Does anyone out there beleive it is possible to determine where you will hook a fish when it bites. For instance if you use bait, hardware, or flies is one method less likely to hook fish deep???

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I believe that any artificial lure will be less likely to be taken deep. I fish primarily spoons and jigs. I have yet to have a steelhead take either of these deeply. Jigs will almost always hook the fish right in the nose or in the roof of the fishes mouth on either side. Just my opinion.

with bait you will hook more fish deeper because they are trying to swallow the bait. with flies, any bite from a fish is instantly transmitted to the rod so there is less chance of hooking deep. I can't honestly say with spoons and spinners cause I dont fish with them much, but I think more damage would be done by the treble hooks than any thing else.

I have heard that fishing with yarn attached to the hooks helps in hooking fish because it gets stuck on their teeth and on their tounge which also sounds to me like it would also help keep them from swallowing it.

Diver bait or back bouncing are the only two
methods that I've run into where the fish
inhale the offering.Most all others are hooked in the lip.Oh except cut plug herring in the salt.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

Steelhead and salmon, once they return to freshwater rarely eat, so they don't often swallow bait. If this weren't the case, there would be a lot of deep hooked fish while bait fishing. They do, however, pick stuff up out of instinct and if its edible, its more likely to be worked on for longer periods before spitting it out and so the chances of hooking one deep is greater. I've watched fish in the Rieter hatchery creek do this. Drop in some eggs and they pick it up, chew on it, you even see egg goo coming out of the gills, then they spit it out.

Non-bait (corkies/yarn etc.) is usually spit out fairly quickly, because its completely foreign.

I've hooked very few fish deep with bait. I think its a function of when you set the hook; just don't let him jaw on it for a few seconds. I've heard of more fish hooked deep when free drifting. When fishing this way, I think the fish can inhale the bait without any resistance so your more likely to get him in the throat or gills. With bait divers I think kind of the same; your backing the fish down with a large bait with 2 hooks, and he inhales it aggressively. I've hooked fish deep on pink worms because the fish inhales the whole thing while the hook is in the back 3/4s of the worm.

Set the hook as soon as you feel'em, and your less likely to deep hook'em.

I've not had too much trouble with steelhead taking gear deep but I've had chinooks swallow both plugs and spinners. We troll size 6 cascade blades in Tillamook bay and routinely get slack line bites and these fish generally have inhaled it to the point that you have to look deep inside to see the blade.

As for steelhead, drift fishing with bait has never been a problem for me, even with my molasses fast reflexes. Bait divers are a whole different ballgame so I don't usually fish them anymore.

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As much as we'd like to control it 100%, you can't ... but remember that you can limit bad hook-ups by eliminating bait divers, don't go TOO small in your offerings and hook sizes (I know this can be a tough one when things get low and clear, but be prudent ... using what gets the most hook-ups is always not the best choice based on your intent of what to do with the fish), and be quick on your sets, I always have been anyhow, so I've never had too much trouble here, but I think it does help in minimizing mortality.