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[Spawn Sack]

Maybe I got too much sun today and fried my brain...but I am having trouble making sense of pretty simple regulations. I'm hoping someone can help me out.

So I have a bunch of old (good condition though) flat fish that were given to me. Maybe 25 in total. Some tiny trout size, some medium size, some big. All different colors. Some I only have one and others I have duplicates.

All of them have trebble hooks on them. The small and medium size ones have a single trebble out the back. The bigger ones have a trebble hook out the back AND a trebble hook in the middle.

I was under the inpression that they would have to ALL be converted to a single barbless hook, then for kicks I started reading the regs book.

For general provincial regs it says "it is unlawful to use barbed hooks or a hook with more than one point in any river, stream, creek or slough in BC...the use of barbed hooks is permitted in lakes unless otherwise noted in the Reginal Water Specific Tables."

Alright, then, say, for Reginal 3 (Thompson Nichola) it says single barbless hooks must be used in all streams. Moving onto individual lakes, some say "single barbless hook" which is pretty black and white. However, other lakes do not say to use single barbless hooks. So I get it you can, if you wanted to, use a barbed trebble hook...right??? So I could, in theory, fish some of the flat fish with two trebble hooks on them in lakes that do not say "single barbless hooks"?

I fish single barbless hooks on all my flies, gear, etc. I plan to convert most of the flat fish I'll likely fish (the smaller ones) to a single barbless hook. However, say I find myself trolling on a lake and I decide I want to use one of the bigger flatfish that I never removed the trebble hooks from. Can I use it? Although I would probably not use it as nothing ruins my day more than trying to release a fish that has inhaled a hook. I just want to know 100% if I can, or someone else wanted to know and asked me for info.

Also, if I'm putting a single barbless hook on one of the flatfish with two trebbles on it currently, should I put the hook on the rear, or the middle? I would say the rear.

Also, one thing I learned from watching Fishful Thinking is to use two split rings, not one, and also to have the hook pointed up. The reason is only one split ring makes the hook trail sideways, whereas two split rings will allow you to have the hook trailing with the point up. Thus yeilding better hooks ups.

[canso]

On the rear of the flat fish use 2 split rings and point the hook up. I changed all mine over and the landing ratio went up as well.

[Spawn Sack]

On the rear of the flat fish use 2 split rings and point the hook up. I changed all mine over and the landing ratio went up as well.

Yeah I thought it would be better to have a single barbless hook trailing out the back than hanging under the middle. What funny is if you buy a new flatfish with a single hook the eye of the hook is just closed over the loop that comes out of the lure. The result is the hook will be riding sideways which will yeild fewer hook ups. The way to go, like you said, is to connect two split rings, and make sure the hook is pointed up.

What type of hooks did you use on your flatfish? I'm likely going to use the straight Gamagatsu open eye siwash. IMO for lighter lures like a flatfish, colorado spinner, etc. they are best as they don't affect the action of the lure (like an offset hook would). For my heavier spinners and spoons etc I'll use an offset siwash like the Mustad Ultrapoint.

Curious if anyone has tried sickle siwash hooks on a flatfish.

[obie1fish]

However you do the hook change, be sure to tune the flatfish so it tracks more or less straight and doesn't flip or spin. Remember- these are meant for slooooooow waters, retrieves, and troll speeds, so test them accordingly. Good luck!

[Spawn Sack]

However you do the hook change, be sure to tune the flatfish so it tracks more or less straight and doesn't flip or spin. Remember- these are meant for slooooooow waters, retrieves, and troll speeds, so test them accordingly. Good luck!

How do you "tune" a flatfish??? I have one in front of me. Cant think of how I would modify it aside from switching trebble hook to a single hook. Please clairify.

[leapin' tyee]

How do you "tune" a flatfish??? I have one in front of me. Cant think of how I would modify it aside from switching trebble hook to a single hook. Please clairify.

http://www.fishwithjd.com/2009/12/09/side-drifting-with-flatfish/

[Spawn Sack]

I read the article. Interesting, but it just talks about float fishing with a flat fish. I got the impression by obie1fish that by "tune" he meant somehow adjust/modify the flatfish.

Obie1fish, looking at you for claifification please

Also, from the attached article above, any idea why they are using a barrel swivel on the middle of the flatfish? I'm guessing to get the hook out back of the lure a bit more. But, then isn't the hook going to spin/rotate? I thought hook point up was best (achieved by linking 2 split rings) on a flatfish. IMO if the hook was pointing down when a fish striked the chances of a hook up would be diminished. No?

[obie1fish]

Tuning a plug involves bending or turning the front eye screw to make it track well. Check this out:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DkKTrb0sVY
Nov 20, 2007 - Uploaded by fishwithjd
Tuning your salmon and steelhead plugs.

This applies to most plugs, including flatfish and kwickfish. Let me know how it goes!

[Spawn Sack]

Cool got it, thanks man! I must admit I would never have thought to check that. The next time I drop a plug into the water Ill check it and make sure it's tuned properly before I let out line and fish it.

Also on some plugs that had two rings for a hook, I only used the rear one to attach my single barbless hook. So the hook on the middle belly is not being used. What do you think? Unscrew it and toss it? I was thinking of tieing on a bit of yarn and soaking it in scent for deep water fishing. Anyone have any suggestions?

[Spawn Sack]

I posted the same question on Fishing With JD's forum. The answer I got back was:

"To run the hooks off the back can sometimes mess with the action. To help counterbalance that, I’ll keep the splitring and sometimes even the hookless shank of the stock treble on the belly to help offset the weight on the back of the plug…

Interesting. I guess I'll leave the ring coming out of the belly of the flatfish where it is (on the bigger ones where I'm running the hook out the back of the lure).

After doing so much monkeying with these lures the next time I fish them I'll be sure to check the action over the side of the boat and adjust/tune them a bit if needed.

[islanddude]

I found with flatfish that the eye that holds the hook can get out or alignment with the lure. Make sure that eye is parallel with the body.

[Spawn Sack]

Thanks islanddude. When I was putting my split rings on I was looking at the eyes that are attached to the lure. Some were paralle and some perpendicular. I decided it made sense to turn them all paralle with the lure (as you suggested). I figure that if they're perpendicular to the lure then they will catch a lot more water and create drag, thus possibly affecting the lure's action.

Anyone tried Matzuo sickle siwash hooks on flatfish? A lot of people of this forum have reccomended them when switching out hooks on spoons. My local tackle shop does not carry them. I was going to order some online. I'm guessing they would not work as well on flat fish since they (the flat fish) are so light and it does not take much to mess with their action. In other words, the straight gamagatsu siwash is probably a better choice for flat fish. Whereas the oddly shaped sickle siwash (which I believe are offset as well) would probably be better suited for spoons where the sickle hook is unlilley to affect the spoon'sa action.

Any thoughts?