losing jumpers

[gimruis]

We've all experienced this.  You hook into a nice fish, whatever it may be, and it jumps, shakes it head, and spits the hook.

 

Lately its been happening quite a bit more for this guy.  I understand that its bound to occur from time to time, but is there anything I can do to mitigate this?  I'm talking largemouth, smallmouth, AND muskies here.  The muskie thing is perhaps a little different as they are much larger fish and have an iron jaw, but the concept and strategy should be similar.

 

I understand that lowering the rod tip to keep them down can help, but quite often the fish jumps almost immediately after being hooked, they shake the hook, and its already over.

 

Open to suggestions here.

[Pat Brown]

Best I got is upgrade your hooks to something lighter wire - maybe round bends which tend to have better hook up ratios - and use line with more stretch and lighten the drag a touch.  This all works in harmony and makes it very hard to throw a hook that has gone past the barb.

 

This time of year - many people go lighter on hooks and lines and smaller on baits.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Owner Zo Wire STX 38s are magical.

 

Inevitably fish will be lost on treble hooked baits, but I'm always amazed at the difference these hooks make.   Outside of Jerkbaits, all my hardbaits get these hooks.  The sharpness, bend of hook shank, and strength really make the difference.  

Owner STX-38 Zo Wire Treble Hook | Tackle Warehouse

[Tennessee Boy]

I try to maximize the pressure I put on them to pull their head toward me as they come up.  This is to prevent or at least disrupt the head shake.  I imagine dragging them across the top of water as they jump.  

[Catt]

It happens sometimes regardless of what we do. 

 

[Spankey]

What might be worth a try if it is crankbaits, is to replace the treble with a slightly longer shank treble hook. I’ve done this to a few of my favorite cranks. I kills me when I loose a nice fish like that. I’m still out to lunch as to whether my thinking is correct. It has not made things worse. 
Back years ago Rapala on the DT baits had a VMC stinger treble hook on them. The rear hook. One of the rear hooks of the treble was longer and a wider gap. They discontinued putting them on the DT’s and VMC stopped making them. I thought they were fantastic. I’ve checked a few places a time back and they can’t be had. They must have sucked because they stopped making them and stopped putting them on the DT’s. BUT I don’t feel that way I like them and don’t think they cost me fish. I think they worked good on the short bite bass. 

[gimruis]

Its not just with treble-hooked lures.  Its happening with single hooked lures too, even when I seemingly get a really solid hookset.

 

I will try backing off on my drag a little.  I generally try to keep it relatively tight so I have the upper hand.  I tend to do a lot of shallow water fishing around cover and the cover this time of year is thick, so I am trying to turn them from that as quick as possible.  Once they wrap into a tangle of weeds, around a dock post, a branch, etc, I don't like my chances.

[Team9nine]

33 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

I try to maximize the pressure I put on them to pull their head toward me as they come up.  This is to prevent or at least disrupt the head shake.  I imagine dragging them across the top of water as they jump.  

This ^^
 

Two options, both opposites, seem to help. One is giving the fish some loose (not slack) line if you realize it’s going to jump. The sudden lack of pressure will often stop them from jumping. But more often than not, I’ve gone toward trying to yank their head over the minute they are about to break water. Tight drag and a good hard pull - almost hook-set like. The fish wants to see how high it can jump - I want to see how little I can let him. As @Catt said, it’s part of the game and you’re going to lose some regardless, but I feel a little better about it knowing I at least tried doing something other than letting him just jump and taking my chances.

[Dwight Hottle]

Well for muskies I would suggest Pierce Quad hooks with built-in spin eye allowing the hook to rotate without giving the fish leverage against you & a heavy bait. @AlabamaSpothunter suggestion for replacement hooks is excellent advice & I use Zo wire hooks on all my jerk baits & cranks. As to the problem of jumping fish burying the rod tip into the water helps keep them from jumping but not always. When I can't stop the jump I try to forcibly yank the fish down so it can't  get enough momentum to get it's head out of the water & shake side to side. If you get a good hookset you will win the battle most of the time. 

[Bankbeater]

1 hour ago, Tennessee Boy said:

I try to maximize the pressure I put on them to pull their head toward me as they come up.  This is to prevent or at least disrupt the head shake.  I imagine dragging them across the top of water as they jump.  

Break the momentum before they can get out of the water.

[LionHeart]

Use the slowest rod that will still get the job done.  I like a rod that loads as deep as possible to give me a little grace when a fish jumps.  Losing a good one to that hurts for sure.  It hurts instantly and profoundly.

[PaulVE64]

Yep,

A slower rod. 

[king fisher]

I have tried it all, from swearing to prayer, and everything in-between.  Nothing has worked for me.  The bigger they are and the higher they jump, the more long distance releases I have. 

[WackyWormNedRig]

I caught a lot of bass today. I had two spit the hook. I’ve been told never let line get loose lol

[RB 77]

Jump offs happen, it's just part of the game. I fish a barbless lake with feisty Northerns and I get jumped off all the time. Sometimes dropping the rod tip straight down into the water can help keep them in the water, but there are no guarantees.   

[12poundbass]

3 hours ago, king fisher said:

The bigger they are and the higher they jump

Finally, an answer to why my fish never jump! 😂

[WRB]

Musky often bite down on a lure and you can’t move the lure because  of their teeth gripping it. The musky decides to jump and release the lure nothing you can do.

Smallmouth bass rocket out of the making aerobatic flips a gymnasts envy, you can do but keep a tight line.

Largemouth  are not jumpers in the class if Smallmouth but they often make an initial jump when hooked and if the bass is over 60’ away you can’t horse a big bass on top of the water, just hope it’s hooked well and keep the line and rod loaded.

Big fish that jump acrobatically like Tarpon and Marlin try to keep up with them and enjoy fight,

Tom

 

[Catt]

17 minutes ago, WRB said:

Big fish that jump acrobatically like Tarpon and Marlin try to keep up with them and enjoy fight,

Tom

 

 

[FryDog62]

Best big bass lakes I fish, they jump right after hook set and try to spit the hook.  They got big because they’re smart, they’ve been hooked before, and know how to get unbuttoned. 
 

The key is to not give them ANY slack. Braided line is a number reason for allowing momentary lapses in tension that result in slack and lost fish.
 

Second, is to sense when the fish is ready to make its upward move to jump and then dig the rod tip down into the water - and - pull towards you at the same time. As they near the boat, keep turning their head and figure 8 if needed so they stay down and allow you to determine what direction they’ll swim - and eventually into a net. 
 

And yet, you still lose some.  The bigger, the smarter - - 

[gimruis]

9 hours ago, FryDog62 said:

Best big bass lakes I fish, they jump right after hook set and try to spit the hook.

 

This is exactly what is happening to me recently.  It feel that "thump," get a solid hookset, and nearly immediately they are heading north out of the water.  There's a second or less in between when I hookset and when they jump.  My reaction time is pretty good, but its not that good.

 

Its not like I'm fishing in 15 feet of water and I hook up near the bottom.  These fish are primarily in less than 5 feet of water and I am fishing aggressively with a lure near the surface already.  I am also using braided line.

[Fried Lemons]

You can mitigate it by choosing baits where the weight can slide up the line like an unpegged Texas rig or a line thru swimbait. Rarely ever lose fish hooked on these baits.

[Reel]

Buy a good hook file and use it regularly.

[Zcoker]

Double up on the split rings, which allows twice the rotation and practically eliminates the fish getting any leverage. I find this mod especially helpful on the bigger topwater baits like 130 whopper plopper, chug bugs and the likes. 

[Bankc]

The best thing you can do is to not let them jump in the first place. 

 

I've tried keeping the rod tip down low.  I think this only works if the fish is right next to the boat.  It's not an effective strategy in my opinion.  But what does work, is getting them into the boat quicker.  If you can reel them in fast enough, they can't get control to make the jump.  Keep them going your direction instead of the direction they want to go.  Don't let them point their body in another direction, other than towards you.  That's often easier said than done, but it's something I try to do, especially if I feel like I didn't get a good hookset to start off with. 

 

Second, is I try to keep my rod somewhat pointed at the fish.  I like a little bend, but not too much.  What this does is it gives me somewhere to go when the fish tries to jump.  When it starts to break the surface, pull back quickly but smoothly on your rod to keep it from gaining leverage.  The bass can only effectively throw the bait when it's head is above water and it's tail is still below water.  So you want to pull the whole fish out of the water, fast, to break their leverage.  And reel like mad, because at this point you're going to try to ski the fish across the top of the water back to the boat.  Don't jerk the rod back like a hookset when they jump.  You want constant, even pressure on the fish.  But you've got to be fast, so it's not like lifting a jig either.  The timing of when to start pulling the rod back is the hardest part.  I try to start just before it breaks.  It's hard to get it right and I often mess it up, usually reacting too late.  But, when I nail the timing, I can almost always land that fish. 

 

And then sometimes you do everything right, and they still get away.  It happens. 

[Zcoker]

52 minutes ago, Bankc said:

The best thing you can do is to not let them jump in the first place. 

 

 

A good recommendation, but sometimes totally unavoidable in places that have very shallow water like where I fish in Everglades. They coming out of the water no matter what ya do!