Setting the hook?

[jimmyjoe]

 It takes a lot less to set a hook than most fishermen think. Turning a fish's head, as @Catt mentioned, is an entirely different matter.            jj

[Glenn]

A few different examples:

 

 

 

 

[CrashVector]

I think the majority of the hard hook sets on yt are just to make it look good on camera to get views.

 

I've NEVER set the hook like an Olympic weightlifter trying clean and jerk a 10lb fish out the water.

 

I feel the fish bite, and just quickly sweep my rod.

14 hours ago, N.Y. Yankee said:

What is your normal technique for setting a hook? Is it really necessary to set the hook so hard it looks as though you might tip over backward as seen on most any bass fishing show? I thought the whole point of using braid and fluorocarbon lines was the zero or near zero stretch as "no one" uses nylon mono anymore because it "stretches so much" for hook sets? If your hooks are sharp the fish should hook itself, you just need to keep the line tight. I don't see the point in the hook setting theatrics. This is something that just bugs me. When I feel a tap or a tug, I quickly reel out the slack and give a snap of the rod tip. Either the fish is there or it's not.  

 

I use mono lots.

 

In fact, only two of my setups have braid on them, everything else has mono.

[scaleface]

For decades I crossed their eyes with a hard hook set . This year I experimented with the Greg Hacney hookset . Feel the fish on there  , then lean back hard .  Watch the youtube video "Greg Hackney: Why I Don't Miss Jig Bites"

[Catt]

1 minute ago, scaleface said:

the Greg Hacney hookset .

 

All the Pros agree Hackney has the most violent hookset on tour.

 

One problem many anglers make is not following through. Once they feel the weight of the fish they'll hesitate. Kinda like bunting a baseball, once the bat makes contact with the ball they stop moving the bat.

[scaleface]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

All the Pros agree Hackney has the most violent hookset on tour.

 

 

This is the hookset I've been trying to copy .

 

[Mobasser]

With lighter line, I've been using a reel and sweep hook set for years. With heavier casting gear, I set the hook quickly, with a hard fast pull.

[Mike L]

I don’t fish in deep lakes and make 40 yd casts with mono using light line and light hooks. Hate that! 

 

Or, use a spinning rod with 6# line and a 3ft leader dropped over the side and wiggle!!
Hate that even worse!

 

90% of the time I’m flipping 5 ft out or pitching 30 in moderate to heavy cover, either topped out or submerged.
Most times Im using med/h or heavy everything because it’s needed. 

I’m there because that’s where they are. 
The only way to get that fish moving is to get a hook in and get its head in the direction I want it to go.

I want it up and out. 
 

There is more than one indicator that a fish is on but none that will tell if she’s playing, moving or clamped down.
Either way when I know she’s on I’m setting using whatever I got. 

It’s just not as much as it used to be. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

 

 

[T-Billy]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

 

All the Pros agree Hackney has the most violent hookset on tour.

 

One problem many anglers make is not following through. Once they feel the weight of the fish they'll hesitate. Kinda like bunting a baseball, once the bat makes contact with the ball they stop moving the bat.

Yup. Ya gotta follow through and keep em coming at ya. Load that rod up and winch on em.

[Catt]

This perfectly explains my thought process

 

 

[scaleface]

44 minutes ago, Catt said:

This perfectly explains my thought process

 

 

Thats the video I was referring to . 

[Mike L]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

This perfectly explains my thought process

 

 

Worst thing to do is…

“Slack line a hook set”

”When getting a bite, is drop the rod and pop that slack”

 

’Nuff Said

 

 

 

 

Mike

[T-Billy]

Look at Tharp and Hackney's hookup percentage vs Swindle. Get that slack out before you crack em.

 

[scaleface]

9 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

Tharp and Hackney's hookup percentage vs Swindle

Does Swindle have a lower hook up percentage?

 

Okay I found the video . 

 

I use to set the hook like Swindle but this past year I switched to the Tharp   hookset .

[cheezyridr]

remember a while back when someone here posted the video of that korean cutie?  

go back and look at her hook set.  she's fast, and she hits it pretty hard.

 

i've had youtubers tell me not to set the hook with square bills and cranks.  i call b.s.

if i think i have a fish on, i'm settin the hook.

[T-Billy]

7 hours ago, scaleface said:

I use to set the hook like Swindle but this past year I switched to the Tharp   hookset .

Me too. I switched a few years ago per Hackney's advice, and immediately saw an improvement in my hookup percentage. It makes the biggest difference with braid. Slacklining with braid will cost you a bunch of fish.

One of the great things about braid is the ability to get a solid hookset without reeling down, as long as the rod tip isn't above 10 o'clock. I try to keep the tip between 9 and 10 while working the bait. From 10 on down I crack'em as soon as I feel'em with braid. With mono I drop the tip, reel out the slack until I feel them, then swing for the fence. They have much less time to spit the bait with braid.

[txchaser]

For me, how fast I move the rod and how far I move the rod are different questions. For me, in almost every presentation, some variation of a sweep set gets me very good results. Close range jigs are likely the big exception, still a full smooth hookset with no slack, but more overhead.

As an example on fast/far, with a tiny exposed hook I just don't feel the need to go very fast or very far, and some 6/0 hook buried in plastic or on a jig, next to a big laydown, is going to get fast/hard and far too. 

 

IMO the 'far' movement is more likely to move the head than the fast movement. Especially since the back half has all of whatever is going to stretch already loaded up. 

 

Learned how to not set the hook like an excited 6 year old here, thanks BR. 

 

[CrashVector]

There's no need to set the hook like you just got tased by the cops.

 

If you are swinging for the fences with your rod to set a hook on a bass, you're doing it wrong.

[J Francho]

Depending on the gauge of the hook wire, the line on the reel, and the power of the rod I adjust the hook setting force.  There's never slack in the line if I can help it.  The range of force could be a slight as a wrist flick all the way up to a pretty powerful "lift and separate" set that also involves getting the fish up and out of heavy weed cover in the case of punching.  It is rare that my hookset exceeds the drag setting, but sometimes with really light line it happens.  I'm talking 4# fluoro.

[Mr. Aquarium]

Comes with experience. I think about this often. Just naturally set the hook without even thinking about it.  Like 2nd nature. 
Jigs and swimbaits, hit for the fences.  Anything else a swift quick hook set is all I need 

[the reel ess]

Depends greatly on the bait, or more the type of hook it has. If it's a trebles lure, when I feel the weight of the fish I just sweep the rod a little and start playing the fish. You can yank trebles out pretty easily if you overdo it. Then there are baits like a jig with a big, fat flipping hook that will not bend out. I set that about as hard as I can. I have had a good, hard hookset only to see a bass come to the surface and spit the lure. There are baits with lighter wire hooks, like the shaky head, that I do a solid hookset. But the drag is a little looser so I don't ever straighten out the hook.

 

Just know the type of hook you're using and plan your hookset before it happens.

[Boomstick]

On 11/16/2021 at 11:55 AM, MN Fisher said:

Don't get fooled by the hype - FC stretches as much or more than mono...just takes a little more force to start the stretch.

This is true, but also once fluorocarbon stretches, it stays stretched where mono recoils.

 

That said, I generally treat mono and fluorocarbon the same as far as stretch is concerned, so I'll want a slightly stiffer rod for the same presentations than as if I was using braid (primarily for presentations that fall inbetween two rods)

[WRB]

I defined my hook set technique in 1995 In-Fishermen Horizontal Jigging article. I move the jig with my rod tip pointed down toward the jig, lifting the only to shake the jig or jiggle it through rocks or cover. Detect a strike* and crank the reel fast to take up all the slack starting the hook point penetrating into the basses mouth tissue then a firm rod sweep to finish the hook set. If you reel fast and no bass all the jig did was shoot forward a few feet, you are still in position for another strike. Reels move more line faster then a rod can.

Hackney figured this out and his video defines the reel and rod sweep hook set. Everyone developed their hook set, no right or wrong technique if it works for you.

Tom

* strike detection comes in many forms a tick, line movement, added weight, loss of contact and something feels different.

 

 

[Catt]

I refer back to Gary Klein's video, do what you're comfortable with & have confidence in.

 

Unlike Tom @WRB my rod is never in the 9 o'clock or lower position. I keep my rod tip high in the 9:30 to 11 o'clock position.

 

I know my reel's ipt, as I drop my rod tip to set hook I'm turning the reel handle at the same time.

 

Drop the rod, reel the slack, set the hook still works.

[WRB]

I think it down to the lake you fish. To me fishing jigs by casting 40 yards is normal during the the day time. Nearly every lake in SoCal and most in NorCal are highland deep structured reservoirs with sparse cover. The banks are at least 30-45 degree sloping steep. When I fish flats and slowly tapering structure with cover it’s worm water, jigs don’t work well. The exceptions are Clear lake, the natural bass lake in the state and Delta.

I have thought several pros and tournament anglers the presentation I Use with good+success. The guy I sold my boat to has bass fished over 40 years and told me my technique has work great for him and now considers himself a “jig” fisherman.

Bottom line do what works for you where and how you fish.

Tom