Setting the hook in different depths!

[Luna2406]

Learned something recently that I hope helps some people. 

 

Most of this year I've been fishing deeper water, mostly around 10-12 ft range. I'd been using Texas rigs and shakey heads with a really good hook up ratio. I'd feel the bite reel down to the fish and set the hook straight up. 

 

In the last 3 wks I've been fishing shallow grassy water, deepest going maybe 3ft. I cannot begin to guess how many fish/hooks I broke off using a texas rig. It was pretty frustrating and I couldn't figure out why. Then I started thinking, when I set the hook on a bass in 10ft of water I have a lot of line to kind of cushion the hookset, but in 2 ft of water all that power is being transferred to the hook.

 

I changed my hookset and my hook up ratio is back up. What I'm doing now is I reel down to the fish, feel the weight, then sweep the rod to the side. This has even helped me lose less hooks to those pesky pickeral! Haha hope this helps some people out!

[scaleface]

What type of line are you using ? I use mono and cross their eyes both deep and shallow .

[WRB]

42 minutes ago, Luna2406 said:

Learned something recently that I hope helps some people. 

 

Most of this year I've been fishing deeper water, mostly around 10-12 ft range. I'd been using Texas rigs and shakey heads with a really good hook up ratio. I'd feel the bite reel down to the fish and set the hook straight up. 

 

In the last 3 wks I've been fishing shallow grassy water, deepest going maybe 3ft. I cannot begin to guess how many fish/hooks I broke off using a texas rig. It was pretty frustrating and I couldn't figure out why. Then I started thinking, when I set the hook on a bass in 10ft of water I have a lot of line to kind of cushion the hookset, but in 2 ft of water all that power is being transferred to the hook.

 

I changed my hookset and my hook up ratio is back up. What I'm doing now is I reel down to the fish, feel the weight, then sweep the rod to the side. This has even helped me lose less hooks to those pesky pickeral! Haha hope this helps some people out!

Ahhh, that would be your basic reel set and rod sweep that I have been suggesting for about 40 years now and a vedio by Greg Hackney.

Tom

[papajoe222]

I'm assuming you're using braid in which case, even in 12 ft of water, there is no need for a 'cross their eyes' hook set. As has been mentioned, sweep and reel. For soft plastics, I recommend sweeping the rod upward while reeling. With cranks you'll want to sweep to the side regardless of the line used. 

[Catt]

2 hours ago, scaleface said:

What type of line are you using ? I use mono and cross their eyes both deep and shallow .

My hook set is exactly the same way on Texas Rigs & Jigs regardless of depth!

[Luna2406]

8 hours ago, scaleface said:

What type of line are you using ? I use mono and cross their eyes both deep and shallow .

I'm using 20lb braid with a 10lb flouro leader

[TOXIC]

Hooksets are dependent on a number of things, type of line, amount of line out, lure choice, hook choice, rod action, reel drag setting, water temp, etc.  No one answer.... but as a finesse fisherman I mainly sweep set most of the time in all situations unless I have a lot of line out deep, then I'll power it up some.  

[Raul]

My hookset is the same at any depth and has been the same for the past 4+ decades.

[Catt]

Texas Rigs weighted or unweighted & jigs cast, flipped, pitched, or punched get the same hook set period!

 

Speed as in time from detection to action!

 

Each is done with authority!

 

 

[Paul Roberts]

10 hours ago, Luna2406 said:

I'm using 20lb braid with a 10lb flouro leader

Breaking them off. Hmmmmm. Breaking hooks even! With a 10lb leader? My first thought is that you are using too light a hook, too powerful a rod, and/or hitting too hard. The guys above that are setting the hooks the same regardless of depth are probably not using light stuff. Really important to match line, hook, and hook-set. The last will expose the previous when you change something.

 

As to hook-setting... You may be right that there is some cushion effect through all that water, due to bow in the line. On a short line torque or shock of the line snapping tight really fast may be the problem. Something that amazed me was something I don't see in my bass fishing... Steelhead (fast powerful bruiser of a fish) could break standard wire hooks on 6lb mono! It was what I called "torque" or "shock" from the sheer acceleration of those fish. Leader and knot intact, hook twisted and broken!

 

Your sweep-set may simply be slower, and allowing the rod to bend more as it sweeps beside and on behind you. Possibly, your reefing upwards on a taut line is coming dangerously taut -hitting the rod's powerful butt- very quickly, leading to a shock effect.

 

My biggest problem when moving shallow, esp with slower presentations (jigs, SPLs), and on a short line -and esp to sighted fish- is timing: Pulling the bait from their mouths before they've "handled" the lure.

 

[MassYak85]

With braid this should be a non-issue. The stretch in braid is negligible. If you were using fluoro or mono then depth itself, at least the depths you are talking about, should have minimal impact as the distance of your cast is going to play a much larger role in how much line you have out, which ultimately is what determines the "cushion" or how much stretch you are getting when you set the hook. Also the line you are using is a little light for the "cross their eyes" style hooksets so moving to the sweeping like you said you are doing was probably a good move at any depth. 

[islandbass]

18 hours ago, Luna2406 said:

Learned something recently that I hope helps some people. 

 

Most of this year I've been fishing deeper water, mostly around 10-12 ft range. I'd been using Texas rigs and shakey heads with a really good hook up ratio. I'd feel the bite reel down to the fish and set the hook straight up. 

 

I changed my hookset and my hook up ratio is back up. What I'm doing now is I reel down to the fish, feel the weight, then sweep the rod to the side. This has even helped me lose less hooks to those pesky pickeral! Haha hope this helps some people out!

I think I usually set the hook to the side (since this is an instinctive vs. a pondered action) myself with decent success, but I'll need to try to be more aware on my next few hook sets to confirm one way or the other. I can relate to the "straight up" misses and in my nerdy way, I've tried to figure out why.

 

However, if all things are equal in the hook set, then in my own mind, theoretically, it shouldn't matter (from the hook-setting force perspective solely) if we set the hook to one side or the other or pull straight back.  We are applying the same amount of hook setting force.  When we lose those fish on the hook sets when we go "straight up", that is not the same hook set as pulling back with the rod up, facing the sky or setting the hook from the side.  That straight up hook set should be weaker and less effective from all accounts. Think about it.

 

When we set the hook straight up (you know, elbows up, straight in front of us with little or no pulling back - this is how I'm defining straight up), the rod is upright and bent probably nearly 90 degrees, but because we didn't pull back, we didn't make full use of the rod's hook setting power. I think pulling back is essential to give us the best chance of setting the hook, and attaining that at a relative 45 degree angle on the hook set.

 

I apologize if what I hoped to describe isn't as clear as I wished.  I've lost a lot of blue gill going straight up, lol.

 

Other factors can be the culprit too.  Sometimes the fish only have part of the bait without the hook so when we yank, we honestly had no chance to set the hook. And sometimes, we just plain miss.

 

 

[WRB]

When I 1st started bass fishing with jigs and worms was prior to B.A.S.S. In the early 60's, so nothing was written on how to hook set them. Trial and error to figure out what worked and didn't work. After B.A.S.S. Started publishing their quarterly magazine with how to and what to use for jigs and worms, rods, reels, line, hooks, weights etc, etc, the bubba broom stick rods and "cross the eyes" snap set was promoted. So I adopted that thinking for a few years until discovering that style of hook set was good when the bass was within about 50' out away from me and lost several bass that were further away after making longer casts. Several times bass would pick up the worm and run straight towards me creating more slack line to over come before hook setting. The solution was to reel fast until the slack was taken up then sweep the rod back while continuing to reel worked every time. The more vertical the bass is from your location, the less slack line there is to overcome and hard vertical rod hook sets work good. the more horizontal and further away the bass is from your location the less force is applied by vertical rod hook sets. The key to both hook set styles is removing slack line before hook setting. Snap sets works into a little slack line and reel rod sweep sets work with no slack line, both require sharp strong hooks.

Whatever hook set you develope it should work every time without breaking your line or bending hooks.

Tom

[Turkey sandwich]

I'm a big proponent of anything that takes the slack out of the line, and if using mono, compensates for the stretch.  I think @WRB's comment is pretty spot on.   

[Catt]

Even with braid ya got stretch... Not in the line but your rod flexes!

 

When ya set hook ya must overcome line stretch & rod flex before the hook point is driven forward.

 

This is accomplished with speed & power; speed as in how soon ya detect the bite & start the hook set.