Marlim or Winchester?

[ccsykes]

Pick which one they look like and I can tell you how to rig them. The biggest fish is a mackeral and is probably about 12" long, the smallest thinest to the right of the mackeral is a ballyhoo (maybe 6-8"), and the other type is a mullet, and no, not a haircut. There are 3 different sizes of each type except for mackeral. They would be too big to put in the picture I guess.

 

[4ked Horn]

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WOW, 10/0, that is impressive. I would use those live baiting for marlin with a 5lb tuna.

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Like I said, they were given to me. I think they are a bit large as well. I wanted to try These in 10/0 which are not anywhere near as big as the 10/0 circle hooks but they are $2.00 a piece. Naw.

This is a smelt. It would be most like the one to the right of the mackerel in the picture you posted.

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Do you want your bait just twirling or drifting in the current, or do u want it to swim? I take it from what you said, there is not a real need for the fish to look alive, correct me if I am wrong though. Also, tell me if you need the hook tip inside the bait. Are there a lot of things to get snagged on or a lot of grass to get caught in?


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Sturgeon may be bottomfeeders but they are not garbage eaters. They should have as natural a presentation as possible. We normally bait the smelt with the tail to the hook eye and the head free to be swallowed first since that is the way they are naturally consumed. We use a fine thread to tie the hook tight to the smelt so the hook point and taste are less detectable. I don't think the fish must look alive because their favorite food, according to what I've heard, are trout morts (mortalities from the hatcheries).

As far as snags go we always have vegetation floating down stream but the bottoms range from bare rock to sand to mud and of course underwater plants. Mostly sand and mud though. If it matters, the sturgeon are primarily scent feeders and they use their barbels (whiskers) as well to locate the food. I dont think the action of the bait would matter much beyond its helping with scent dispersal.

 

[4ked Horn]

You know Al the mullet has been around since the middle ages and is still in style today with certain, um, women. It is a hair classic.

Wouldn't catch me dead with one though.

 

[ccsykes]

Do you ever use dead bait or is it all alive? Live bait adds a new twist to the situation. How hardy are those baits? Do they stay alive a long time or do you change them everytime they die?

 

[4ked Horn]

They come pickled in a jar. They are fairly well dead. I'm not sure but I don't think we can use live bait other than worms and grubs and the like for fishing in Idaho.

 

[ccsykes]

4ked Horn
Buying bait in a jar, now that is interesting. Also, it being pickled is interesting. The bait we use, if it is dead, is frozen, vacumm sealed, and maybe if you get the good bait, it was washed in brine before being packaged. But since your bait is dead, that does make a difference. Do you actually put the hook in the bait or tie it to the bait? When I am fishing with dead bait for grouper or stuff like that we will run the circle hooks into the left side near the tail, run it all the way through and pull the eye out of the other side so that the line is actually touching the fish. Then we will make one more pass, just a litt further foward and angle down so that the hook comes out near the anus. Next, insert the point of the hook into the body cavity. You will have to take a piece of thread and sew the eye to the bottom of the bait. When done, the hook will be inside the bait. This will keep it from snagging anything on the bottom. It will require a little more patience, but when the fish has the bait in his mouth tearing it apart, you will get a better hook-up. We use this around wrecks where exposed hooks are impossible to fish with. If you want me to show you how to rig this, I will take pictures and send to you.

 

[bcd]

That smelt looks alot like a big shinner or a giant minnow. Kinda like we use for rock fish (Striper or Striped Bass).

 

[ccsykes]

Hey, I got it, a smelt is a live stretch lure. Bryan D, you should know what that is. By the way, did you make it to Cape Lookout for the stripers this year? We went one time and caught 3 over 35lbs and every time we went after that we didn't have a bite. It was not because the bait was not there, we were snagging 6" pogies, but the stripers had left and gone north after that warm snap we had.

 

[4ked Horn]

We run the hook through the tail and slide the tail down to the hook eye. Then we run the hook through again up by the head. That is why we are using the long shank hooks. We try to get the hook bend to end up right at the gill area. Then we wrap about 2 feet of thread around the smelt and the exposed hook tip and shank to draw the two close together. It also helps keep the squaw fish from ripping the bait off the hook and helps the pickled fish survive more casts if you have to try several times to hit the hole you are aiming for. Sturgeon like to hang out in depressions in the river floor. The deeper the better.

I would like to see a picture of your rigging idea. The fact that the circle hooks are not a similar shape to the smelt is what has me perplexed. Sorta like hiding a large keychain in a hotdog. I just don't see it.

 

[ccsykes]

I knew those pickled fish would be soft. I do not know if it would matter what kind of fish you used for bait, but if you could order small ballyhoo, they would probably hold up better than would fish soaked in brine. The look really similar to what you showed me, and I would guess they may work as well. They are a little easier to rig probably because they will be a lot tougher.

 

[7Rumloader]

The hijacking just keeps on going and going and going! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Don't take it the wrong way I'm just poking fun at you guys. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif It amazes me at how quick this thread went from a joke about a long range 30/30 to a serious talk about fishing for big fish! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Thats a 180 for sure!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[4ked Horn]

3 questions? Where in the heck would a guy in Idaho order ballyhoo? Are they good and stinky? Are they expensive?

Also did you notice my edit. By the time I made it your post was up.

 

[4ked Horn]

It's the only reason I have not felt bad about the hijack. The 30-30 was a bogus post gone weird so what the heck.

Once I learn about this new rig idea I will let it close out. But now I know a good person to ask in the general discussion section or by email about catching big fish.

I thank the moderators for being leinient on this one. It is sort of refreshing and very interesting to me and I don't think I will go looking for a forum on the subject for just a few questions.

 

[7Rumloader]

Yea at first I thought one of them was gonna have a say about the hijacking but probably figured what the heck it was bogus in the first place so let it go for a while and see how far it gets! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif