Massive Hooksets

[WRB]

It’s the difference between a horizontal presentation and vertical. Use the rod lift for vertical and reel set rod sweep for horizontal. The hook, line and cover obviously affects the force needed. 

When make a hard cross their eyes hook set in cover the big reacts by trying to escape the pulling force by running away from the line pressure and shock of driving the hook into it’s mouth. You can lead a big bass out cover easier then trying to pull it out.

Greg Hackney is an expert at hook setting big bass and getting them out of heavy cover.

Tom

[scaleface]

Back in the  days of 5'6'hvy action rods , I set the hook extremely hard.  With  modern longer rods ,the cross their eyes hook-sets are  not as common for me . There are still times though , when I hit em hard and straight up , trying to get them out of cover fast .

[Scott F]

One of the big reasons I use braid is because with no stretch, you don’t have to set the hook like you are swinging for the fences especially with moving baits where there is little to no slack line between the rod tip and the lure. Guys who claim that braid contributes to “rippin’ lips” haven’t learned to back off on hook sets with superlines.

[RDB]

25 minutes ago, WRB said:

It’s the difference between a horizontal presentation and vertical. Use the rod lift for vertical and reel set rod sweep for horizontal. The hook, line and cover obviously affects the force needed. 

When make a hard cross their eyes hook set in cover the big reacts by trying to escape the pulling force by running away from the line pressure and shock of driving the hook into it’s mouth. You can lead a big bass out cover easier then trying to pull it out.

Greg Hackney is an expert at hook setting big bass and getting them out of heavy cover.

Tom

And he swings for the fences…he is one of the harder hook setters on tour when using jigs, flippin’ hooks, etc.  I’m not going to get into it with you.  You have your position and I respect that…it would be nice if you would respect others occasionally as well.  Hopefully Glen will get a few pro’s to join.  If so, I have $1000 that whoever he chooses has a big hookset when fishing bottom contact, heavy wire hooks.  Your example of 100’ rod only sets on an unloaded, slack line rod just doesn’t happen with even average fishermen.

 

Edit:  Just to clarify, the hard hook sets the OP is referring to with pro’s is ALMOST ALWAYS with heavy wire, bottom contact lures at closer distances and they almost always do a quick slack reel as they should.

[hunterPRO1]

80% of my fishing is either weedless plastics with mono line or frogging. i dont have an abnormally hard set, atleast i dont think so, but its a hard stiff swing for sure.

[the reel ess]

Whenever I'm using a superline hook or a jig I set it as hard as I can. Good hook, 30# braid, cross their eyes. But when I get a bite on a liplesss crank I hardly set it at all.

[12poundbass]

I used to slam the hooksets hard when I was fishing a Senko. After I gave that up and started using other lures I changed my ways.

 

Treble hooks: all I could picture was an Eagle flying at me 100mph with it’s talons focused on my jugular! 
 

Jigs: all I could think about was a 3/4oz rocket zinging past me at Mach 3 and hitting the wife in the face, hell anywhere and you guys would be spreading my ashes on the shores of Lake Menderchuck (with @A-Jay’s approval of course). 

 

Hollow body frogs: I still swing for the fences, they don’t hurt and she’s a trooper if one makes contact with her. 
 

?

[WRB]

I haven’t fished with Hackney but his video on jig hook set is nearly Identical to my reel and rod sweep hook set.

When I say firm it’s probably understated as my jigs have 5/0 hooks.

Tom

[RDB]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

I haven’t fished with Hackney but his video on jig hook set is nearly Identical to my reel and rod sweep hook set.

When I say firm it’s probably understated as my jigs have 5/0 hooks.

Tom

Hackney preaches that the biggest mistake most anglers make is setting with slack line.  Often people drop their tip without capturing the slack and either blow the bait out of the fishes mouth or get a poor hook set because they didn’t move the bait far due to the slack.  He almost always reels down and feels for pressure.  His sets often don’t look as violent because with no slack, he is moving the hook the entire swing.  When he misses though, there is usually a flying jig.

 

Edit:  Not taking a shot at Cobb because he is a great stick but look at the video I posted.  I would bet he had some slack in the line and you can see the effect on his swing.  It’s amazing that rod didn’t explode.

[WRB]

Agree, a snap set into slack line “cross their eyes” usually is uncontrolled. 

My hook set I have used and written about since the 80’s In In-Fisherman Horizontal jigging article is nearly identical to Hackney’s video 30 years later.

I credit this hook set technique for my own success catching giant bass over the past 45 years. 

Tom

[CrashVector]

People who use hooksets like you see in rod commercials are n00bs in my opinion.

 

You swing for the fences = new to fishing/no idea what you're doing.

 

I've NEVER had to do much more than lift my rod sharply to get a good hookup

 

[RDB]

10 minutes ago, CrashVector said:

You swing for the fences = new to fishing/no idea what you're doing.

That would put 99.99% of professional fishermen who use jigs or heavy wire hooks like flippin’ hooks around heavy cover in the noob category.  Swing for the fences is relative but you won’t find any who don’t have a strong, pretty violent swing.  If you are not sending an occasional jig or dink flying through the air, you may be to nice for bass fishing.

[scbassin]

I am from the cross their eyes school.

[DitchPanda]

I lean into them unless I'm frogging. Don't think you need to knock the living s#%% out of em even if its therapeutic.

[RDB]

42 minutes ago, WRB said:

Agree, a snap set into slack line “cross their eyes” usually is uncontrolled. 

If that is how you define “cross their eyes”, I agree completely.  When I use the term, I’m just referring to a powerful hook set in a controlled, no slack manner.  IMO, the thing that sets Hackney apart is his patience with jigs.  He usually doesn’t swing unless he is confident they have it good and is willing to risk them dropping it to get them to fully commit…I struggle at times distinguishing the difference in commitment.  For me, he is the gold standard of jig fishing today.

[Columbia Craw]

As long as you take up the slack, regardless how, you’re good to go with the today’s hooks.

[T-Billy]

The bait matters too in how much force is required. The reason I prefer that Sweet Craw over other beaver style baits is it's thick body and lack of a hook slot. It holds the point of a flippin hook really well and allows me to fish it clean through dang near anything. The flip side of the coin is that it requires a heavy action rod and braid to drive the hook home reliably. I've tried fishing this rig on my Tharp "Moneymaker" which is a Mag MH in lighter cover because it's lighter and more sensitive than the flippin stick, but it sometimes just didn't have enough oomph to get the job done. With the flippin stick, I can often blow the bait clean off the hook.

[CrashVector]

9 hours ago, RDB said:

That would put 99.99% of professional fishermen who use jigs or heavy wire hooks like flippin’ hooks around heavy cover in the noob category.  Swing for the fences is relative but you won’t find any who don’t have a strong, pretty violent swing.  If you are not sending an occasional jig or dink flying through the air, you may be to nice for bass fishing.

 

Conversely, you are hooking a fish that at the largest, weighs 10-12lbs.

 

If you're setting the hook so hard that your jig comes flying out the water, you need to watch fewer yt videos and ads.

 

It's just not necessary.

 

 

[1984isNOW]

My problem is I can't remember what I've done or been doing. Its awful, I pulled a fish in the other say and I was like "okay, how was I just retrieving that"? But I could not remember how fast I was reeling, did it get hit on a pause etc. 

 

SO my hooksets are a little like that, different every time and not always on purpose haha. I've had to dodge a flying worm more than a few times though, much rather be flyin fish like @T-Billy 

 

I know I should wait a second on the set and try to remember, but like I said - I can't even remember what I ate for breakfast.

 

 

[1984isNOW]

And rereading some things it seems like @RDB   disagreed with @WRB but then you were both saying very similar things as time progressed -  I think some of the confusion was the ambiguity of terms like "swing for the fences" and "crosseyes hookset" but if that were to apply to anything relatively speaking of hooksets it would have to be for the boat shaking rod snapping 0-100mph hooksets (not Hackney) all those uncertain what they mean by a Hackney hookset - 

 

 

I wish I could have the self control to do it this way.

 

Gerald Swindle is intentionally the exact opposite my man said you gotta "set the hook with your rectum" and then he wrecked'em. Said you start the hookset with your toes haha. But he does make a good point about forcing a needle or pushing a needle through something. apply a slow build of force to 10 pounds of pressure or a sudden 10 pound impact and see the damage difference. 

 

Here's that video with him and Tharp talking different styles of hook sets. 

 

 

I'm sure that there's some actual math to all of this, any engineers here? I'm gonna keep diggin though, a lot of people do it different and it works for them, 

 

[Skunkmaster-k]

I love watching monster hook sets. Reel down while taking a step back and then swing from the hip. Oh yeah. 

[Functional]

18 hours ago, RDB said:

 After all these years I still get a rush every time I set and it feels like I hit a wall.

 

I'll fight a log for a solid 10 seconds just to be sure I havent hooked the new state record. 

[RDB]

38 minutes ago, PUTitinYOURmouthFISH said:

if that were to apply to anything relatively speaking of hooksets it would have to be for the boat shaking rod snapping 0-100mph hooksets (not Hackney) all those uncertain what they mean by a Hackney hookset -

Outside of the folks who say powerful hooksets are for theater, I think most are saying something similar.  If sending a fish/jig flying is a measure of setting power, the strength of a Hackney set is as good as any….and when he misses, chances are the lure is going airborne unless he is deeper.  Chances are there isn’t that much difference between most pro’s.  Considering rod choice, line choice, setting style, body style, etc., they are all likely fairly close.  Hackney is probably going to look more controlled than Cobb because he has turds bigger than Cobb.  Thrift looks violent because he often sets jigs vertically and it looks like he is doing some sort of backward yoga pose.  

[T-Billy]

2 hours ago, CrashVector said:

 

Conversely, you are hooking a fish that at the largest, weighs 10-12lbs.

 

If you're setting the hook so hard that your jig comes flying out the water, you need to watch fewer yt videos and ads.

 

It's just not necessary.

 

 

That sounds like something a n00b would say. ?

[Deleted account]

LMB hooksets are the brunt of much humor in the reel (ha) fishing world.