06-03-2019, 03:08 PM
"I have had one fish break me this year. It got into some slabs of concrete and hung me up."
[#0000FF]Snags and sharp edges on bottom structure are about the only valid reason for losing a well-hooked catfish. That is why the strength and type of your main line is sometimes not as important as having a strong abrasion-resistant leader. Or...minimizing knots by tying your hook directly to your main line...as you have standardized. However, if an experienced old cat knows how to do the two granny knots and a half hitch around any available obstacles it doesn't matter what you are using.[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF]
[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF]We don't have quite as much potential for snaggy stuff in Utah Lake as you do in the Bear River. But the bigger cats all seem well versed in scooting across the bottom and finding any hump, bump or rock pile around which they can catch your line. There are a few spots around the lake with rock ledges or accumulations of rough volcanic residue that will cut through anything but stainless wire. And I'm sure that in their early schooling years our kitties were all given the GPS numbers for them and instructions on how to use them.[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF]
[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF]What do I use? Mostly 14# Nanofil main line. I tie it to a strong swivel with a 6 wrap improved clinch knot...after running the line twice through the end of the swivel. Never had a break at that point. Then I knot on a 3' length of Silver Thread Excalibur 25# cofilament. I use the same improved clinch knot setup on both the business end of the swivel and for attaching my hooks. Again...never a knot failure. And from my float tube I cannot break either the line or the leader in the event of a terminal snag. I have to position directly over the snag and cut the main line.[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF]
[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF]Over time we all develop our own personal preferences. And that is good. Fishing anything with confidence is always more productive than wishy-washy bait dunking...with little hope of either hooking or landing a fish. But the wrong time to discover you din't get it right is when you lose a monster fish...that you should have landed. We all lose fish, but it should never be for the wrong reasons...angler error.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
[#0000FF]Snags and sharp edges on bottom structure are about the only valid reason for losing a well-hooked catfish. That is why the strength and type of your main line is sometimes not as important as having a strong abrasion-resistant leader. Or...minimizing knots by tying your hook directly to your main line...as you have standardized. However, if an experienced old cat knows how to do the two granny knots and a half hitch around any available obstacles it doesn't matter what you are using.[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF]
[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF]We don't have quite as much potential for snaggy stuff in Utah Lake as you do in the Bear River. But the bigger cats all seem well versed in scooting across the bottom and finding any hump, bump or rock pile around which they can catch your line. There are a few spots around the lake with rock ledges or accumulations of rough volcanic residue that will cut through anything but stainless wire. And I'm sure that in their early schooling years our kitties were all given the GPS numbers for them and instructions on how to use them.[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF]
[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF]What do I use? Mostly 14# Nanofil main line. I tie it to a strong swivel with a 6 wrap improved clinch knot...after running the line twice through the end of the swivel. Never had a break at that point. Then I knot on a 3' length of Silver Thread Excalibur 25# cofilament. I use the same improved clinch knot setup on both the business end of the swivel and for attaching my hooks. Again...never a knot failure. And from my float tube I cannot break either the line or the leader in the event of a terminal snag. I have to position directly over the snag and cut the main line.[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF]
[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF]Over time we all develop our own personal preferences. And that is good. Fishing anything with confidence is always more productive than wishy-washy bait dunking...with little hope of either hooking or landing a fish. But the wrong time to discover you din't get it right is when you lose a monster fish...that you should have landed. We all lose fish, but it should never be for the wrong reasons...angler error.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]