Grace underfire
Active Member
After another night of losing more fish than I boated using anchovies I'm thinking about tying up some with stingers again. I think I tend to get fewer strikes when I add stingers though. Thoughts?
Anchovies, stingers or not?
- Thread starter Grace underfire
- Start date
Sculpin
Well-Known Member
I personally don't like stingers. If I can't catch a fish on a single hook or treble then I'm doing something wrong. JMO. Gotta give em a chance eh. Try moving your hook back a bit. I always like to sink it just below the spine near the top. Helps the roll. You can get away with moving it back quite a bit but you have to check it beside the boat for the action.
Captain PartyMarty
Crew Member
Stinger all the way, I find at least 50% of my fish are hooked on the stinger. In the fall I find the fish aren't very aggressive with the bait so they often just lightly tap the bait and spit it out if there is no stinger.
Karma-Kazi
Active Member
One big treble as far back in the tail as you can about 1/8th of and inch from the end of the scaled portion. Dont bend it to much(This is key) the hook counter act the roll a little if your trolling to slow so play with speed until it tightens up and bingo!
-KK
-KK
DVL U Know
Member
I struggle with this and still have both in my gear. Stingers do break off, they sometimes hook up poorly, and they always get stuck in the net...but sometimes they work. A big treble makes for a great hook up if they get a good bite at it...probably this year the large single treble has worked best for me. Remember to crank up the leader weight in August cause them teeth can be sharp!
Rum Buddies
Well-Known Member
personally I don't think it's needed, I mean look at the size of a 25lb chinooks mouth. I switched to a single treble years ago and If anything catch rate is up.
As Hooking up said, the stinger can break off or become a weak point if the setup isn't brand new. With a single treble it's really easy and fast to re-tie after a good fish or dogfish on the line. Re-tying a stinger is going to take several minutes, that could be better used drinking beer and enjoying the scenery.
Most guides i've worked with don't use stingers, if that means anything.
As Hooking up said, the stinger can break off or become a weak point if the setup isn't brand new. With a single treble it's really easy and fast to re-tie after a good fish or dogfish on the line. Re-tying a stinger is going to take several minutes, that could be better used drinking beer and enjoying the scenery.
Most guides i've worked with don't use stingers, if that means anything.
Not...
One big treble is all you need. I was pointing out to my fishing partner on the weekend, on a fish we landed, how the large hook goes thought the mouth and has a long way to back out. Smaller hooks take less for a fish to shake out with head shakes or sudden changes in direction.
With stingers the line from back hook can get caught between the shanks of the front hook and fray.
Also I think they cause unnecessary damage to fish you are not going to retain. With barbless rules in place because of the fish that must be released. I am surprized it is still legal to run tandem hooks.
I played around with different size and brands of hooks for last 2 years (which caused me to lose plenty of fish). Now I am back to 1/0, round bend VMCs.
Haven't lost one since.
Big Treble for bait and big single for hardware for me.
Tips
One big treble is all you need. I was pointing out to my fishing partner on the weekend, on a fish we landed, how the large hook goes thought the mouth and has a long way to back out. Smaller hooks take less for a fish to shake out with head shakes or sudden changes in direction.
With stingers the line from back hook can get caught between the shanks of the front hook and fray.
Also I think they cause unnecessary damage to fish you are not going to retain. With barbless rules in place because of the fish that must be released. I am surprized it is still legal to run tandem hooks.
I played around with different size and brands of hooks for last 2 years (which caused me to lose plenty of fish). Now I am back to 1/0, round bend VMCs.
Haven't lost one since.
Big Treble for bait and big single for hardware for me.
Tips
Rum Buddies
Well-Known Member
Tips gets it, all you need are J-hooks for spoons and hootchies and trebles for bait, good to go.
One of the perpetual debates of west coast salt water salmon fishing that has spawned multiple threads (and just like the braid verses steel rigger cable debate) for which there will never be even a general consensus. I don’t currently use stingers for anchovy rigs but have experimented with them from time to time and who knows, may do so again at some point. I Don’t think stingers are a good idea when there is a lot of smaller salmon around, especially those with mandatory release requirements because they can get hooked on the main treble and then the stinger flops around outside and can and do hook an eye as the fish twists and fights.
The crux of the debate seems to be that a stinger will allow you to catch the short biters but some argue that the extra hardware also may discourage biting thus cancelling out the advantage and can knock off scales and also mess up your roll although some use a wire in the chovie to counteract this, not to mention another point to catch weed. There will likely never be a conclusive answer to this one and the debate will go on and on.
For me another consideration is hook holding ability. Bigger hooks tend to hold bigger fish better than small ones and the stinger is usually smaller and weaker than the main hook which may not be an issue with smaller salmon. I trust the single 4x strong treble I use on chovie rigs not to bend out on a monster hog you may have fished for a decade to finally hook; I am less sure about a small stinger hook.
The crux of the debate seems to be that a stinger will allow you to catch the short biters but some argue that the extra hardware also may discourage biting thus cancelling out the advantage and can knock off scales and also mess up your roll although some use a wire in the chovie to counteract this, not to mention another point to catch weed. There will likely never be a conclusive answer to this one and the debate will go on and on.
For me another consideration is hook holding ability. Bigger hooks tend to hold bigger fish better than small ones and the stinger is usually smaller and weaker than the main hook which may not be an issue with smaller salmon. I trust the single 4x strong treble I use on chovie rigs not to bend out on a monster hog you may have fished for a decade to finally hook; I am less sure about a small stinger hook.
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C
cannibal chris
Guest
I have about 2.5-3 inches between owner treble and stinger. Works well for me. And I use. 40lb seaguar leader.
Couple comments:
I have switched from smaller treble tandems to one large treble, back and forth over the years, with relatively similar success. I am currently back to the tandems and have been 100% on hook-ups to landing ratio this summer with chinook from 15 to 25 lbs.
I believe if you get both sets hooked in the fishes mouth (especially with barbless) that the fish has a lot less chance of spitting the hooks. However the biggest thing I find is I get my most productive rolls on the anchovy with 2 smaller trebs as apposed to one larger.
I have switched from smaller treble tandems to one large treble, back and forth over the years, with relatively similar success. I am currently back to the tandems and have been 100% on hook-ups to landing ratio this summer with chinook from 15 to 25 lbs.
I believe if you get both sets hooked in the fishes mouth (especially with barbless) that the fish has a lot less chance of spitting the hooks. However the biggest thing I find is I get my most productive rolls on the anchovy with 2 smaller trebs as apposed to one larger.
Fish Assassin
Crew Member
I hate treble hooks. I use and prefer people on my boat use two single 4/0 hooks. Trebles are for lazy fishermen I always say.
Grace underfire
Active Member
Thanks for all the feedback. Interesting thoughts and some good info.
drilleryells
Member
I like a stinger but i cant make em roll right unless i use a wire on the bait-head.get about half my fish just on the Trailer. Use big singles on my Spoons.
walleyes
Crew Member
All depends on the situation for me. I got away from stingers the last couple years never saw the need for them but this past season out in Sooke with the limited bites we were all getting I put them back on. Every bite and possible fish was a big deal why not up the odds a bit and it paid off. At least a good third of the fish came in hanging on the trailer. It certainly never eliminated the hit and misses but it obviously helped put a few more in the boat. Again the west coast boys probly don't see the need for them because the fish aren't all that hard to come by but places where bites are fewer in between why not..
the fog ducker
Well-Known Member
most of us lazy skips out west prefer single # 2 -2 or 4 x strong Gami's trebles ( buy em down south )
dont really care bowt ur tackle box , mostly what flavor sodas ur bringin onboard... ?????
fd
dont really care bowt ur tackle box , mostly what flavor sodas ur bringin onboard... ?????
fd
Red Monster
Well-Known Member
If you drink anything nancy you're not allowed on my boat, but stingers and trebles are fine.
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