Northwest Fishing Reports

Im seriously contemplating hand grenades..... Today I was out on the river, ticket was mcfly foam january color, and I hooked 15 or more fish..... I have had 0 luck getting them even close enough to shore to net them..... Apparently the brads #4 and 1/0 are bending and have even had 3 break at the bend.... Bummed pretty bad and feel cursed right now...

Who makes good hooks anymore?


I played one of them bad boys for 25 minutes trying to get it close to shore but nope, snap !!!! again and again.......

Try owner, never had one bend that shouldn't and the pro packs are about $13 at Cabela's. I was using Brad's after eagle claw discontinued the style I like and had a lot of hooks bending on me too. Only time I've bent an owner ssw is either when I'm hung up or during a desperate attempt at turning a king from heading round the bend, but any hook will either bend or break when I put that kinda pressure on it.

Gamakatsu - Octopus

Never an issue.

onmygame

Onmygame wrote:Gamakatsu - Octopus

Never an issue.

onmygame

I agree but - not the red hooks. They bend easier. Nickel or black finish only. Size 2 to 1/0.

corky and yarn won the day....
eggs and sand shrimp not a single bite......
I know the feeling on turning and heading down stream full swim..... Nooks were crazy with the jumps and aerial aerobatics...... Gonna head down to cabelas on the way to seattle tomorrow.... Thanks for the info.

Ive been pretty unimpressed by most octopus hooks, but especially brads. Gamakatsu dropshot hooks are awesome for trout and kokanee, because the much finer/straighter tip and barb almost always gets full penetration right away. I have never used them for larger chinook salmon but cant wait to try the bigger sizes I just bought. I think that the finer wire could be an issue, but maybe the depth of penetration will prevent the straightening torque.??

They are way too expensive though, im always looking for a good alternative. The VMC SureSet Drop Shot Hooks I just received from hagens for 1/10th the cost of the gamakatsu drop shot hooks look promising.. (10c ea. vs $1 each).

Sounds like you're in a smaller section of the system. If so, 50% landing ratio is about as good as you'll ever get in there. Heavy current, ideal water temps, hot fish, questionably hooked most times (lets be honest)

There is no question about where hooked, when you see a blob in the water swim up and nearly rip your rod outta your hands taking a corkie and yarn you know its fight on..... There hasn't been a single foul hooked fish yet..... Not sure what your may be implying....

Not biting eggs or sandshrimp, but chasing down corky and yarn?

scented heavy with craw and anise procure......

253Caster wrote:Not biting eggs or sandshrimp, but chasing down corky and yarn?

I thought the same exact thing.......

Craw and anise procure mix......

Brads are terrible quality hooks. Simple as that. Springers aren't easy to land to begin with, but with brads they're gonna be worse, especially with Corky and Yarn. Even if the fish do bite Corky and Yarn, it's not gonna be as hard of a take as bait and they're not gonna be hooked as deep. Like others have said...Gami's and Owner(Cutting Point, not the needle point) hooks are probably the highest quality. More expensive yes, but they won't cost you as many fish. Invest in good hooks and you'll notice a difference.

#2 owner "no escape hooks" barb is already pinched, they are my go-to hooks for salmon and steelhead if I'm not twitching jigs.

I'm glad I took some advice, went up to the river late yesterday and finally, finally landed a nice native king before the sun set, finding out that my lami isn't up to par with that fishery either, lost a really nice fish just shy of 20lbs at the shore... I was talking to a guy down there plunking, he asked me if i was trout fishing and laughed at me when i said nope, kings all the way.... I have a red line lami salmon/steelhead rod which he called a twig....... Who knew...... Next year it's game on......

dj2loud wrote:I'm glad I took some advice, went up to the river late yesterday and finally, finally landed a nice native king before the sun set, finding out that my lami isn't up to par with that fishery either, lost a really nice fish just shy of 20lbs at the shore... I was talking to a guy down there plunking, he asked me if i was trout fishing and laughed at me when i said nope, kings all the way.... I have a red line lami salmon/steelhead rod which he called a twig....... Who knew...... Next year it's game on......

That should be more than enough for a king lol Using bulkier tackle takes the fun out of it don't ya think? I use my 10'6 SST and 8-10lb leaders for kings, I haven't had any issues yet.

BlakeP wrote:

dj2loud wrote:I'm glad I took some advice, went up to the river late yesterday and finally, finally landed a nice native king before the sun set, finding out that my lami isn't up to par with that fishery either, lost a really nice fish just shy of 20lbs at the shore... I was talking to a guy down there plunking, he asked me if i was trout fishing and laughed at me when i said nope, kings all the way.... I have a red line lami salmon/steelhead rod which he called a twig....... Who knew...... Next year it's game on......

That should be more than enough for a king lol Using bulkier tackle takes the fun out of it don't ya think? I use my 10'6 SST and 8-10lb leaders for kings, I haven't had any issues yet.

It depends what kind of control you want over these fish. I broke one off on 15lb maxima because they tend to take roe deep and it doesn't take much raking across the teeth. That said, I have landed a 40 lb chinook in heavy water on 12 lb maxima leader. The key is side pressure - hold your rod downstream parallel to the bank and make them work against you sideways instead of pulling upstream - that just makes them pull downstream.

These fish are not leader shy, so there is no reason to go as light as 8 lb.

I do wish they would clip more than 50% of these fish though . . .

All I use is lighter tackle. Heavier tackle takes the fun out of it. I use a rod rated for 8-12lbs no matter what species of salmon I'm after on the river. Never had an issue. It also helps in detecting light bites. A lot of old timers think you have to use heavier rods but I disagree all the way. I do go a little bit heavier out on the sound.

Jakefish wrote: It depends what kind of control you want over these fish. I broke one off on 15lb maxima because they tend to take roe deep and it doesn't take much raking across the teeth. That said, I have landed a 40 lb chinook in heavy water on 12 lb maxima leader. The key is side pressure - hold your rod downstream parallel to the bank and make them work against you sideways instead of pulling upstream - that just makes them pull downstream.

These fish are not leader shy, so there is no reason to go as light as 8 lb.

I do wish they would clip more than 50% of these fish though . . .

Depends on where you're fishing. Where I fish I'd say the fish are fairly leader shy when you can watch the kings move around heavier line, especially in low water conditions during the Spring-Early Fall. But I just use 8-10lb line more for fun as well as fishing for other Salmon and Steelhead in the same day. Still I'm just saying you don't need to use a heavy rod or 20-30lb line for kings.

The biggest factor in deciding whether to go to a heavier rod imo is the ability to get the fish in quick enough to prevent them from being totally exhausted. On the Cascade with all unclipped fish, it's important to get them in fairly quick so they can be released in the best condition possible. Personally I like the 10ft mag taper 8-17 certified pro for most of my salmon fishing, it's light enough to be fun on silvers and kings but there's enough backbone to stay in control of most fish and prevent total exhaustion of the fish.

Line ratings can be a bit misguided to judge a rod by in my experience. A better way is go by the action rating and how much backbone a rod has. I've had several rods that where rated 10-17 or 10-20 and there was no strength in the bottom half. Also seen plenty of 8-12 rods that had plenty of butt strength to pressure a big fish.

I've seen plenty of times where kings can be a bit line shy (especially in clear low water, but I predominantly run pline cxx 15lb main with a Maxima 12lb leader for kings. If I'm seeing them being line shy I'll switch up to a 20lb floro leader.

after debating AND procrastinating i bit the bullet, bought a cert pro lamiglas med/heavy rod and an ambassadeur 5500 c3 reel to go along with it... ( got 1 hell of a nice deal trading in my twig lami ) Going to hopefully hit the samish and possibly pull a few pigs out the water this fall.......