khaos
2012-09-17 00:24:43
What do you guys do when you know there are a lot of fish around, but the jellies are plugging up your gear as fast as you can get it down?
I'm convinced the fish won't touch a lure if it has even a smidgeon of jellyfish on it - sometimes you have to feel your hoochie for the transparent stuff, but the fish can sure see it. I usually switch out flashers for spoons to cut down on the scrubbing, but when the jellies are thick they foul every spoon too..... I guess the thing to do is move, but it's hard to move when you have a good batch of fish around, and they WILL bite if you can keep your gear clean. Some years are worse than others, but there are some years when they just plain wear a guy out.
Any thoughts on this?
Salty
2012-09-17 19:11:21
Jellyfish can wipe you out. But, Jellyfish are usually patchy and sometimes you can figure out areas or depths with less jellies in the area you are working. Sometimes you just have to give it up or power through with running the gear constantly. I have seen fish hit lures covered with jellies numerous times, but I am sure it is not a preferable situation.
Sometimes you have to run a lot less gear so you can keep a few lures free long enough to catch.
khaos
2012-09-17 23:43:15
I guess it's good that I asked you Salty, because my solution was to run MORE gear and constantly be checking each side, in hopes that a few lures might stay clean long enough to hook up. It's an endless revolution, but that's what we do, right?
Many times I've had a good bite going and every lure out will have a fish - except for those coming up with jellyfish particles, which tells me they won't touch it. But your experience exceeds my own, and if you say they sometimes hit it, maybe I'll get over this obsession about keeping lures clean......
I too, have pulled my lures out of salmon that are covered with jelly slime, but my suspicion was that the fish swam into them AFTER being hooked. Also, I have watched big coho rush a spinning cut plug on the surface and then bank off at the last second, never to return. Check the herring = jellyfish on it.
Haven't found a depth yet where I don't run into them, of course might be dropping into em on the way down.
Read a past post where small jellies were found in the bellies of small coho, which blows my theory away.
Those big orange buggers are the worst, and I don't know how the fish swim through them when they are thick. Some are bigger than basketballs and get a facefull of that coming over the gurdies.......
Well, thanks for the ideas, I still should probably just pick up and move.