Usually do not have any issue with fish coming off crankbaits but last couple of weeks I have missed quite a few decent fish when fishing a dt6. It's kind of funny since the smaller fish including green sunfish have a mouth full of hooks but a lot of the larger bass barely have one hook in them, like maybe they are slapping at it or something, but I've had quite a few just come off before getting to the boat. I have a cranking setup that I have used for years, medium action and typically works really well, I have upsized hooks, tried KVD triple grips, ewg and also long round bend, and one of each, lol. 

 

Just thought I would ask for any tips or things that I may try to minimize the missing fish, thanks.

@bishoptf What line are you using? What action does the rod have?

5 minutes ago, FishTank said:

@bishoptf What line are you using? What action does the rod have?

For my small/light baits I have a medium/moderate so it has plenty of give has served me well for my crankbait needs. I pretty much run braid to leader on all my setups, 30lb braid with 15lb mono, leader is usually 14-20ft. Honestly I think the larger bass are bumping the lure or slapping at it for some reason, I need to try some different lures and see if changing color or cranks would make a different, but I've never lost so many fish like I have lately but really first time fishing a dt6. I've tried slowing down but only using a 6.3:1 reel, just odd...probably lost 3-4 decent fishes yesterday and some of the ones I got to the boat were barely hooked. But again the smaller the bass, catfish, crappie, green sunfish have no issue. I can only assume its something the larger bass are doing, just not inhaling it, not sure why.

i run 12-14lb flouro.    and my rod is a bit loose.  i find i was bass's best friend.  i was so keyed in on the bait that any slap of a fish, and i would react and lean back.  not a hook set, but a lean.   i was taking the bait back from the fish.   lighter line and a more moderate rod mitigated it significantly.

 

a DT6 is pretty sticky with the OEM hooks, too.  weird.   maybe swap them out for even better hooks?

16 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

i run 12-14lb flouro.    and my rod is a bit loose.  i find i was bass's best friend.  i was so keyed in on the bait that any slap of a fish, and i would react and lean back.  not a hook set, but a lean.   i was taking the bait back from the fish.   lighter line and a more moderate rod mitigated it significantly.

 

a DT6 is pretty sticky with the OEM hooks, too.  weird.   maybe swap them out for even better hooks?

What i would say for the rod that I use, lots of play why I am confused. I have upsized hooks, tried ewg and round bend, I am now running ine of each, lol. Will see tomorrow how things go, before we were getting lots of rain now its blooming heat, sigh ...

2 minutes ago, bishoptf said:

What i would say for the rod that I use, lots of play why I am confused. I have upsized hooks, tried reg and round bend, I am now running ine of each, lol. Will see tomorrow how things go, before we were getting lots of rain now its blooming heat, sigh ...

i bet youre just having one of those moments.  :D.   tomorrow will be deep gullet hooksets.

@bishoptf 

@bishoptf Having a fish pop off happens to all of us. If its hooked and you are bringing it to the boat, it might be the technique. Try to keep it pinned by keeping the rod low and do not turn the rod over. What I mean by that is, bring the fish in on the same side as the hookset.  If you for instance,  pull left and then lower you rod to the right, you have turned the fish over and the hook is on the bottom side of its mouth. It is now easy for fish to throw it. 

 

https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/253705-st-croix-mojo-bass-thrown-hooks/page/2/#findComment-2962397

 

The next thing would be to swap hooks. Owner ST 36s or a thinner wire like Ryugi Pierce or Gamakatsu G Finesse would be another option. I would do a #5 in the front and #4 in the back. I have had good luck with all three of these hooks.  

 

Next, might be line. I don't like anything heavier than 12lb for most crankbaits. For a DT6, I would use 10lb fluorocarbon. I still use mono on a few setups but prefer fluorocarbon.  Not big fan of braid to leader for regular size cranks (I like it for BFS though). If you are dead set on braid to leader,  I would go with a quality fluorocarbon leader material designed to handle the shock, like Seaguar Gold Label or Grand Max in 12lb. 

This^^  It also depends on if they are coming unbuttoned or if you are missing strikes.  I don’t like braid on any of my crankbait setups.  Even with a leader, the no stretch of braid either pulls the crank away from the fish or rips it out of their mouth.  Try slowing down your retrieve too.  

1 hour ago, TOXIC said:

This^^  It also depends on if they are coming unbuttoned or if you are missing strikes.  I don’t like braid on any of my crankbait setups.  Even with a leader, the no stretch of braid either pulls the crank away from the fish or rips it out of their mouth.  Try slowing down your retrieve too.  

They are becoming unbuttoned, the larger fish just do not seem to be as aggressive as the smaller fish. I brought in several that only had a single hook from a treble on the back end, again its just not something I normally see. Usually they have a mouth full of trebles but not here recently. I am not concerned about the braid part of the setup, the rod has plenty of give being medium/moderate and I do not set the hook per se more of a swing to the side, hooks are sharp  so that its usually not a problem. 

 

Again I throw quite a few crankbaits and usually do not have a problem, I mean I can lose a fish here or there but this is lots more noticeable, several decent fish across multiple outings. Originally I thought I was the smaller hooks but happening even with the larger hooks. Will keep trying different things, also going to dry some different cranks to see if that makes a difference, but currently they are hitting the crap out of the dt6, but maybe I will try a lill john md50.

I'm going to take the opposing view. Mostly fish smallies/rivers and fished exclusively with 20 lb. braid no leader for idk... 8 years or so (bait casting and spinning). I had no problem hooking or keeping fish pinned. Fished stock hooks or replaced with standard or magic eye gamakatsu or daiichi. Rods ranged from ML EF to MF to MHM. The one thing I consistently did was make sure the drag was set right. Right for me was a good amount of slip on the hit/hookset.

 

If I was missing/losing or had barely hooked fish they really didn't want a crank bait.

 

Since then I've moved back to mono on a few set ups but still fish braid on my spinning rod and do use a thicker mono leader mostly for abrasion purposes.

7 minutes ago, Kev-mo said:

I'm going to take the opposing view. Mostly fish smallies/rivers and fished exclusively with 20 lb. braid no leader for idk... 8 years or so (bait casting and spinning). I had no problem hooking or keeping fish pinned. Fished stock hooks or replaced with standard or magic eye gamakatsu or daiichi. Rods ranged from ML EF to MF to MHM. The one thing I consistently did was make sure the drag was set right. Right for me was a good amount of slip on the hit/hookset.

 

If I was missing/losing or had barely hooked fish they really didn't want a crank bait.

 

Since then I've moved back to mono on a few set ups but still fish braid on my spinning rod and do use a thicker mono leader mostly for abrasion purposes.

Yeah I think getting the drag right is a good point, I have had some big ass catfish hit my lures and I have to adjust down since I do not want to lose my bait, getting in that right spot I need to get better at setting.

 

One of the main reasons I throw braid to leader is I can replace leaders often. The other big reason with a bait caster is even though I have been throwing them for up teen years (yeah Im old) I still can backlash my real from time to time and if that is fluro and it kinks its done. If I kink braid its no big deal, it just keeps on trucking for the most part and I just use it now on all my setups.

 

Everyone has given me good things to consider and appreciate all the input. Now that I have been stewing on it for some time I have thought of one more possibility. Long story but many, years ago fishing I ended up getting tennis elbow in my right arm. It could be painful to fish and I ended up using my spinning setups since I grew up fishing spinning and always used left hand retrieve but holding in right arm. That took pressure and allowed me to fish but all of my baitcasters WERE right hand. Last year I picked up several LH baitcasters to see if I could switch over to them some of the time and now I have probably half of my baitcasters in LH retreive. Only my second season using them and I have been using a LH baitcaster when throwing the cranks, which means I am doing things differently than normally so maybe that has something to do with it also. Something to think about it, so far for certain baits I have really enjoyed the LH retrieve, I can make a lot more casts and things are faster but still getting used to it and maybe using my right arm I just need to make sure I am not overly agressive vs when using my left arm, something to think about.

If your setup hasn't given you issues in the past then it sounds to me like the fish are telling you they simply want something different.

#occamsrazor

Try burning it really fast. If that doesn't work, try a meaninfully different color, like chartruese instead of white-ish.