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Snubbers..


charb

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Ok, I read this before my 18 hours of salmon fishing yesterday. I took the snubbers off. I did however spread three hooks. The bigger of the three fish I didn't get in the boat lol. I am using braid and didn't have much luck without the snubber.

I had my drag set in such a way that it was ticking from time to time.

Thoughts?

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Could be a lot of things but I'd start with tightening the drag. Their mouths are starting to harden up now and you need to check the hook sharpness as well. If you feel confident using the snubber  and if these things don't correct the problem I'd go back to it as the braid has little to no stretch and the same for fluoro leaders so you may be pulling the hook on them too.

Edited by Sk8man
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Well the clear plastic snubber seemed to land more fish for me, could be that I get too excited and set the hook too hard this loosing the fish caught on braid. I eased up a bit and with the snubber it seems to fill in where my lack of experience is. My boat is 20.5' and with long poles, leaders flashers snubbers etc it makes it a long way to the fish. So I would love to dump the snubber to cut back on length. Working on it [emoji476][emoji4]

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I haven't got enough experience yet for wire/copper. I will maybe tackle that next year. I don't know how different it is as I don't have any and have t tried it yet but my fish finder and boat are all beginning to look not good enough lol

I think my fishing addiction is out of hand already [emoji16]

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I stopped using snubbers back in the early 80's.  The reason: lost fish from poor hookups.  I gave things some thought and concluded that by leaving my drag fairly loose and with the stretch inherent in the mono along with the stretch of the snubber along with the forward momentum of the fish was leading to the poor hookups. That was before fluoro too I should note.  I got rid of the snubbers and began setting my drag tighter to the point that it takes a fairly good tug to activate the clicker. Again, this was in the world of mono lines and leaders and my results improved dramatically.  Wire fishing is a different "animal" in terms of the stretch issue but the same approach has worked well. The main thing to remember not only with salmon but fishing in general is that the line between you and the fish needs tension on it at all possible times and is pretty much the only thing between success and failure and any slack can lead to failure so the drag setting is critical.....not enough and slack can occur and too much can risk break offs (as well as poor knots and unseen line abrasions). If your drag is set properly (i.e. tight enough) the weight of the fish on the sharp hook should supply enough pressure for a good hookup providing the fish actually has the hook in  his mouth keeping in mind that as the season rolls on the  mature salmons mouth hardens so a little more pressure may be required for a good hookup and again sharp hooks are often assumed and not carefully examined and corrected. The combination of hook sharpness and proper drag setting are the most critical aspects and keeping firm pressure not allowing slack when bringing in will bring success. A factor not always considered in the so-called "poor hookups" is that the salmon (or other fish) may not actually have the hook itself in its mouth and instead has accidentally grabbed the line or spoon or front part of the fly or that on downriggers in particular the inherent slack created initially as the line releases the fish shortly drops whatever part he has in his mouth. I'm sure this isn't news for a lot of folks but thought it is worth mentioning for new folks to the scene :)

Edited by Sk8man
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I started off using off using the 8" Luhr Jensen snubbers but after reading up on the advice in the LOU archives from Sk8man and others and losing 5 fish in a row after 2-4sec hook-ups, I eliminated them.

 

5-5 last weekend with just 30# mono to the flasher. And no breakoffs other than due to a tangle. I'm sold. Not sure about the other types but I'm done with the stretchy ones from LJ

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Great info! Thanks!! I use braid on my dipsy's so no flex. I will be heading to the Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular and will try a couple of different set ups. I can only use one line there so I need to get organized. Won't see any 30lb fish there but let's hope I catch one. I did a ten day derby there last year and didn't get a single salmon. Should be called a lake trout derby lol

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