What's going on here?

[pbrktrt]

We've had a horrible time with the dipsey's not staying hooked up. They get hammered & are on for a moment then gone. We are running wire line, no snubbers, Flurocarbon leaders, & quality, sharp hooks. Any insight from the pros would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Pat

[fishsniffer]

i would run the snubber myself....might take the shock out of the head shake or strike

[2UNREEL]

The wire doesnt stretch and your rod is probbably all fully loaded up when set so that fish has all the leverage in the world to rip those hooks out.....Snubber it up to add some stretch is what I do.

[1mainiac]

Loosen the drags and add a snubber most people have no idea how much force they are putting on the fish with the leverage added by the rod. Take your rod and hook the line to a pull scale and load it up till the drag lets go and see how hard you are pulling on it. now remember zero stretch so when the fish bangs on it there is no give which rips the hole bigger making it easier to spit the hook.

[Nailer]

Good advice from these guys. Keep drags as loose as you can with out creeping, and loosen your drag before removing it from the rod holder.

Also run your leader off your diver as long as possible.

[Priority1]

The snubbers are important on the wire and super braid Dipsys. The reasons are covered well in the above posts.

The Dipsy is a great tool to add to your spread, but it is easier for a fish to swim at the Dipsy and gain that little bit of slack to get off. The more hardware between the rod and the fish, the easier it is for the fish to come unbuttoned. Keep a lot of bend in the rod and crank like a mad man if the rod goes limp.

[pbrktrt]

Thanks a lot guys. We were thinking along the same lines. I think we will put the short snubbers back in action & see if hookups improve. That is the kind of experienced answers I was hoping for. Thanks again, Pat

[Treblemaker]

A lot of what is said here will help, but some days they just don't hook up good. Saturday we went 15 for 30+ and had less than a .500 average.

The fish were just playing with the flies or missing them. Most were smaller fish that just didn't really ever hook up from what I observed. We switched to Shimano reels for a super smooth drag and quick startup for the wire and did everything right and still lost that many. Even the fish we did manage to land were bigger, and were barely hooked or came off at the net. Friday and Sunday we missed maybe 3 combined on the divers. Heck Friday we were having a hard time getting the riggers to stick. Some days.

[EdB]

Right on, some days they bite good and suck your lure in deep and some days they just slap at them.

[silver one]

add a snubber. The shortest I would go is 8". I run all 10''. usually your dipsey set up with wire is your best Hook to catch ratio. There is no streatch in wire so it sounds like your possibly pulling the hooks right our of the fish. the snubber will help the hook set. When setting your drag you want to let the creek just a little so that if it a big fish hits, it can run with it wile it is still in the rod holder. This is pretty mutch how everyone runs wire as evryone above stated. Good luck.

[salmonquest]

Could you switch to mono leaders. This might add some additional give, but not as much as the snubber.

[pbrktrt]

The snubbers will definately be back in the program this weekend. We did manage to pick up 5 nice kings Sunday but it could have been 9 if the dipsey's would have stayed buttoned up. I'm encouraged by the average size of these early kings & they seem very healthy. It has all the makings of another good season. Thanks again for all the input & advice. Pat

[2UNREEL]

Had issues on wire on Friday hooking up on a brand new plug. Immediately sharpened the hooks and catch rate went to 100%. I have learned the last couple years how dearly important that is on even the newest lures in the box or out of the package. Just My .02

[Legacy]

1. when running spoons and plugs check your hooks and keep them sharp

2. i switched over to running all tournament tied flies last year and it increased my hook ups

3. i run 30# mono leaders 8-10' long (adds a little bit of stretch to your setup)

4. snubbers do their job well when everything else is in order

5. loosen your drags. get your speed right and tighten your drags till they stop clicking.

6. try not to let unexperienced anglers grab the rod and set the hook. Let experience set the hook and get the fish under control before handing the rod over. (ive seen this to many times)

7. but still your gonna loose some fish.

[ELLIOT]

I had a heck of a time with this issue also.

The 10 inch snubbers are the way to go. Keep your drags as loose

as possible. Hope these posts help.

[Yoda]

It's my opinion snubbers are a wast of time, until we start hitting 25+ pound fish (and more than one or 2 a season) you don't need them. Sharpen your hooks and learn how to set your drags. We run only braid & wire for dipies, our riggs are 9 foot firewolf rods with Okuma magda 30's with 50lb spiderwire stealth and 7 foot Talora roller rods with Okuma CV30d's for wire (30#). we started using snubbers the first year and were very disapointed with the hook up to boat ratio, took the snubbers off, made sure the hooks where sharp, played with the drags a bit, and we have never looked back and more than likely never will. take the money your going to spend on the snubbers and buy a couple good hook files. and learn how to use them.