Simple hook setup fruitful

Last week I wrote about the excellent striper fishing my friends and I found in the Overton Arm of Lake Mead the Monday prior. What I didn’t have space to include in that column was the lesson I learned about striped bass and fishing hooks.

When we switched from trolling to still-fishing, I chose to use a slip rig while my friend Roger selected a rig I never had seen. And, to be honest, I didn’t think he’d catch many fish with his rod set up that way. Though I didn’t say as much, a full plate of crow was waiting for me a few hours later. Roger outfished me nearly two to one.

My rig was pretty typical of an angler who has spent most of his life fishing only for trout. It consisted of an egg sinker, followed by a barrel swivel, and to the swivel was tied a 3-foot leader with a 2/0 worm hook on the terminal end. I had no problem catching striped bass, and when they took my bait, the fish had a tendency to take the hook deep. This made releasing fish in survival condition a challenge.

Roger, on the other hand, used a Gamakatsu hook with a weighted shank and an extra-wide gap. He used no other hardware. "Why would any self-respecting striper take bait presented on such a hook?" I asked myself. "Why not?" the fish soon answered.

With this simple setup, Roger’s bait fluttered slowly down through the water column, giving stripers a good chance to see it and react. Oftentimes fish would hit Roger’s bait on the way down. With my setup, the bait dropped quickly to the bottom and seemed to provide little opportunity for a striper to take the bait until my egg sinker hit the bottom.

Also, with the weight built right into the hooks Roger was using, he could feel a fish take his bait before the fish felt any resistance. This gave him a good chance to set the hook.

Another benefit to Roger’s choice in hook design is ease of release. The Gamakatsu hook is designed in such a way that the fish generally are hooked in the lip or snout, making removal of the hook fairly easy. It’s easy on you and easy on the fish, should you decide to release it.

■ BIG-GAME tag quotas — Big-game tag quotas will be the primary topic of conversation when the state Wildlife Commission meets Friday and Saturday in Reno. The board also will consider regulations establishing a new apprentice hunting license. Biologists with the Nevada Department of Wildlife are recommending an increase in tags for every antlered mule deer hunt, including an increase of more than 900 tags for the resident, any-legal-weapon hunt for mule deer bucks.

The increase in tags is made possible by improved fawn survival this winter as compared to the winter of 2008-09, according to Larry Gilbertson, the chief game biologist for NDOW.

Freelance writer Doug Nielsen is a conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His "In the Outdoors" column, published Thursday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NDOW. Any opinions he states in his column are his own. He can be reached at intheoutdoorslv@gmail.com.