Fishing with Powerbait

[troutdude]

Chartreuse was THE color to use, in every lake that I fished last year. Everyone caught fish with that color, in all of those lakes. It's still one of the Power Egg colors that I keep in my pack (along w/ several others).

BTW, the Magnum Power Eggs will stay on a single egg hook (size 4) MUCH better; than Power Bait on any type of hook.

 

[UGLYSTICKER]

Chartreuse was THE color to use, in every lake that I fished last year. Everyone caught fish with that color, in all of those lakes. It's still one of the Power Egg colors that I keep in my pack (along w/ several others).

BTW, the Magnum Power Eggs will stay on a single egg hook (size 4) MUCH better; than Power Bait on any type of hook.

no doubt dude,
i'll be switching to PowerEggs...and getting away from dough and trebles soon. as it's so much easier to release fish caught on a single.

 

[troutdude]

Yep. C & R is MUCH easier with a "de-barbed" single egg hook. And with Power Egg there's no messy dough all over your hands each time you "bait up". The Eggs stay on longer (fish after fish after fish), so you wind up paying less. The Eggs stay on long enough to hook the fish (Power Bait often falls OFF your hook w/ the first nibble; so you hook far fewer fish). Etc. etc.

I totally quit using Power Bait, and switched to Eggs only a LONG time ago.

 

[UGLYSTICKER]

yea i'll pick up a jar of power eggs for the mac this wknd. i'll be trying out the chartreuse and spring green dough too.

 

[JHawk]

Yep. C & R is MUCH easier with a "de-barbed" single egg hook.

How are you guys getting the fish off the hook for C&R? Anytime I use PB they end up hooked about halfway to their gut and I end up cutting the leader off so I don't kill them trying to de-hook them (even with barbless hooks).

 

[OnTheFly]

How are you guys getting the fish off the hook for C&R? Anytime I use PB they end up hooked about halfway to their gut and I end up cutting the leader off so I don't kill them trying to de-hook them (even with barbless hooks).

I was wondering the same thing.

 

[eggs]

I was wondering the same thing.

X2

 

[troutdude]

#1 - use a size 4 barbless (or de-barbed) egg hook. Bigger hook, to keep smaller fish OFF.

# 2 - if there is no safe and humane way to remove the hook...cut the line/hook OFF as close to the mouth as possible. An ODFW Fisheries Biologist once told me, that an enzyme in the fish's blood will dissolve the hook in 3 days. And the fish is fine.

# 3 - if you're still not sure--or accidentally kill the fish--keep it and cook it up.

I have effectively released 99% of all of the fish that I catch, based on the strategy above. If anyone can argue against the "hook dissolving enzyme"...I'm all ears. I, too, DO care about the fish and do NOT want to kill any unnecessarily...just like many of the purist (and ofttimes "anti bait" biased) fisherpeeps on here.

 

[UGLYSTICKER]

How are you guys getting the fish off the hook for C&R? Anytime I use PB they end up hooked about halfway to their gut and I end up cutting the leader off so I don't kill them trying to de-hook them (even with barbless hooks).

using dough on a treble they can be difficult to release without cutting the line.
using a single they can be usually easily unhooked with needlenose pliers.
using a med. action rod helps to set the hook faster to avoid deep hooking.

 

[OnTheFly]

The Circle Hook will work better for releasing fish caught with bait. Check it out.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_hook

 

[bigsteel]

using bait for c&r fishing makes absolutely no sense to me

 

[Hawk]

I took no offense from his post, I'm sure he didn't intend for it to sound offensive, I actually read it as a friendly "Dude, you're a fool for passing that up".

I have been considering taking up one of those trips lately, my freezer only has a couple pounds of Trout meat for bait, I know Diamond would be the place to Troll Flies for fish that will give me a considerable amount of meat, kill a hatchery Trout feed a Sea bass.

Alright alright, you talked me into it, now I'll try to convince dad to go next weekend, because I AM in desperate need of bait :lol:.

I heard Diamond Lake has an Algae Bloom. :shock:

 

[Troutski]

using bait for c&r fishing makes absolutely no sense to me

Hummmm; intresting view.

Chuck

 

[bigsteel]

Hummmm; intresting view.

Chuck

considering the fish swallow the bait and the hook whole most of the time,i dont understand practicing c&r with the bait method....if its stocker trout then by all means do what you want.

 

[beaverfan]

considering the fish swallow the bait and the hook whole most of the time,i dont understand practicing c&r with the bait method....if its stocker trout then by all means do what you want.

If you know what your doing and keep an eye on your pole it's pretty easy to hook most of em in the mouth.

 

[Troutski]

If you know what your doing and keep an eye on your pole it's pretty easy to hook most of em in the mouth.

:clap:

 

[troutdude]

If you know what your doing and keep an eye on your pole it's pretty easy to hook most of em in the mouth.

X 3. Agreed. The bait only gets into their gut, if you don't set the hook quickly on the first nibble or two.

 

[JHawk]

X 3. Agreed. The bait only gets into their gut, if you don't set the hook quickly on the first nibble or two.

I rarely put my pole in a poleholder. When I feel a tug on the line I set the hook...and most of the time I end up cutting the line off because they're hooked too deep. So, your're saying if I don't set the hook as quickly I'll be less likely to guy hook them?

Otherwise, tying on another hook only takes a couple of minutes so I guess I could just keep doing what I'm doing and they hooks will dissolve in a few days and they'll be fine. At least that's the theory.

 

[JimBob]

I've never done catch and release! I only release if they are too small, not legal or are unfairly hooked

 

[OnTheFly]

I've never done catch and release! I only release if they are too small, not legal or are unfairly hooked

Dude..if that's the case you need to start carp fishing.