Northwest Fishing Reports

I have been fishing with powerbait for about a year now and the results are great. The only problem is that I can't seem to hook them in the lips to get a reasonable release. I always get them in the stomach. Does anyone have any ideas? I live in Massachusetts so don't tell me about your "all fish caught on bait count toward your limit" stuff.

Cut the line while there in the water i have caught fish which had up to 6 hooks in there stomach and they were very heathy.

Using bigger hooks can stop the fish from swallowing the hooks all the way, but gives you less of a hookup percentage.

Power eggs tend to get swallowed less and get more lip hooks.

Same as everything he just said, but also set the hook early in the bite. Rainbows don't usually nibble powerbait and stocker trout are dumb as posts, so even if you set the hook early and miss you'll probably have another chance.

When I was researching how to catch Carp - I ran across this "Hair and Bolt" method of rigging. This season I plan to try to modify/simplify it a little and try floating the PB just above the hook. My thinking is that if they swallow the bait the hook "should" just make it to the mouth instead of swallowing it too. If it works I will be sure to let you know - or you decide to try it before I get to it - let us know your results! Here is a link to give you an idea of what I mean..
http://www.carpecarpio.com/carptips.html

Learn how to watch your line and set the hook. Keep your line slack, and when you see it taking off set the hook. You are probably not catching onto the bite until the rod tip is moving all over the place. Thats how I used to powerbait fish, still do on occasion.

OK, one other method that does work, but I hate using them.

You can use circle hooks. You don't set the hook, you let them take it and then just real the line tight to hook them up (almost always in the lips).

I just can't get use the the "don't set the hook" issue. If you try to set the hook, it pulls the hook right out of the mouth and never even touches skin.

Don't use powerbait...That's all I can say. Worms are a little better cause they'll chomp on those a tiny bit more before straight up inhaling them...

I fish a lot with powereggs, and once in a while with the dough.

I've tried circle hooks, but they dont work like they are suppose to for me.

Now I'm using #6 octopus hooks. I pinch the barb. I have the rod on my side if I'm lazy, other wise, it's in my hands. I keep my line tight. With the first sight of a twitch, i set. Half my sets are now caught on the lip. The others, are slightly deep, but the majority of the fish I release survive. Very few float a few mins later.... And even then, I'll see a bird swoop down and get those soon after.

I also dont even touch the fish. I pull the line so i can see into the fishes mouth if it's inside. See where it is. Use my pliers and grab where i can on the hook. Then rotate the hook out.

But key is pinch the barb and use a large enough hook. My favorite size is #6. It's big enough, and yet small enough for 2 powereggs to float it.

I have yet to have a hook totally disappear into a fish, unless the line snaps or something.

Tie a small piece of yarn just above the PB and use a bigger hook than you think is needed. The yarn gets hooked in their little teeth so they don't have a chance to swallow. Always use yarn with your setups. Greatly increases your hookups. Good stuff. For trout chartrues or pink

in the middle of the summer when thurs only trout and bass and that tight of stuff to catch i trout fish use worms and meelow or pb if i just watch my pole non stop set the hook as soon as possible i hook the lips most of the time but when they do swallow if i can see it i bust out the pliers and turn into a sergen and remove it or if i cant see the hook cut the line or keep the fish

Try pinching the barbs to aid in hook removal. And use a Zak Flipgun Hook Remover. I really like this hook remover its quick an easy. Doing these two things will help but stocker trout hooked in the stomach will still have a high mortality rate.

has anyone tried using the shelton hooks? they are made especially for releasing trout on powerbait. They're kinda expensive which is why I can't buy them right now.

bigastrout wrote:stocker trout hooked in the stomach will still have a high mortality rate.

That's really true. I remember when I trolled Lake Margaret with powerbait dough and did really well just trolling the powerbait along at around 2mph. The problem is/was is that they engulfed the powerbait and were all goners. We kept most of them due to this, though, and quickly switched to lures and they worked just as well. If you don't need to use powerbait I wouldn't, but it's great for shore fishing and what not...don't worry too much about killing some fish in the process, like Sam said, it's just part of the process that we call fishing - it happens, it's ok.

Xiphias Gladius wrote:has anyone tried using the shelton hooks? they are made especially for releasing trout on powerbait. They're kinda expensive which is why I can't buy them right now.

I just googled them. Looks goofy and not worth throwing change at. Their hooks are barbless. Thats how they work. With good plier skills and knowledge on how to use pliers to safely remove a hook from a fish, you should be able to get the same leverage to remove those (barbless) hooks from the fish...

Xiphias Gladius wrote:has anyone tried using the shelton hooks? they are made especially for releasing trout on powerbait. They're kinda expensive which is why I can't buy them right now.

There is always somebody out there thinking up crap.

I think it looks kind of clever... http://www.sheltonproducts.com/sheltonrelease.html

It does not concern me enough to spend the extra money on the special hooks. I am pretty good at getting the hook out and I keep a lot of the fish I catch anyway...tasty little fellows.

Also , the trouble with this is that it took a few times for me to figure out how best to get the hook out, especially the deep ones and if I had these hooks I would never aquire the skill. So if I do not have the special hooks the fish dies. Kind of like using training wheels on a bike or a life jacket to swim. Just my $0.02.

Sam Kafelafish wrote:

Xiphias Gladius wrote:has anyone tried using the shelton hooks? they are made especially for releasing trout on powerbait. They're kinda expensive which is why I can't buy them right now.

I just googled them. Looks goofy and not worth throwing change at. Their hooks are barbless. Thats how they work. With good plier skills and knowledge on how to use pliers to safely remove a hook from a fish, you should be able to get the same leverage to remove those (barbless) hooks from the fish...

Have there been any studies on barbed vs barbless hooks? It seems pretty obvious that barbless hooks would do less damage, but I don't know if they actually decrease the mortality rate. In other words, it might be just as lethal to have a hole poked in their stomachs as it is to have a gash from a barbed hook.

When I'm going to release a fish, I cut the line just in front of the mouth and NEVER lift it out of the water. I think lifting a fish out of the water with a fishing pole is a death sentence when a fish has swallowed the hook. Not only does it put their full weight on the hook, they tend to go bananas and struggle violently which causes more damange.

HillbillyGeek wrote:

Sam Kafelafish wrote:

Xiphias Gladius wrote:has anyone tried using the shelton hooks? they are made especially for releasing trout on powerbait. They're kinda expensive which is why I can't buy them right now.

I just googled them. Looks goofy and not worth throwing change at. Their hooks are barbless. Thats how they work. With good plier skills and knowledge on how to use pliers to safely remove a hook from a fish, you should be able to get the same leverage to remove those (barbless) hooks from the fish...

Have there been any studies on barbed vs barbless hooks? It seems pretty obvious that barbless hooks would do less damage, but I don't know if they actually decrease the mortality rate. In other words, it might be just as lethal to have a hole poked in their stomachs as it is to have a gash from a barbed hook.

When I'm going to release a fish, I cut the line just in front of the mouth and NEVER lift it out of the water. I think lifting a fish out of the water with a fishing pole is a death sentence when a fish has swallowed the hook. Not only does it put their full weight on the hook, they tend to go bananas and struggle violently which causes more damange.

A barbless hook helps mortality rate WHEN you are removing the hook. Often times with a good, pinched barb, it's as easy as flip the hook upside down and out the hook comes....With a barbed hook, often times it's a bit more difficult, requiring more force and sometimes shaking to get the hook out..

I switched to barbless on everything.I found it a whole easier to release.This miss hook ups or fish getting off doesn't seem to be a problem as long as you keep the line tight.

I hate fishing P-bait but I have 2 little girls and they like to fish and cannot real in a lure. I went to this method last year cause I hate eating trout when I can eat 'eye and crappie. It is an Alaska style rigging. I peg a small trout plastic egg bead 1.5" above a size 8 hook with a toothpick then cover the egg with P-bait. When the trout hits the bait set the hook. About 90% of the time the hook is in the corner and on the outside of the mouth. Have not noticed any less hookups. Oh yeah pinch the barb.