A tip - lure fishing and snags

Fishing lures on rivers is a risk in itself. Rivers are always full of snags - mostly branches brought down on a flood and losing lures in such places is an occupational hazard. I could, of course choose light lures which don't get down so deep or fish them on a quick retrieve to try and keep them out of the snags but that defeats the object really. Snags hold fish and if you want to catch consistently it's better to fish close to the snags - or right in them!

In order to keep my lures but still fish in amongst the snags I've been using a new trick that's proved very successful. I've replaced all the split rings on the hooks of my jerkbaits with Pro Rigger 50lb bs split rings. This means that every time I get snagged, a steady pull with 100lb Power Pro will break the split ring and leave the hook in the snag. It's working a treat, I've been snagged up lots of times but haven't lost a lure on a snag all season so far.

tattygun wrote:Heard it before, the flipside to it is that if the fish can get leverage on the lure (say a loose treble gets snagged it the net) the split rings can twist open easily leaving a treble in the pike. I'll be sticking with the strongest split rings possible and deal with the fact losing lures is all part of the game!

Thinner gauge hooks would are the best bet or look into a lure retriever

healdy wrote:Here is something i read earlier today - i thought other members may find it a useful tip and applicable to their lure fishing;

Fishing lures on rivers is a risk in itself. Rivers are always full of snags - mostly branches brought down on a flood and losing lures in such places is an occupational hazard. I could, of course choose light lures which don't get down so deep or fish them on a quick retrieve to try and keep them out of the snags but that defeats the object really. Snags hold fish and if you want to catch consistently it's better to fish close to the snags - or right in them!

In order to keep my lures but still fish in amongst the snags I've been using a new trick that's proved very successful. I've replaced all the split rings on the hooks of my jerkbaits with Pro Rigger 50lb bs split rings. This means that every time I get snagged, a steady pull with 100lb Power Pro will break the split ring and leave the hook in the snag. It's working a treat, I've been snagged up lots of times but haven't lost a lure on a snag all season so far.

Hope that is useful to somebody.

Healdy