You ever have one of those days....

[Doelman]

Where you can't seem to get anything to hook up?  Did a little afternoon fishing yesterday, started off with a drop shot.  

 

First cast, good bite, set the hook, bait gone.  

Next bite, wait 3 seconds, set the hook, nothing.

Next bite, wait 3 seconds, set the hook, feels like a good one, fish off in 5 seconds.

Next bite, wait 3 seconds, set the hook, catch the king of the dinks.

 

Get frustrated, switch to a live target swim bait.

 

First cast, good knock but fish doesn't take it.

Next bite, set the hook, decent bass splashes the water, hook doesn't take.

I move to the next spot and I troll the swim bait.  Gets hit hard, rod bends over, but doesn't hook up.

 

Get more frustrated and switch at the next spot to what I always switch to when I get angry, wacky senko.  Except this time I'm using some new hooks (Trokar weedless wacky 1/0).

 

First "bite" I see the line twitch and start sinking faster, set the hook, and..... stick.

Next bite, the line moves sideways, set the hook, nothing on the end.

Next bite, line twitches, set the hook, fish is on for a few seconds before coming off.

Next bite, again, set the hook and the fish is immediately off, lose my bait.

Next "bite", the line suddenly sinks faster, I reel up and feel the weight, set the hook, snagged AGAIN and doesn't come off, break the line.

 

Go home wondering what I'm doing with my life.

 

I don't know about these Trokar hooks.  Maybe it was just a bad fluky day but the gammies I always use have a really good hook up ratio.  I'll try these Trokars once more but if they have a repeat performance, they're getting trashed.  Also, these live target swimbaits seem good but I think they need a treble on the bottom ring, I'll add one and see if it helps the horrible hookup ratio.

[Bluebasser86]

Trokar hooks have never impressed me. That point tends to slice a hole in the fish that is easier for the hook to back out of. 

I've heard lots of guys cutting the weedguard fin off those LiveTarget swimbaits to get better hookups. I was really disappointed in the ones I bought and sold them before I did any modifications. 

I had a tournament like that day a couple months ago where every good fish my partner or I hooked somehow managed to come off no matter what we did. I didn't end up mattering, the guys that won it would have still won if we'd caught every fish we hooked, but it still sucked. 

[ohboyitsrobby]

Yeah we've all had those days. Love em lol. Had one a few weeks ago where my partner who's a really good fisherman had gotten a bad batch of really good expensive line. Broke his line on 4-5 hooksets. Never saw a man so disgusted. It probably cost us the tournament. It's part of it though makes you appreciate those days everything goes right even more.

[VAHunter]

Oh yeah, I've lived those days.  Been bass fishing for 45 years and there are still days I wonder if I know how to cast and hit the water! Or not get snagged, or backlashed, or line wrapped around the pole...  You get the idea.

[WIGuide]

Everyone has had days like that. It sounds like you could have made some adjustments to help try to better the situation. With the dropshot you may have wanted to try a different bait profile, color, and/or downsize your presentation. From the sounds of it, you may have been around some small aggressive fish, or you were around bigger fish that were leery of just eating that DS right up.

 

Once you decided to switch techniques entirely, you switched to a bait that in its short lifespan has already had many complaints about the hookup ratio. It sounds like you shared the same experience. Having already been frustrated from the ds you escalated your frustration level by doing so. 

 

Once you switched to the wacky rig it sounds like it was back to the same situation as the DS, the fish weren't committing to fully taking the bait either because of size or they were in one of those leery moods. I don't know if you tried switching or not, but sometimes switching colors will help, or instead of throwing a 5" move down to a 4" or even a 3".

 

Hindsight is always more 20/20, but since you had some good hits on the swimbait, it may have been worth sticking with it and using one other than the livetarget. Between the ds and wacky rig, I don't think that was a hook issue. It'd be one thing if you consistently had them on and kept losing them, but from the sounds of it, they didn't consistently have a hook it their mouth to even know if you had a hook issue. Stick with it though, and remember if you're getting bit, you're getting close to solving the puzzle. A lot of times it's just a slight change that will make the fish commit better. 

 

[Doelman]

It was a weird day for sure, I didn't get on the water til 6 PM unfortunately so time was a problem.  I have some smaller baits for a DS but all my stick baits are 5", I should probably get some in the 3" range.

 

Going back to the same spot after work today, I'll give the trokars one more shot and I put a treble on that livetarget swimbait, I'll report back tomorrow.

[Doelman]

These trokar wacky hooks are officially garbage.  First fish I managed to catch but I noticed, as blue mentioned, that the hook had tore a massive hole in the fish's mouth.  Second fish I hooked was a nice 4-5, hook set felt perfect, and the hook came out at the first jump.  Off came the trokar and I put my last gami back on, caught 3 fish in a row without a fuss.

 

Jury is still out on the livetarget swimbait, had a couple bites but they felt small, no hook ups.

[MichaelCopeland]

Had a kinda similar day today. I was using my confidence bait the Ol' Monster, getting bites but nothing committing. Got hung up a few times. Didn't lose any lures though. I finally switched to a 3/8oz Arkie jig and got my first ever bite on a skirted jig. Set the hook and got it almost to the bank and it come off the hook. The only thing that committed today. Guess I'm gonna have to get me a medium heavy fast action spinning rod because I don't think my medium fast one was stout enough to set that heavier hook those jigs have properly. Not really sure though. After that I couldn't buy a bite, not even switching back to my confidence bait. So I just went on home.

 

Do they make a lighter wire hook on jigs like that?

 

Never used Trokar hooks, but I do like me some Gammy's. Another brand are Academy's H2O Express Heavy wire EWGs. They are lighter wire than the super locks and in my opinion just as good as Gammy's and alot cheaper. My hook up ratio is equally great with both brands. 

 

[Boomstick]

Yesterday was one of those days. After one of the longest casts I've ever made, I don't remember exactly if the boat was drifting into a tree or what but I I somehow got the line caught in the hook holder in my rod and didn't realize it and reeled in and one half of my reel had all the line in it. Okay, no problem I can just pull this out or so I thought but my line knotted itself up pretty badly and I spent all afternoon getting it out. 5 hours on the water and not one fish.

[Spankey]

I've been pretty hooked on Gammys for a long long time. I do real well with the light wire hooks. But a 8 or 10 lb. bass would not be the norm in an outing for me.

 

i don't have the need to try the Trokars. I'll see if I can get a free sample sometime. 

 

But, yes I've had days as you just had. 

[CTBassin860]

Happens to all of us. One day I feel like an elite pro. The next day i'm Googling "How to fish" Sometimes those bad days seem like nothing will go right at all no matter what you do.