Fat Ika Question for Roadwarrior or??

[Yimm]

HELP!! I went fishing yesterday and had a HUGE probem. I was using a Fat Ika with a Texas rig. I had a fish start to swim aggressively with the bait. I went to set the hook and I lost the fish. Very discouraging!! This happened three more times in the next 1/2 hour. I finally did a reverse Ika and immediately caught a bass. My question for Roadwarrior or anyone else is I am relatively new to the Fat Ika. What coud I possibly be doing wrong to miss so many fish in such a short period?? The only thing I can think of is that maybe I had the actual hook too close to the middle of the Ika and the fish had only the tail of the Ika in it's mouth when it took off with the lure. Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Thank You!!

[flechero]

Try rigging it "texposed"  This is the only bait I will texpose, and the best hook for an Ika (IMO) is a gammy EWG (I like 4/0 non superline) because when you texpose it properly, the point will lay indented in the plastic, but still exposed.

Beyond that, you may be setting hook on sight, not on feel.  That can account for lots of missed fish also.

[roadwarrior]

Welcome aboard!

This was my response to your PM:

Subject: Re: Fat Ika

Date: Today at 08:31:40*

Snap-set also called quick-set:

When you detect a bite, lower your rod tip while reeling in slack,

quickly! Raise the tip of your rod to about 11:00 by snapping

your wrists without moving the position of the reel relative to your

body. All the energy is transferred by the rod and this will drive the

hook deeply into the fish.

Also, I use 4/0 EWG Gamakatsu Offset Worm Hooks. You should

be using the sharpest hooks, too: Gamakatsu, Owner or XPoints.

My hook-up ratio is north of 95%. Once hooked-up, my landing

percentage is significantly higher.

8-)

[Willzx225]

I am definitely not disagreeing with either of the previous posts since they have caught more fish on the Ika than myself but this is simply a possible alternative.  I began fishing the Ika (after finding this website of course) with an offset hook just like was mentioned above.  I too was losing more fish than I liked simply because I was not getting good hook penetration so I went to a 4/0 Owner Straight shank hook and have done better with hooking percentage and landing fish. JMHO though take it for what its worth.

[mudkart]

You may also want to try the 4/0 hooks from the manufacturers mentioned by RW, but not the EWGs, just the offset shank models.  Beware that if you rig the Ika w/ these hooks the same as the EWGs, there will be more of the hook point exposed: thus, the tradeoff is an easier hookset/more hookups for an increased probability of hang ups. What exactly that probability is I of course don't know or care to speculate, but, keep in mind that the hook point does not exactly have to be buried in the soft plastic to be "snag-resistant", it is still covered somewhat by the thickness of the Ika itself.  It all depends on the conditions you are fishing.

[21farms]

it sounds like the problem you're experiencing is probably due to your hooks not having a big enough bite to clear all the plastic when you're trying to set the hook. IMHO, the owner wide gap plus hook is the best choice for the ikas because it has a huge gap plus an elevated hook point. i find the 4/0 size in the WGP perfect.

[SJex]

it sounds like the problem you're experiencing is probably due to your hooks not having a big enough bite to clear all the plastic when you're trying to set the hook. IMHO, the owner wide gap plus hook is the best for the ikas because it has huge gap plus and elevated hook point.

I agree, use a 4/0 Owner Wide Gap Plus.

[Bassin_Fin@tic]

it sounds like the problem you're experiencing is probably due to your hooks not having a big enough bite to clear all the plastic when you're trying to set the hook. IMHO, the owner wide gap plus hook is the best for the ikas because it has huge gap plus and elevated hook point.

I agree, use a 4/0 Owner Wide Gap Plus.

x3 Gamakatsu works well but have found the Owner to be the best.

[J Francho]

4/0 Owner WGP, though I've also had good hookups with their Rigging Hook, though I don't like the tie off offset to the hook point. That may all be in my head though.  Haven't noticed any issues.