AVOIDING SINGLE POINT FAILURES - Bill Herzog

December 5, 2025

With the high end reels we have today, paired with such wonderful high-end rods there are few reasons to ever break off a fish, heck, in most situations (unless your line is far too light for the conditions/size of fish) breaking off is nearly impossible.

After catching strong, fresh steelhead, do a quick line check and re-tie stressed knots.

I am “that guy.” The guy who brings too many rods, far too much tackle. In my world, however, it all seems to be the right amount. For every one of you who throws a few items in a ziplock bag and heads to the river (you know who you are) and relies on partners/guides to have all the right stuff, there are those like me. Hours and hours spent in “the room,” putting together gear to cover any and all conditions that may come. Even the best laid plans fall prey to the bane of all river anglers—the single point failure.

NASA just launched the James Webb telescope, a 20 year, ten-billion-dollar project. Prior to launch, there were 344 possible single point failures, meaning if just one thing fails, the whole mission is scrapped. Just like poorly prepared anglers, who also spend a lot of money and time invested in their passion, can be hosed by a single point failure.

Case in point, last summer floating on my favorite summer run river. Unlike last year, this last June was not good. At all. We worked like hell, the whole tackle show—spinners, spoons, bobber/jigs and our fave, plugs. I spend a ridiculous amount of time before each trip, checking all tackle for possible single point failures, such as a dull hook, leader fray, sticky drag, the list is impressive. Removing as many possible failure points is always my first priority going into trip prep.

We’ve not had a summer steelhead on in two trips. Lots of beautiful water, nobody home. Mid float, backing down #30 old school Hot Shots, finally. Gasp-inducing rip down, three feet of no color roars across the surface in front of the boat. Bet your ass my knots were perfect, new line on the reels, drags set, hooks were beyond sharp. Then in less than a beat, slack line. My partner reels in a screw eye, which pulled out of the plug’s lip. Never ever had that happen before. Ever. EVER. An unseen failure point, nevertheless. And no, we did not have another bite that day.

Winter trout like this you don't want to miss...keep those jig points sharp!

Some things just happen, no matter how attentive to detail you may have been. I do not know how many of these single point failures there are for any given trip, just know the more you are aware of, the better the chance of landing that great fish.

I won’t name names, but recently I’ve been watching some of the best anglers you have ever heard of completely ignoring the single point failure checklist. They will momentarily hang on a rock, pull the lure off and not check for sharpness. After landing (or losing) a fish, no check for leader burrs, hook point, just throw it back out. Fine if you are salmon fishing and hooking many, but if you have spent so much for gas, driven so far and seek a fish that daily encounters are counted on one hand (and not needing all five fingers), fish striking and coming off immediately is not what I sign up for. It really bugs me that anglers I look up to take almost zero “inventory” of their terminal gear. Or rods. Or reels. The conga line of minimally skilled folks making fishing videos on You Tube that completely ignore the single point failure check list is astounding and really quite sad. Then I hear or watch the results of their trips, and the inevitable “had on several nice ones but they all came off” because of a sticky drag, chaffed leader, dull hook, there are ten thousand ways to lose a fish and only one acceptable result, that is a landed fish. There is no grey area here, either the angler is a newcomer and has not learned the fine points or the angler does not care. I, for one, spend too much on gas, etc., and precious time on the water to get my one shot and have a great fish come off because I was too lazy to check.

Many things we have no control over, such as downed trees, sharp ledges and so forth make it difficult enough. I’m going to list some things we anglers can (must) do before making a cast. Most of these will seem redundant, important without saying, but it would surprise and shock you how many folks just ignore these simple preventions. We take the extra few seconds to do these things because, as my Uncle Bob used to tell me before we even made a cast… “Billy, nobody walks up to you on the river bank, taps you on the shoulder and says, ‘By the way, your next cast you are going to hook the biggest steelhead you will ever encounter in your angling life.’ Check your gear frequently after you’ve made a dozen casts.”

The NUMBER ONE reason so many fish are lost after the “hookset, twist, twist, gone” scenario (we’ve all been there, many times) is a dull hook! Any time you come in brief contact with bottom, immediately reel in and check for sharpness. This is literally the most important single point failure.

Just before this giant summer run struck, the author found a wind knot and changed to a fresh leader. Disaster averted, trophy landed!

When I do seminars, I always ask, “what is the most important thing you must have on the river to be a successful steelheader?” The answers are always the same…

“My rod!”
“My reels!”
“My killer eggs!”
“My boat!”

…ad nauseum. They are not wrong, just not the correct answer. That’s when I hold up my flat diamond hook sharpener. I say I’m dead serious I will not go fishing without one. Without a needle surgical point every other thing you bring is worthless. And for God’s sake don’t ram the hook point into a hard fingernail to test. Pick up a river rock and do it, it’s the same. If there was a fine point on the hook, it’s gone now. Use the tip of your finger, if the hook point sticks in the skin, good to go.

The ultra sharp hook is even more important if you are using larger hooks, say 1/0s and up. Bigger irons take more transferred power to set fully. A dull point will not penetrate deep enough for positive purchase on larger hooks. Keep that in mind if you are on a river system that is known for encounters with Ike and his ilk. A hook may be dulled by just ordinary use, as storage, taking the hook(s) off and on the rod when moving, so many things we don’t see can ruin a hook point. Check for that perfect point each time before you cast in a new spot.

While your rod is tucked under your arm and you are checking for sharpness, take an additional 30 seconds to do a complete terminal check. Go up your leader, make sure a sneaky wind knot isn’t there. Are there any abrasions? If there are, change to a fresh leader. Have you caught a big fish, or several fish on that leader? Don’t be a lazy ass, change it to a fresh one. Every single person reading this, including the guy who is typing has been guilty multiple times of not periodically checking leaders and replacing stressed knots and lost fish because of it. Every. Single. One. Of. You. Failure points, people…

Bigger irons take more transferred power to set fully. A dull point will not penetrate deep enough for positive purchase on larger hooks.

Some more failure point preventions from Captain Obvious—next in line is the smoothest drag system on your reel(s). Once you have the ridiculously sharp hook, the fresh, well tied knots, fresh leader and main lines, pair this with a reel drag that requires zero extra pull to pay out line. With the high end reels we have today, paired with such wonderful high-end rods there are few reasons to ever break off a fish, heck, in most situations (unless your line is far too light for the conditions/size of fish) breaking off is nearly impossible. Whenever I all too frequently hear “it was a really nice fish, he just broke off” means someone was not taking those 30 seconds to check for failure points or had a reel with a sticky drag.

Are there more single point failures we anglers should be aware of? Yes, like the telescope program at NASA, there are hundreds, but some, like the screw eye coming out of a plug, are unforeseen and we can only hope these unfortunate kinks don’t manifest while we fish. We can only control so much. But if we are diligent in what we can control, we land more fish. Period.

Again, I know all this seems redundant and more than obvious, but I see doing these simple small almost no time invested check ups on gear generally ignored by the fishing masses. They have become such a habitual and necessary part of my on-river steelhead (and salmon) rituals there is zero doubt in this twisted, too much loud rock exposed brain my bite to land ratio would be horrible if I missed even one step of checking for failure points.

The reality is, yes, we are still going to lose fish, no matter how persnickety you may be about checking your gear. But every single failure point you can prevent is going to put more steelhead on the beach.