monday dec 10

Tug · Veteran Member

monday dec 10

brian clemens · Senior Member

landing pigs is a challange, and luck at the same time. i lost count on how many big ones have gotten away, thats what happens when you use 5-6x tippet, and leader, with flies from 18-26, either the hooks straighten out or break or you snap your line.

as far as landing, just keep constant pressure on them, instead of reeling up the slack, slap the reel so that way the tip doesnt bounce as much, the bouncing will give some slack in the line which i have lost a few fish by reeling so i slap, constant pressure, i talk to myself and the fish as well, to me it helps to keep me calm, and realize what i need to do to help me land the pig.

many people have many different ways of landing pigs, but to consistanly land them, takes practice. the more you fish the better you will get on landing fish.

if you read these posts, many people land less than half of what they hook so its not just you. even the veterans on putah dont land them all.

practice practice practice, fish fish and more fishing

Matt R · Senior Member

Tug small barbless hooks dont hold putah pigs all that well. I'd say on my size 22's 1 out of 4 will�get landed�on average. somedays better some days worse. I use a fast action rod which doesnt help the landing ratio either. Most of the one's I land are hooked good. I know the ones that shake free must of been hooked by a tread. Dont take too much time landing the fish (time just gives them more chance to get off) but dont try to horse them too much at the same time. Taking a look at your surroundings and having a plan where you would want to land a fish is a good thing too.� Know where the big rocks�and the thick weed beds are located and keep the fish away from it. tree limbs too they love tree limbs. good luck

Tug · Veteran Member

Thanks guys. Good advice. What happens to me is that I can stick the fish and then my knees start shaking and my heart starts pounding and then its " Holy S--t" What now.
I feel good about being able to hook them and I feel like I'm doing everything right but then there's a huge head shake and they are gone. I don't feel so bad if you guys are losing some of the big ones as well. And Brian, I talk to them and give them the body english as well. Seems to help a little.

SCM · Senior Member

Hey Tug,

I met your brother and a buddy on Putah a few weeks back. Both nice guys. I was lucky enough to hook a pretty decent sized fish just before they reached the area I was fishing. Anyway, I had the same freak out moment you had when I saw this particular fish roll. I just kept the tip high, let the fish work to take line from the reel, and waded toward the fish as I gathered line. The lower flows make it easier to move toward the fish, which is a big plus in getting the fish to hand. Steady pressure and going to the fish seems like the key, at least to me.

SCM

Tug · Veteran Member

Hey SCM. My brother told me he met some cool people a couple of weeks back. He fishes the creek a lot. The other guy is a buddy who taught me how to fly fish 25 years ago.
I can't believe I just wrote that. 25 years. Anyway, Thanks for the advice. hope to see you out there sometime.

Nohackle · Senior Member

Tug, one bit of advice I would like to add about fighting a big fish.� Try to fight it on as short a line as possible.� This means that if the fish allows�you to take in line,�take it!� Generally, the more line between you and the fish, the less control you have of the fish and the greater the chance of him getting into weeds, rocks or other junk.� Also, I am usually not nearly as concerned about a fish running upstream as downstream.� When a fish runs upstream, you have the current working for you in that it will bring the fish back to you.� When the fish runs downstream, however, you have to fight not only the fish, but the current, as well.� The pressure of a big fish and the current puts so much more strain on your tippet.

Tug · Veteran Member

I can usually keep them on for a while if they run upstream but its those power runs downstream where they get off. Either that or a huge head shake and a tail slap and they're gone. I have caught lots of nice fish in other places but these Putah fish are really tough.

bono · Master Fly Fishing Guide

All of the advice mentioned above is exactly what I do to "try to land large fish on small flies" but another thing I try to do is make sure my drag is set properly on my reel and let the drag do the work,"that is if you have a good reel with a good drag" otherwise you must do it the old fashioned way and that is applying light pressure on the reel rim when the fish wants to run.When a big fish hits it will probably want to make a strong run right away,so after making a positive hook set(just enough of a snap of the wrist to feel the fish) I will quickly reel in any slack line and get the fish on the reel.Always keep your rod tip up even extending your arms if needed this lets the rod pump which helps protect a light tippet when the fish runs.At this point it's just a tug of war,when the fish gives you slack make sure you take it,when it runs, let it ,just do not let the line go slack.Always keeping light pressure is key,I will also pull the fish in from different angles it seems to confuse them a bit.When the fish tires a bit ,pulling it in from the horizontal right or left side of my body usually makes them come in a bit more willing.If there is water grass near you or murky water dragging the fish in these areas confuses them as well.Be carefull of really muddy water though it may harm them?? maybe maybe not.I also try my best to land fish within minutes if not seconds we certainly do not want to harm them.Just because they swim away doesn't mean they will always survive the stress,that's a fact!The biggest mistake I see when my clients hook big fish is the initial hook set,either way too slow or way too hard.Another important thing to do is set the hook downstream into the fishes mouth or if the fly is downstream of you set the hook down and across,never ever set the hook upstream out of the fishes mouth, I see this mistake made all the time.By the way I fished last Friday landed 8 fish 12-15 inched and lost 2 monsters one ran downstream and broke me off and the other the hook came unbuttoned.So the bottom line is even if you do all the right things as far as landing fish is concerned you're still gonna lose more than your share of big ones.

Capn Paul · Member

Tug, do you work for Crowley? That looks like a red stacker in the pic. I work for Brusco.

Wish I could give you my $.02 on landing the pigs, but I have neve landed one there myself.

Tug · Veteran Member

Thanks for all of the advice. Now if I can just hook another big one to try out your techniques.
Capn Paul, yeah I work for Crowley here in the bay. I run the tractor tug Goliah bumpin' ships. You must work out of Sac if you're with Brusco. Although I see a lot of your boats down bay working with the dredges.

Shark Diver · Veteran Member

Hi Tug,

I find that constant, steady pressure helps. Always be ready to let that hog fly if it needs to and point your rod tip at the fish as it's running. With a hog you have to take your time, I have wrestled a few for 20 minutes or better, but I do get them to come to hand nicely.

It's the fresh ones that bolt..those are tough fish!

Packrat · Senior Member

Tug, where were you fishing on Monday? I was there with my buddy and we may have run into you since there really were not that many people out yesterday.

shon42073 · Senior Member

Everyone makes some great points here on landing those big guys. I find that if i don't loose em within say the first 10 or 20 seconds I most likely have a good hook up. Then ya gotta stay calm and cool. Point that rod at those runners ! I have also found that i can predict usually when a fish is gonna run by what it's doing right before it runs, Hard to explain, but what the fish is doing NOW kinda tells ya what he's gonna do next, Comes withg time i guess. I also find that a medium action rod fights a fish much better then faster actions�and gives you alot more feel for what is going on down there, also protects those light tippets. Not much eklse to add that hasn't been already said. Good luck, always some luck involved in landing em. Those big putah bows are very impressive fighters.

Chris Laskodi · Veteran Member

I think the biggest mistake I see people make is not setting the drag correctly. I see, especially on Putah, people lifting the rod on a fish and the drag is pulling, even if the fish isn't moving. I've watched people hook your average larger fish, 16"+, and just hold the rod up in the air and the fish is just sitting there like its not even hooked. This is going to accomplish absolutely nothing except possibly killing the fish. The result of this is people afraid of breaking their tippet. 5x even 6x is still very strong, each breaks at over 4 lbs and your average 16" fish only weighs about a pound, this means you can put a lot more pressure on the fish. Get good at your knots and feel how much pressure it takes to break 5x and you will realize how much pressure you can put on fish.

The best piece of advice I can offer about fighting big fish is don't let them have the upper hand. Always change rod direction when fighting a fish and never ever just lift straight up on the rod, it accomplishes nothing. When you lift your rod straight up without side angle, it requires the angler to supply all the strength. With side pressure, you use the current as well as the rod to fight the fish. The good thing about current is that its a lot stonger than most people think. I fight almost all of my larger fish with my rod tip almost in the water changing sides back and forth.

Another good piece of advice is try and stay downstream of the fish. This will make the fish fight you as well as the current. And if the fish takes off downstream, chase it!

Attached are proper fighting technique and a couple of fish I had to chase several hundred yards downstream. I think they were worth chasing.

shon42073 · Senior Member

You the man Chris.....I've seen your pics somewhere before, Maybe Keines message board ?

Tug · Veteran Member

Dude, those are some nice fish. Thanks for the advice. Thanks to all who have given advice on landing big fish. Capn Paul, check your pm for some tugboat talk.

Bugger · Senior Member

Great�fish, Chris! And thanks everybody for all the advice... lots of great info here.�I think I�understand at least partly why I missed so many hook sets and lost so many fish after connecting for 1-3 seconds recently...

-- Edited by Bugger at 22:10, 2007-12-11

Packrat · Senior Member

I can think of plenty of times when I had to do the "river runs through it" fish chase! If you hook a big fish in strong current it can be your only chance to land it by chasing it down stream to softer water.

JT · Senior Member

I don't know how many fish I've had to chase downstream.� It gets real interesting when the fish gets below you and you�come to a tree or bush that you can't go around.

Chris,
Nice pics.� Alaska?

Chris Laskodi · Veteran Member

Captain, you probably have seen me on Kiene's board in the past. I used to post more frequently but the board has turned pretty much worthless with everyone bashing each other constantly.

And JT, yes that is the wonderful place known as Alaska. For those of you wanting to hook lots of big fish you should consider going there. It can be actually cheaper than a trip to Montana. My dad and I paid $1500 for two weeks up there.