Advice on setting the hook with jigs?

[TriStateBassin106]

So I lost a jig fish today for the first time... hooked onto a solid 2lber and he shook it right at the bank, the fish hit it on the fall and I tried to set the hook as hard as I could, can anyone give some tips on how to improve hook up ratio with jigs? Should I spread the weedguard out or just pray that the fish doesn't jump lol, anyone struggle with losing fish on jigs? 

[Glenn]

This might help:

 

 

[TriStateBassin106]

1 minute ago, Glenn said:

This might help:

 

 

Thanks!!!

[Fishes in trees]

Think about how you're  going to set the hook prior to getting the strike.  If you want til you have a strike, you've wasted too much time.  I haven't watched the movie, but how I set the hook is a controlled snap as soon as I detect  something.   By a controlled snap I mean that I don't set the hook as hard with my Finesse Jig rod & 10 lb test as I do  when I'm getting bit on my MH/ extra fast tip/17 lb Abrazx 10" worm rig.

I feel like with jigs & tx rigs going "up" with the hook set generally gets the best results.   Fishing with my home made jika rig and rigs like the Carolina rig or the Biffle Bug rig, I've had better results setting the hook side ways, in the opposite direction from where I think the fish is swimming.  If I think it is coming toward me, I go side ways to the left & hope for the best.

[Hewhospeaksmuchbull]

My problem was setting hook on slack line, this helped.

 

 

[ajschn06]

13 minutes ago, Hewhospeaksmuchbull said:

My problem was setting hook on slack line, this helped.

 

 

Can't thank you enough for pointing me towards this video!

[scaleface]

43 minutes ago, Hewhospeaksmuchbull said:

My problem was setting hook on slack line, this helped.

I'm set in my ways but need to start doing this .

[MIbassyaker]

Glenn's and Hackney's videos above are saying almost exactly the opposite thing.

 

 

[scaleface]

Guido Hibdon use to fish brush with light line . He would gently pull the bass form the snags then set the hook .

[Dens228]

Quick turn of the reel to take up any slack and set the hook.  

[WRB]

Two opposing thoughts on setting hooks with jigs; snap set (Glenn) vs reel set (Hackney). 

If you have read any of my jig fishing replies or articles like Horizontal Jigging you know I am in the reel set camp and have been for 45+ years. However both work depending on how far away the strike is from you and the angle of you line. 

During the 60's the cross thier eyes hook set became popular " swing for the fences" with both T-rigged worms and jigs. Drop the rod tip down and snap set like Glenn suggested. The problem with this tecnique is when you make a cast over 60' you can't move enough line using the rod snap set to apply "any" force to the hook if you don't reel in the slack line. I stared to develop the reel and rod sweep tecnique while fishing twin spin spinnerbaits that use the jig as jig fishing. The bass would strike and no mater how hard I set the hook they jump off. I started using my crankbait hook set by continuing to reel when I detected a strike and make a hard sweep set with my rod while reeling, the reel set was developed. I couldn't switch between 2 hook setting tecniques so Started using the reel set with hard rod sweep for everything and it works.

You develop a hook set that works for the way you fish, the tackle you use and hook style.

Tom

 

[looking45]

I agree with Tom, I use a reel set. It's the same hook set when using dart/ball heads. The hook is exposed, there is no need to try to rip the fishes lips off. Plus, a reel set saves your back from getting beat up

[ajschn06]

1 hour ago, MIbassyaker said:

Glenn's and Hackney's videos above are saying almost exactly the opposite thing.

 

 

I know who I'm listening to....

[Team9nine]

Another reel set fan with jigs when casting, and I swing to the side most times (except close range) - advice from Larry Nixon back in the 1980s that still applies today ?

[Catt]

Drop the rod, reel the slack, & set the hook ?

[Glenn]

I mostly flip and pitch with football jigs. I don't lose fish, so this technique works great for me.  I learned it from Mark Zona.  We had fun with Hackney one day talking about this topic! Wish I recorded those two going back and forth. LOL!

 

[DitchPanda]

I lost a fish the other day at the shore on a jig...it happens from time to time. A jig can be an easy bait for them to throw because it has a large chunk of weight to use as leverage during head shakes and alot of people hit them super hard and create a large hole that makes throwing it easier. I often times reel down tight and lean into the fish very hard with a combination of pulling the rod and reeling at the same time. I use a much more hard hook set with a Texas rig because there is plastic to set thru.

 

BTW I just watched a  video on YouTube about slack line vs tight line jig hook sets in which Swindle takes the stance of slack line and Randall Tharp takes the tight line stance. Both guys are great jig fisherman and both have solid points. I'd recommend watching it.

 

[Jig Rookie]

2 hours ago, WRB said:

 

You develop a hook set that works for the way you fish, the tackle you use and hook style.

Tom

 

This pretty much sums it up doesn't it?

[WRB]

We are blessed today with state of the art strong sharp hooks that make a big difference in hook sets. 

Largemouth Bass engulf a jig into the back of their mouth the majority of the time. The roof of mouth has crunchers sqweezes between the tongue to kill crawdads and hold baitfish. Some of the time the hooks themselves when crunching down if the hook point is upright, can't miss that fish.

Smallmouth and Spots use thier lips to hold a crawdad by it's claws and shake it so the crawdad releases the claw, then engolf it's prey. Hook set timing becomes an issue.

everything revolve around strike detection then the hook set that works for you.

The more vertical the line is and shorter the cast is the better a snap set works. The other problem a snap set can create is the bass reacts instantly and runs into the cover.

Tom

[BlakeMolone]

1 hour ago, Glenn said:

I mostly flip and pitch with football jigs. I don't lose fish, so this technique works great for me.  I learned it from Mark Zona.  We had fun with Hackney one day talking about this topic! Wish I recorded those two going back and forth. LOL!

 

Why do you flip and pitch with a football jig? Just curious because I I’ve always thought that was a bad choice for

flipping and pitching but if it works fine it could really help me simplify and that’s something I’ve been trying to do more of lately.

[Hewhospeaksmuchbull]

4 hours ago, ajschn06 said:

I know who I'm listening to....

Both I would hope, with bass you never know if what you did yesterday is going to produce the same result today. It should, but......

 

A good dose of humility has done more for my bass catching than anything else.

 

I have a friend that thinks I should use a flouro leader in place of straight braid, I say what for the one extra bass a week. His response well that's 52 more a year, wonder if there isn't a DD in there. But, but, but I might lose a jig! DD he says!

[Glenn]

7 hours ago, BlakeMolone said:

Why do you flip and pitch with a football jig?

I fish a lot of flooded bushes, timber, beaver huts, and willow trees.  Any jig with a cone nose (bullet) or similar shape tends to wedge themselves in the branches and twigs and get hung up, whereas a football head won't.

[Sphynx]

You'd have to tell us which sort of jig, how far out it went, what you were fishing it on, etcetera. I don't treat my Zman finesse Jigs the same way I do a 3/4oz or 1oz grass jig, I don't set the hook the same when I am doing close by soft entry stuff vs. Bombing a cast out there and dragging it back, "jigs" encompasses a whole lot of territory, but basically you have the two methods explained, your task now will be figuring out which one works best for which situations for you...and then sooner or later you are going to have a fish spit another hook, just works out like that as part of the game, you can't land them all.