conwyrod
Advisory Board
Autumn on the Conwy
Posts: 4,659
|
Post by conwyrod on Nov 26, 2009 22:04:45 GMT
Prompted by another thread.
I lose less than 5%, which seems very low.
I wonder if this is because I'm mostly fishing for running fish on a spate river, rather than resident fish in one of the big 4?
|
|
|
Post by G Ritchie on Nov 26, 2009 22:18:41 GMT
Would typically loose about 25% over the course of a season. This season for some reason the figure has been much higher, about 40% and a lot of other anglers I have spoke to this season have had similar problems. I would say that you would in-fact tend to loose more of the fresh running fish rather than residents. I know that on some of the lower river beats I fish, my losses tend to be higher than on beats further upstream. Fresh fish can be a bit soft mouthed and if they are running can often snatch at the fly giving you a poor hook hold. It could come down to how you play the fish, I know that in my younger days when I didn't hook so many fish, I tended to play the fish very carefully, usually trying to stay slightly downstream of the fish and I very seldom lost a fish. Nowadays with C&R I tend to play the fish much firmer and will often just play them from the spot they were hooked. This probably leads to the hook being pulled out on occasions, but at least the fish comes in more quickly and is more easily released.
|
|
conwyrod
Advisory Board
Autumn on the Conwy
Posts: 4,659
|
Post by conwyrod on Nov 26, 2009 22:18:47 GMT
When you hook as few salmon as I do, it's some consolation that most of them stay on!
Those of you who are losing 1 in 5 or more, any thoughts on why so many come off?
Half hearted takes? acrobatic fish? taking on the dangle?
Do you experience random lost fish, or does it tend to happen in patches, e.g losing 2 or 3 on the run?
|
|
conwyrod
Advisory Board
Autumn on the Conwy
Posts: 4,659
|
Post by conwyrod on Nov 26, 2009 22:22:30 GMT
That's a good point Graham - I don't play my salmon that hard to be honest. Most of the fish I do lose is when the hooks ping out as I try to beach them.
|
|
|
Post by sinkingtip on Nov 27, 2009 13:21:55 GMT
Like others, I assume, I /we go through spells or bad runs of losing fish - the season just past being notable in this respect. It's like 'strikers' who fail to find an open goal or miss penalty kicks (the mighty Celtic's Harald Brattbakk springs to mind) - miss one, miss the next 5. Definitely a confidence (or lack of) issue. Having said that it could be down to poor hooks and technique.
|
|
|
Post by irishsalar on Nov 27, 2009 13:36:11 GMT
I found that the fish that the majority of fish lost were the ones that immediately on being hooked are really skittery and after a brief splash and thrash are gone regardless of what I did. This seemed to coincide with fresh grilse being about and fishing in the faster runs.I also had a lot of long draws which never devloped into a take proper. One opinion was that these were fish that had been previously caught. On the Suir we have to fish single barbless and I wondered was this something to do with it and should I have modified my technique in some way?
|
|
conwyrod
Advisory Board
Autumn on the Conwy
Posts: 4,659
|
Post by conwyrod on Dec 2, 2009 19:45:12 GMT
Commiserations to the person who voted 100%. Mind you, I lost the first 2 salmon I hooked on fly.
|
|
|
Post by Roobarb on Dec 2, 2009 21:26:53 GMT
Well it's been very variable for me. On the Lyn, a very small steep spate river with generally very fresh fish just off the tide, I lost about half of them (this was all on spinner). On the upper Exe (almost all on the fly) over 90% come to the net. On the Frome (mostly spinner) I went five years without losing one and then lost 75% in 2008 So I think type of water and freshness and possibly size of fish (I've found bigger ones stay on better) make a difference. Andy
|
|