My hook-sets suck.

[Deleted account]

33 minutes ago, jbrew73 said:

Try round bend or straight shaft hooks. I could not get ewg to work for me.

No one can, they just think they do...

[David 7]

23 hours ago, ironbjorn said:

Doesn't at all help with Texas Rigs or jigs or really anything at all other than a wacky rig or dropshot. It doesn't help you get better at setting the hook by avoiding setting the hook and most techniques.

That’s fair but I fish exclusively with WR so that’s why I suggested that. 

[huZZah]

I also use smaller circle hooks for wacky and dropshot. Much better hook ups and setting hook is a lot easier/less stressful.  
 

Drop shot especially I think is one of the hardest to feel a real bite and get the hook set. I don’t know how people do it with ewg or offset hooks. 

[PressuredFishing]

On 9/11/2021 at 12:32 PM, digdug24 said:

Background, I have been fishing for about 13 years, give or take, as I was a late starter. I have been bass fishing 100% of that time with spinning reels. This is the first year I have used baitcasters, using a spinning reel only on a Ned rig setup where the weeds will allow it. My main go-to rigs are Texas with a craw or grub and a 3/0 or 4/0 EWG or I will throw a wacky rig using O-rings on stickbaits. If the water is clean enough, I will also sometimes throw lipless crankbaits or even Whopper Ploppers.

 

For the sake of this post, let's focus on what I am throwing 75% of the time no matter where I fish—baitcaster with Texas rigs with a 1/8th oz pinned bullet weight on 40lb braid with a 12lb fluoro leader. Sometimes this changes up, but generally this is my go-to just about everywhere, at least to start with. Oh, the rod primarily used on this setup is an Abu Garcia Veritas 2.0, 7’ medium heavy. 

 

My hook-sets absolutely suck. I am stuck in my own head right now, because I feel like I'm either trying to set the hook too soon, or possibly too late and the fish has already spit the bait. Too hard, or maybe not hard enough. Straight back, or sometimes sideways. Left side? Right side? My drag is too loose, or maybe it's too tight. I donno.

 

I spent 3 hours on the water this morning, and had 3 catches—all a pound or so. All with the hooks pinned in the side of the jaw (however 2 on the wacky and one on a Ned rig). Hit none on the Texas rig today. I lost 3 or 4 to bad hook-sets. I feel like I went from an experienced bass angler to a complete beginner in the last couple of months.

 

HELP! I need a re-set or maybe a mental checklist that I can go through to square my hook-sets up. This summer has been so hard to catch anything, I hate to throw away any bites I am getting. And now I feel like I have the yips with my hook-sets. I'm completely lost with my baitcaster hook-sets. Is it the rod? Should I be using different hooks?

 

Anyone have any tips?

 

 

When I first started bass fishing I was very confused about setting the hook as well, I remember when I got a bite I first set the hook immediate as I got a tap and missed the fish, Then I told myself Ill wait, so I waited when I got a bite and missed the fish, he spit it out. Its really hard to explain but, the best cure for me was just fishing and finding the perfect timing. now its intuitive and I know when to do it immediately, and I think alot of people forget how hard it was to figure out how to set a hook. my best advice it to go out to a place with fish that easily bite, and try different things, once you find the method that works best, pratice on making it muscle memory by catching more fish. This may not make you happy, and I may become an enemy to you but, you will probably loose hundreds more fish once you master the standard T rig hookset, you need to learn the many other hooksets for dropshotting with mosquito hooks, treble hook topwaters, frogs, jigs, cranks, jerkbaits, swimbaits, and yikes, whatever lures the future has in store for us. It seems overwhelming yes, but I believe in you!

[Zcoker]

I fish the everglades here in south Florida and rarely loose a fish on a worm. Setup is simple: I use a big EWG 5/0 eagle claw hook with ringed eye. No mono leader of any sort. Strait braid to the hook. This may in fact be your hook-set problem: the stretch of the mono leader line. My mainline for worm fishing is 40-50lb braid. Very solid hook-sets attributed to the big ewg hook and no stretch in the line....in my opinion lol 

[Bankc]

You've been fishing for 13 years.  By now, you either know what a bite feels like and how to set the hook, or you'll never know.  Giving you a mental checklist will likely make things worse.  If you've got the yips, you just need to get out of your head and let your subconscious free.  Rely on your instincts.  A bass can spit out a lure in far less than the time a human needs to react.  So there's always a chance that you can't be fast enough to react.  But your best chance is use those instincts you've developed over those 13 years, and react before you have time to think.  Even then, you may not be quick enough some times.  And that's just how it goes.

 

My guess is you're dealing with a lot of panfish right now.  I know I am.  They seem to be occupying the places where bass were a month or two ago, and they're larger and more aggressive now than they were earlier in the year.  So they're attacking my T-rigged worms and craws, almost like a bass would.  Only, instead of swallowing it whole, they're biting off small chunks.  I'll frequently reel in my rig to find the tail bitten off my worm or the claws or legs off my craws gone.  That's how panfish feed.  They try to disable their prey first, so they can devour it in chunks, instead of all at once like a bass.  

[gunsinger]

My philosophy is that you miss 100% of the fish you don't set the hook on.  And if I'm fishing TR or Tokyo Rig, I set the hook as hard as I can.  WR is a bit lighter...more of a sweeping upwards while CR is a side sweep.  How hard I set the hook is dependent up on how stout the hook is.

[purpurite]

3 minutes ago, Bankc said:

My guess is you're dealing with a lot of panfish right now.  I know I am.  They seem to be occupying the places where bass were a month or two ago, and they're larger and more aggressive now than they were earlier in the year.  So they're attacking my T-rigged worms and craws, almost like a bass would.  Only, instead of swallowing it whole, they're biting off small chunks.  I'll frequently reel in my rig to find the tail bitten off my worm or the claws or legs off my craws gone.  That's how panfish feed.  They try to disable their prey first, so they can devour it in chunks, instead of all at once like a bass.  

 

This. I have a whole box full of dismembered worms, bugs, critters and creatures on my bench. I think the panfish are screwing with my head, and when I set the hook and get nothing, it's because there was nothing (no bass) there to set.

 

[purpurite]

Ok, so this is not scientific in the least, but I did manage to get out and fish a new little hidden pond here at lunch. It's less than a mile from my office and I had no idea it even existed. 

 

Water was murky and there was a stiff breeze coming from the west, so I started with a Whopper Plopper topwater to see if I could hit anything fast. After about 25 throws, I changed to a black & blue stickbait with a weedless weighted hook. Nothing.

 

Made one final change to a Texas rig. I did everything differently, though, and left the EWG in the box, and pulled out a 3/0 round, wide cap worm hook, a .125" bullet weight (not pinned) and a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver 4.20 in "Bloody Bug," which is dark purple with red and blue flake in it. Buried the hook, ratcheted up the drag and flung.

 

In 2 of the first 4 cast with this setup I hit two largemouth real quick, and had sharp, decisive hooksets. Got 2 little sub-pounder dinks on lunch, and both had the hook cleanly buried in the upper and lower lips. Felt like a small victory.

 

I have no idea what helped overall, but I feel like the hook change combined with a much more locked up drag helped considerably. I also was far more decisive in the actual movement of the hookset. Hit, quick, snap, hard—one and done. 

 

I'm going to head out tomorrow in the AM again and see if I can repeat the process and call it a win. So far so good. 

 

 

Thanks for everyone's input, it was very helpful.

 

 

 

Doug

 

[ajschn06]

On 9/11/2021 at 2:32 PM, digdug24 said:

 

Anyone have any tips?

 

 

 

When you feel something, make sure the line is tight and slam it home.  It's simple...

On 9/12/2021 at 7:44 AM, BassWhole! said:

No one can, they just think they do...

What?

[J-rod]

A good piece of advice that I've kept over years is that if the fish is running right, set left. If it's running left, set right. That tiny bit of line take-up can make all the difference in driving a hook in hard or losing the fish. It takes time and patience to turn it into a reflex, just like reeling down before you set. My hookup ratio seemed to go way up after I started paying attention to the direction of the set.

 

It's a small piece of advice that could pay off big.