Eaters, or Biters
Fish That Hit, or Fish that Eat?

Part II


September 2, 2008                         Manistee, Michigan

Light Biters, or Maybe,
Just the Nosey Nibblers
?

Let's look at the finicky biters, fish willing to strike at, or nibble at a lure, but not into swallowing a full course meal.  This is evidenced by the fish being chin hooked.  Possibly, just bumping the bait with their snout.  Noticed this after switching to double snelled trebles after missing too many fish on another trip a few days earlier in the latter part of August 2008.  

Eaters or biters?  There is a huge difference.  Eaters attack a with full intent on swallowing. 

Since the year 2000 I've built a photo folder with over 6500 images directed at nothing, but fish pictures.  My mega reference source has captured many close ups of fish zeroed in on what they hit and where the hooks got stuck.

All the photos on this page are from under the snout, chin hooked fish that hit the 10" BTI Flashers and the flies we offer at: www.michiganangler.com
Double snelled treble hooks are deadly!


Adult Male Coho
9/2/08 Manistee, MI






15 King Salmon
BTI Flashers & Flies
Leland, MI 8/31/07





9.2.08_double_trebles_King.jpg (130316 bytes)
Chin Hooked King
BTI Flashers & Flies






9/25/08 Manistee, MI
BTI Flashers & Flies






Double in same Net
8/31/09 Leland, MI
 

Looking Prisoners Instead of Escapees?

The majority of the reference material for this article was collected on 9/2/08 out of the Port of Manistee, MI.  We fished the hours of 9am thru 2:30pm (lines in the water).  This was a revenge trip from 8/31/08 where we missed approximately half our hits on flies and BTI 10" Flashers.  This was our first effort with all trolling flies equipped exclusively with snelled tandem VMC treble hooks.  We had 11 bites and capitalized on 10 of these opportunities.  We used a dual meat and fly program.  Are best action came over 160' to 180' on 9/2/08.

Meat Deep
80' to 120' down

The deepest part of our 3 rigger program and 2 diver spread was towing meat in the 80' to 125' depths.  Water temp at 80' down was 52 degrees.  Then falling off gradually to 38 degrees at 125'.  All fish that bit on the 80' to 125' riggers ...in the cooler waters fully engulfed the flasher/meat rigs.  Taking the bait way down their throats and the hooks were deeply embedded on the inside of these deep fishes chops.

Fly High
55' to 70' down

After taking several photos it became 100% clear every fish boated on our divers, fished in the higher part of the water column pulling flasher-fly combos were all hooked under the fishes snout.  Not one BTI flasher/fly combo caught adult Salmon on 9/2/08 ever fully committed to opening their jaws.  If the flasher/artificial trolling fly caught fish were hungry hard-hitting eaters? ...we'd have been taken photos unhooking the fish with hooks buried down deep inside their chops.  This was not the case, as the images on this page plainly show!

The intriguing part is the snout/chin hooked fish up higher in the water column in  the 70 to 58 degree water.  While it was possible to pry hits out of these warmer adult Salmon, these fish were not willing to attack as to swallow the offering. 

Conclusion

These photos proves there's two categories of Salmon as spawning time approaches.  Fully adult fish that will hit and not swallow and Salmon on their way to maturity that will eat the bait down to their gullet.  This needs to be said, all fish create a vacuum
when the open their mouths to suck bait in.  It's very obvious in the photos featured none of these Salmon were targeting the bait/fly as a meal!

Now, it don't amount to a hill of beans if the fish are eaters, or biters! However, it does make a tremendous difference on hook setups run to score consistently on both.   Also, this could explain missed fishitius you hear a lot about later in the season.  Being aware of the temperature zones in which eaters, or biters are coming from will put more fish in your box.  Plus, it will convince you ...double snelled trebles are your best friend!

Especially, if you understand the point that our exclusive double snelled trebles hooks will cut down on misses and make your day more productive!

9.2.08_double_trebles_black.jpg (142700 bytes)
9/2/08 Manistee, MI
Monkey Puke &
X-Glow Sea Green Fl7






9/2/08 Manistee, MI
King Purple BTI &
X-Glow Sea Green Fly






9/25/08 Manistee, MI

BTI Flashers & Flies






8/31/08 Manistee, MI
Coho Salmon





9.2.08_chin_hooked.jpg (81123 bytes)
Double Trebles
Double VMC's are Deadly!


 

Warm Water in the 60 to 70s
Better for later July thru Sept adult Salmon.

58 to 49 degree water at the thermocline.
"Supposed" Preferred comfort zone of Salmon 

Water in 48 to 38 degree zone.
This is where I catch most of my meat fish during the season, the  magic number is estimated to be a  44 to 38 degrees


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