Playing a Salmon

[say]

I read with interest Graham's epic battle with the 40lb salmon that ended in the Salmon's favour.

What I found interesting was that the fish at times decided not to move from it's lie. Twice I have hooked a 'big' fish that headed downstream in a hurry and then 'park up' which resulted in me pulling the hooked from the Salmon's mouth.

The first of the two I hooked kept low and ran dowstream some 300 yards before stopping, which resulted in a tug of war for 15 minutes before I pulled the hook. The second fish a bar of silver was hooked in the same spot came out of the water like a missile (30lb+ class) and ran downstream and stopped once again in the same spot. Now this time I tried tug of war for 5 minutes, gaining a few feet before the weight of the fish took over and it moved back to the lie. The thoughts of the first fish came flooding back and this time I was determined to try something different. I tried throwing stones into the location where the fish was lying, but this made no difference. I then tried getting below the fish to see if I could get it off balance, again this proved fruitless. Once again I had the same result, hooks pulled and there I sat on the bank a broken man.

To make matters worse I also hooked another 'big' fish (30lb+) played it for over an hour, thinking I had beat it, only to watch it head for a big clump of weed, unhook itself, self-right and head back into the depths. This time I convinced myself that it was better this way as it was a kipper.

I suppose what I am trying to get to is, if a fish sulks like this is there anything we can do..

I was once told by an angler that I should wind up tight and put a tuning fork to the line as the vibrations will make the fish move. I did ask what frequency and was quickly f***ed off.

Stuart

[macd]

one i heard was that the old ghillies used to roll some tobacco into a hoop and slide it down towarsd the hook- once the juices start to flow salar gets a rude awakening. The other is to throw sand in above it, again to irritate the gills.

[salmonking]

hi say/
your a fortunate fellow to have hooked so many big fish,
im still waiting on a big fish like that. I think id just keep a bit of preassure on the fish,not too much,he d move eventually,i certainly would take my time and be more patient than i normaly am with yr run of the mill 10/12 lbr,must be frustrating when a fish like that just sits there,battle of wits maybe....

[magpie]

I once had this happen to me when a big(ish) fish went back to the lie where I had hooked it from, and I couldn't budge it. I eventually remembered something I had read (might have been Falkus) which worked. The trick is to continually tap the rod with your hand just above the handle - supposedly, the vibrations annoy the fish into moving.

[dangler]

Please release me ? lol



Mike

[sagecaster]

For sulking fish, give it loads of side strain and get below the fish if you can, keep the pressure constant and eventually after a few minutes the fish will move. I've tried a massive yank sidewaysand it usually sends the fish berserk and then you tend lose control.

RE: Playing big fish

I've been lucky enough to land one or two big fish(and lost my fair share too!), however have not been that lucky enough to manage to land the biggest fish I have hooked to date which was reckoned to be 30+.

Apart from the obvious ones of appropriate tackle etc, I reckon there are 3 key factors in landing a big fish, only one of which you have any real control over.

1. You need the fish to be quite well behaved, ie not tearing up and down the pool ripping yards of line in an effort to head back to sea.

2. Play the fish hard, (learned this on Kharlovka)don't let the fish get started on a run, hold really firm, get his head up and hope you've got a good hook hold. Once a big fish starts running hard you've lost control and in a big river you tend to be at the mercy of the current.

3. Luck, we've all caught fish that have gone berserk and yet on landing them find the hook hold so good the fish would have never come off. Why does it only happen with the small coloured fish that are going back anyway!

The big fish that I have landed have all been reasonably well behaved, played hard and in the end Lady Luck has had her fair share of input too!

[stoater]

Sagecaster you are right. Landing a big fish is largely a matter of luck, also I feel the location of the battle plays a big part.
To date in my fishing life I have been largely unsuccessful in bringing big Salmon to bank. I have played and lost maybe 5 salmon of 25lb+, and only landed 1 in this range(26lb on the Ettrick). On a big river a boat would be a huge help in landing such a brute. If it wants to, there is little conventional salmon tackle can do to control a big angry salmon in a "getouttahere "mode. And you need a really secure hookhold, which is also luck
I remember playing a November big one, witnessed by 2 of my good pals, for about 20 mins of very strong, but slow headshaking . I really felt I was going to land a very big salmon, certainly my first 30 pounder, we had seen the fish show twice in the initial stages. For periods I had this monster (it was a clean fish) just sulking 5-10 yards from us. If you know the Tweed/Ettrick Meetings pool, you will understand what then occured. The Fish just swam, slowly, downstream. You get to a point where wading is not an option. 50, 100, 150 yards of backing were now off the reel. When I ran out of line, it was hold on tight time. Either the rod or the leader would break. I had 25lb leader and it was painful to put such enormous pressure on. I won. The fish began to swim back up the pool (it's a huge pool), I was winning.
Then the fish changed it's mind about things. Just swam downstream again, hold tight time again, all line and backing was out. Of couse it all went ping, suddenly and horribly slack.
Two of the three prongs on the top quality treble were gnarled and straightened.
Just goes to show that if a big, fit Salmon goes for it to it's full capabilities, there is little one can do to stop it. For which I'm glad!