Hey all, on walking baits, on creeks, I missed probably 10 hits in an hour. I caught 3 small smallies, but missed 10. I don't know what I need to change, but seeing the strikes is awesome anyway.

Make sure your hooks are sharp, and most importantly, don't set the hook too quickly after you see the splash.

Wait till you feel the fish before you set the hook.

I have the same problem with walking baits . I rarely use them because of the low hook percentage .

When I see the strike I keep walking the bait until I feel it. often times the fish misses the bait on the first strike.

if the fish misses the first time, it will often hit it again.

 

Thanks guys!

Smallmouth always seem to hit hard but I learned with largemouth not to assume a light hit is a small fish. I've had good sized bass suck them under with no more disturbance than a bobber going down.

I've always found that hard plastic top water baits have lower percentages hook rates like spooks, jitterbugs and torpedoes.....why I prefer buzz baits. 

I love my Zara Spooks and I don't really "set the hook".  The fish hits and it either pulls or it doesn't.  If it pulls, I pull back (sweep to the side, not a slam upwards like setting a 5/0 hook through plastic).  If it doesn't pull then I let the Spook sit for a few seconds, if the fish doesn't hit again I walk it 2 or 3 times and stop again, if the fish doesn't hit it that time I real it back fast and recast past the place I got hit and walk it over the same area again.  I also use a line with some stretch like mono or Yo-Zuri hybrid.  If you are swinging for the fence and using braid you are probably just pulling the lure out of it's mouth.  Your hookset should be somewhere between Ned Rig and T-rigged plastic craw.   

Some great advice already offered here.

I fish walking baits quite a bit - might even be somewhat addicted to it.

My hook set with a walking bait is simply a quick & firm upward snap of the wrist.

Here's what it looks like looks like . . . 

 

A-Jay

Are they actually getting the bait or missing it completely?

 

I fish mine on braid so all I have to do is crank into them. If I don't feel the hooks digging I can start walking it again and they'll come back and get it again a lot of the time.

10 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Are they actually getting the bait or missing it completely?

 

I fish mine on braid so all I have to do is crank into them. If I don't feel the hooks digging I can start walking it again and they'll come back and get it again a lot of the time.

Yes and sometimes. When they miss, I don't stop the retrieve. When they hit and it pulls the bait, I stop and give a quick jerk with my wrist. I fish my walkers, in creeks, on my M spinning rod with 15/4 Super Slick and an 8lb mono leader. I've just begun to fish these baits this summer and I'm hooked, as my topwater box shows. 

8 hours ago, Drew03cmc said:

When they hit and it pulls the bait, I stop and give a quick jerk with my wrist.

This quote is a bit telling. When you feel the bait weight down DON'T STOP reeling. Just give your rod a quick jerk to set the hooks and KEEP REELING. When you stop, if only for a split second, those bass can spit that lure so fast it's hard to see. The guys at Tactical Bassin' have some awesome underwater footage that will shock you at how fast a bass can smoke a hardball and yet spit it out before you can react to it....

12 hours ago, Big Rick said:

This quote is a bit telling. When you feel the bait weight down DON'T STOP reeling. Just give your rod a quick jerk to set the hooks and KEEP REELING. When you stop, if only for a split second, those bass can spit that lure so fast it's hard to see. The guys at Tactical Bassin' have some awesome underwater footage that will shock you at how fast a bass can smoke a hardball and yet spit it out before you can react to it....

Thanks brother. I'll have to give that a try Friday. Gonna go back and try to smoke a few more of these guys on the same creek. Depending how far upstream I can wade, I may end up fishing 2 creeks in the area.