One Good Thing . . .

[bogtrotter]

about all the rain we've been having is that it makes it easy to "pick" your own bait.

(In fact, the last couple times, when I've run out, I've been able to replenish my supply as I go, by checking under leaves and logs).

Today the weather was pretty nice - - partly sunny, 82 degrees, light breeze - - so I thought it best to seize the opportunity while the stream levels remain good before it rains again this weekend.

So I fished the South Hoosic in Adams from Mullen Mayflower to ALADCO between 10:30 AM and 3 PM.

It was a wonderful day on the water - - thirteen rainbows in the 11" to 17" range (the last three, down by ALADCO, caught on a spinner because I was out of hooks), nine  browns in the 10" to 12" range and one solitary (8") brookie.

[Bartman44]

Nice, and I thought the Hoosic would be blown out with the recent monsoons. That sure beats work. 

[Ryan51993]

Nice work sounds like a hell of a day, I'm jealous! I haven't fished in weeks due to poor weather and work. Just curious what kind of hooks do you use for bait? I recently started using gamakatsu circle hooks and it has been life changing. They must be 10x sharper than eagle claws and you just reel into it instead of setting the hook. I knew I was done with eagle claws when it started becoming difficult to put the hook through a shiner, the gamakatsus slide through the back of a shiner like butter even after weeks of using the same hook. I highly suggest you try them if you haven't already.

[bogtrotter]

When it comes to open water fishing (or jigging through the ice), I'm partial to Mustad snell less wide-gap (size 10) hooks that come in a 100 pack.

As for ice fishing with tip ups, I use whatever hooks I have lying around in my grab bag.  However, I tend to use a lot fewer of them.

My gripe with most stores that sell only snelled Eagle Claw hooks are (a) the packs have too few hooks, (b) the price per hook is too great and (c) I don't want the snelled line (and certainly am not willing to pay extra for it).

I've heard good things about circle hooks (particularly that it's supposed to be easier to release fish unharmed if you use them), but have never gotten around to using them.  In fact, I may be wrong, but I don't recall any of the stores around me selling them.

[Ryan51993]

You certainly won't find them at Walmart. I either get mine at cabelas or occasionally smaller bait shops if they have them. But I'll tell you what I'll never use eagle claws again, they simply aren't sharp. They also bend and break a lot. My catch rate has gone up tremendously since I learned that. I also find that the circle hook being round and having less overall length is a lot easier on the fish. Less eye area hook ups and less gut hooks.

[SHaRPS]

If I am out fishing for food I like #4 eagle claw bait holders. This can be while drifting a worm in a stream for trout, casting under a float for panfish or even while ice fishing a tip up and targeting white perch, yellow perch, trout or catfish. I usually will use this when I know I am in a school of fish and will not catch other fish like bass or pickerel since I do not eat them. These hooks hold worms and shiners very well and they do not tend to slip off. If I am fishing bodies of water that also have salmon, smallmouth, lakers, etc, I will use a # 4 or #6 red Gamakatsu circle hook. Size of hooks depends on bait (shiner vs smelt vs dilly vs nightcrawler. I do not want to kill by catch if I do not plan to eat it and a circle hook helps with that.