flossing/snagging

[edge540]

Brahhhaaaahhaaa Saw this coming last week

[Mike Carey]

Brahhhaaaahhaaa Saw this coming last week

hey, it stayed civil.

I was just daydreaming, thinking how cool it would be to somehow get a gopro underwater and catch actual underwater footage of fish biting/getting hooked. That would be epic.

[natetreat]

They bite it. They get angry. Sometimes. We were saying that they were hooked in the mouth because almost everyone at the hatchery was snagging fish, not even flossing. We were proving our point that you don't have to floss fish to catch them.

It does take a lot of skill to drift fish. A lot. Getting the proper buoyancy hook/yarn/bait ratio so that you can keep it where they like to see it. Making it look natural, getting it the right color. Using a proper presentation, realizing the difference between a bite and a floss and a snag. It's a tactile experience and extremely unique. If you want to floss fish, you don't need to worry about color, you just put a clear corkie on, or black yarn.

I've had fish in the puke hooked in the back of the throat with a corky. A big bright one. They only get 3 seconds to look at it, they can't see you and they're not spooked. They are much more aggressive there than in the wallace where the water is crystal clear.

I usually can't bring a fish in sideways because I use 8 or 6 pound test, so I break it off, or let it shake the hook. With the nets out so often, seems like only the jacks are getting through anymore anyways. But I've been fishing for twenty years, and I've watched some ridiculous take downs when drift fishing. I like to know exactly what is on the bottom, where the fish are and where the edges are. Drift fishing is my sonar.

Is flossing snagging? By the legal definition of snagging, absolutely. If a fish does not voluntarily take the bait, it's snagging. I also don't think that it's unethical or morally reprehensible. I don't think snagging fish should be illegal. The fish are there to be eaten. I think that people should catch their limit and be done. No being choosy when you're snagging. I think there should be "sport fishing" rules, with barbless hooks, anti-attempting to snag rules and all the others that we have now, but in certain "combat" fisheries, there should be subsistence rules, where you keep the first 2 fish you bank and then your done. These rules would be in effect in certain portions of the rivers and not others, to give sportsmen the oppurtunity to have their challenge, while providing food and much needed license dollars for the state from the weekend warriors. Snagging 40 fish to get your two legal fish is pretty violent towards the fish, and many do not survive being caught. That to me is a waste.

I mostly agree with you Jens, that's why I brought you up. I'll get dental right there with you if I have to, if my wife is getting antsy for some fish, I bring it home. I love the challenge and also all of the neat ways to get fish to bite, and in every circumstance there is the perfect bait and a lot of the times it aint a corky. I won't throw it then, but that doesn't mean I have to like a bobber as much as drift fishing. But there is a MOUNTAIN of difference between drift fishing and flossing, even if there isn't much between flossing and snagging. And not many people have the patience or time to become a truly great fishermen, and those of us that do it for sport can get more than a little frustrated with folks out there that don't.

[kzoo]

There are people who have fished for years in these rivers and then there are the new guys - new guys have questions that the "pro's" have answers to - thier for we ask and I did recieve thanks to all for the input and maybe I'll see ya out there. If ya run into a guy with a handlebar mustache and sick humor say hi - we are not all alike and in my search for answers I leave no turn unstoned!!!!

But if you are in it for the sport of it and skill of it, then learn how to fish other methods. Nothing gets my blood pumping more so when my bobber gets slammed under by a hot Steelie or having my rod ripped almost out of my hand fishing spoons. There is no doubt you made a fish strike when fishing this way.

Good luck out there.

+1 on the bobber fishing, I don't find it boring at all. It's always that anticipation that gets me going!

As for the big debate for which requires more skill? or which is a better method? Being from the bass world, you're not going to be successful just sticking to one method. You need to change your methods and adapt to the conditions. Never understood why there's such animosity between the two methods?

[edge540]

Im not "The Great Fisherman" ButI do love to try! Nothing even comes close to watching a 1oz bobber disappear.... Hook set and not come up for 5 min.....chase it down stream while the line RIPS off the reel.... in and out a couple times and then finally land a fish on a single barb-less hook and BBQ his tail section . I suk at corkies I tried for a whole season a couple years ago and all I caught was a GIANT white fish..... I wonder if I flossed him?? Were his teeth clean?? I never even asked him if he "willingly ate my corkie"
I reeled and reeled and when I banked the fish I didn't know what to do... I asked the guy next to me " What the Heck is that!?!?!?!? He said" son just let it go son, that is the biggest white fish Ive ever seen...." Actually he called it something that rimed with Tigger fish but had nothing to do with Flingin Pooh

Ive hooked some crazy fish on plugs, floats, spinners and spoons but these corkies are bs.... never hooked nothing worth mention

Mabey Ill learn one of these days but when the #30 kings like eggs Ill just go with it.

I really think that if your fishing "The rite way" your good. If your intentionally Snagging you dam well Know it! If I didnt know how to catch fish I Would use a big treble to snag with not a little corkie and yarn Id love to watch a Pizzed off Salmon slam a #5 vibrax under water.... thats where its at

[scott080379]

everyone has their own views on this and for anyone to tell them they are wrong.....is just plain wrong. I have also snagged fish using every method out there. But snagged way more drift fishing. Every hole has a method that works better, some holes it
it's more efficient to drift it than float it. Yes they do bite corkie and yarn, those that say they don't haven't felt it yet. They will at some point but fish will bite/strike a jig/eggs/spoons more. This is proven but not all those types of fishing works in every hole.

Jens, go fish and forget about the BS that is said here. Go slay'em.

[kinghunter]

How about fishing this way? No need to worry about leader length. And its legal, just not in Wa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpqCiCG8IQk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Maybe this will stop the bickering whether the fish was snagged or flossed.

[Gringo Pescador]

How about fishing this way? No need to worry about leader length. And its legal, just not in Wa.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpqCiCG8IQk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Maybe this will stop the bickering whether the fish was snagged or flossed.

Wow, what a rush that is..

[MotoBoat]

How about fishing this way? No need to worry about leader length. And its legal, just not in Wa.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpqCiCG8IQk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Maybe this will stop the bickering whether the fish was snagged or flossed.

Wow, what a rush that is..

I share in your sarcasm Mark.

[flinginpooh]

Im not "The Great Fisherman" ButI do love to try! Nothing even comes close to watching a 1oz bobber disappear.... Hook set and not come up for 5 min.....chase it down stream while the line RIPS off the reel.... in and out a couple times and then finally land a fish on a single barb-less hook and BBQ his tail section . I suk at corkies I tried for a whole season a couple years ago and all I caught was a GIANT white fish..... I wonder if I flossed him?? Were his teeth clean?? I never even asked him if he "willingly ate my corkie"
I reeled and reeled and when I banked the fish I didn't know what to do... I asked the guy next to me " What the Heck is that!?!?!?!? He said" son just let it go son, that is the biggest white fish Ive ever seen...." Actually he called it something that rimed with Tigger fish but had nothing to do with Flingin Pooh

Ive hooked some crazy fish on plugs, floats, spinners and spoons but these corkies are bs.... never hooked nothing worth mention

Mabey Ill learn one of these days but when the #30 kings like eggs Ill just go with it.
I really think that if your fishing "The rite way" your good. If your intentionally Snagging you dam well Know it! If I didnt know how to catch fish I Would use a big treble to snag with not a little corkie and yarn Id love to watch a Pizzed off Salmon slam a #5 vibrax under water.... thats where its at

Thats awesome!!!! I got my name plugged. Mike now ya know why I love fishing with Jens. We always have gr8 convo. I drift, I dont hide the fact thats almost all I do. I have drift fished since I was a kid. 36 now and still drift. I bring them in by the mouth usually but will bring them in otherways and release them. Its illegal when ya dont release them. I usually fish with a #2 Or smaller hook unless for king and chum. Then I fish with a 1/0. I notice when I fish a 1/0 I do get more foul hooked fish. But Im not steel fishing so I dont really care if Im being called a flosser then. I dont keep em unless legally hooked. Im sure most people on this site are here to learn or share fishing. They dont come on here to share stories of snagging. I do want to make this perfectly clear though. I do still snag flounders out of rivers.

[RiverChromeGS]

Haha what even is this??? everybody who is trying to floss or snag knows what they are doing. no body out there thinks theyre legit drifting but really flossing fish. To floss fish you gotta TRY and floss or snag them, drift fishing without setting the hook every 5 seconds on purpose will not floss you fish. SERIOUSLY i have sight fished steelhead and drifted my gear 1000 times past a school of fish trying to get them to bite when they wernt hungry, AND NEVER flossed one. I could see my gear going right by their heads but i never snagged or flossed one. If i would have set the hook hard when my gear was by them sure i coulda snagged them all day. Like the guys at blue creek who set the hook 5 times a drift. those guys know what they are doing. IT is SOOO Hard to floss or snag a fish unintentionally. It happens but drifters dont make a living out of flossing fish when they arent purposfully flossing or snagging. Trust me ive seen it in clear water. drifting over tons fo fish with corkee and yarn. If you dont purpposfully set the hook it just doesnt happen, or VERY rarely. Yea if you got a hook on your line and your casting towards a ton of fish once and a while your gonna accidentally snag one. But it really doesnt happen as often as some of you people make it sound. ive actually tried with many species of salmon and without setting the hook when my gear is next to them its just doesnt happen. people who floss do it intentionally, whether they admit that their 10 foot leaders and 5 hooksets per drift is legit or not...

[salmonator_1228]

We can't tell if we floss a fish unless we see it happen or do it intentionally. At Whatcom Creek, I've seen many purposely snagged and flossed fish kept. Heck, I've watched my line go through a chum's mouth a whole bunch of times and they set the hook them selves. As the weight goes the down the river, the fish goes up. Sometimes you can't really stop it.