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Posts: 406
Location: Stones throw away...finally!! | So I tried something a little unconventional today and am wondering if anyone else has tried it with any success. Went out this morning and hooked up my sucker with flourocarbon through the nose ( no hooks ) off one side of the boat and a standard quick strike on the other. My thought process was that if I got a strike on the hookless rig that I would just let her swallow it, finess her in, cut the flourocarbon and pull it out of the sucker while the musky gets a free meal...talk about no stress to the fish. Well, to sum up the morning, the hookless rig saw all the action, 4-0 over the standard rig. It didn't matter whether it was the inside or outside rod, the fished loved the presentation. My question to those that have perhaps had any luck doing this is what is the trick. The first fish, I waited about 5 min and tried to finesse her in. She spit it out near the boat. I gave the second fish about 10 min and same thing. The third fish never saw it as it dropped it early and the fourth one, had it on for nearly 30 min before she let the fish go. We did end up getting a 30" pike into the net on the Sam rig, so I know it can work, but looking for some pointers to up my percentage. Am i finessing too much or waiting too long? Suckers are too expensive to not catch fish with them, but I think there is something to the presentation as the QS rig got no love. What am I doing wrong? |
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Posts: 99
| Shoo...ain't never heard any sheet like that...cool though. |
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Posts: 271
Location: davis,IL | Check out Larry Dahlberg,I've seen a couple of his shows where he has done exactly this same routine and caught the fish. |
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Posts: 716
| Larry hustles em in...let em swallow and quick to the net before they realize whats up |
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Posts: 968
Location: N.FIB | somebody up north said the same thing to me yrs ago,the guys would let the muskie swallow the sucker and reel them in slow,not sure how long they waited since I didn`t go into detail about it since I figured I would never try it. |
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Posts: 61
Location: Anoka | We have done it before on lake harriot in minneapolis a differnt number of times with and without quick strike rigs only at night. When that fish nails that thing if it dose not feel any hooks it isnt letting that meal go easily so we slowly drag them in they dont normaly let go until they see that net and sometimes we get them most times we dont. We started trying it after we were having fish come and hit our suckers boat side and we could see the fish didnt have the hooks in its mouth and instead of letting them swallow it down we would just start pulling them right in and got a few that way. Good times though catching a muskie without even having to hook them. |
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Posts: 22
Location: Minnesota | kinda loose the fun of the fight? I like the battle. Cool idea tho |
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Posts: 1516
| Having caught one muskie sucker fish I'm no authority, but the fish caught had a firm grip on the sucker and would not let go till after he was in the net. Didn't need to remove hooks cause he wasn't hooked. He fought pretty good, we didn't slowly reel him in. |
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Posts: 3240
Location: Racine, Wi | Muskie03 - 10/9/2012 6:38 AM
kinda loose the fun of the fight? I like the battle. Cool idea tho
It's a completly different type of battle. Very intense though as you have to concentrate on every little movement you and the fish do and have to finness the fish at times, but read it's reactions as that's when you get them in the bag (referring to, when you have them close, and you apply a bit more pressure to turn them, and as they roll, you get the net where they will be going, and they swin into the net.....sometimes. )  |
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Posts: 97
Location: Milwaukee, WI | Had a small one on this weekend, maybe 34", that grabbed a sucker crosswise and had no hooks in her at all. Fought it for a few minutes and it was a blast, even though I ultimately lost it at the net. Due to its size, I wasn't really too concerned, but I wonder what I would have done differently with a larger fish. I'm certain I would have paid a bit more attention to getting it into the net. It was a totally different type of fight, and I think with some practice, I could land as many as I do on quick strike rigs. The question is whether I have the patience to lose a few (or more) gaining the necessary experience. |
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Posts: 24
| Eaaase them up. keep your free spool on and only ease them when they want to be eased up. And move your boat as close to the fish as possible so you have the shortest distance possible to move the fish. |
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Posts: 2753
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | New club-> The Muskie Whisper's _ "We bring them to the net without hooks!"
Have fun!
Al |
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Posts: 1106
Location: Muskegon Michigan | Yup, the no strike rig. Use cotton string for leader. They digest it . Use a soft downrigger rod. Its a hoot. |
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Posts: 716
| Here's a question for you...if your just "taking a pet sucker for a walk" with no hook...are you fishing. In other words does it count as a line in the water in respect to regulations ? |
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Location: Minneapolis | I would guess it still counts as a line as it doesn't say a line has to have a hook on the end??
"Anglers may use only one line during the open water season and two through the ice (other than on designated trout lakes and streams) unless otherwise noted." |
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| if you're letting a musky swallow a smaller sucker, doesn't the gullet then take all the abuse when you're fighting, even if you're easing it in? what about a sucker that gets swallowed headfirst then gets turned around in the belly as the angler applies pressure to get the fish to the net?
aside from removing all the fun things about sucker fishing from the equation (hookset, fight, etc) it sounds like this technique could easily rupture or lacerate the stomach and a few days later the fish is dead, i can't see this being much better for the fish than a single hook swallow rig. just wondering if anyone has considered any of this while using this technique and what your thoughts were. |
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| You are fishing, not sure who you are trying to kid. You are trying to put a fish in the net with a line/rod. I don't think cutting the line after the fish swallows the sucker would be very good for that fish. Leave line in the stomach??? |
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Posts: 61
Location: Anoka | When have done this in the past we dont let the fish swallow the sucker however I only use suckers 16" or bigger it takes the fish a bit longer to swallow than say a 10 to 12" sucker so we just pull them in long before they swallow but I would agree if a fish completly swallows the sucker pulling it in cant be to good for the fish. |
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Posts: 3240
Location: Racine, Wi | I don't think you're pulling the sucker out of the gullet in most cases unless you really horse them. The fish is just regurgitating the sucker in these cases. Can't be anyworse then when fighting a fish and they spit up whatever they ate last. I honestly don't think this is an issue. Can't be any worse then having a 7/0 stuffed in the back of their throat. |
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Posts: 406
Location: Stones throw away...finally!! | dober - 10/10/2012 11:48 AM
You are fishing, not sure who you are trying to kid. You are trying to put a fish in the net with a line/rod. I don't think cutting the line after the fish swallows the sucker would be very good for that fish. Leave line in the stomach???
Perhaps I didn't explain very well. We loop the long length of flourocarbon through the suckers nostril and back up to the swivel tied to the line. Essentially a 2 foot loop. If we bring the fish in and it has swallowed it, we cut one side of the loop and pull the line back out thought the nose of the sucker, thus removing the line and letting the fish keep the sucker. Free meal for the muskie and we simply re-tie the line and we are ready for the next fish. Don't see any harm to the fish in that. Never intended on pulling the sucker from the fishes gullet. What would I do with a dead sucker anyhow? |
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Posts: 537
Location: Gilberts IL/Rhinelander WI | I thought you explained it just fine, sounds awesome! |
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Posts: 121
Location: Plymouth IA | i have to try that one  |
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| have been saying the same thing since watching larrys show  |
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Posts: 406
Location: Stones throw away...finally!! | After trying both, hooks work way better...just sayin. |
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| Like someone else said, putting pressure on the gullet or stomach while trying to get the fish to the boat doesnt seem like a great idea. What exactly are you trying to accomplish anyway? Quick strike rigs when used properly have no lasting effect on a fish. If you are that concerned with harming the fish, then sell all your rods and tackle, and go find a tree to hug. |
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| Could your post be any more hypocritical? You say you are concerned about putting pressure on the fishes stomach and gullet but then finish the post off by saying go hug a tree if you are concerned with harming a fish. LMAO Fishing suckers with no hooks is another technique. In fact, I've found that hookless suckers generally get bit more often and the % caught vs. bites is just as good if not better.
To the OP, what are you basing your opinion on that hook suckers are better than non-hook suckers? A few days of fishing? |
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Posts: 406
Location: Stones throw away...finally!! | We tried it for several outings and did find that the hookless rig produced 5-1 bite percentage next to a hooked sucker. I am sure my technique needs some help in regards to the hookless setup, but out of 12 or so bites on a hookless rig, was only able to get one 30" pike to the bag. There are certainly benefits to the presentation when compared to a QS rig, but my "hooking" percentage is than favorable. I would be interested in trying it again, but need some "coaching" as to how to be more successful. |
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Posts: 265
Location: McGuire AFB, NJ | This thread is great |
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| I've caught many, many w/o hooks. You can nurse them or you can bring 'em up asap. Nursing can take a long time. I like to see how many I can encounter. I really only care to touch the largest ones. Coolest thing is if you wind up yanking it out of their mouth, if you quickly get it back in the water they'll often whack it again. IMO the most fun is to yank it out on purpose and see how many times they'll come back and nail it with in full view!
Absolutely no question about getting more bites. We had a three day run this season where 37 were encountered!
In regards to harming the fish, there is no question in my mind that it's less harmful and poses less risk than any of the methods involving hooks.
I say this because of numerous recaptures of fish caught in the hookless method.
L
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Posts: 9
| We have used suckers with no hooks fairly often with good results. Success rate is going to be much better early in the spring or late in the fall when water temperatures are lower.
The best thing to do is to put absolutely as little pressure on the fish as possible., Specifically, just very slowly reel them in. They don't even know they are hooked and just follow in like a dog on a leash. Obviously you need a good net man, that will get her in the net the first shot. If they start fighting your odds are going to drop quickly. Much tougher to pull off in the summer when metabolisms are higher.
Try it, you will like it. |
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Posts: 371
Location: Dixon, IL | no hook might save musky but what about wire? It still kill musky.....? |
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Sucker fishing...no hooks