Help, Losing Bass

[Dana Fry]

I am fishing a clear water lake and I continue to lose fish due to short strikes. I sharpen hooks razer sharp, my rods are all from loomis and my knots are carefully tied. I am currently fishing with seager sushi mono. line in either 8 or 10 lbs. test line. It does not matter if I am fishing crankbaits, jigs, senkos, or spinnerbaits, all have the same results. I have many years fishing very clear lakes and never had this problem. Would going to flourocarbon help?

[the reel ess]

Put a trailer hook on the spinnerbaits. Some on here wil disagree. But I can see no reason you shouldn't.

 

Fish at lower light times of day. They take baits better then. I can't comment on FC. I don't use it. But it may help you take up slack before setting the hook. Lighter mono will have a good bit more stretch than 15#. If there's any slack line out, you have to take that up AND the stretch before you can set. I have a light combo with some BPS select mono that can be tough to set hooks on bass with because of the stretch.I mostly use it for baits with trebles.

[scaleface]

You're fishing clear water , try the Sharpie trick    . It cant hurt and I think at times like in clear water with finicky bass it helps . Color your line in one too two inch strips several feet up , It breaks up the profile . 

[Dana Fry]

Kicker, that is worth a try. I am thinking that the bass are very line shy, that is why a switch to FC. I wonder how many fish are not hitting also.

[Mike L]

Agree about useing a trailer hook on spinnerbait's, I don't throw one without it...Ever.

Changing your line from mono to braid or flouro "may" help detecting a bite in deeper water, agree again that excess slack with a stretching type of any line will make it harder to feel light hit's.

If you're getting an inordinate amount of short strikes. To me that means you got them intersested but there's just something missing...

Maybe change color, speed it up, slow it down, use plastics with less appendage's, use a smaller profile....

Or, move to a different location.

Good Luck

Mike

[Dana Fry]

I always use a sharpened trailer hook on a spinnerbait.

[Bluebasser86]

Change colors or retrieves. The bass likes your bait, but something about it isn't quite good enough. Also, are you sure they're bass? 

[Rhino68W]

Throw a wacky rig senko and see what happens. If you don't get hook ups on that then IDK what to tell you haha.

[bigbill]

Use a scent they could pick up a foul oder. On the short strikes.

I wash my baits and tackle boxes once a year with a little mild dish soap. I keep it all clean.

I wash my hands with big orange before going fishing. I don't touch gas or oil after washing my hands.

In the morning I get up.,,,,,,

I shower, get dressed the exact same way before going fishing. I put my shoes on the exact same way. I wear my lucky that, polarized glasses. I load the car and drive the exact same streets to get there.

[Fisher-O-men]

Change colors or retrieves. The bass likes your bait, but something about it isn't quite good enough. Also, are you sure they're bass? 

This was my thought,  Are you dealing with bass?  Or could they be really small bass?

[einscodek]

Could be aggressive crappie at your fav spots

may wish to try other locations

 

If you are sure its bass, you need to tune your hookset to hairtrigger and nail the set as soon as you feel the tick as fast as you can

[Dana Fry]

They are bass. Alot of the bass throw the hook when they jump.  I do throw the wacky rigged senkos alot but I have the same problem.  The lake I am fishing does not have alot of weeds or wood. I have to look for contour breaks and points. Thinking about my problem, wind creating a belly in the line could acount for some of my losing fish. many of the bass are smaller but the lake does have larger bass in it. I don't know why haven't hooked into one. I do wash my hands with lava soap right before I tow the boat to the lake.

[einscodek]

Short strike and throwin hooks are different problems

short strike means you gotta concentrate and lightning set amongst other things

throwin the hook means you need to keep that line tight even when it jumps.. while its throwin a tight line and your rod should keep that line taut and the hook in

[Raul]

There´s a ton of reasons why you haven´t hooked a bigger bass, my first 10 + lber came out of a pond that I fished probably for 10 years before catching it, all I caught were 8-12 inchers year in year out, until one day I happened to be at the right place, at the right time, with the right bait, the right presentation and with the pond in the conditions that made the big mommas be there, that day I broke my PB 3 times.

[einscodek]

helps to be in mexico too

but seriously theres locating bass and then theres locating bigger bass

[JazzPipes]

I was having that problem too, the solution for me was using braided line. its so sensitive that I can feel the smallest piece of weed. If you believe the problem is not that the fish is seeing the line, I would try some braid. Maybe braided with a fluorocarbon leader? thats what I use for frogs...

[Bass newb]

I haven't seen it replied yet, but I don't consider fish, any fish, nibbling at my bait but not eating it as "losing" fish. You never had that fish, and that's just part of fishing. Lots more nibbles than bites, lots more bites than caught fish, lots more caught fish than keepers, and so on.

[Dana Fry]

Bass Newb, all the bass were hooked. First jump and they are off.

[hatrix]

Well if you think you are missing fish because of line stretch flouro is only going to make it worse. The only flouro I can comment on that probably has less stretch is Tatsu. Flouro is very stretchy compared to the monos or copolys I use.

Just a couple days ago I put 15# red label on a reel that was on a glass rod and was trying to fish swimjigs and hollow body swimbaits. It was like impossible to hook fish. If I would of still had 12# CXX on the reel I would of caught every fish that hit.

If the fish are jumping off its because you are letting them. Stop being a Nancy with them and gingerly reeling them in. Put your rod top down and crank them in like you mean it. I find it's pretty much impossible for fish to get off when you are completely dominating them and they can't do anything except just go with it. They give up the fight when they know there is nothing they can do.

A great example of that is when you grab a bass by the shoulders. If you grab it like a wuss and all lightly try to hold it I guarantee it will try to shake around. Now if you grab it like you mean it so they know who is boss they almost never ever try to do anything.

[Dana Fry]

I think I will take JazzPipes advice and go with braid. I thought I would never say that because of many problems I had with braid many years ago. I am going with power pro in 20lb.test with 8lb.FC leader with spinning rods and 40lb. test with 12lb.FC leader for baitcasting. Any other advice would be helpful. Thanks everyone for your help.

[WIGuide]

It sounds like you're on the right track with switching to braid. That should help you stick them on your hook sets. As far as them getting off when they jump though, you might be able to control that better by not letting them jump. When you see your line start to come up dip your rod tip into the water and that should help to pull them back down instead of letting them jump. 

[the reel ess]

Switch your plastics to Berkley Powerbaits. Fish will hold these like they're chewing tobacco even when they feel your resistance. They'll fight you for it!  I kinda jokingly say they smell like a seafood restaurant's dumpster.

[Tmmytomato]

Dana, there are a lot of very good tips already posted here.   Fluorocarbon is less visible so that's a consideration. It's long been said that bass that swipe or short strike can sometimes be caught with a color change of the bait.  As far as wacky rigging Senkos I have found one hook that has been much more productive for me and that is a Gamakatsu Octopus Circle hook in sizes #2 & #4. What you probably know with this hook is to simply reel up after you feel pressure but do not jerk on it. It almost always catches the fish in the corner of the mouth and rarely does this hook get thrown.

You're already doing the trailer hook on spinnerbaits. You might try a Mustad KVD Elite Ultra Point treble on your crankbaits with a slightly bent inward point - my fish stay buttoned better than with a rounded treble.

The only other thing I can add for now is to keep your rod tip low while reeling after the fish is hooked. A low rod attitude tends to keep the fish in the water and less likely to jump.

I hope the guys who have posted here can help you out with some good suggestions.