Missing Fish While Flipping

[OH-bass614]

one of my favorite lakes is full of bushes and the fish stack up in them during the spring but i have been missing alot of bites. Recently i would flip into a pocket and i fish would come and swirl a the bait and i would give him a second to eat it only to set the hook and it come back with no bait or fish. im flipping with 65lb power pro, gammmy flippin hooks, and a space monkey or tube and a improved polomar knot. what can i do to hook these fish? i have also been hooking fish and when i get them away and there in the air the hook comes out? should i switch to a snell knot? Thanks

[South FLA]

Trying using a Gambler straight shank flipping hook

http://www.***.com/Gambler_KO_Hook_5pk/descpage-GKOH.html

and use a snell knot

[BASS fisherman]

it sounds like lots of things.

Your hooks may be dull, or the point may be turned over.

It may be your using too small of a hook for the plastic you are throwing.

You may be setting the hook before the fish has the hook in it's mouth. Sometimes bass pickup a plastic by the tail and swim away with it. When you set the hook, you bring back a baitless lure, or a ripped plastic. I have had days when the fish only pick the plastic by the tail. I have tried feeling them out but its tough to tell which thump is the one you need to set on. If you wait too long you can gut hook the fish.

They like what your throwing, but not enough to engulf it. Try different colors- I figure the fish who pick up lures like that have been caught and they are testing it to see if its fake or not. They probably see the same old colors all the time so try and use those less common colors when the bass are being picky.

Sometimes even a subtle change in lure style works too.

Say the bass are being picky with tubes. Tie on a craw tube and give that a try.

Or instead of a regular space monkey, rip the arms off for a different action.

Or you could also try tipping the plastic with JJ's magic. I can almost promise you wont miss those picky biters. The bass get enraged when they taste or smell garlic for some reason. Adding that may help the fish engulf the lure rather than playing patty cake with it.

I would suggest loosening your drag a tiny bit. It sounds like with 65# braid your drags too tight and your creating a hole as you bring him in.

In order for that fish with the hole to get off, he'd need slack line. Just keep your line tight and your tip up and it should solve that problem. However when you feel the bass about to jump, lower your rod tip to one side or the other, maintaining that tight line, and the leverage he needs to jump and throw that hook is gone.

I dont see how a snell would help other than if your line is snapping completely. But if your using 65# test you are probably getting knicks in your line and when the fight happens, your line fails. The knicks usually occur in the first 5 foot or so above your lure. Mainly when fishing rocks though. So if your line breaks due to a knick, you would most likely assume it was a knot failure. Which is not likely with a polamer knot and braid. If the stuff your fishing is as nasty as it sounds, tieing a snell could only help.

Hopefully this helps

Try these tips and see what happens. Keep us posted

[bassnleo]

Make sure that when you flip or pitch there is enough slack in the line for the bait to fall straight down. Often times when flipping in thick bushes, the line is over a limb or branch and if it does not have enough slack to fall to the fish, the fish will swirl up at that bait like you mention. If the fish does get the bait, more than likely it's the end of the bait which explains why you get a bare hook back.

Allowing some slack will allow the fish to get the bait in it's mouth. Make a pitch or flip, reel up the slack, and if you feel tension or the fish moving off, immediately hit him and reel for all you're worth to get it up or out of the cover.

Make sure the hooks you are using are the right size for the baits you're throwing. With 65lb braid, you should be using a heavy wire hook. I mostly use a Reaction Innovations BMF for beavers and craws, Trokar tube hook or Gamakatsu superline EWG for tubes. These hooks will not flex like a light wire hook thus increasing penetration with heavy rods and line like you are using. Also, if you are using a hook like the BMF, definately use a snell knot. A properly tied snell will force the hook point up when you set the hook. I have many fish hook themselves with this knot.

If you aren't, peg your weights. In thick bushes you'd be suprised how many times the weight falls on one side of a limb and the bait on the other. Would also cause a fish to swirl at the bait.

One last thing.....make sure your weigth size is appropriate. Try going up or down in weight until the fish tell you it's right. Sometimes they just want a slower rate of fall, others they want it falling at light speed.

[breezy]

I would agree with what others are saying about a slight change in your lure or presentation. Sounds like you have the fish interested but not fully committed.

If you think the fish are picking up the bait but you're missing it you may want to try using a heavy fluoro to flip instead of braid (if it's feasible in the cover you're fishing). I tried going to all braid for bottom contact baits last year because line management was driving me crazy with fluoro. While line management is MUCH better using braid I felt that the lack of sensitivity with slack in braid cost me a lot of bites. It may just be a confidence thing, but I feel in a presentation where you're letting a lure drop on slack line fluoro is superior to braid unless the cover forces you to use braid.

[Catt]

Sounds to me like the bass are picking the lure up by the tail & not actually inhaling it

[Sam]

Added suggestions:

Use a scent on plastics.

Use a weedless 1/0 hook.

Set hook hard by pullnig rod over your head.

As Catt suggested, go with a good, strong fluorocarbon line.

Are you suing the shaky head presentation? If not, give it a try.

Try wacky Senko using the shrink wrap method to secure hook.

Could be small bass or bream driving you nuts which happens to all of us fishing with plastics.

All of the other posts have some outstanding suggestions. Give em a try.

[quanjig]

I have problems like that tilhis time of year as well. What you are encountering is this funny little thing called the crusher bite. Bass get the bait into their crushers and you get no hook penetration and then they blow the bait. Not much you can do about it.

[OH-bass614]

alright guys i just got back from my weekly pot tourney on the lake i was talking about and i had a little better success. i switched to a snell knot and i was hooking all of them right in the roof of the mouth so that helped. also i made sure to dip every bait with jj's and reapplied it every so often. I still missed a few fish, im going to grab some 20 or 25 lb fouro and respool with that to see if i feel bites a little better because i did miss a few still. i missed 2 bites atleast flipping and lost one on a crankbait. i ended up with 2 fish by myself and i missed the pay by a tenth of a lb. it olny took 5 something to win so if i would have got those fish i would have probably won. thanks for the tips

[BASS fisherman]

Good job. Now win it next week and take pictures!!