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[Golfer]

         So, last night I was fishing a pool on the cap and hooked into a decent spring.  I was fishing a size 4 TT gold and chartuse spinner. (8'6" Okuma sst spinning rod rated 6-12lb with 20lb braid with an 8 pound UG leader).  I fought the spring for around 5-6 minutes when it decided to make a hard run towards the tailout and of course the huge rapids below.  As the fish was running down the pool, nearing the rapids, I thumbed the spool and applied side pressure as a last ditch attempt to stop and turn around the fish.  However, the fish managed to get sucked down the rapids and of course my leader snapped in a heart beat.

I have never had a problem turning around the small coho, but I have never hooked into a spring in this situation so I wasn't sure how to do it with out pre maturely snapping him off.

My question is, what else can I do to prevent a good sized fish (on light tackle) from going down the rapids.  Are there any other techniques I can use, so this doesn't occur again?

Thanks
 

[Rieber]

In that case with light gear, you might havea last ditch chance before it gets into the rapids by letting your line completely free spool. Hopefully the fish realizes its ho longer hooked and doesn't go down to waste energy. But what you might find is the slack line gets pulled by the current from below the fish and the fish thinks its being pulled down so it rushes back upstream. You might get lucky and you might convince the fish to turn and come up but stand a real chance of the hook coming out.

Side to side rod movement sometimes confuses fish and you're able to fight them longer.

Tough with light gear. Good luck.

[bigblockfox]

when using spinners and spoons beef up your leader. fish strike spoons and spinners out of aggression and are not leader shy. i personally run a 15lb leader when fishing metal.

[Golfer]

Thank you both for the advice, I will have to test out all the suggestions, but I may try out a 10lb leader,but no heavier, because  I enjoy the light tackle fishing, even it means I lose some extra lures.

[firstlight]

15 lb test will not hold a Chinook trying to leave a tailout.

[bigblockfox]

cant do any worse than 8lb

[NexusGoo]

15lb Maxima Ultragreen is pretty strong stuff, if 12lb can turn big tyees than im sure 15 has as good of a chance if not better

[A Frayed Knot]

Tell the fish politely please nothing over x_lbs bite because frankly this is my favorite hook! 

This is usually why go a bit heavier on gear then the fish im targetting, if the presentation is right, the line won't matter, that fish is gonna be hungry or angry enough to snap at the hook. It's also so much harder on the fish, the survival rate goes down when you play that fish too long.

This is just my opinion of course.

But as for the question, its just really tough, I don't think there is any one right way, because in the end I think it's just gonna come down to the gear itself and its ability to hold up the abuse of the environment like the rocks and water current and whatever else is in that river that might cause abrasion to the line or dull the hook itself.

[Golfer]

Ok thanks, I will go out and buy some UG wheel leaders of heavier test and see how they do, regarding catch rate vs. leader breakage.

[bunnta]

Not sure if this works for bait caster and spinning rod but works wonder on centerpin and fly fishing. I was told years ago if a fish is gunning down river (as a last resort if ur in a 50/50) to put your rod sideway close to the water facing opposite of the fish and let slack line out for a few second and immediately slam the brake on the reel and pray that the momentum will either snap the leader or turn the fish head back up. I've had no problem turning big fish on the centerpin cause i know when the fish is going to take off, so i try to offset the fish immediately before he has a chance and let him face the slower current to run into (90% of the time this works...). the little side pressure will offset the fish but sometimes increases the chance to the hook being toss out. you sort of feel a rubber band elastic motion thats about to have pressure release as the fish is trying to shake the hook off, so make sure u get the rod back up high.

[redtide]

you will not stop a spring gunning down river with 8lb leader. big springs are built like tanks. i also use 15lb maxima for big springs so you can horse them in if needed and reduce your chance of getting spooled or a snapped leader. i have a separate rod for coho with 10lb leader but when the springs are running i switch to the rod with 15lb leader. Springs always sneak into pools that hold coho.

[Golfer]

you will not stop a spring gunning down river with 8lb leader. big springs are built like tanks. i also use 15lb maxima for big springs so you can horse them in if needed and reduce your chance of getting spooled or a snapped leader. i have a separate rod for coho with 10lb leader but when the springs are running i switch to the rod with 15lb leader. Springs always sneak into pools that hold coho.

I know what you mean, I was pretty much exclusively targetting the cap's 3lb coho's, so I got quite the suprise, when the spring nailed my spinner.

[Golfer]

Went out for a couple hours this morning before heading off to UBC, to test out the suggestions.  I fished 12 lb UG leaders and managed to go 1 for 3 with springs on #5 mepps.  The best part was, one of the springs was making a run to the rapids and i opened the bail, and it seemed to confuse the spring as it stopped going downstream.
Just wanted to say thanks for the advice, without it I would not have been able to catch and release the ~15lb spring.