Low Hooking %

[The Bassman]

Anybody ever get on a bad roll where it seems you just can't keep fish pinned? I was about 5 for 20 tonight on a weightless wacky Senko. Other times I can do no wrong. Hook, a Berkley 2/0 weedless wacky Fusion was plenty sharp and the fluorocarbon weedguard is usually not an issue. The fishing gods certainly humbled me.

[Brew City Bass]

I had this issue, then I fixed it. I did exactly what I did when I played sports. I recorded myself to find out if the problem was me. Sure enough, it was. Every fish that came unpinned was my fault, I had a whack hookset. 

I ended up working on my mechanics and making a solid hookset muscle memory. Now days I don't lose much fish from coming unpinned. I use fairly heavy rods, some would say overpowered, but I've got a gnarly hookset now that doesn't discriminate. Small or big, every bass is getting it's eyes crossed.

When I was fishing with medium rods and lighter line, I'd sweep the set and it was a guessing game if it'd come unpinned or not. Now I rarely use a medium. I'm usually using a 7ft+ MH with xf tip, or a heavy stick. I switched most of my lines to braid, and I beefed up my hooks on what I could. Gives me all the confidence I need to really jack some jaws. 

[A-Jay]

Yup ~ 

I was on a school brown bass earlier this spring, all big 4's.

They were fighting over my jerkbait but I couldn't get a hook in them.

I'd get a poke and have one for a second or two and then she'd spit me . . .

Happened a few times.

I eventually started getting the steel in them and did manage to keep 5 good ones pinned up.

 But I was pretty frustrated. 

Jerkbait strikes for me a usually a done deal - crazy that day.

Made me question my deal. - Hate that feeling. 

Went back the next day and hammered a bunch of big 5's & a big 6.

Two on jerkbaits.

All was right in the world.

A-Jay

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

1 hour ago, The Bassman said:

Anybody ever get on a bad roll where it seems you just can't keep fish pinned? I was about 5 for 20 tonight on a weightless wacky Senko. Other times I can do no wrong. Hook, a Berkley 2/0 weedless wacky Fusion was plenty sharp and the fluorocarbon weedguard is usually not an issue. The fishing gods certainly humbled me.

Whenever I have an Owner hook tied on. I lose more fish with 
Owner hooks than all other brands combined ever.

[islandbass]

Sometimes I think there are occasions we set the hook but our hook was not in position to get set. 

 

Lets say the bass partially inhaled a bait like a dinger such that the part it is latched on to does not have the hook. 

 

I don't care how good of a hook set you have, you’re going to miss. Some even hold on tight enough to fight with their mouths but it is all over when they open up. Conclusion: fish was on but not by the hook. 

 

As for hard jerk baits, I personally witnessed the horror of watching my bait get struck by bass in the dead center yet somehow they evaded the trebles. Come on, bass!! Give me some love. ?

[A-Jay]

10 minutes ago, QUAKEnSHAKE said:

Whenever I have an Owner hook tied on. I lose more fish with 
Owner hooks than any other brand ever.

Interesting ~ 

I feel the same way about many Trokar offerings.

 And the Owner wide gap plus is my EWG of choice.

It's my confidence hook - 

#likeagaff

A-Jay

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

18 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Interesting ~ 

I feel the same way about many Trokar offerings.

 And the Owner wide gap plus is my EWG of choice.

It's my confidence hook - 

#likeagaff

A-Jay

Its my no confidence hook.

[A-Jay]

2 minutes ago, QUAKEnSHAKE said:

Its my no confidence hook.

I have to say - that blows my mind a little. 

A-Jay

[Armtx77]

1 hour ago, Brew City Bass said:

I had this issue, then I fixed it. I did exactly what I did when I played sports. I recorded myself to find out if the problem was me. Sure enough, it was. Every fish that came unpinned was my fault, I had a whack hookset. 

I ended up working on my mechanics and making a solid hookset muscle memory. Now days I don't lose much fish from coming unpinned. I use fairly heavy rods, some would say overpowered, but I've got a gnarly hookset now that doesn't discriminate. Small or big, every bass is getting it's eyes crossed.

When I was fishing with medium rods and lighter line, I'd sweep the set and it was a guessing game if it'd come unpinned or not. Now I rarely use a medium. I'm usually using a 7ft+ MH with xf tip, or a heavy stick. I switched most of my lines to braid, and I beefed up my hooks on what I could. Gives me all the confidence I need to really jack some jaws. 

Im with this guy, I try to break their head open, regardless of gear.

I have pulled dinks onto to the deck from 20ft away...

[Bluebasser86]

I have zero confidence in weedless wacky hooks. Seems they prevent me from getting hooksets more than they prevent hangups. 

 

I've had days like that though, usually with some kind of topwater, or flipping into heavy cover when I just can't seem to keep one pinned long enough to get them out. It's not a good feeling but if you're doing everything right there isn't much you can do other than wait for the next bite and try again. 

[TOXIC]

I'm never gonna complain about getting bit regardless if I lose them or not.  

[Oregon Native]

7 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I have zero confidence in weedless wacky hooks. Seems they prevent me from getting hooksets more than they prevent hangups. 

 

I've had days like that though, usually with some kind of topwater, or flipping into heavy cover when I just can't seem to keep one pinned long enough to get them out. It's not a good feeling but if you're doing everything right there isn't much you can do other than wait for the next bite and try again. 

Have gone to using the 2/0 weedless wacky from Gamme with the fiber weedguard that goes over the point.  (can't remember number right now) but I (from a friends advice) bend out the hook just a bit to open it a bit and life is good.  Very few losses.

[Mike L]

9 hours ago, islandbass said:

Sometimes I think there are occasions we set the hook but our hook was not in position to get set. 

 

Lets say the bass partially inhaled a bait like a dinger such that the part it is latched on to does not have the hook. 

 

I don't care how good of a hook set you have, you’re going to miss. Some even hold on tight enough to fight with their mouths but it is all over when they open up. Conclusion: fish was on but not by the hook. 

 

As for hard jerk baits, I personally witnessed the horror of watching my bait get struck by bass in the dead center yet somehow they evaded the trebles. Come on, bass!! Give me some love. ?

I think this happens to us more than we think, especially with longer 6"+ plastic. 

Our equipment is fine.

 More times than not we feel them and go.

 

Personally, I have to remind myself to "weigh" the fish first before hitting them. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

[Hook2Jaw]

I think it just happens sometimes, I had a wolf pack of bass attacking my jerk bait the other day and couldn't get a hook in them.  Shortly thereafter I started catching them back to back to back, and the day before that had a small double on it.

 

All my hard baits have VMC hooks because they come stock with them, or, in the case of my Red Eye Shads, I switched to them.  I like lighter wire and set my jerkbait rod to 2# of drag with my scale.  10# fluoro.

 

My soft baits all get BPS XPS hooks, and I use them with soft plastics in the inshore salt as well.  I don't miss many fish with them and when they're hooked, 19 times out of 20, they're in the boat.

 

I do keep a diamond stone in my pocket and often brush my hooks down until they pass the nail test.

 

My suggestion is to keep a sharpener handy, use it, and realize that sometimes, **** just happens.

[Catt]

13 hours ago, The Bassman said:

Anybody ever get on a bad roll where it seems you just can't keep fish pinned?

 

ROTFLMAO ?

 

Why certainly!

 

I quite often ask myself, "are you sure you know what you're doing"?

 

I've also had everything feel "perfect", felt the bite, minimal slack, rod position fine, solid hook set & have bullet weight/hook come flying at you!

[Log Catcher]

21 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

ROTFLMAO ?

 

Why certainly!

 

I quite often ask myself, "are you sure you know what you're doing"?

 

I've also had everything feel "perfect", felt the bite, minimal slack, rod position fine, solid hook set & have bullet weight/hook come flying at you!

My problem is I can feel the bite set the hook only to end up being hung up. That has happened to me many times.

[Choporoz]

13 minutes ago, Log Catcher said:

My problem is I can feel the bite set the hook only to end up being hung up. That has happened to me many times.

I learned long ago that bass are quite adept at picking up my lure and planting it in a branch...it isn't an accident

 

As to the OP, I feel that some days, the bass just have what I refer to as a 'soft bite' -- feels like they're gently picking up lures to check them out without committing such that I can get a reliable set

[928JLH]

Last outing lost multiple bass. Very frustrating. Hooksets were solid but they all went straight up out of the water and popped off. Water is 85 so maybe their mouths are softer not sure. Sometimes it happens.

[Troy85]

18 hours ago, The Bassman said:

Anybody ever get on a bad roll where it seems you just can't keep fish pinned? I was about 5 for 20 tonight on a weightless wacky Senko. Other times I can do no wrong. Hook, a Berkley 2/0 weedless wacky Fusion was plenty sharp and the fluorocarbon weedguard is usually not an issue. The fishing gods certainly humbled me.

Oh yeah.  Just like you have those trips where it seems like you snag every piece of cover you throw near, regardless of how weedless your hook is.

[Fishes in trees]

On the subject of weedless wacky hooks, the ones that work best for me are the Falcon K-Wacky weighted weedless hooks - 3/0 size.  I haven't found that the mouse trap style wire weed guard costs me any fish.  I always use senkos with an 0-ring.  It has been a dozen years now, and I still haven't decided if a single 0-ring ( which puts the hook point in line with the bait) or a pair of 0-rings crossed ( which puts the hook point at a 90 degree angle to the bait )

is better, so sometimes I do it one way and sometimes the other.   I generally use the 1/16 oz weighted hook.  My strike to landing percentage overall is in the 70 to 80 % range, and of course that varies from day to day.  I've had those days when I couldn't stick anything and I've had months when I seldom missed.  It is a mystery.

 

Sometimes I will fish with one buddy of mine, who seems to be opposed to the whole notion of wacky rigging, he will fish all brands of stick baits tx rigged and he lands & misses fish in roughly the same percentages as I do. Even more of a mystery.

[scaleface]

My   first few outings this year I lost very few fish . This past week I lost as many as I caught , in every way imaginable . The one that hurt was on a ribbit frog . It was a heck of an explosion , I paused before setting the hook and the   hook-set was solid , too solid , line snapped .

[BassNJake]

I hate breaking off fish.

Right after I break one off, I know I'll miss the next one by setting the hook like a wimp.

 

 

[N Florida Mike]

17 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Interesting ~ 

I feel the same way about many Trokar offerings.

 And the Owner wide gap plus is my EWG of choice.

It's my confidence hook - 

#likeagaff

A-Jay

I’m that way with Gamakatsu hooks. I have a very good catch rate % with them.

[A-Jay]

Just now, N Florida Mike said:

I’m that way with Gamakatsu hooks. I have a very good catch rate % with them.

X2 ~ 

I use the standard Gamakatsu EWG a ton as well.

But in applications where I want a little beefier wire - that Owner Wide Gap Plus ewg gets the nod.

A-Jay

[N Florida Mike]

I recently tried a beefier off brand hook because they were so much cheaper than the Gammies.Wont ever do that again. Hook up and catch rate went way down.