riverman wrote:
On Mar 27, 6:57 pm, "Peter A. Collin"
wrote:

Your story reminds me of a trip I made to Quebec several years ago for
trophy brook trout. I was using streamers with large hooks, and kept
losing fish like you - the hook just kept pulling out. It was
exasperating and I never figured out what I was doing wrong.

Peter Collin


Nice to commiserate; I feel your pain. ;-)

I'm not very acquainted with big fish, so I'd like to hear from some
of the better catchers about the difference in setting the hook for a
big fish vs a smaller one. Do their beaks get much more bony and tough
as they get larger? How hard to folks set the hook if they are in a
region with 5+ pounders?

I don't claim to be a "better catcher" of big fish than anyone else, but
I think you're on to something. Big trout have tougher, harder mouths
than small trout, IMO. My suspicion is that you were playing the fish
too gently in the beginning, even for 5x tippet. On the other hand,
maybe you were just unlucky that day. Everyone's had infuriating runs of
missed strikes and pull-outs.

When I hook up on a big fish I usually try to "set the hook" on its
first run.

Great TR, riverman. You were snakebit on that trip, but it sounds like
you still had fun.

--
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