Setting The Hook And It Rockets Back At You....?

[NavyToad]

I went to a 3 day B.A.S.S. seminar 20+ years ago and Denny Brauer (one of my all-time favorites) explained how you really have to drive the hook home. I took it to heart, and the next time I went fishing with my brother, several smallmouth were yanked right out of the water and over my shoulder. My brother laughed like hell when I told him that was how Denny Brauer does it. I’ve mellowed since.

[schplurg]

19 hours ago, throttleplate said:

had a lure slam into my leg from a snag and stuck in my pants and a couple whistle past my cheeks again on snags, never on a hookset yet.

 

Actually me too, mine wasn't on a hookset.

[ironbjorn]

I had a treble bait come flying at me so fast that I didn't have time to react. It slightly stuck into the skin just below my eye. It was easy to remove and didn't go deep or leave much damage. But half an inch higher and I'd have been in real trouble. I never fish without glasses now.

[TcRoc]

Fishing some jigs .. When they get close to surface have had many make a beeline for head… been lucky so far 

[Crow Horse]

Based on the below copy/pasted text, dress eyewear won't offer the protection that might be required from a weight or jig impact. In trying to keep it real we have to draw a balance between protection and practicality.

 

"

How do safety glasses and goggles differ from regular eyeglasses?

Safety eyewear must conform to a higher standard of impact resistance than regular eyeglasses, which optical professionals sometimes call "dress eyewear." This higher standard applies to both the lenses and the frames of safety glasses and goggles.

There are two kinds of safety glasses: prescription safety glasses and non-prescription (also called "plano" safety glasses.

Regardless of their size or the durability of the frame and lenses, regular prescription eyeglasses do not qualify as safety glasses unless they meet specific criteria.

In the United States, the federal government establishes safety guidelines for workplaces, to decrease the risk of on-the-job injuries. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) within the U.S. Department of Labor oversees safety practices in the workplace and in educational settings.

OSHA has adopted safety eyewear standards established by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), a private, non-profit organization that creates quality and safety standards for a wide variety of products.

The ANSI standard applying to eye safety includes several types of eye protection devices, including eyeglasses (both prescription and non-prescription), goggles, face shields, welding helmets and full-face respirators.

ANSI standards for safety eyewear

Updated ANSI safety eyewear standards include the following key features:

• For the basic impact tests, lenses are tested separately (not mounted in a frame). For the high impact classification, the frame and lenses are tested together as a unit.

• Non-prescription lenses used for high impact testing are considered to be structurally weaker than prescription lenses made of the same material; the prescription lenses are generally thicker.

• Thinner prescription safety lenses are now allowed, if they meet the high impact testing requirements. (Previously, all prescription safety lenses had to have a minimum thickness of 3 mm, making them significantly thicker and heavier than regular eyeglass lenses.)

• Safety lenses now have two classifications of performance: basic impact and high impact.

• The "drop ball" test determines the basic impact safety classification for lenses. In this test, a one-inch diameter steel ball is dropped onto the lens from a height of 50 inches. To pass, the lens must not crack, chip or break. All glass safety lenses must undergo this test. For plastic safety lenses, however, only a statistical sample of a large batch of lenses needs to be tested.

• In high impact testing, a high velocity test is performed by shooting a quarter-inch diameter steel ball at the lens at a speed of 150 feet per second. To pass, the lens must not crack, chip or break, and it must not become dislodged from the lens holder.

[QED]

I use polarized shooting glasses.   https://www.tacticalrx.com/  This place does prescription shooting glasses.  They can grind custom Rx lenses in complex shapes (no inserts required, as inserts suck).  Spendy but worth it.

[Big Hands]

The worst part for me when they come right back at me is that it takes me a second to realize when something is coming straight at me. By the time I realize that it's coming for me quickly, it's too late for me to fully react and I hardly move before it makes contact.

[T-Billy]

I used to be bad about this when I flipped and pitched with Mono or Flouro. Now that I do all my flipp'n and pitch'n with braid, I"M WORSE!!! ?

[NYWayfarer]

On 10/14/2021 at 7:05 PM, QED said:

I always wear polarized sunglasses both for better visibility through the water and for eye protection.  Problem solved.

I have had bullet weights impact against my prescription Rayban’s twice. Hard enough that the sound made me thought they shattered. 
 

My recommendation is to wear sunglasses even if you don’t need them. The eye you save could be your own.

[scaleface]

I had a flying crankbait stick me in the leg . Pushed it through and snipped it off .

[geo g]

Oh yah, I had a Bill Dance crank bait bury into my belly all the way to the deepest bend of the treble hook.  I had jerk bait hook the back of my hand as it sailed past me.  The scariest of them all was a bullet weighted fluke hit my sunglasses right in the lens.  That scared the crap out of me.  Thank god for unbreakable Costa lens.

[Jaderose]

On 10/15/2021 at 2:51 PM, WRB said:

Can’t think of any reason to cross the eyes hard set a surface lure outside of a frog possibly. 

Before developing a reel set w/rod sweep launched several smaller bass over my head. Bullet weights can be a real bullet and do serious damage.

Tom

This and even then, if you keep your frog hooks sharp you'll be fine.  I set hooks firmly but I want it controlled to keep the fish from going down.  I want them basically skiing over the top of the mats I'm fishing.  Otherwise, I'll be bringing in 50 lbs of crap or they'll get wrapped around timber.

[cyclops2]

Has anyone mentioned about hook setting with the rod swung at belly button height ? Or rod tip just clearing the hull top?    Even 4# Mono can come back at any time with a  SMB who opens their mouth close to the boat.  Had that many times.  Why I only use crushed barbs. Glasses, and hat with a face covering cloth mask  Lots of sun & hook protection.  With no U V creams on hands or face.

[ATA]

Not near surface, Thats not scary, First when I start bass fishing I had heavy TX rig staged and I really pull and it backed at me like a bullet and I ducked, It was 1oz tungsten, I was lucky I wasn't hit.

[Chris Catignani]

Its the guy in the back of the boat that scares me the most...

Got hit in the back of the head ? with a Smithwick Rogue one day...just happen to have a hat on.

[Bankc]

On 10/15/2021 at 1:44 PM, Bankc said:

Me too.  I've had to remove several hooks from my body over the years.  But they were all caused by a snagged lure flying back at me or someone else casting near me who didn't know what they were doing.  I think there are a couple of times where the fish surfaced and threw the lure at me while I was trying to keep tension on the line as well.  But I can't ever recall it happening on a hookset.  I also don't think I've ever been hooked by a fish I was trying to lip, or had already lipped.  At least not the point of the hook getting stuck in my skin.  

Y'all jinxed me. 

 

Just a few days after posting this, I'm fishing and a small bass strikes my crankbait about 6 feet off my kayak.  He's so close that I can see it in his mouth and am about to run out of room because I'm cranking it in fast.  So I set the hook and it pops out of his mouth and flies back at me.  Luckily it was a crankbait, so it was more of a side sweep than a jig type hookset.  So I wasn't actually in danger of getting hooked by it.  But it did make me think of this post.  

 

Then, about an hour later, I've hooked another one and he surfaces right in front of my kayak and throws the lure right at me.  I blocked it with my hand (reaction more than skill), and luckily it just bounced off it into the water.  But again, I'm blaming ya'll for this.    

[TnRiver46]

19 hours ago, Chris Catignani said:

Its the guy in the back of the boat that scares me the most...

Got hit in the back of the head ? with a Smithwick Rogue one day...just happen to have a hat on.

That’s the best color of Jerkbait!

[Zcoker]

A big tarpon will show anyone VERY QUICKLY what it's like to have a lure tossed back at them lol 

[gim]

23 hours ago, Chris Catignani said:

Its the guy in the back of the boat that scares me the most...

Got hit in the back of the head ? with a Smithwick Rogue one day...just happen to have a hat on.

This has happened to me too.  My Father hooked me in the back of the head with a small crank bait once past the barb.  The impact of the lure was way worse than the hook being embedded.  It almost knocked me out cold.  Felt like someone had thrown a rock at me.  Went dizzy with blurred vision and almost keeled right over.  The injection of lidocaine into my skull to numb the area didn't feel very good at the Urgent Care either.

 

We were in a 12 foot jon boat fishing a small river for brown bass but to this day I will not allow anyone to fish on the front deck of my boat with me for this very reason.  Obviously it can still happen when you have some physical separation in a boat but the chances go up exponentially if you are standing right next to each other.

[cyclops2]

BUUTT

 

 I need to yank AS HARD AS I CAN !!!  With 80 pound test braid.  Setting the hook as hard as possible.   DOES NOT injure the jaw of a fish !!   Ask any bass pro.

 

I set the hook with 4 pound test line.

 

 If a fish just nips the very curved end of the hook ?   NO WAY you can hook it.  You will not set the hook if a fish,  head butts the lure from the side.

 

 

[Mike L]

22 hours ago, Zcoker said:

A big tarpon will show anyone VERY QUICKLY what it's like to have a lure tossed back at them lol 

Ain’t it the truth!

 

 

 

 

Mike

[TnRiver46]

The hardest I ever got hit was getting my lure  out of a tree. It was a pop R, I had draped it over a tree branch. I’m sure all of you know how you gently reel it up to the branch and then give a giant heave ho. Well a split second before the heave ho, the lure came off of the branch and I yanked with all I had. So instead of it touching the branch on the way out it was just coming straight at me at the speed of light and hit me just above the belt on my back side. It left a perfect outline of the plug on my skin 

[Zcoker]

5 hours ago, cyclops2 said:

You will not set the hook if a fish,  head butts the lure from the side.

 

 

 

Can't say this statement holds much water because I've caught plenty of fish from the side, or head butted, as you say. In fact, won my last tournament from a fish head-butting the lure. When I set the hook, the hook grabbed just under the gill plate. Nice 8 pounder. 

[Trox]

This is how I got all the dings in my gelcoat... Have yet to have one actually hit me though, yet many have came close!