Hi all,

 I hope you can help me figure this out. One lake I fish the SM are going crazy for 5" swim senkos T-rigged with a 4/0 EGW hook. We'll run into a school of 1 lb- 1 1/2 lb SM and have hit after hit. Most of the time it's short strikes. Fish will be on for a minute then let go. But sometimes we'll get a fish that swallowed the bait real deep. I can't figure out how to keep this from happening. I'd rather hook more fish and get them in the boat, but not at the cost of killing them. They always hit during a steady retrieve. Any thoughts on different hooks, or size hooks that I can try to get better hook ups with out having them swallow it so deep?

                                  Thanks

                                          Jim

Maybe a circle hook or a swimbait jighead?

Yeah, don't t rig in that situation. Wacky rig it. 

It is going to happen sometimes.  Learn how to go through the gills and turn the hook around so you can get it out without killing the fish.

2 / O owner mosquito hook avoid a lot of problems.......

 

.....and learn to go through the gills when nessessary 

I know how to go thru the gills, and I'm not sure how you wacky rig a swim senko. I've never quite seen anything like this. Out of the last 25 SM, 22 let go before getting to the boat and 3 were deep hooked. A fellow member here fishes the same water and is having similar results with a different bait. We use the same setup for LM and almost always get the fish in the boat with a good lip hook up.

could be something simple as a color change to make them fully commit, so you can get a hook in them so they dont come off before getting to the boat...