hooklenghts- long snood v short

[m.b3]

i am looking for opinions on this one. is is commomly accepted that long hooklenghts give a bait more movement (?). match anglers claim that in slack tide conditions this gets them more bites. it seems that flounders, plaice and 'shy biting doggies' respond well to this. my dilemma is that in these conditions of little tide, surely long hooklenghts will rest on the bottom, possible cioled due to little or no tide to 'stretch' them out on the seabed and should leave the bait static on the seabed?? i can think at least three places where fish respond well to short snoods at slack tide whilst long snoods (believe it or not) go fishless or become out fished in relation to to the shorter snoods. short snoods get 'jigged' constantly on the rig body when fished above the lead- think about the wind and/or waves constantly hitting your mainline and jerking your rig up and down, even if only a little....i am convinved that the baits on the short snoods are in turn jigged by this action and in turn can boost catches in slack tides. whiting, flatties (dead low tide estuary flounder in particular), etc. am i talking rubbish? what do you's think? any feedbeck appreciated.

Last edited by m.b3 on Mon Jun 28, 2004 8:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I would agree in the main about short snoods being most effective.I have often fished with 18" snoods to no avail in medium to slack tides,have changed rigs to 6"-8" snoods and caught fish.One rig which I find to be a good compromise especially when unsure of how your bait is being presented is to have 2 short snoods attatched to a slider with a 2 foot flowing trace.I think half the battle is won when you have confidance in your rig be it small or long snoods.

thanks for the reply bigcol. i will give this a try.

i used to use long snoods 18-22" but kept losing fish now i religously use 5-7" snoods and only use long on running ledger rigs or pulley rigs..

i agree. i lost a few rigs/ fish in the rough myself and i am convinced that it was due to the long snoods. the guy i was fishing with just used a loop to attach his hook and he snagged a hell of a lot less than i did. now even 4" snoods dosen't seem to short and i gives u more time to react to the bites. long is fine on clean ground.