Springers Sunday?

I need to take advantage of this last chance to score an upriver fatty.
Noahk and I are planning on hitting Davis in the morning.  If anyone wants to hook up for the hunt, come on down.

-Spot-

I'm hoping for tomorrow....

speaking of which, ODFW & WDFW has an extension meeting tomorrow

Paddled out with Noahk around 8 this morning.  The river was really high and moving fast.  Trolled up to the barges on Davis and then down to Frenchman's.  Anchored up and ran Quicks above Frenchman's for an hour or so.  In all this time, we didn't see or hear of any fish.

Made the slog back to the launch but decided to troll the last section past the wing dam.  About 10min of stationary paddling later, my rod started bouncing.  Noah says "Is that a fish?".  I just paddle harder. 

Line slacked a bit but still bouncing so I grabbed the rod.  Definitely a fish on but coming up too easily.  WTF?  A fat springer eyeballs me from the end of my line not 10' feet away and takes off like a bat out of hell.  ziiiip ziiiiiip.....*Ping* 

I'm over this #$%^(&* Power pro I've been using.  I've gotta find some Fireline before next weekend!!!  There's no way 25lb braid should snap that easily! #$*%*&)(*

Losing a fish to gear failure on such slow day is killing me.  Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda.  But didn't.....

-Spot-

Wow, that hurts.  Maybe your power pro is just getting old?  Just trying to find a reason it would pop so easily.   

Damn, that sucks.  Power pro, even old stuff has always held for me. 

congrats for giving it one more pass and the hookup. too bad on the line though. While it's always good to get out for a paddle, Ron was right about fishing MC. The water is cold, dirty and high. I didn't even see one other boat out fishing.

Jay

Oh Man! That sucks! oh well, you got to feel the first chrome of the year on the line. many more to come.

25 pound PP shouldn't snap that easy, must have been a defect or fray.

Thanks for the kind words guys!

I think maybe the spool I used was bad.  I put the line on in August and every breakoff I've had has been on the mainline so far.  I have no confidence in it now.  Gotta find me a spool of Fireline.

Noahk, good fishing with you today.  You've got some solid skills.  It won't take you long move up the learning curve.

-Spot-

I'm so pleased that Spot shares his heart breaks as well as his glory.  I don't know how much I could take if it was just photos of him with fish all the time.  With this sad story out of the way, I'm really looking forward to seeing a nice fat springer on his stringer in the next report.

It was really tough seeing Spot lose that fish. I was trolling just a bit ahead of him and looked back over my shoulder to see his rod bent over and him calming paddling ahead. I watched for a moment before asking if that was indeed a fish. Once he set the hook I looked back over and saw him reeling up quickly, “doesn’t feel like a springer”. I paddled on for a moment before I decided to pull my gear up to be able to watch the fight and make sure I didn’t hang him up. Unfortunately the line snapped before I even got my gear to the surface.

I had a fantastic day on the water and can not thank Spot enough for showing me the ropes and letting me use his spare boat. It really let me get up to speed with the right and safe way to kayak fish. As a newbie it was invaluable being able to ask any stupid question to the yak springer Zen Master.  Thanks again Mark and hope to fish with you again some time soon! Here are a couple of quick photos I grabbed with my phone.

Mark

Thats a bummer, worst way to lose a fish. hopefully you will hook one with some different line next week.  BTW we have lost fish do to 50# Power Pro breaking while on achor with quiks on the big C for fall nooks.

Scott

Ouch. That hurts. Even on the world famous Kenai River it's typically 30 man hours per fish so gear failure is brutal.

The only time I have broken power pro like that was due to a grooved guide from spectra,  fraying just a little bit of every inch of the main line. Spectra seems to have ZERO abrasion resistance. The thinner you go with braid, it exponentially gets worse for frays to severely weaken the line.

I don't use braid under 30 very often.  The thin stuff is too much maintenance and one reason I like braid is that it's supposed to last forever.

I always thought power pro was my go to braid. I hope if it was a manufacturing miss, that it's an isolated case.

I usually don't tell people what I think they should use, but I wont use braid less than 50 lbs.  The slack to tight line you described will break it every time.  Under constant pressure the stuff wont break but if you "snap" it it breaks like dental floss.  By comparison I don't think there is a Springer in the river that could break quality 25 pound mono.

Good tips boys!  I need to check out my guides and make sure that I haven't cut any grooves into them.

I've never liked power-pro.  It's too limp for my tastes and prone to both quick snaps and looping over the end of a rod.  I only bought my current spool full because I couldn't find my prefered line.

I've never had a problem with Fireline.  It gives you good visual indicators of wear, it's stiff like mono when it's new yet cuts thru the water real smoothe like.  All that and I've landed enough big fish on it to have supreme confidence when fishing.  For me, confidence is as important as the right bait.

-Spot-