why cant i hook up on a jitter bug

[bassbob08]

My son and I fish at night and I bought some jitter bugs to use and we cant seem to hook up,we get blow ups on them but the fish dont take it.What are we doing wrong?Can anyone help.

[Justin Mahaney]

Make sure the fish take this bait, I use a jitterbug early morning and sometimes you can get excited and pull the bait out of her mouth, Let the bass take it, point the rod down and when you feel him taking it down like a crank bait, sweep the rod up towards your shoulders using your hips for power and you should get a solid hook set everytime.  

My guess is your night fishing, so your setting the hook more on sound than feel.

[=Matt 5.0=]

First order of business is to cut off those factory hooks, and upgrade to something sharp.   I add a split ring to allow the hooks to swivel more to ensure a good hook up.....just me.

[Justin Mahaney]

First order of business is to cut off those factory hooks, and upgrade to something sharp. I add a split ring to allow the hooks to swivel more to ensure a good hook up.....just me.

Yeah thats a good point, I changed my hooks a long time ago, never thought to mention   :-/ the factory hooks look ancient.

[Sam]

May I suggest letting the fish take the bait and wait two seconds before setting the hook?

Set the hook with a swing to the left or right and NOT straight up like you set a plastic.

The fish are hitting the lure and you are pulling it out of their mouth.  to allow them to hold the jitterbug longer consider putting some Mega Strike on it.  The bass seem to hold on to baits, even hard baits, with Mega Strike on them.

I also have the problem of patience when throwing a topwater.  As soon as I see the splash or swirl I am ready to set the hook but you have to let them have it for one or two seconds (sometimes three seconds) to make sure they have it.

Also, some bass with just hit the lure and not take it into their mouth or the bass/crappie/catfish/bream are too small to inhale the jitterbug so even if you wait they do not have it in their mouths.

But topwaters are lots of fun so keep throwing them.

P.S. Ever try a pink or white trick worm with a 2/0 straight shank hook?  Lots of fun to fish.

[BassFishingMachine]

I'd also try varying your retrieve speed, maybe your retreiving the bait just a tad too fast and the fish is missing the bait, or maybe your reeling it a little too slow for them and the fish is only swiping at it and not actually engulfing it. So I'd try varying the speeds of the retrieve. Its not that a fish can't catch your bait, I find fish can catch up to baits moving faster then anyone could imagine, but from what I have learned sometimes they want it slow, sometimes fast, sometimes just in the middle, and sometimes a variation of both, you have to experiment and see which is the retrieve there going for.

[Gone_Phishin]

When I first started fishing topwater baits on a regular basis, I was missing a lot of fish.  My problem, like many people, was premature hooksets.  To combat this, after I made my cast and put the bait where I wanted it, I would turn my head and talk to my buddy as I worked the bait back to the boat.  This way, I would feel the fish before I set the hook, as I couldn't actually see it strike the lure.  Doing this exercise really increased my hookups.  

[Sam]

Bass Fishing Machine has a wonderful point about retrieve speed.

Go fast. Go slow. Stop. Start.

Sometimes when a fish is following your topwater you have to stop it or slow the speed and have the fish run up on it and they will take it.  You can do this with crankbaits, too.

Just go out and experiment to see what the fish want that day.

[bassbob08]

thanks for the info everyone,we are going out sunday night into monday morning so we will keed all this in mind.ill let you know what happens.Bob