Am I setting the hook wrong?

[WRB]

As you may recall my 1st reply was you were too late hook setting.  Catt is trying to help you and getting helpful feedback.

Strike detection is an art learned by time on the water and each of us develop our skills by trial and error.

Seeing line move is important but doesn’t happen very often so you are missing a lot of strikes when the bass simply engulfs you lure and doesn’t move before rejecting it.

My technique is keeping in touch with the lure detecting any change by feeling the with my finger tips.

The Palomar knot is ideal for hooks. When tying a Palomar knot aviod twisting the loop when putting the hook through.

Tom
 

[Zcoker]

Good high quality hooks can make ALL the difference. Most hooks on most lures are not the greatest and simple changes can bring home the bacon. Having a nice high quality rod can also make a big difference as well. Point is, arm yourself with the right tools and pay attention to reconditioning your reflexes. I know a lot of guys that swing for the fences no matter what they use. Hard to break that habit but it is possible. 

[fantasy19]

This is what I do (ignoring heavy cover):

• Have your drag on the tight side, but not locked down. 
• Rod tip high with controlled slack. You want to be able to feel the lure/bite without affecting the movement of the lure.
• When you detect a bite, reel down. 
  • You want to feel the weight of the fish before you set. 
• You don't need to set like you're Greg Hackney in his 20s. Reel down and pull. 

I can remember one time in 4 years of fishing that I had to set without reeling down. This was because the bass were spitting the senko incredibly quick. I use a Palomar knot for everything. 

[Ryan N]

1 hour ago, fantasy19 said:

This is what I do (ignoring heavy cover):

• Have your drag on the tight side, but not locked down. 
• Rod tip high with controlled slack. You want to be able to feel the lure/bite without affecting the movement of the lure.
• When you detect a bite, reel down. 
  • You want to feel the weight of the fish before you set. 
• You don't need to set like you're Greg Hackney in his 20s. Reel down and pull. 

I can remember one time in 4 years of fishing that I had to set without reeling down. This was because the bass were spitting the senko incredibly quick. I use a Palomar knot for everything. 

This is something I learned from experience, but I would set the drag depending on lure weight and hook size. If I'm running finesse tackle like 1/0 hooks, I want my drag a bit lighter. Frogging or glidebaits of course need some tight drag.

[fantasy19]

25 minutes ago, Ryan N said:

This is something I learned from experience, but I would set the drag depending on lure weight and hook size. If I'm running finesse tackle like 1/0 hooks, I want my drag a bit lighter. Frogging or glidebaits of course need some tight drag.

Agree. 3/0 EWG makes me think Texas Rig. 

[Bigbox99]

Retie your terminal knot frequently.  I'll do it every few fish, after a single big fish or just a few times throughout the day from casting with no fish caught when using fluorocarbon line.  Fluorocarbon line has a very low threshold to plastic deformation and you are deforming the line at the knot with every hookset, fish you catch and cast made.  If you don't cut and retie religiously you will experience "mysterious break offs" with fluoro.  It's to the point that I only use fluorocarbon for a main line and braid to leader is done with Big Game mono because it's so much more resilient to this kind of failure due to its high elasticity and very high threshold to plastic deformation.

[LionHeart]

Man you are breaking 3/0 hooks?  Sorry but I have trouble wrapping my head around that.

[fantasy19]

@Ryan N you got turtles where you fish?

[Ryan N]

8 hours ago, Bigbox99 said:

Retie your terminal knot frequently.  I'll do it every few fish, after a single big fish or just a few times throughout the day from casting with no fish caught when using fluorocarbon line.  Fluorocarbon line has a very low threshold to plastic deformation and you are deforming the line at the knot with every hookset, fish you catch and cast made.  If you don't cut and retie religiously you will experience "mysterious break offs" with fluoro.  It's to the point that I only use fluorocarbon for a main line and braid to leader is done with Big Game mono because it's so much more resilient to this kind of failure due to its high elasticity and very high threshold to plastic deformation.

Yeah when you think about it, the time to redo your leader and use more flouro is better than losing a lure. I’ll keep this in mind

1 hour ago, LionHeart said:

Man you are breaking 3/0 hooks?  Sorry but I have trouble wrapping my head around that.

Everytime i see this mentioned it makes me cackle, I’m sorry it’s just my wording is bad

1 hour ago, fantasy19 said:

@Ryan N you got turtles where you fish?

I do but they don’t bite artificial. It’s only when my blue gillin 

[LionHeart]

21 minutes ago, Ryan N said:

Yeah when you think about it, the time to redo your leader and use more flouro is better than losing a lure. I’ll keep this in mind

Everytime i see this mentioned it makes me cackle, I’m sorry it’s just my wording is bad

I do but they don’t bite artificial. It’s only when my blue gillin 

Well man, if by bad wording ya mean you said you're breaking hooks when you ain't.  We'll, I guess so.

[Bazoo]

I set the hook on a dink the other day... and jerked the little guy up out of the water and then ripped the hook out of his mouth. I don't know why I did that, as I normally am not that aggressive, but it can be hard to think when the fish are biting.