Hook to land ratio on heavy (1.5-2oz) single-hook swimbaits

[txchaser]

Any tips on landing more of these fish? The great news is it is all big fish on these 6"-8" swimbaits crawled slowly on the bottom. But yesterday was more lost big fish in a single day than I've had all year on other baits. 

 

Some potential issues:

-using trokar instead of a non-cutting point. I should have thrown those out long ago. 

-maybe I'm cracking them too hard on the hook set.

-trying to grind them into the boat quickly. Seems like every one of them went straight for the surface after the hookset. 

-is a sweep hookset workable or should I be setting up to try to get the roof of the mouth? 

 

Unfortunately given the cover, a line-through isn't realistic.

[DinkDreams]

I’ve been fishing a lot of 6-8 inch swimbait recently with some success. Something to keep in mind-these baits are big. You’re going to get a lot of bass that either don’t fully get it in their mouth or physically can’t eat the whole bait in one go. Sometimes waiting a second or two to set the hook can pay off, but I’ve had days where they’re eating it so good/hitting it so hard that you need to set the hook immediately.

 

As far as hookset “strategy” goes, you don’t have to hit them like a freight train but I will say I’ve had more luck with a “snappy” hookset than a gradual one. Remember - you’re targeting big fish and their mouths can be incredibly hard, not to mention the stretch from monofilament and if they hit it at the end of a long cast you’re gonna want to crack them pretty good. This is where I find the most benefit of using a cutting point like an Owner Beast. They penetrate very easily even at distance and with mono stretch. (I do feel that mono stretch can be a bit overblown, and while the stretch is a factor when using 20lb line it doesn’t stretch as much as you would think it does. That’s a story for a different post)
 

I almost always grind fish as fast as I can (well, as much as the 11lb of drag on a Cardiff can manage) after hookup and haven’t personally found issues. I’ve lost some on treble hooked baits because I’m using what is essentially a musky rod and it’s stiff as all hell.

[Big Swimbait]

Agree with hit 'em hard and grind them in. Rod tip in the water if necessary. If they turn their head or break the surface, they will use the leverage of the heavy bait to shake the hook. I also slightly bend the hook point upward. It has greatly improved my landing ratio. Owner needs to make that Haymaker hook in a swimbait hook.

Edited June 12, 2022 by Big Swimbait
grammar

[clh121787]

Can you tell us the specific rod line and bait/ hook combo. 

[DinkDreams]

7 hours ago, clh121787 said:

Can you tell us the specific rod line and bait/ hook combo. 

I use 17lb Sufix Siege mono on a St Croix Victory Musky Rod MH/F with a Shimano Cardiff 300A. Use it for S-wavers, Gantarel, Hudds, HuddGill and 6 and 8 inch Magdraft. I rig the 6 inch freestyle on a 6/0 weighted Beast Hook 1/4 oz.

[softwateronly]

I have a few different rods based on size, weight, and hook.  Trial and error led me this way for now, but it's currently working.  Open hook mid column retrieve is between 2 mod/fast rods, one 7' and the other 7'7".  Slow rolling or crawling a top hook is 7'3 or 7'6 XH or my 7'10 XXH swimbait rod depending on weight, weedless has to be the 7'6XH or the swimbait rod.  If it's multiple taps, I slightly speed up until weight then rod sweep a hookset, if it's a solid thunk, it's an immediate and violent upswing.  I grind hard and fast and drop the tip into the water.  My hook up and landing percentage has gone up doing it this way.  Here's a deep water burrito eater from Saturday....

 

scott

 

  

[RDB]

It probably has less to do with the Trokar hook or the type of hook set and more about the bait.  Unfortunately, you are likely going to lose a few more fish than normal on those oversized baits…they just have more leverage to throw them.  Same goes for the large flutter spoons that are popular in Texas during the summer months.  IME, the best you can do is hit them solid, try not to let them get any slack, and grind them in as quickly as possible.

 

I would add that those baits are usually cast long distances and you often have a lot of line out when you get a strike.  Personally, I wouldn’t use straight mono for large swimbaits.  I would either go with braid to mono leader or straight fluoro.  If you stick with straight mono, you probably need to crack them hard.

[txchaser]

Couple of takeaways for me-

1) more than one mention of tip in the water, that's new to me

2) no one seems worried about the side of the mouth hook from a sweep vs a roof hook

3) was fishing Sufix Advance 'mono' (really more a copoly) - has very little stretch, especially at .508

4) I'll see about the different hookset depending on the bite, I'm 100% sure I'll be spending more time with these, my last two Saturdays were really exciting.

 

Thinking of going to 22lb tatsu, I have some from a trip south of the border, and I'll get some give on it, and I'm ok given the longer-distance hookset with this 8' broomstick. 

 

On 6/12/2022 at 3:40 PM, Big Swimbait said:

I also slightly bend the hook point upward. It has greatly improved my landing ratio.

Interesting, what do you make of this? I'd expect the opposite? 

 

Oh, one of the things I realized I failed to mention... 100% of the losses were in the air. These fish rocketed straight for the surface as soon as I got hooked up. 

 

 

20 hours ago, clh121787 said:

Can you tell us the specific rod line and bait/ hook combo. 

Was this for me or one of the other posters? In my case:
okuma travel swimbait rod (H),
.508 diameter (they rate as 20lbs lol) sufix advance (very low stretch) line,
Trokar hook that looks like an owner beast,
Optimum boom boom swimbait in 6".

 

I had no losses on the 8", different hook, maybe different sitations, but on the same day. 

 

[DinkDreams]

As far as the tip being in the water, I think the thought behind that is if the fish does jump, it’s going to create less slack because your rod is at an angle below the fish instead of above it. 
 

As far as bending your hook out just slightly, it allows you to hook up better because the plastic doesn’t have to compress quite as much. It’s only a couple degrees of bend but it does make a big difference, especially with big chunks of plastic. (It’s really almost a must on any soft bluegill swim baits, as the profile is much taller than a trout or shad style bait)

[clh121787]

Man idk probably just bad luck or small fish that ain’t got it down all the way. But seem to me everything is bout right. 

[WRB]

Confused with the .508mm/.020 dia Line, Advance 20 lb is .480mm/.018D.

Keep in mind a larger soft Swimbait is a big ball of gum is the basses mouth. Jerking hard does very little to penetrate a hook casting away from the boat more them 50’ because you simply can’t move the line more then a few inched.

Use the fast reel and firm rod sweep set. Each turn of the reel handle moves the line nearly 2 feet, rod sweep moves the line a few more feet, penetrating the hook past the barb.

Tom

 

[txchaser]

On 6/14/2022 at 9:36 AM, DinkDreams said:

 

As far as bending your hook out just slightly, it allows you to hook up better because the plastic doesn’t have to compress quite as much. It’s only a couple degrees of bend but it does make a big difference, especially with big chunks of plastic. (It’s really almost a must on any soft bluegill swim baits, as the profile is much taller than a trout or shad style bait)

Would you still do this on the baits with a flat back where the hook is just sitting on top of the plastic? 

 

19 hours ago, WRB said:

Confused with the .508mm/.020 dia Line, Advance 20 lb is .480mm/.018D.

Yeah I was  confused too. It turns out the TW site is wrong, for the green at least. Had to go look at the spool for advance mono - it is .45/.018 per the spool. 

 

[DinkDreams]

2 hours ago, txchaser said:

Would you still do this on the baits with a flat back where the hook is just sitting on top of the plastic? 

I personally do. Even the slight bend helps, and with baits like this I feel like any advantage is a good one. It’s hard enough sometimes to get fish to eat one, I’d like to make my chances as high as possible when I do get a shot.

[txchaser]

Thanks for all of the help, much improved this weekend! 

 

As a followup, fished the 6" and 8" hard yesterday. Learned a few things:

1) I have to mod the swimbaits by opening the slit up closer to the head, otherwise the weight on the hook slams into it and won't let the hook get more than 1/2 above the bait. 

2) After re-looking at just how thick the hooks are, I thought about how hard I'd set a jig that had a hook that diameter... basically WAY harder.

3) Tip in the water seemed to help. 

4) While keeping them pinned, if I stop grinding on them when they start to run to the surface it seems to help. Generally not horsing them quite as hard. 

 

Still lost a couple of fish, including one that was too big to jump, and a few under the boat, but much

better. 

 

On the learning list:

1) what exactly should I be doing when these fish break the surface? It's better, but I think I might be pulling too hard in an effort to maintain pressure between me and the fish. 

2) any tips to when the fish runs under the boat seems like I have good line tension, but I've lost a few that were on, then during the under-boat surge they just disappear.

3) any tips on repairing these, particularly when the CPS tears out? Doesn't seem like mendit is working very well. 

 

Feels almost like re-learning to fish, there's a bunch of nuance to the individual bites and situations. Way fun, I'm really lucky I went on this when they were bitey so I can get some reps. 

 

 

[RDB]

On 6/14/2022 at 10:11 PM, clh121787 said:

Man idk probably just bad luck or small fish that ain’t got it down all the way. But seem to me everything is bout right. 

On a lot of mine I will add a treble stinger from the main hook secured with 2 bait buttons.

Edit:  I just noticed your last sentence about cover problems so the teaser hook wouldn’t be a potential solution.

 

[txchaser]

55 minutes ago, RDB said:

Edit:  I just noticed your last sentence about cover problems so the teaser hook wouldn’t be a potential solution.

Well to be more precise, a line-through with a bottom treble hook won't work. A top hook should be just fine in most cases and I'll try this. I'm use the owner weighted beast hooks so I think I'll have to tie it on with braid.