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Never Give up on Fish #12508721 11/19/17 02:17 AM
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karstopo Offline OP
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Wind blustered out of the south all morning, but at around 3, 3:30 pm it looked manageable. I had had enough of football at that point anyhow, so I hopped into the flat bottom for a little bass action. I wanted the bass to be up near the surface so that they would eat a deer hair diver, but after a little bit of that it was clear they werent going to conform to my wishes. I put on a smallish gray deer hair clouser. First cast, fish on, lively little jumping bass came to hand.

A few more casts later and I get a good take out away from the bank as I slow strip in the fly. The fish went left, deeper, for 20-30 feet, then moved right about the same distance, felt substantial and stayed deep. Nice, Im ready to see how big this catfish is going to be. The fish goes left again and finds a clump of 30 Christmas trees that were sunk in about 8-9 feet of water. Im tugging on the glass 7/8 weight CGR. I can feel the fish is still on, but wrapped up pretty tightly in the trees. Im getting no where fast and now just want to get free. Ive given up on the fish and now only hoped to get back my fly. I stuck my 76 rod straight down to the brush pile. Reel is submerged and I could feel the branches. Swish back and forth.

At this point, my across the lake neighbor who is out picking up sticks where I am fishing is on the bank right there watching my battle. He happens to be a fly guy, one of the one or two on the lake. Anytime you battle a fish for more than a minute or two on this lake its going to garner some attention. Im 50 feet away and apologizing to him about letting the fish get into the brush. I didnt know the pile was there, I mumbled.

Swish, swish, my line loosens, a fish rises. Ill be, its a bass! Its pretty played out at this point. I lip it in. The neighbor and I both agree it went about 5 pounds. Hes like, nice fish. I agree. Dont give up.

Re: Never Give up on Fish [Re: karstopo] #12508727 11/19/17 02:20 AM
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karstopo Offline OP
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The fish

Re: Never Give up on Fish [Re: karstopo] #12508851 11/19/17 04:03 AM
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Cool story & nice picture.


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Re: Never Give up on Fish [Re: karstopo] #12509018 11/19/17 01:43 PM
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thumb

Re: Never Give up on Fish [Re: karstopo] #12509083 11/19/17 02:44 PM
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Good words. Fish have to eat sometime.

Re: Never Give up on Fish [Re: karstopo] #12509174 11/19/17 04:07 PM
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I was looking at the fly this morning and see that the barb was completely mashed down. Its also tied a stainless hook that didnt have much of a barb to begin with. Funny how a fish through all of that tangle up in the brush could stay on an essentially barbless hook.

Re: Never Give up on Fish [Re: karstopo] #12509184 11/19/17 04:18 PM
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Re: Never Give up on Fish [Re: karstopo] #12509325 11/19/17 07:27 PM
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IMO, the fear of barbless hooks loosing fish is way over exaggerated by many.

In the hands of a skilled angler, a barbless hook won't make a tinkers dam difference vs barbed hooks. So many reasons to pinch that barb down...not the least of which is safety. We frequently have young, inexperienced anglers fishing ponds, and no question barbless hooks are a huge safety factor, both for the angler and the fish.

Re: Never Give up on Fish [Re: karstopo] #12509508 11/19/17 11:29 PM
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Nice post and fish. Good job. cheers


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Re: Never Give up on Fish [Re: Meadowlark] #12510216 11/20/17 02:20 PM
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Originally Posted By: Meadowlark
IMO, the fear of barbless hooks loosing fish is way over exaggerated by many.

In the hands of a skilled angler, a barbless hook won't make a tinkers dam difference vs barbed hooks. So many reasons to pinch that barb down...not the least of which is safety. We frequently have young, inexperienced anglers fishing ponds, and no question barbless hooks are a huge safety factor, both for the angler and the fish.


Ive mashed down some of my barbs, mainly because the bead is too small to get past the barb but sometimes just to be nicer to the fish. I see a lot of barbless hooks in the smaller freshwater line ups, but I havent seen many or any barbless hooks being made for the salt...is there such an animal?

How do yall mash down a barb? With what tool? Or do you use a file and just file them to oblivion? Id probably mash them all down but its one more action required plus I didnt or dont want to mark up the metal that impedes the hook set.

P.S. that gray clouser is a good one. Yesterday evening, my daughter and her boyfriend were throwing all sorts of lures and worms off the dock and got nothing for their efforts. I said let me show you how its done and tossed out the same mashed down barb gray clouser as in the photo and promptly got a 2.5# bass. It got all under the dock into the pilings and stayed on throughout. Barbs arent really necessary, but old habits die hard.

Re: Never Give up on Fish [Re: karstopo] #12510255 11/20/17 02:48 PM
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I just use my forceps which I always have with me fishing, to mash them down.

Owner makes barbless saltwater hooks as does Gamakatsu. The Gamakatsu red fish hook 75310 is very good and barbless.

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