Fish get unhooked as you reel them in

[tntitans21399]

I am not the greatest fisherman.  I was curious what I can do to improve getting the fish to the kayak.  I was on a small river today using a 3" senko and figured I would try out Wacky Worm fishing.  I started with a weedless 2/O and seemed to getting bites but not hooking them.  I ripped off the weedless wire.  I started to get more hook sets.  But for some reason a lot of them would jump out of the water or as soon as I raised them out of the water they would pop off the hook.  These were about 12" or smaller bass, so I was only using 6lbs test which was holding up good.  My question is why were they getting off the hook after I was feeling them in?  When wacky do I need to reel faster keeping more pressure, using a smaller hook (1/O?), or what causes them to get free?

[Catt]

From personal experience I have more tighteyes come unbuttoned than bigger fish but that's just a crazy Cajun opinion!

[scaleface]

Your using some light equipment which is OK. Trying a  thinner wire 1/0 hook might make a difference .

[BareHook]

My guess is you need a stronger hook set.  If you are using a very parabolic or slow action rod, it may not be getting the hook fully penetrated into the fish, so a headshake easily pops the hook loose. Try getting a faster action rod (stiffer graphite type) to use when fishing worms and soft plastics.

[geo g]

I would think its either the hook quality, or my best guess the hook set.  I would start with a thin wire hook like a Gama EWG #3.  The thin wire hook will penetrate much easier then the super line hooks.  Setting from a Kayak will be much easier.  Then use a line with little stretch.  Floro is perfect for solid hook sets in clear water.  Braid is ok, but I don;t like it in clear water, and I don't like tying leaders.  Good luck.

[J Francho]

What are the rod specs?

[tholmes]

13 hours ago, Catt said:

From personal experience I have more tighteyes come unbuttoned than bigger fish but that's just a crazy Cajun opinion!

 

I've had the same experience and I have a theory as to why this is.

Smaller fish don't hsve the body mass to create enough resistance for a solid hookset. When you set the hook on a small fish, you start to move him through the water before the hook penetrates enough to solidly button up the fish, so he comes off the hook, especially if the fish jumps.

Just a crazy flatlander's opinion.

 

Tom

[StinkyBass]

I also fish primarily from a yak and have had the same problem. I fixed it (for the most part) doing the following. 

1- FORGET WEEDLESS! It only causes missed fish. (As you clearly meantioned.) You did the right thing.  REMEMBER: "If you ain't snaggin, you ain't baggin!" 

2-how are you setting the hook? Are you swiping to the right or left as you would with a crankbait? when fishing with any type of "worm" hook (ie drop shot, wack rigging or weightless tx rig) i pull straight up and "cross their eyes". This method usually puts the hook in the top corner of their mouth cartilage and has greatly improved my hook set to boat ratio! 

3-when you feel them coming to the top or they jump, throw your rod down and get them back in the water ASAP! As soon as they break the surface your tension goes to hell and the chances of losing her greatly increases. 

Hopefully you take this reply as a helpful comment and not an insult to your abilities. Fishing on a yak involves a lot of upper body movement and muscle that puts you at a disadvantage vs standing up. Hope this helps! Keep at it, by reading your post, it sounds like you're well in your way!

[jr231]

3 hours ago, BareHook said:

My guess is you need a stronger hook set.  If you are using a very parabolic or slow action rod, it may not be getting the hook fully penetrated into the fish, so a headshake easily pops the hook loose. Try getting a faster action rod (stiffer graphite type) to use when fishing worms and soft plastics.

 

4 hours ago, scaleface said:

Your using some light equipment which is OK. Trying a  thinner wire 1/0 hook might make a difference .

 

 

These two things together should solve your problem. 

[CTBassin860]

If you fishing on slack line, try reeling up then use a sweep set.

[CroakHunter]

If fishing from a yak I'd use straight braid. No stretch. The weight of the fish and velocity of the toolset will move your yak and you will have less energy in your toolset so the no stretch of braid compensates for that

[tntitans21399]

16 minutes ago, Yeajray231 said:

 

 

 

These two things together should solve your problem. 

I think a smaller hook and stronger hookset would work.  The few that did make it to the kayak took a little more effort to get the hook out.  So the others might have been hooked but not enough to get past the barb.

34 minutes ago, StinkyBass said:

I also fish primarily from a yak and have had the same problem. I fixed it (for the most part) doing the following. 

1- FORGET WEEDLESS! It only causes missed fish. (As you clearly meantioned.) You did the right thing.  REMEMBER: "If you ain't snaggin, you ain't baggin!" 

2-how are you setting the hook? Are you swiping to the right or left as you would with a crankbait? when fishing with any type of "worm" hook (ie drop shot, wack rigging or weightless tx rig) i pull straight up and "cross their eyes". This method usually puts the hook in the top corner of their mouth cartilage and has greatly improved my hook set to boat ratio! 

3-when you feel them coming to the top or they jump, throw your rod down and get them back in the water ASAP! As soon as they break the surface your tension goes to hell and the chances of losing her greatly increases. 

Hopefully you take this reply as a helpful comment and not an insult to your abilities. Fishing on a yak involves a lot of upper body movement and muscle that puts you at a disadvantage vs standing up. Hope this helps! Keep at it, by reading your post, it sounds like you're well in your way!

If the fish was behind me then a sweeping and if I waa facing them 10 or 2 upward so it would hit the side of their mouth and not just pull it out of their mouth

[NHBull]

........drop the rod, while reeling the slack and SWEEP.

This way, regardless on the angle if the hook, it gets set

[J Francho]

Wait, why is the fish behind you when setting the hook?  I've fished from a kayak for over a dozen years, and never had an issue setting the hook, or not using braid, weedless hooks, or most of the reasons mentioned.  Sounds like boat positioning combined with weak hooksets.  Still haven't heard the rod specs, but I suspect it's a buggy whip.  Anything less than a M/F rod will give you trouble.

[tntitans21399]

36 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Wait, why is the fish behind you when setting the hook?  I've fished from a kayak for over a dozen years, and never had an issue setting the hook, or not using braid, weedless hooks, or most of the reasons mentioned.  Sounds like boat positioning combined with weak hooksets.  Still haven't heard the rod specs, but I suspect it's a buggy whip.  Anything less than a M/F rod will give you trouble.

The fish is behind you when you toss the bait near a log and you float passed it and reel the bait so it stays close to log or rocks.  Or if you see a fish swim by you and you try and throw the bait in front of him.  And sometimes their is 2 spots that look good on opposite sides so you cast to one side in front of you then by the time you get the bait in you have floated down and you can throw it at your 4 or 7 o'clock so you can get another chance.  If you drop a anchor in current isn't a good thing or put your paddle in the water to turn completely around you would have scared the fish away and might have floated to far down stream to throw back to that same spot.  So a little toss at your 4 or 7 o'clock gives you a second chance at a spot as you move down the river.  I caught one and 2 partial hooks that way.  If I only cast straight ahead I would have missed those 3 hits.  I don't throw directly behind me.  Sometimes you throw it in a spot and to fish it slow enough to get a bite it might start in front of you and then be behind you as the current it pushing the kayak faster then the bait.

[J Francho]

Learn some better boat positioning, and your issues go away.  Been doing the kayak thing for a while now.  Boat positioning is probably the hardest part.  For any cast, you want to know how your going to swing on the hookset. 

[StinkyBass]

On 7/24/2017 at 0:39 PM, CroakHunter said:

If fishing from a yak I'd use straight braid. No stretch. The weight of the fish and velocity of the toolset will move your yak and you will have less energy in your toolset so the no stretch of braid compensates for that

I fish with a guy who uses nothing but braid and a flouro leader. He hardly misses fish. One thing he does have going for him is patience and a good hook set 

On 7/24/2017 at 2:50 PM, J Francho said:

Learn some better boat positioning, and your issues go away.  Been doing the kayak thing for a while now.  Boat positioning is probably the hardest part.  For any cast, you want to know how your going to swing on the hookset. 

^WELL SAID. Wish I said that myself. I don't have a paddle system (i.e. Hobie setup) but I keep my paddle across my lap to make positioning adjustments as I fish. POSITIONING IS EXTREAMELY IMPORTANT. good post J Francho

[J Francho]

I keep my paddle close, too.  It also helps that I have a custom bent, "ergo" shaft.  The bend keeps it from rolling away.

[bholtzinger14]

I am not an expert, but about a year ago I fished with a wacky rigged senko 100% of the time. 100% might be a lower number. Probably closer to 110% of the time. I rarely missed a fish. 

My setup is a medium action *** with shimano stratic reel. I have 15 lb braid and use a fluro leader. 

Now the important part. I used a number 1 octopus circle hook. When you feel the bite just reel fast. No "hook set" needed. This has worked great for me. 

 

Good luck.

[Casey Hatley]

My stepdad uses monofilament. I use braid. He misses the hook set so much more than me as we fish out of the same boat. I usually don't. Just my opinion. Braid has less stretch and that could be your problem. Also I've noticed that when I miss a hook set the fish are very small and do not bite deep enough on the bait too get hooked. I believe you said a 3" worm and that's a small length. Smaller fish will bite at that a whole lot. 

[WRB]

Standard EWG hooks have too heavy of wire diameter to get a good hook set with the tackle you are using for Senko's. Try using Owner J light wire hook and Texpose the point and skin hook. 

Tom

[RB 77]

its all about positing in the yak. Get that dialed and everything else falls into place. All the suggestions for a lighter wire hook are solid as well.

[Bulletman20XD]

Most everyone here has mentioned a "Stronger" hook set. The problem could also be "Too Strong" of a hook set! If the hook penetrates the thin skin between the fishes lip and the thicker part of the mouth, the skin can tear, opening a large hole allowing the hook to be thrown out. This can occur with any hook but I see it with shorter shank hooks mostly, such as what you would normally use with a wacky rig. Smaller wire/short shank hooks will penetrate very easily. A quick sweep such as what you would use with a crankbait is all that is necessary with these type hooks. I say all this not actually seeing how this guys sets the hook!!

[WRB]

So far we don't know anything about the op's tackle, only the fact he can't control the bass or keep his line tight... We know it's 6 lb line and 3"  Senko or wacky rig worms and bass jump off.

When or if the op decides to add some details, help is available.

Tom

[tntitans21399]

I went out 2 weeks ago and tried a smaller 1/0 hook and every hit I hooked and they didn't get off.  The smaller hook helped.  Thanks for the input.