When hooking a steelhead on drift gear or on spoons and spinners it is usuall a 90% chance I will land the fish. I have noticed when jig and bobber fishing, I lose about 50% of the fish I hook-up on. Does the bobber moving around in the water make it easier for them to throw the hook or is it just me. Anyone ever notice anything like this.

With the extra line and drag of the float you are probably not setting the hook deep enough

[ 10-26-2001: Message edited by: rainycity ]

like said before, your probably not getting the hook set in deep enough. i saw a prime example of this, this last weekend. i've really gotten into fishing bobbers, but my dad was fishing with me and rarely uses a bobber. i hooked and landed almost every fish i had a bobber down on, but my dad lost over 1/2 the fish he had on. this is very unusual for him. it was directly due to the hook sets! if you have lots of line on the water, it makes it kind of hard to set the hook. now your not supposed to have any line on the water but, many times it can't be helped. i gave him a couple of tips that helped. if you have a lot of line on teh water and a fish hits, use the line as an extension of the rod, and use it to help set the hook. the other tip i told him was, to think of it as a spring salmon bite, kind of let them take it while reeling up the slack and then hammer it home, with a mondo hookset! the tips worked, because after he watched me he figured it out and his landing ratio increased quite dramaticly. hope this helps ya.

When you set your hooks while bobber fishing, do you set the hook until the drag kicks in or do you put your thumb on top of the spool and then set the hook. Normally I do not put my thumb on top of the spool, but I do tend to set my drag a little on the light side in case my leader has been nicked. I use a 10.5 foot pole for jig and bobber so there is not much line in the water, usually, to take up unless I have had to make long cast.

Trying to keep as much line out of the water is the key when Bobber fishing.A lot of times when extending the drift this is unavoidable,
Normally the fish hooks them selves , as soon as I catch up the fish, I give him another good hook-set.
I tend to fish my drag a little on the tight side,I allow my rod to compensate,and if he's taking line then I know he's a healthy one.
Keep those hooks sharp......Os

One of the main reasons that a 10 1/2" rod is used in bobber fishing is to have a better opportunity to keep as much line as possible out of the water during the drift. Then during the hookset, your are not lifting the line out of the water, but sending the hook home, with power and quickly.

If you have a rod and reel dedicated to float fishing I would highly recommend using a super thin braided line over monofilament.I have been using 30# Power Pro for the last few years for float fishing for salmon and steelies and have had great success with it.The line has less than 3% stretch factor,so when you swing on fish that hook gets buried.It also lets you run a lighter,longer rod for protecting light leaders but allows you to use largers hooks and still get great penetration on the hookset.Another great attribute is that the line floats on the surface so that you can actually mend the line as you would a flyline for great line control.All these factors help in landing more fish when float fishing.Hope this helps.

GOOD POINT, RR, i forgot all about that, the other difference between my dad's rod and my rod was i was using fireline and he had maxima on. big difference here. float fishing i would say a big help would be adding some kind of a super braid to your reel, it really does make a BIG difference!

Its also a good idea if your useing mono to wax your line so it floats its hard to get a good hookset if the line that is on the water is under the water.Reg candle wax works fine or you can get the stuff fly fisherman use,I don't remeber the name right now but the line that is in the water needs to float not sink !!
Bob

I'm glad someone brought this up. How do you select the right size bobber? Has anyone used the weighted bobbers? It seems that wouls help when using the mono line.

I think it's called mucalin, dawhunt. Don't know if it's spelled right though.

Since all the expert bobber fishermen are here, do you prefer a baitcasting rod or a spinning rod for float fishing? I was thinking about getting a long rod for float fishing.

~ Dr Pepper

I would like a long spin rod so bad for jig fishing. I think that's ideal. Have you tried casting a bobber/jig with a baitcaster? Stew suggested I use a little lead along with the jig/bobber on my baitcaster, but I'd still prefer the spin rod.

I use a spinning rod when bobber fishing, especially in smaller rivers when making shorter more precise casts.

10 1/2 ft rod and a spinning reel is the very best setup for float and jig fishing, for all the reasons mentioned before. Better line control and faster pick-up. One other point, which I am sure you already know, but which no body has mentioned yet, make sure your jig hooks a extra sharp! that is key to getting solid hook sets.

Some really good points so far on this thread! Keeping the line off off the water with mono is a product called muclin (I think I spelled that right), and it is a fly fisherman's product as indicated. Also, Os recommended to me silent approach jigs, of which I just received. They are beautiful (if I was a fish, I'd eat that!) the hooks stick, I mean STICK, in your thumbnail, and the hooks are not lightweight. Thanks Os!! The test will be in the morning. I also agree with with what what someone else said (who? beer fart) about the braided line staying off of the water because it floats, it is a basic fly fishing principle. Will it all work? Don't know. Can I brag in the AM and spew my guts on where I was to see how many people on the board I can pi$$ off??? Doubt it, I'm going to the Cowlitz, with how many others? :p

I fish a 10 1/2 foot rod for Jig and bobber fishing.
Heck I', looking into building something closer to 12-13.
I prefer a spinning reel for most of bobber fishing.
I normally don't add weight,and using a fixed bobber trying to cast a riggin thats hanging 9-10 ' is real tough with a bait caster.

"steel" I'm glad you liked the jigs,wait till the fish see um ....Os

Run a sliding float O's, and you won't have to try and cast 8 foot of anything. I run a 3 foot leader with staggered shot, up to a #7 Rosco swivel. Place a bead at the swivel, chunk of 1/4" lead hollow core, another bead, the float, a bead, then a bobber stop. You can adjust your depth on the fly, and it works like a dream. Get that float set up so it's almost neutrally bouyant, and all a fish has to do is breath on it, and it will bury.

As for rods and reels, I'll take the baitcaster any day. You can thumb line, and drop it in a pop can with a little practice. It's easy to set your spool tension, and keep the float tilted upstream, or dead drift it for wary fish, and have an almost drag free drift like a center pin. Baitcasting reels allow me to apply pressure periodically throughout my drift, without having loops of line come off, like they do on a spinning reel. A Shimano Castaic is a great float reel, as it has a thumb applied "flippin" button that engages the reel instantly at hook set without turning the reel handle.

I'll stick with mucilin coated super lines for running floats. With the sliding rig, you won't lose many floats, and worse case scenario, you replace the hook , staggered shot and leader. The superlines work real well in very cold weather, and don't ice up terribly bad and freeze your reel up.

This set up works pretty well around here, and worked darn good in Washington on cohos a few weeks ago. I wonder if the locals from Sedro Wooley ever figured out that I was running a sliding float and clear float stop. They weren't catching too many fish on 2 foot fixed floats in a 8 foot deep hole.


Hey O's, sorry about your ViQueens rump whippin yesterday. At least my Saints didn't roll over on their backs at half time and quit. Peace

Thanks for the input Hawk,
But I tend to fish my jigs very aggresively,so I need to steer them sometimes,and with a slider it pulls the jig out of the....strike zone.

when I fish a slider for tide water fish and springers I'll fish my bait-caster,just because of the reason you mentioned.

nice going Saints........viks are sooo sad....Os

Thanks everyone for the good tips, I love bobber fishing when I find a good section of water for it. Usually tie my bobbers fixed. Have tried using a rubber band for a float stop but it usually does not make it more then a few casts through the eyes of the rod. Is there something else that can be used for a float stop in pools that would require a leader longer then a fixed float can accommodate.