Short Strikes and Soft Mouths

[Josh Smith]

Hello,

 

I've been catching bass more consistently this year than I have since I started fishing regularly again. However, I've also lost more than I ever have, and I'm wondering what I might do about it.

 

First time this started happening, I'd caught smallies on a spinnerbait and a crankbait. Fun times. They stopped biting on those, and so I rigged up a Yum Crawdad on a weighted hook. Presentation was on a medium/fast Daiwa rod with a tuned Ambassadeur 4600c3 spooling 30lb test braid with an 8lb fluorocarbon leader. A bass took that thing right away, and then jumped and spat it out. I threw it back out there, and the critter repeated its performance. Looking at the crawdad, the hook hadn't even come out of the plastic. Maybe TX rig with the point exposed next time?

 

At a lake I frequent, I was using my jig rod (MH/F Jimmy Houston Signature, tuned Ambassadeur 5500c3, 65lb braid) throwing a 1/2oz weedless jig with a Yum craw trailer. Drag was locked down, though I've been thinking about backing off of it some since the weeds have been treated in this lake this year. I hooked up to one of the bigger bass I've seen in this lake; set the hook hard, and it was hooked. When it was close to the bank, it flopped and got off. Is this a drag issue, tearing up the mouth?

 

Same day, I threw a craw as above and a bass took it at the lake, but again, this one didn't take the hook.

 

A couple days later, at this lake, a bass took the Creme Worm right off my hook on my wacky rig. Same day, I tied a 17lb fluorocarbon leader on the jig rod and rigged a 10" Texas Rigged ribbon tail worm. Bass took it, but again, avoided the hook. It fought, and jumped and spat it -- the hook hadn't been touched. Should I run a trailer hook on a worm this long? Why are they not trying to eat it head first?

 

I can get away with not burying the hook in the plastic at the river, but not at the lake. The lake has a LOT of vegetation, even though the algae is mostly gone. Lots of grass at the bottom, and the water is usually very clear. (I should mention, I've had a lot of luck using fluorocarbon leaders in this lake where I'd not had luck running a more visible line. Not sure I believe in line shyness, but a visible line certainly increases the size of the lure.)

 

Thoughts on any of this? I'd really like to not lose any more fish this year.

 

Regards,

Josh

[WRB]

Getting strikes is your first concern, getting solid hook sets is your problem now.

Bass don't have hands the lure is in it's mouth or it isn't. Bass rarely pick up any lure by it's tail end, almost always by the head or front end. 

The exception to this is smallmouth bass that tend to strike crawdads by the claws to disable them, LMB simply engulf the entire crawdad. 

It comes down to timing the hook set and very sharp hooks.

If the bass are spitting or shaking the hook your hook set isn't working. Try reel setting with a firm rod sweep in lieu of the rod hook set.

Tom

[Armtx77]

You are always going to lose some fish, just the nature of the fishing beast.

 

I would look at your hook set. I was taught to break their head open, regardless of gear. That just does not always work, especially when using light/finesse gear.

A trick I employed on river smallies, was to punch the hook through the plastic, creating a channel for it. Than bring it back in and fish it. Smallies like to nibble, where as a LM just seem to engulf everything, giving you a little more time to get a good hooks set.

[Josh Smith]

I'll try setting the hook harder. A couple places I fish are very overgrown, and a sweeping hook set is not really possible.

 

I did switch to a slightly faster action rod for the lighter stuff; we'll see if this improves things. I've never had a problem setting hooks before, so I do wonder if it was that rod. That doesn't explain the miss on the jig, though.

 

Regards,

Josh

[TnRiver46]

First off, I love your choice in fishing reels. Just reading the OP again made me want to cast mine, but alas I’m on a non fishing trip in Ohio...... about to go out into Lake Erie and not fish....... sad face. But back on topic, I ALWAYS bury the hook point in a worm, never texpose. Maybe because I live in the land off current, logs and rocks, I don’t know. There is basically no clean bottom and no vegetation, just a bunch of stuff to get hung on. You may have just had a bad stretch of luck but I would definitely try setting the hook harder to penetrate the plastic and subsequently the fish . 

[Choporoz]

Take a look at your rod posture, too.  Last time that I found myself missing hooksets, I realized (with a fair amount of contemplation) that had started holding my rod tip a bit higher as I was working on intent line watching; I'd been lifting the rod tip just a few inches to give me better view of line between tip and the surface.  Dropping the tip that six inches or so was enough to get back to more solid hooksets.

You might try a different weighted hook, also.  Some just seem to penetrate better than others, depending on your rod, line, etc.  For example, I loved Gammy's for the longest time -- but when I had to switch rods, I found I couldn't drive them home as well -- switching to different hooks made a difference.

[TnRiver46]

@Choporoz makes lots of good points. I use thin wire hooks because they seem to penetrate the fish better