Q: When your throwing a spoon and a fish nails it..and I mean NAILS it...proceeds to rip off about 60 yds. of line in the opposite direction, boils the water, then immediately turns around and heads right at you...then, heads off downriver...(and sadly then tosses the *&^% spoon).

I never got a look at the fish...but could that be a steelhead? Anyone ever see a Dolly act like that?

Q#2: I must have missed this in Herzog's seminar...but,...when a fish hits a spoon should you try to set the hook..further? On this fish today I had just honed the hook before that cast..the hook was razor sharp, yet, the fish was able to toss it after about 2 minutes. So, do you try to set the hook deeper, or just hope ya got him good when he hit the spoon?

Thanks in advance for the answers!

Mike

When they freight-train it like that, setting the hook any more when the fish runs will likely break your line. When it finishes its run, thumb the spool and give it a good rip.

Doesn't sound like a Dolly to me.

Did you have a barrel between the spoon and the hook? If the hook can't spin around freely the fish will twist the hook loose from his mouth. If you did then I'd say that's just fishing. You have a memory and a moment of excitement and the "one that got away". The most challenging part was getting him to hit.

Dan,

Didn't act like any Dolly I've ever caught..but had to ask. I have caught them (Dolly's) up to 6 lb.+, but thought maybe the big horses acted different. Next time when he stops I'll try to "re-set" the hook.

This fish hit it once...lightly, and I missed him (or her?). Sent another cast the same distance and let it drift downriver with that slow "thump-thump" action that Herzog suggested...then Whamo!

The hit alone was worth the effort...sent my adrenaline sky high!

stlhead: No, no barrel between the hook and spoon. I had attached a Gami siwash to the eyelet, no barrel in-between. Sounds like I'll be reworking some spoons...

Don't think I would have broke the line. I was using my 8'6" med. lami, Okuma Inspira 40 and 20# PP line tied directly to a swivel snap, then the #4 Blue Fox chrome/pink spoon. I do believe the rod would snap before the line would.

Mike

Mike.
If that was a Dolly, then it was a bigun. I measured out a 27" Dolly I caught in the Queets two winters ago and it did noting like that.
The mistake I see most make when they lose fish after it turns tail is slack line.
Some folks also have the tendancey to drop the rod tip without keeping adiquate tension, and try to pump the fish too much.
This especially spells disaster with barbless hooks.
In the salt where we're fishing barbless 100% of the time and the best method for landing an energetic, hooked salmon is to keep the rod handle at a 60-90 degree angle (depending on the action of the rod ) to the plain of the line, and just crank. Let the rod action do the lifting until that fish is obviously tiring. Some like to try to kinda point the rod at the fish, and that can lead to loosing it.
Since most SH rods are a faster action than what we use for the salt, this technique isn't as effective. But if someone's consistantly looses fish, and I see them pumping the rod even when the hot fish are going nuts, I always make this suggestion.
Maybe, try to pretend that your always using barbless hooks, even if/when you're not. Keep tension.
Sorry to hear about that. It happens to all of us sometimes. Guess that's part of why it's called fishing.

J.D.

Hey there, Mr. Mike! Finally did it, eh?

Mike -
While from your discription it sound as if you had tangled with Mr. Ironhead it could have been a large Dolly - I have had some treat that cruelly or worst.

Regarding the lost of the fish - after much experimentation for me a second hook set seem to provide little benefit and often resulted in a lost fish (broken leader, pull the hook out etc). You didn't mention the size of the hook you are using. With most steelehad size spoons i generally used 1/0s however when in doubt I perfer larger to smaller.

I'm sure that the fish got that old heart a beating. Bottom line somedays it is just the fish's turn to win.

Tight lines
Smalma

Don't know if this would have made a difference, but I've been doing this for a while, and Herzog swears by it - to bend your siwash over and down. Put an offset on the siwash and bend the point end of the hook down and in, so it's no longer parallel with the shaft.

Herzog also swears by bending the barb down a bit (if you were using a barbed hook), so there is better penetration.

Odds are, you just had a bit of bad luck and hooked the fish either in a really hard place where the hook didn't penetrate, or a really software place that eventually tore out.

What's that old saying? Better to have hooked and lost than not hooked at all?

Hey Parker,
Can you post a picture of the bent Siwash? I have bent mine in the past and was just curious if I was doing it like the experts.

Just to add one thing this: For spinners, If you offset the point of a siwash make sure the point of the siwash is "leading the way" (so to speak). In other words the point of the hook is spinning into instead of away from the fish.

Howdy Parker,

Yep...did that to all my spoons (and larger spinners with single siwash hooks) right after the Herzog seminar.

In fact, had replaced that hook yesterday am (1/0 Gami) and did the bend and tweak thing before it ever hit the water.

I believe this was a territorial fish, as he had swiped at the spoon the cast before I got him hooked. He probably just wanted that spoon out of his "turf" and the hook didn't get a good set, and I also might have had the drag a bit too tight...shoulda just let him run instead of trying to turn him.

Not to worry...I got a hook in one, and that is a hurdle. Next step is get on on the beach!

Mike

I threw spoons all day 2 day with no avial except one whitfeish! O well i am hooked i love the feeling of the spoon working, When the sppons swings below you, and you want to reel up is there nay reason to reel slowly if you can clearly see no fish around it? Thanks guys, and i am hooked on spoon fishin!

Howdy Brat,

While I have zippo experience with metalheads, I can tell you that on several occasions decent Dolly Varden's have hammered the spoon within a few feet of the end of the rod after a slow retrieve from downriver.

FWIW, I work the thing all the way to the end of the rod, or until I can see it clearly and can tell if there is a follower or not. Dolly's are fun to wrestle with, especially if nothing else is hitting, and I always get a kick out of them when a smaller one (14-18") makes a bid to-do out of thrashing the water trying to get that spoon within a couple feet from me as I stand in the river.

Wakes ya up!

Piper: I am hoping to find a pic of the 1/0 siwash with the barrel swivel installed between the hook and the ring. Anyone?

Mike

Sorry Mike, but my photography of spoons has failed.

Do most of you run a barrel swivel between the hook and the split ring? Seems kinda not necessary.

I run a barrel swivel to a split ring at the top of the swivel, but just attach the 1/0 siwash to a split ring at the base of the swivel.

I tie the spoons directly on to my main line, as I don't trust snap swivels. If anything, they will be the failure point.

I missed Herzog's seminar, so I probably have no clue if what I am doing is correct.

Parker....That pic of the spoon shows exactly how the weighted Canadian Wonder spoons came right out of the package.....and, for what it's worth, my personal all time favorite spoon. I prefered the brass/silver two tone as well.

Are ya listening, Mike?

By all means strongly resist the the temptation to "reel in the drift gear quick for another cast" thing. There WILL come a time (or times) when a fish will follow and seemingly come out of nowhere to take that "hanging" spoon below you. I have seen this many, many times and it is always a surprise and often a rude one at that. Just happened to me a few weeks ago. If I wasn't anticipating it I would have thought my spoon was stuck in the rocks below me. It hit only a couple of feet off the bank after very sloooooowly working the spoon back to me.
By the way, in this situation you must be very careful not to set the hook too hard or you can easily pull the lure straight out of their mouth. It's hard to resist but in this sitaution I try to wait till they have turned before I stick them. Kinda like plugs.
Steelhead are not the most cooperative or predictable fish though, so I'm of the opinion that sometimes losing them just comes with the territory.