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Looking Prisoners
Instead of Escapees?
The majority of the reference
material for this article was collected on 9/2/08 out of the Port of
Manistee, MI. We fished the hours of 9am thru 2:30pm (lines in the
water). This was a revenge trip
from 8/31/08 where we missed approximately half our hits on flies and BTI
10" Flashers. This was our first effort with all trolling flies equipped
exclusively with snelled tandem VMC treble hooks. We had 11 bites
and capitalized on 10 of these opportunities. We used a dual meat
and fly program. Are best action came over 160' to 180' on 9/2/08.
Meat Deep
80' to 120' down
The deepest part of our 3
rigger program and 2 diver spread was towing meat in the 80' to 125' depths.
Water temp at 80' down was 52 degrees. Then falling off gradually to 38
degrees at 125'. All fish that bit on the 80' to 125' riggers ...in the
cooler waters fully engulfed the flasher/meat rigs. Taking the bait
way down their throats and the hooks were deeply embedded on the inside of these deep
fishes chops.
Fly High
55' to 70' down
After taking several photos it
became 100% clear every fish
boated on our divers, fished in the higher part of the water column
pulling flasher-fly combos were all hooked under the fishes snout. Not
one BTI flasher/fly combo caught adult Salmon on 9/2/08 ever fully committed to
opening their jaws. If the flasher/artificial trolling fly caught fish were hungry hard-hitting eaters?
...we'd have been taken photos unhooking the fish with hooks buried down
deep inside their chops. This was not the case, as the images on
this page plainly show!
The intriguing part is the
snout/chin hooked fish up higher in the water column in the 70 to 58
degree water. While it was possible to pry hits out of these warmer
adult Salmon, these fish were not willing to attack as to swallow the offering.
Conclusion
These photos proves there's two
categories of Salmon as spawning time approaches. Fully adult fish
that will hit and not swallow and Salmon on their way to maturity that
will eat the bait down to their gullet. This needs to be said, all
fish create a vacuum
when the open their mouths to suck bait in. It's very obvious in the
photos featured none of these Salmon were targeting the bait/fly as a
meal!
Now, it don't amount to a hill
of beans if the fish are eaters, or biters! However, it does make a tremendous
difference on hook setups run to score consistently on both.
Also, this could explain missed fishitius you hear a lot about later in
the season. Being aware of the temperature
zones in which eaters, or biters are coming from will put more fish in
your box. Plus, it will convince you ...double snelled trebles are
your best friend! Especially, if you understand the point that our exclusive double snelled
trebles hooks will cut down on misses and make your day more productive! |
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