PC Thursday 6/9

While out yesterday, I had 2 or three bites that felt heavy and peeled off line, only to have it snapped off a few seconds later.  I was using 20 lb braid for my leader on 40 lb mainline. Should I use a mono leader?  if so what strength?  I had one 25+ inch ling to my boat and had it snap the line with the teeth as well.  I am guessing that the braided line frays against their teeth.

Thanks for your help!

I drop my main line (braid) down to 30lb mono. Works great for me.

Fun day out on the water. I got this in about 100 ft. It peeled line like crazy and is my new personal best. It is around 35-36 inches.

Nice fish!

Thanks captain redbeard!  I will try the 30 lb mono Justin, thanks for the tips

I have only been broken off a few times by fish on any pole and usually it's my fault for not loosening the drag up before using the rod for the first time on that trip (or it was a shark).  I fish with and catch most of my bottom fish with either my 6' 6" UglyStikLite with 10# braid with 10-12 feet of 10# mono attached with an Albright knot. 
This includes several lings up to 35 inches and Cabbies over 25". 

Otherwise I just have 20# braid on my Barbie pole and tie jigs directly to the braid.  Can't remember ever having a fish break me off with that rod as the drag is the weakest link, but have snagged and lost several jigs with that setup over the years.  Recovery is like 4 out of 5 solid snags, I am still able recover my jig. 

Adding a length of mono absolutely helps in giving some stretch to your line from a tugging fish and some abrasion resistance from teeth and structure, but I feel that a set lighter drag, and/or a much lighter pole works just as well or better.  No real need for a meat crane for most of our inshore bottom fish/ling/cabezon.

Thanks Insayn for the advice. I am not sure what was causing my line to snap so frequently I am wondering if I am doing something wrong. I am going to switch to a mini leader.

My drag may have been too tight. When I hooked the first big one I had to tighten it as I could not fight the fish. I did not loosen the drag afterwards and maybe that is what caused it.   I had a seconds one that took my 9 inch grub and lead head off after he peeled off 20 feet of line.

If you are fishing with a 7 foot pole and your leader is 10 feet, do you have difficulty bringing fish into your kayak?

Also what is your methods to getting unhooked. I seem to lose a lot of gear, however, I typically troll gear and can get stuck often

While out yesterday, I had 2 or three bites that felt heavy and peeled off line, only to have it snapped off a few seconds later.  I was using 20 lb braid for my leader on 40 lb mainline. Should I use a mono leader?  if so what strength?  I had one 25+ inch ling to my boat and had it snap the line with the teeth as well.  I am guessing that the braided line frays against their teeth.

Two things I decided after losing two rather large ling last week at Depoe Bay...

1.  No more dropper loops while targeting lingcod.  Was able to get the fish to the side of kayak, and while trying to figure how I was going to land it without a net/gaff (see #2 next), it took another run.  At that point, just thumbing the spool in an attempt to turn the fish was enough to snap my leader at the dropper.  !!!

2. Always have a net/gaff available while targeting lingcod.  Not long after the previous situation, over the same structure, another large lingcod decides to hitch hike on a small greenling.  Without a net/gaff, I was pretty helpless as I watched the fish release (think it even looked at me and winked) near the surface and swam away.  !!! !!! !!!

-Sam

We had a great day on the water yesterday. Everyone was catching fish, and lots of big lings, cabbies and blacks were around. 

When I fired up my Lowrance Elite 5 HDI, the boot up sound didn't sound right. Also, the menu button wasn't working. The unit was also making a noises, very odd.  However, it was functioning and we were able to find the fish.  The unit is on its way back to Lowrance now for a fix or replace.

It was really cool to see about a dozen kayaks out there and to meet everyone.  In talking with the guys, it sounds like we all hooked into a few monsters that we never saw.  After I had my limit of blacks, I took out my heavier rod to target lings.  I had one take down that just about pulled me over, and I fought it all  the way up from 95ft to about 40ft, before it came unbuttoned, but what a rush.  My two keeper lings were 28.5 and 29.5" and all of my 7 blacks were 17" or bigger.   The pull from the one I lost was exponentially stronger than any of the fish I fought.  I did land my biggest cabbie to date, but he had to go back, at least for a few more weeks!.

Thanks to all the guys out there yesterday, it was great fishing with you.

Hey SamM,

Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate all the help I can get.  i did have it break off at the dropper loop once last week.  However, i like the droper loop because i have been running a nine inch grub below a 6 inch grub and have gotten ling to go after both.  I feel like it increases my odds for a ling.  However, i hated losing the fish at the kayak.  A net is something i will definitely be looking out for.  I have seem some good ones online that will do for $10-25 dollars that i am hoping to get.  They just seem to be too far away for me to make the drive for the net. 

I am currently rrying to be extremely frugal because i recently had my first child and money can run low.  Therefore, i will need to wait until the right deal comes along.  I am hoping by the next time i go out i will have a net.  I had a gaff but accidently left it on the beach when i launched at PC a couple weeks ago.  When i returned it was long gone.

Thanks Insayn for the advice. I am not sure what was causing my line to snap so frequently I am wondering if I am doing something wrong. I am going to switch to a mini leader.

My drag may have been too tight. When I hooked the first big one I had to tighten it as I could not fight the fish. I did not loosen the drag afterwards and maybe that is what caused it.   I had a seconds one that took my 9 inch grub and lead head off after he peeled off 20 feet of line.

If you are fishing with a 7 foot pole and your leader is 10 feet, do you have difficulty bringing fish into your kayak?

Also what is your methods to getting unhooked. I seem to lose a lot of gear, however, I typically troll gear and can get stuck often

Zach,

What kind of knot are you tying with your braid and mono.  Braid doesn't take too many knots well.  Are you snapping off at your connections or somewhere along the line?

Great Cabbie Cosmo!

I have been using this set up

40 lbmainline----stainless swivel-----dropper loop (with weightless 6 inch grub or 2 oz with 6 inch grub)----4oz bullet jighead with 9 inch grub


I have been using the advanced clinch know for all of the knots except the dropper loop.


I also noticed that when trolling I had a difficult time keeping on the bottom with the big 9 inch grubs.


Thanks for all the adviece,  I am new to fishing anywhere other than the shore with my father and a few friends.  I have tried doing internet research but don't know exactly where to start and I learn best when i can ask questions

There are lots of ways to tie dropper loops and a lot of them result in a significantly lower breaking strength for your leader (I'm talking half or less the rated breaking strength), which is why I don't use them anymore. This one is favored by a lot of folks and as I understand it is relatively strong:

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd176/SlowStreamer/Misc/dropperloop.jpg

When testing stuff in my living room I was able to tie a "simple" loop in mono (like an overhand knot type of loop) and I could break the line easily with my bare hands with 50lb. test. With the above knot I could not break 50lb. line with my bare hands, but it still broke well before 50lbs (it broke at different weights depending on how fast the force was applied).

After experimenting quite a bit I favor heavy-ish flouro/mono leader for nearshore rockfish/lingcod, for abrasion resistance. I use 30lb. braid mainline and 50lb. flouro leader (no loops), with a 20lb. "weak link" inbetween. About 85% of the time if I can't recover a snag it breaks right at the weak link. Since I pre-tie everything it's no hassle on the water to get fishing again.

Zach, to answer question regarding adding a 10 foot leader, and able to reach my fish because of the long leader.  When I add a topshot of mono to my mainline braid, I ALWAYS use the super strong Albright knot.  If tied correctly, it is a nearly a 100% line strength knot (strong as the smallest rated line in the knot).

As Red Beard mentioned, dropper loops are your weak link in any line.  I think it effectively drops your line strength in half at each loop tied.  Fine for surf perch fishing, but not reliable enough for me to use for bottom fishing. 

If I were to ever want to fish with 3 hooks at at time with any kind of strength on my meat crane, I would probably tie a properly rated swivel to my 30# main line with a Palomar knot.  Then taking two 1 foot lengths of 20# mono and tie the same rated swivel on one end of each, and a duo-lock type snap to the other end of each with Palomar knots. 

With this you can quickly add one or more of your 1' mono leaders to the above swivel until you have three swivels and two duo-locks and two 1' lengths of mono coming down from your mainline. 

Pre tie as many short 10-15# mono loops with double over hand knots that can be used to attach through the upper eye of the top two 1' leader's swivels.  Just fold and push the loop through the swivel eye, and then pull that tag back through your loop putting the double overhand knot down at the swivel when pulled tight. Now, just push the same folded end of the loop through the eye of whatever hook or fly you plan to use, and over the hook itself and pull tight. 

You can now use yet another duo-lock to attach a heavy jig head to the bottom swivel, or add another 1' section of 8-10# mono with a heavy sinker and add a 3rd fly off the 3rd swivel top eye.  This gives you a break away option and mostly only lose the weight and the lower lighter mono. 

Pre-tying a bunch of these at home and coiled up nicely on a pool noodle for easy storage will make on the water attachment quick and easy.  You can fish directly off the first swivel however you like, or add as many together as you like (up to 3 hooks) and fish with confidence that a tied dropper loop won't be your weakest link and lose everything below it. 

I started using 40-50lb mono with dropper loops now because I had the 30lb with dropper loops break on some big fish. I dont have any issue breaking those off and i run 65lb braid mainline. If i get snagged I point my rod tip back and peddal forward til it breaks. Have also thought about using two three way swivels instead of dropper loops but haven't tried it yet.

I was on the water on the same day and caught one ling as well. It was great to see group of kayak angler at the same spot.


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