I live in northern Maine where we have very good salmon, lake trout, and whitefish fishing. I would say that we don't have the number of quality fish that you have in Champlain with the average salmon in the 16-18 inch range and lake trout 18-22 inches. We do get bigger but those are average. I have used inlines with leadcore for years (more than I care to admit) and find that it is a grind with our average sized fish. Basically it kills their fight. Also, our lures don't typically seem as large as the ones you use as our principle forage is smelt rather than alewives.
My questions revolves around the lite bite as I am considering adding that to my bag of tricks. How much drag does the lite bite have after being tripped and does it diminish the fight of the fish at all? Are there issues with pulling smaller trebles and singles hooks such as on the DB Smelt?
Lite Bite Question
- Reelax
- Site Admin
- Posts: 5747
- Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2011 7:27 pm
- Species: Salmon, steelhead, brown trout
- Location: Fletcher, Vt
Re: Lite Bite Question
A lite bite when triggered falls back to the swivel above the leader, the triggered litebite cuts right thru the water so there is no drag, just the weight. I have seen salmon pull the light bite out of the water on jumps at times so they don't diminish the fight much at all. The drag is higher with the deep dive kits installed with the larger weight, but still not bad.
I would purchase one and try it if I were you.. It can really help the catch rate.
I would purchase one and try it if I were you.. It can really help the catch rate.
Matt B
Re: Lite Bite Question
Thank you. Going to spend the money.
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- Posts: 4459
- Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2011 12:26 pm
- Species: whatever crazy enough to bite
Re: Lite Bite Question
As Reelax mentioned, the drag is very minimal once the litebite triggered. I recommend you add at least one to your arsenal.
Gecha (Gerry North of the Border)
- Cas
- Posts: 440
- Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2011 7:57 am
- Species: the kind that swim
- Location: South Burlington
Re: Lite Bite Question
I've used them on Moosehead Lake up there, I certainly think they have a place in your boat. Good luck.
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Mike
Mike
- Registered Kayak
- Posts: 497
- Joined: Sun Jul 13, 2014 8:27 pm
- Species: Salmon and the rest
Re: Lite Bite Question
Another vote for trying it out. I have 2 on my boat for when I have company. The last largebsalmon i had hooked had 0 problems going airborne with the slide diver 6 ft behind it. Have caught numerous smaller salmon and lakers with no diminished fight. It just adds weight, but at an angle to where it actually glides thru the water, and you feel every head shake. Lead core does kill the smaller fish fights for real though!
Re: Lite Bite Question
I love my lite bite and it works very well, sometimes it makes all the difference in the world on picky fish as you can pay out as much line away from the diver as you want unlike the dispy's. As far as a tool goes I recommend it highly but it adds a lot of noticeable weight to the line, especially with the deep diving kits. They are made in different sizes, as long as you don't have to go too deep maybe a smaller size would a good place to start, it's cousin, the slide diver is a good option too and is a little cheaper and I believe they come in smaller sizes than lite bites.
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- Posts: 3684
- Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2011 12:58 pm
Re: Lite Bite Question
I am not a big fan of the weight kit. They seem to pull very hard when used in conjunction with the bigger ring. I like the standard Lite Bite out of the package. They don't pull that hard and on a 4 setting can get me down 40-70 feet when I tested with my Fish Hawk TD depending length of line on the counter which varied from 130-150-180-210 feet of line out.