Franconia tips almost paid off!!!!!!!!

[Flakeoutdoorsguy]

So I went out last night with the new tips from you guys feeling pretty confident I would hook into a good size fish and I did. ALmost! Me and my buddy headed out and didnt get set up till about 10:00. We started off the night by getting snagged half a billion times and not a bite. Also between the both of us we had lost all the circle hooks I had with, so all I had was some wire shiner hooks from icefishing. I decided to make a move and go up river to a complete different spot. We get there and all set up and my buddy catches a big ole soft shell turtle on a crawler rig right off the bat. About ten minutes later i get a bite but lose it a couple thumps after the hookset.( I dont think i set the hook at all because I am used to circle hooks.) So I rebait with the last sucker which is almost a decoy and throw it out there expecting nothing on that big of a minnow and start rigging up a crawler pole. CLICK CLICK CLICK!!! I look over at the pole and the line goes from tight to slack. I grab the pole and it feels like a snag. GREAT!!!! I start yanking on it two or three times and then IT YANKS BACK!!!! HARD!!! This thing is just yanking out drag! Im just freaking out! I am fighting him for maybe a 1.5 to 2 minutes and it feels like Im starting to maybe gain a little on him and it takes off hard again. F@%&!!!!!!! It gets off the line! I real it in and the hook is bent pretty well straight! F@%&!!!!! We left shortly after that because we were out of suckers and because I was sick to my stomach. That fish was a biggin whatever it was. Ill be back out tomorrow though with more circle hooks and time! Hopefully Ill get her back, but probaly not.

[MinnesnowtaWild]

You would be surprised how big of a minnow Cats will eat. We had a little 24" Flathead (few pounds maybe) eat a 12" Sucker minnow.

And when you go back I would obviously make sure you have strong enough hooks...I have seen people lose fish a few times because the hook snaps or bends.

Glad you had fun.

[Larry FlatCaster]

Ohhhh.....

The learning curve just went way up.... It goes to show what can happen, when MR. Murphy shows up, even when you are prepared... or NOT.

Hope you get another chance...... It might be a long time.

[Flaco651]

Mr. Murphy.lol

[Gordie]

Ohhhh.....

The learning curve just went way up.... It goes to show what can happen, when MR. Murphy shows up, even when you are prepared... or NOT.

Hope you get another chance...... It might be a long time.

prefect words LFC

[half-dutch]

A guy I was fishing beside one evening last week was catching carp on nightcrawlers of about 4 - 5# or so. The last one he hooked he got almost all the way to the wall when it suddenly got heavy and then took off for the middle of the river. He couldn't stop or turn that fish, and the carp had not even pulled out his drag before that.

It would set down like a snag and refuse to move and then shake its head a couple of times, move a ways and then do it again. That happened several times, and then it finally made a run back for about where it had taken the carp in the first place, at the base of the wall. All of a sudden the line goes slack, and the guy thought he lost everything, but as he reeled up the slack he found he still had a 5 pound carp hooked and fighting - but not like before... When the carp was in the net we found heavy abrasion marks about halfway back on both sides of the carp's body. No slashes like one would expect from a large musky; so our best guess was a pig of a flathead. They will take very large prey. Decoy suckers are not too big for many of these fish.

[StillwaterAaron]

Half Dutch that is a buddy of mine's brother. I heard about that that night.

[SteveD]

We started off the night by getting snagged half a billion times and not a bite. Also between the both of us we had lost all the circle hooks I had with, so all I had was some wire shiner hooks from icefishing.

I told you some of those spots were Snag City. What you need to do is shorten up your leader when fishing in those snag prone spots. In some cases don't use a leader at all. Put your slip sinker on the line and tie off your hook directly below it. The cats will find your bait just fine even though the sinker is right up against the bait and without a hook flapping in the current on a leader you won't get hung up as much.

To prevent snags when repositioning your bait or just moving spots don't be timid in your retrieve or the sinker will get hung up. What I do is pick up any slack in the line and then snap the sinker off the bottom and reel up as fast as I can to clear any snags or debris. Those snag prone spots are not the place for any limp wristed retrieves or you will get hung every time.

Don't give up on those spots, just modify your technique a little bit and it may prevent you from getting hung up so much.

Good Luck!

[Flakeoutdoorsguy]

Ill definetly do that steve. Thanks for the info again.