Just got home from fishing my favorite April Zipperchuck. Caught and released a couple of standard 8 lb. hatchery bucks then hooked into a major Ike. This buck looked to be north of 18lbs. and peeled off 50 yds. of line before I could say Holy ***t! This fish took me to school, ran under a log and then up to a root wad where the inevitable happened. This particular river is small and it was running pretty shallow. I was geared up for the hatchery fish - 10 lb. main, 8 lb. leader, 1/0 hook - 1024C. Very comfortable for throwing a few hundred casts. So how do you gear up?

The way I gear up is: 12 main line and 10-12 leader, I only drift fish. But if I hook into a big fish it makes the fight a lot more fun, and tough

How long is your rod?,what line class is it rated for? I dont think its the line thats screwing you and if it is then you need to get a better Quality of line. One time fishing on an unamed river fishing for silvers I hooked a late chrome bright king pushing 20+. I figured I'd snagged him because the "bite" felt to weird, like he was just moving out of the way. Plus my rod was vibrating to much. After a 20 min. battle I landed him 100yds down stream. I'd snagged him in the bunghole. I was using 10 lbs. main line and an 8 lbs. leader. Since I knew that he was a large fish and he was way out in the middle of the river I used a technique that was pioneered on the Cowlitz river at Barrier Damn: I backed off the pressure a little and ran like a bat outta hell down river until the fish was at a 45 degree angle upstream from me, then I reeled down a little and started working him downstream a little but he blazed down river again so I had to run WAY down river again and reel down again and after two more of these sprints down river I got him within 20-25 ft. of me were I could really sock the rod pressure to him,finally landing him. My rod is a bill herzog 10' lamiglass. its a stout stick thats got a nice taper on it to allow me to still fish lite lines and finese the fish in. Something else to keep in mind is line stretch. the more line you have out, the more likely you are to break the fish off if it makes sudden runs or jerks. you have to loosen your drag up when you start getting excessive amounts of line out. To solve that problem you could find a reel with direct drive so that your thumb is the drag and you can conciously adjust your drag as you please. The only three reels that I know of that are direct drive and are good quality reels are: 1950's Pflueger Supremes, 5500 D/5000 C 1970's Ambassador(Abu Garcia), 70's South Bend. I own a Pflueger Supreme and an Amassador and will not fish with anything else. But they are pricy if you can actually find them. Knots are also a VERY important part off keeping a fish on. The Rivers Inlet Knot is by far one of the best knots you can use which retains 100% or more of your original line strength. I own Bill Herzogs knot tying book that I got free from my subscription to Salmon Trout Steelheader, and it has all sorts of knots in it and he even tells you what % strength they retain from your original line strength. Of course sometimes if your not holding your tounge right or didn't wear the right pair of boxers that day, the fish is just going to break you off no matter what you do I hope this helps answer your question.

But for really sockin' the pressure to the fish I'd say get a longer rod thats still rated for 12-20 lbs. test line.

For both summer and winter steelhead I run 8 pound main and 8 pound leader line with #2 being the biggest but most the time I use #4 steelie hook for steelhead fishing. I use an Abu 3500 reel on a 8.5 foot custom built Rogue Rod rated for 8 to 17 pound line.

9 or 10 ft rod. allways a rivers inlet knot or another doubled knot. 12 lb main. 10 lb leader for winter and 8lb leader for summer. many drift fishermen like to use a stiffer line for bottom bouncin. super limps, while being much more sensitive, can get abraison from the bottom much faster than stiffer line. many say that they dont need that much feel in the line, just enough to detect the bite, and would rather have the extra line protection. I am not sure if its true, i usually stick with maxima ultra green or ande.

Hey eddie, I think that you should just take me with you the next time you head down to your zipperchuck. I'll study your technique and give you any advice I can offer

Sounds like your geared up right already, sometimes you'll just hook one of those fish that will flat violate you, good times I say