Thread: Problem Landing Fish with Heavy Weights

When we trolled for Salmon in Oregon we used a sliding sleeve clip ahead of the swivel. Our weight was on a drop line approximately 12" long attached to the sliding sleeve.
This allowed the weight to move freely up the main line without putting stress on the leader and hook. We used much lighter line on the dropper weight in case it got tangled in a snag while fighting the fish. (We were fishing the coastal rivers which had lots of snags)
If you aren't rigging this was perhaps it would help.
PS. If you don't want the extra line on the weight you can attach the weight directly to the sliding sleeve. It has a snap on it just like a swivel.

The same problem applies when pushing crankbaits. You dont get a good hook set with the 3oz weight above the bait. At my local lake, Okatibbee, we can keep crappie shorter than the 12 inch requirements on the big 4. With a crankbait having treble hooks, I rarely loose a fish until I try to lift him out of the water. You may try sliding a treble hook onto your jig hook with a small piece of rubber on the jig hook as a keeper.

Slow steady preasure will help too. Another thing, I never use 3oz for jigs, always use 2 oz on jigs even at 1.5mph when pulling cranks. I think the lighter 2oz helps too.

I have found when I can do it right, I bring weight to top of water then try to get net under fish before weight starts swinging around creating all that slack. Also you might try shortening the leader from weight to jig. They hit rr’s tied about 8 inches from a weight. So I have questioned in my mind why it wouldn’t work same way power trolling.

I backed off the 3oz to 2oz for that reason and more. I have to let out more line but its still a short distance. It makes turning your boat around a lot easier.

Last week we fished roadrunners under 2 oz weights and to get the speed and depth we needed to entice bites we had 30+ feet of line out. Seems easier to pull cranks at that. Not sure if I had something off somewhere but it was the only way we could spur any action.

Originally Posted by Mk1848

Last week we fished roadrunners under 2 oz weights and to get the speed and depth we needed to entice bites we had 30+ feet of line out. Seems easier to pull cranks at that. Not sure if I had something off somewhere but it was the only way we could spur any action.

Somebody used to sell a long, slim trolling weight that was designed to have less resistance in the water. I thought it was Wally Marshall but I don't see it on his website. Something like that, if you could find some, might help get those baits down without so much line out.

Originally Posted by BigKyd

Somebody used to sell a long, slim trolling weight that was designed to have less resistance in the water. I thought it was Wally Marshall but I don't see it on his website. Something like that, if you could find some, might help get those baits down without so much line out.

We were using regular egg sinkers. I’d prefer to fish from the front of the boat because it is much easier to turn and go right back over a spot, provided the baits are running relatively vertical. I think we will just tie the crankbaits back on and go to the back though. We were trying to pick up a better ratio of keepers but we still caught about the same number of keeper fish with maybe a just little bit less short fish.

Thanks for the tip, though. I may look around and see what’s out there.