Cobra Bass

You're right. They eyelet of the hook is well below the hook point. Thanks for this!

Thanks for the info guys! I thought that was the way to do it, just wanted to see what everyone else had been seeing out there.

Do you think the screw lock could be causing this? It is strange that the zoom horny toad hooks have a screw lock if this is true. I have used the horny toad hooks and I don't remember the problem being as severe but it is confusing as the two hooks are almost identical.

I am sorry if this is already a topic somewhere, I tried searching but didn't quite know how to phrase it to get results. I've been wondering about bass behavior when they spit out a bait or they never get the hook, all "missed" fish basically. What do they do when a lure escapes from their mouth? Are they spooked and swim to another location/ stop feeding? Or do they hang around and wait for something else to drop by? Basically what I'm wondering if I miss a fish should I give up on the spot where it was and move on or should I keep throwing stuff there? Same goes for caught fish. Does that spook all the other fish in the area to see one thrashing around?

I really like to use big plastic baits like horny toads, z-hogs, grass pigs, etc but I've been having an awful time rigging this stuff up lately. I'm using some 4/0 "Heavy Duty Swimbait" hooks by VMC with a screw holder. My problem is the plastics either tend to slide down the hook so the entire hook is exposed and gets caught on everything or it slides up the hook so the tip gets swallowed up inside the lure. I've tried tucking the tip of the hook inside but that just rips up my stuff like crazy. I'm very frustrated with this as I seem to be going through bags of plastics like crazy and I have to adjust it every cast. I am rigging these by going straight through the slit at the bottom and laying the hook on the top, sometimes tucking the tip in. Is this a problem with my hook selection?

I don't usually have a problem setting the hook. I usually let them have it for a while before I hit them. I'd say I miss 1 in every 5 fish. My problem with these is I can't seem to keep the hook in the frog, it always slides up the hook so it is no longer weedless or sucks the tip back into the frog. I've tried tucking the tip of the hook in and it just rips up my frog. Anyone else experiencing this? I have to adjust it every other cast.

Shakey head jigs work well for me, very versatile. Good luck!

Yes, I always fish from my knees. haha Kidding, I was just reaching down off the dock to grab the big guy. And I think a lot of you guys are right about the gar. I saw a lot of gar swimming around the rest of the day. Being from New England explains why I have never seen this!

Charlotte

Hey ya'll I'm new to the forum. I'm a college student in Florida that has been fishing since I could walk. I've spent most my years in New Jersey and Connecticut, but I just moved to North Carolina. I hope to get a lot of good information out of this forum, everyone seems very knowledgeable. Most of my experience is in north eastern lakes, but I've done a lot down here in Florida. I also have saltwater experience. Looking forward to contributing here!

Hey yall I have been browsing this forum for a while but never joined. I was finally prompted to join today after seeing something strange at my lake. I was fishing off a dock and all of a sudden at the exact same time about a dozen bass (maybe gar) started jumping out of the water like crazy for about 15 seconds. They were all in the same area, very concentrated. It was very weird, I've never seen anything like this. This is something I would expect of baitfish, but not large fish. Have you guys seen this before? What could have caused this?