06-06-2020, 03:02 PM
As far as snags, learn to adjust. There are far enough options to make whatever adjustment is needed to meet any situation you are in.
If you are always getting snags, you are fishing to close to the bottom. If you are always losing those rigs, you are rigging wrong.
If you are fishing spinners you have to consider weight, blade shape and retrieve to adjust the depth lures run. A willow blade has less resistance so runs deeper than a colorado blade. Bigger blades have more resistance and run shallower. Beads can also effect depth by how heavy they are. When using sinkers, use 3 way swivels so the sinkers hang below the rig and are first to snag. Use tin split shot strung up the sinker line so if it snags it is usually just the bottom one or two that slide off when you pull tight on the snag. Use lighter line on the sinker line so it breaks first if snagged saving the rig.
Use bobber rigs, everything from water filled to slip bobbers including fly line bobbers. I love slip bobbers in rivers. I can use all manner of bait and jigs and flies under them, they cast great and I can adjust the depth of the bait in an instant to fit changing conditions. I can also float them in close to snags, often getting the strike just as I decide to pull it out before getting caught. Bobbers can be placed at different places on the line to get different presentations as well. Small foam floats have been used in front of and behind spinner blades for a long time. The float being close to the bait and behind the sinker can help to hold the hook up off bottom a bit to prevent snags.
Fish love snaggy areas. They have the most cover and current breaks. You have learn to fish them. by thinking about what is happening at the end of the line...not your end. Is the lure snagging, is it running 3' off the bottom and out of the zone? Is the bottom sandy, freestone, boulders, shale? Where are the current seams that form rest spots and eddies that swirl food past.
Practice, practice, practice. Pay attention to the fish and the river, figure out what is going on first, then decide how to rig. Are the fish shallow, deep, on the move, resting, feeding? (that's the best, when you can see them feeding) then figure out how you are going to get that instinct strike or temper strike or whatever it takes. Don't run all over willy-nilly. Find places you know have fish and fish them. learn them, be the guy that is seen there more than any other and it will come together for you. Keep a log so you know, "Labor day, fish thick, feeding october caddis, streamers swung through deep pools, red, orange, lime. Not purple, black, red" In a few years you will have it down.
If you are always getting snags, you are fishing to close to the bottom. If you are always losing those rigs, you are rigging wrong.
If you are fishing spinners you have to consider weight, blade shape and retrieve to adjust the depth lures run. A willow blade has less resistance so runs deeper than a colorado blade. Bigger blades have more resistance and run shallower. Beads can also effect depth by how heavy they are. When using sinkers, use 3 way swivels so the sinkers hang below the rig and are first to snag. Use tin split shot strung up the sinker line so if it snags it is usually just the bottom one or two that slide off when you pull tight on the snag. Use lighter line on the sinker line so it breaks first if snagged saving the rig.
Use bobber rigs, everything from water filled to slip bobbers including fly line bobbers. I love slip bobbers in rivers. I can use all manner of bait and jigs and flies under them, they cast great and I can adjust the depth of the bait in an instant to fit changing conditions. I can also float them in close to snags, often getting the strike just as I decide to pull it out before getting caught. Bobbers can be placed at different places on the line to get different presentations as well. Small foam floats have been used in front of and behind spinner blades for a long time. The float being close to the bait and behind the sinker can help to hold the hook up off bottom a bit to prevent snags.
Fish love snaggy areas. They have the most cover and current breaks. You have learn to fish them. by thinking about what is happening at the end of the line...not your end. Is the lure snagging, is it running 3' off the bottom and out of the zone? Is the bottom sandy, freestone, boulders, shale? Where are the current seams that form rest spots and eddies that swirl food past.
Practice, practice, practice. Pay attention to the fish and the river, figure out what is going on first, then decide how to rig. Are the fish shallow, deep, on the move, resting, feeding? (that's the best, when you can see them feeding) then figure out how you are going to get that instinct strike or temper strike or whatever it takes. Don't run all over willy-nilly. Find places you know have fish and fish them. learn them, be the guy that is seen there more than any other and it will come together for you. Keep a log so you know, "Labor day, fish thick, feeding october caddis, streamers swung through deep pools, red, orange, lime. Not purple, black, red" In a few years you will have it down.