Thought you guys would get a kick out of this. I wanted to try the Lee Tauchen Big Fish 365 sucker rig that seemed simple and sweet so I was experimenting and had this fish grab on…. but never even tasted the hook.
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That is pretty cool. I've heard stories of fish being landed without the fish being hooked. We've had a few fish that we fought for 10 seconds or more, only to have the fish open its mouth near the boat and spit the fly out. No headshaking, just spits it out like it was never hooked. I'm guessing they never were. Just clamped down and didn't want to let go yet.
Nice! I also tried that rig a little while ago, although I modified it some, since I didn't want to use any rubber bands. Had only 1 fish grab on, but came off. I still try to reason out how they get hooked, especially when you have your reel engaged. I asked Lee if he ever had any problems with such a light flouro, but he said no. The only way I see the fish getting hooked, is if it grabs the sucker partially above its head. Basically, on the flouro somewhat. Then, as it swims downward, the hook winds up in the corner of its mouth.
Yeah I only have 120lb flouro for tying leaders so the entire rig is a bit stiff. I agree though I have no clue how they hook them so easily on that show, they don't even set the hook. I think a smaller hook and lighter flouro is what I need to do, but with a closed bail I have no clue how a fish is going to get hooked when he t-bones the sucker. Smaller suckers?
I experimented with suckers quite a bit this fall, and didn't have a very good conversion rate of suckers eaten to fish in the net. The bummer is the two biggest that ate, didn't get pinned, including what would have been my first 50+ (or so it looked).
I used the Hulcano harness, which seemed good in theory, just didn't hook up 90% for me like the package says, lol. Still, suckers definately out a couple nice fish in the net that wouldn't have been caught otherwise.
Would be interesting to try small 6" suckers with smaller, hooks to see what happens.
We tried Lee's rig with suckers anywhere from 5.5" up to just over 8". The 8" were about perfect, and I could see it being fine for up to 10". But, I've also run a quick strike with a single hook on 10"ers and that worked just fine. I actually used 50lb mono vs the flouro like Lee used. I did order the exact same Gamakatsu Octopus hooks, though. Ordered them through Ebay. Got 6 shipped to my door for $2.69. [smilie=biggrin.gif]
Have you hooked up with any fish with the single hooks at all jim? I got the hooks at gander, same octopus gama's. That's the first fish that has tried to eat so my sample size is crap. Plus my drag was set super light as you can see on the video so I may have pulled the sucker out before the meat got hooked in his teeth…
If you are going to try the method they used please don't let them spend any time with it, especially with small suckers. If you aren't going to fish it exactly like they do with an engaged reel and drag set tight it will be a big problem. Any sucker over 9" really needs to be rigged with a quick strike rig, smaller are OK with a single nose book but it MUST be a circle hook. They should have been using a true circle hook in that vid and not doing so was bad form in my opinion.
As seen in Chris' vid, if you fight them gently the sucker doesn't really even need hooks.
It would amaze most people how quick a muskie can turn a sucker, of any size, and start swallowing if they aren't pressured.
After reading up on it I guess the jury is still out. I don't feel like I have enough experience to be experimenting with this rig after reading through how easy it is to badly hook fish. I'll stick to quick strikes for now, and once more information is available on circle hooks it will be interesting to see what is truly effective.
Glad I never got to experience any negative consequences.
Really good discussion especially what Pete says halfway through the thread…
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Here's the video of the last day of our season. What a horrible day; we make it to Budd on Sunday just to find out it's frozen over. We decide Ross might be open so we drive over to that. Frozen. Crap. Finally we make the decision to drive to Murray.
The fish on Murray were going nuts. We raised a total of about 10 fish. Matt caught one skinny one. Then a bigger one gets just a little hook but doesn't get pinned. I have a fish completely miss. Last cast of the season, I'm sitting down to start the motor, and Matt's rod loads up. He has a nice one on for about 2 seconds then it's gone. Super frustrating day. Here's the video of some of the fish we could get a good look at.
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That little guy went around for what felt like an eternity. Definitely learned alot just from that one fish.
Too bad we couldnt have connected on more of our chances…I told myself that was my last trip of the year but I dont think I can make it all winter with my last cast of the year ending like that. I already have had nightmares about it. I think I need to make it out one more time. I need a good skunking to close the year out so my winter isnt plagued with regret…
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