Any way to set up gear to reduce Foul hooking?

[Klink]

Was fishing for pinks w/ my brother and for every 3-4 Mouth hooks we were getting 1-2 foul hooks, We thought it was our position on the river so we moved into the water, little bit of difference, mostly we were getting foul hooks when the would blast by our gear in packs of 10-20 and it would end up in the backs of the pinks, couple tail hooks as well.

We tossed em all back obviously but still feel kinda ****ty that we we're foul hooking, so any tips on leader lengths, weights or even casting patterns to avoid the majority of foul hooks?

Plz dont eat my face lol Ive been here for a year and this is my second time on the river and first time in a pool with tons of fish <3

 

[highlights]

Well........ salmon are not a revered sport fish once they return to fresh water. They have a digestive tract that actually shuts down in order to preserve all amouonts of energy for one thing and one thing only. Procreation of the species. Therefore eliciting a strike can only be acheived by one of three things.

1: Strikes out of an agressive nature. Territory and rights to females

2: Females cleaning house. They will mouth any invading particles as a means to protect the eggs they have just deposited. This protects the eggs from bacterial infection until they are safley burried.

3: genetic imprinting. Some species of salmonid will rear in the river system for a number of years. In this time they will feed just like any resident trout would. Much of this habit will be imprinted on the fish. Though the fish needs not to feed at this time the instinct to "strike" may be too strong to ignore.


As I see it.The best way to get a strike is out of territorial behaviour. There are many ways to acheive this. Thats where your homework comes in. ( I won't ruin the suprise)

Also forget about females cleaning house because you shouldn't be bothering those fish anyways. They are post spawn


As for fouling , well don't strike on every tug. You should feel your fly passing over the backs of fish. Just wait. I wait until a fish is on and running before I raise my rod. Even then there are no guarantees that it isn't fouled. Bit of a bummer , but thats what you get for fishing stacked pools.


Hope this helps abit in acheiving fair hookups

Good luck and rightly return those promptly ,that you have fouled

 

[Klink]

Thanks for the reply, I guess it is part of fishing stacked pools, so far we've worked on finding more and more ways to reduce it, I didnt know about the post spawn mouthing though, it will be something that I watch for, though Im not keen on fishing if I know they are dropping eggs, latst year I was in awe cuz I got to watch a few chum in the river spawn. No rod needed for that type of excitment <3


Klink

 

[yo mama]

circle hooks. Almost impossible to foul hook a salmon when tieing flies with these.

 

[highlights]

.....or sometimes to be really sporting , I will tie shankless flies.

Very exciting to get tugs all day but not have to wear your arm out by having to reel the fish in. Actually you'll be suprised at how many fish can be played right to your feet before they realize they can just let go of the hookless fly.

Not kidding.

 

[flyfishingman]

Circle hooks are the best!!!!
I tie my pink salmon flies with circle hooks!!![8D]

Alex Garson

 

[flyfishingman]

Octopus circle hooks!!!!!!!!

Alex Garson