Seafever
Well-Known Member
Every Chinook I have ever cut open, the fish it had swallowed for dinner was swallowed headfirst.
In fact any kind if fish I've caught that had swallowed a baitfish , it is always head first.
Spoon , hoochy, bait.
It would fairly difficult for a Chinook to hit these head-on and swallow them...because the leader line is in the way and as soon as you yank on it it's going to pull the lure from headfirst in the fishes mouth to the opposite direction.
In many videos of fish hitting lures, they will follow for awhile and then swing around in a big arc and hit the lure from the side but not head on.
Hitting the lure from the side might explain why the hook ends up in the corner of the mouth.
The first strike might be to wound the lure.....as they would when chasing actual bait.
Cripple it and then zoom in to get it head first while it's injured.
I have had fish where the hook on the back of the lure is caught in the forward lower lip of a Chinook, fishing hoochies and spoons.
But I get the sense that the Chinook was trying to catch it by the tail, disable it, and then go for the headfirst swallow.
Or it was going to catch it....spit it out for a split second and then reposition it for a headfirst gulp.
They never swallow the baitfish tailfirst.
So maybe "shortbiters" are just trying to yank the tail of the bait and disable it....
Oldschoolers always thought that Chinook hit the bait head-on......but we know from videos over time that this isn't the norm.
There was a post today about a person experiencing strange hits on his bait, where half the bait was gone on a strike and then fish gone........
I think he switched to single hooks after trebles with no luck....
It would interesting to see videos of all three type hits.....spoon,hoochy, and bait and see if there's a noticeable pattern there between the three lures.
Sidehit....or tail-yanker.....or head-on munch-and cripple.......
In fact any kind if fish I've caught that had swallowed a baitfish , it is always head first.
Spoon , hoochy, bait.
It would fairly difficult for a Chinook to hit these head-on and swallow them...because the leader line is in the way and as soon as you yank on it it's going to pull the lure from headfirst in the fishes mouth to the opposite direction.
In many videos of fish hitting lures, they will follow for awhile and then swing around in a big arc and hit the lure from the side but not head on.
Hitting the lure from the side might explain why the hook ends up in the corner of the mouth.
The first strike might be to wound the lure.....as they would when chasing actual bait.
Cripple it and then zoom in to get it head first while it's injured.
I have had fish where the hook on the back of the lure is caught in the forward lower lip of a Chinook, fishing hoochies and spoons.
But I get the sense that the Chinook was trying to catch it by the tail, disable it, and then go for the headfirst swallow.
Or it was going to catch it....spit it out for a split second and then reposition it for a headfirst gulp.
They never swallow the baitfish tailfirst.
So maybe "shortbiters" are just trying to yank the tail of the bait and disable it....
Oldschoolers always thought that Chinook hit the bait head-on......but we know from videos over time that this isn't the norm.
There was a post today about a person experiencing strange hits on his bait, where half the bait was gone on a strike and then fish gone........
I think he switched to single hooks after trebles with no luck....
It would interesting to see videos of all three type hits.....spoon,hoochy, and bait and see if there's a noticeable pattern there between the three lures.
Sidehit....or tail-yanker.....or head-on munch-and cripple.......