Losibg Fish On Football Heads Please Help.

[benthinkin]

I've been fishing 3/4 oz football heads and have been getting a lot of bites. I loose a bunch of fish though. I get a good set on em, and bring em up. One jump and they're off. its happened way too much. Any way to fix it. Its being thrown on a dobyns dx 784 and 15lb flouro. I don't think its the equipment. Any suggestions appreciated.

[Bluebasser86]

How do you set the hook? What reel are you using?

[papajoe222]

One word...............Braid

[scaleface]

Dont be afraid to set the hook more than once. My initial  hookset is forcefull [ unless its the first of the day and i'm often a little hesitant lol ] then I will set it  again   when I feel i'm in a good position to do so. I do it with both jigs and texas rigs . 

[Al Wolbach]

Many will say use braid. I like floro but try to break your line when you set the hook, yes that hard. And of course very sharp hooks.

[Smokinal]

One word...............Braid

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

Many will say use braid. I like floro but try to break your line when you set the hook, yes that hard. And of course very sharp hooks.

The reason many will say braid is it's the fix. Imo, you shouldn't have to set the hook that hard if you are using the right equipment. If you like fluoro, go for it but I have tried it a few times on my jig rod and experience the exact same thing as OP; I go back to braid/leader and boat fish. It's as simple as that. Flouro, to me, literally feels like a rubber band.

OP, you're not stickin them as hard as you think you are.

[scaleface]

I dont think its the equipment either . I've been using mono for decades. Quoting  Catt " Its operator error " .

[FinCulture]

Driving a big jig hook into a bass' mouth requires tough, stretch resistant line. fluoro doesn' stretch that much compared to mono, but braid has ZERO, meaning a harder hook set. This'll help to drive the hook in.

[Fishes in trees]

The heavy weight combined with the jump is what is causing the lost fish.  Very seldom do we get a perfect hook set - it is something to strive for, but doesn't happen as often as we might like.  I think the key to landing fish on heavier jigs is to not let them jump.  I guess, after the hook set, fight the fish with the rod tip down as much as possible.  Nobody bats 1000.  You are going to have days, and even years, when you miss more fish than you think you should.

[Josh Smith]

I fish jigs a lot.  It's what the bass prefer in the type of cover I fish.

 

My jig rod is a Cherrywood HD MH/F.  I've modified it slightly, but it has the exact action I want for jigs, and it has the backbone I need to haul them out.

 

The reel I use is an Ambassadeur 5500c3, very modified.  I chose to retain the 5.3:1 gears as on that reel, it's a 26ipt retrieve.  (My 5500c3 on my frog rod is likewise modified, but I believe it will be getting a 6.3:1 gear set for a 30ipt retrieve.)

 

About half my jig strikes have a very, very fast double hit.  That's the bass hitting the lure to stun it, and the second "tick" is it eating it.  That's when I set the hook.  The double strike shouldn't be confused with the "tick, tick" of the bass eating it and then spitting it.  These are two different, distinct things. 

 

To feel the double strike well, you really need braid.

 

When reeling the bass in, you need to keep tension on the line, enough so that the bass will not be lost when it jumps.  A lighter rod may help you, say, a medium and slightly longer than what you have, if you're used to fighting the fish with the rod and only occasionally taking in line.  The way I learned to do it was to keep reeling -- you might call it winching 'em in -- and is hard on lighter reels.  This is one reason I prefer my Ambassadeur tanks.

 

With the Ambassadeurs, I keep reeling while fighting the fish with the rod.  I've come to notice a difference in techniques between older and newer folks.  It appears folks newer to fishing are more rod dependent when fighting fish, while those who grew up on 5'6" MH rods seem to reel more.  Neither one is better; it's just our adaptations the equipment we learned on.

 

In other words, I fight 'em in very fast, not letting them jump.  I was raised not to fight for too long for fear of wearing out and killing the bass.

 

Now, either I've jumbled this together so that it doesn't make sense, or it makes less sense to me.  I have way too much allergy medicine in me right now to decide which it is.  I'll come back later and edit the post if it needs it.  Else, please ask me to clarify what I meant if it's jumbled.

 

Gonna go lay down for a bit now.  d**n weed pollen.

 

Regards,

 

Josh

[Jon G]

You need to make a sweeping hook set with football jigs. If you set the hook on a football jig like a flipping jig that big football head is just going to pop through the fish's mouth and you are not going to hook him.

 

For what it's worth my football jig set up is:

Dobyns DX744

Shimano Chronarch CI4 150hg

16lb Sunline FC Sniper

[Raul]

I dont think its the equipment either . I've been using mono for decades. Quoting  Catt " Its operator error " .

 

I am absolutely forced to ..... concur completely, I´m also one of those retrograde old timers that still fish with nylon, heck,15 lb FC is as thick as a frigging rope, I have lost count on how many fish I have hooked even through the bone with not 15 lb monofilament ( in this case FC ), but with even 6 lb test nylon.

 

You don´t need braided line, you need to set your gear and hooking technique properly.

[benthinkin]

How do you set the hook? What reel are you using?

I set the hook upwards and to my right. I'm using a Team Lew's lite.

[benthinkin]

The heavy weight combined with the jump is what is causing the lost fish.  Very seldom do we get a perfect hook set - it is something to strive for, but doesn't happen as often as we might like.  I think the key to landing fish on heavier jigs is to not let them jump.  I guess, after the hook set, fight the fish with the rod tip down as much as possible.  Nobody bats 1000.  You are going to have days, and even years, when you miss more fish than you think you should.

I believe the weight causes the most problems also

[benthinkin]

The heavy weight combined with the jump is what is causing the lost fish.  Very seldom do we get a perfect hook set - it is something to strive for, but doesn't happen as often as we might like.  I think the key to landing fish on heavier jigs is to not let them jump.  I guess, after the hook set, fight the fish with the rod tip down as much as possible.  Nobody bats 1000.  You are going to have days, and even years, when you miss more fish than you think you should.

along with a flawed hookset

[Big Bait Fishing]

quit lettin the fish run all over and shake it's head !!! once you have hooked it , continuely reel them in straight to you , like G-Man said , " pretend it's a pencil sharpener " just reel fast ...

 

don't know if you ever fish big swimbaits , but is the same principal , reel them up to the surface and surf them on top of the water to you , you give the fish a chance , they'll throw the hook - don't give them one ....

[MassBass]

Sharper hooks will help. File em.

[WRB]

Consider this fact; caught hundreds of big bass on jigs using 10 to 12 lb mono and FC line, the problem isn't line stretch. Bass jump regardless of your ability to try and prevent it, when they are more than 30' away from you.

Most football jigs have medium wire hooks, not heavy wire hooks and take less force to set properly.

When you cast over 60' away from you the traditional cross thier eye hard rod hook set isn't effective, unless all the slack line is gone first.

Here is my advice, change your hook set technique and use a football jig with premium sharp 4/0 to 5/0 size hook for 1/2 to 3/4 oz jig. First the rod is very important, it should be 4 to 5 power, MH to H, fast action, the DX784 is a very good jig rod. Your 15 lb line is strong for any any size bass in sparse cover or deep structure. When you detect a strike keep the rod tip down, reel quickly to tighten the line, then make a hard rod sweep and keep reeling, if the jig is over 60' away. If the jig is close or less than 45 degrees line angle down, lower the rod, then snap set by whipping the rod back and reel quickly.

I use the reel set most of the time when cast and retrieving jigs.

Take a look at the post "OldSchool Horizontal jigging" and develop a hook set that works for you.

Tom

[benthinkin]

Consider this fact; caught hundreds of big bass on jigs using 10 to 12 lb mono and FC line, the problem isn't line stretch. Bass jump regardless of your ability to try and prevent it, when they are more than 30' away from you.

Most football jigs have medium wire hooks, not heavy wire hooks and take less force to set properly.

When you cast over 60' away from you the traditional cross thier eye hard rod hook set isn't effective, unless all the slack line is gone first.

Here is my advice, change your hook set technique and use a football jig with premium sharp 4/0 to 5/0 size hook for 1/2 to 3/4 oz jig. First the rod is very important, it should be 4 to 5 power, MH to H, fast action, the DX784 is a very good jig rod. Your 15 lb line is strong for any any size bass in sparse cover or deep structure. When you detect a strike keep the rod tip down, reel quickly to tighten the line, then make a hard rod sweep and keep reeling, if the jig is over 60' away. If the jig is close or less than 45 degrees line angle down, lower the rod, then snap set by whipping the rod back and reel quickly.

I use the reel set most of the time when cast and retrieving jigs.

Take a look at the post "OldSchool Horizontal jigging" and develop a hook set that works for you.

Tom

Thank you for your response. I will definitely change my hookset per your instructions