 1 and for everything else I use size 2 sometimes 4 if the herring are smaller early in the year, and u always nose hook the herring when trolling/drifting someone said thru the dorsal fin, u will kill them in a few min and they never get hit that way unless under a float or livelining them

[go_fish]

Can I ask what lake are you fishing? I want to go to Merrill Creek for brown trout this weekend, never been there. Any hints on what part of the lake I might fish or how deep I should be fishing? No sure where to start.

I don't know why you are losing fish, but I think if you keep experimenting you will figure it out. By the way - I really like my Ugly Stiks!

[Super]

I bet you get a lot of herring with bite marks halfway up.

When you get those short strikes, use less weight and drift/troll slow enought to get down to the bottom or thermocline. Try 1/8-1/6oz. Especially for browns and rainbows. They don't inhale herring like bass...They tear at them and spit them out if something isn't right. A small weight allows the herring to swim more freely and won't feel unnatural, so the bait and hook have a chance of getting into the trout's mouth.

When you get a strike, don't set the hook until it starts to run. And, for some reason I can't explain, small hooks (#8 mosquito) typically get a solid hookset in the jaw.

Sometimes you get 14" trout trying to swallow 6" herring. You can't fix that.

And lakers are usually more aggressive.

[slider]

One of the toughest problems fishing for trout using herring for bait, is finding the trout then getting them to hit..Looks like u doing ok on 1st two problems..Next how to hook em, then how to land em...We had same problems years ago and then started using strike guards on our rods..These gizmos allow u to keep bail open and place then in the strike guard and add or decrease pressure on the line depending on size of bait and weight used..If u have some extra cash the way to go is with bait runner reels, these have a setting that keeps bail closed but can adjust tension on the line to keep from flowing off,when u turn the handle it sets the normal drag in place..The rest is in the hands of the fish gods, browns are finicky creatures may run forever and never eat the bait, may sit in 1 spot and never eat the bait, have to get enough hits to predict their moods..Soft tip 81/2' steelhead rods proved best for me and my friends, keep drag tite but not too tite and be prepared to adjust as fight progress..Great sport chasing dem browns..Can see why they call it fishing not catching when u chase em..Good luck & Tite lines.......Slider

[15FOOTER]

Thanks for all of the great info guys! Sounds like were doing a lot of what everyone is saying! As far as the uglysticks we fish 4-7foot rods med light action and love em! Been doing the steelhead rod thing for a while to and that's been great, only ours are a little longer so they act like planner boards as well. We were going to invest in bait runners this year but its expensive to switch over 6 rods (yeah we troll 6 to 7 rods at once) so maybe next year. I found some great smaller shimano bait runners that are only available in Europe supposedly check amazon. As far as fishing Merrill buddy just get out there and fish and put your time in for the browns. Go mid-week and stay away from weekends. The trout there are never as deep as you think and those fish will piss you off to no end LOL.. GOOD LUCK!

[fishfinder]

You definitely want a nice soft rod to eat up the shock from any quick burst. Keep in mind trout have soft mouths and you really don't want to put much pressure on them, just let them do what they are gonna do (especially out in open water where snags are not an issue). Also, I'm not a big fan of real big baits when trout fishing and in regard to how you hook them, I go through the nose.