which way should you hold your rod for a good hookset, with the eyes facing down towards the water so all the pressure when setting the hook is on the eye, or with the eyes facing up so the pressure is on the rod?

Well, it depends on which kind of rod and reel you are using. Spinning gear has the guides on the bottom while casting gear has guides on the top of the rod. In either case, set the hook from the normal position (guides down for spinning and guides up for casting)

I don't see why you would flip your rod and reel over to set a hook in a way other than from the position the rod and reel already are.

No question is dumb. Bait caster, eyes up. Spinning gear eyes down. Carolina rig or circle hook, sweep sidways regardless of rod type. This should get you started. Good luck.

 They make what they call spiral wrapped rods where one of the 2 kinds ( BC or Spinning I forgot I think BC ) where the guides start out as normal but are gradualy positioned around the dia of the rod until at the top they are the opposite that you started with.

  In reality it turns out to be a very good question.

On normal spinning gear it seems that the reel is always meant to face the ground which would make the eyelets face the ground as well. Nothing says you can't use it the other way though as far as I know? The gravity effect ( twisting ) on the spinning reel might be awkward though.

Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer.  If you are using a baitcaster the eyes should face up.  If you are using a spinning rig the eyes should face down.  

BS aside, the load on the eyes is transferred to the rod in either case.

Well, it depends on which kind of rod and reel you are using. Spinning gear has the guides on the bottom while casting gear has guides on the top of the rod. In either case, set the hook from the normal position (guides down for spinning and guides up for casting)

I don't see why you would flip your rod and reel over to set a hook in a way other than from the position the rod and reel already are.

There are no stupid questions, there are only stupid assumptions

This is not always true/ There are several rod wrappers that wrap what is known as a SPIRAL WRAP , bait casting rods. Alpster built me one

There is a bumper guide which then turns the line to the other side of the rod so that thee guides are aligned on the bottom of the rod like a spinning rod

Here is a link that expalins it I will try and get a picture to add to this LINK;

http://www.westcoastangler.com/articles/spiral_wrapped_rods.php

PIC:

Spiral wrapping is an exception. And the idea behind it is that when the guides are on the top of the rod, it naturally makes the rod want to twist and flip over when downward force is applied. Spiral wrapping is meant to alleviate that torsion on casting rods. That being said, it may be better for the life of the rod in the long term to have the eyelets on the bottom and not have that torsion happening, but on a standard casting rod I don't think it would matter enough to encourage anyone to flip their rig over every time they want to set a hook.

I didn't say anything about turning the rod and reel. I said it is not always true that Baitcasting rods were only wrapped with the guides on top. I would say they are common enough since at the Lake Fork trip many of us were fishing with them.

Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer. If you are using a baitcaster the eyes should face up. If you are using a spinning rig the eyes should face down.

BS aside, the load on the eyes is transferred to the rod in either case.

I LIKE A PERSON THAT GIVES AN HONEST ANSWER.

Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer. If you are using a baitcaster the eyes should face up. If you are using a spinning rig the eyes should face down.

BS aside, the load on the eyes is transferred to the rod in either case.

I LIKE A PERSON THAT GIVES AN HONEST ANSWER.

You old guys are brutal

After you feel a second bump on the line you can set the hook any way you want,and you dont have to do it the dramatic way all the tv guys do, or lay on the floor of the boat to lip every fish. I prefer a sideways jerk on all plastic and jigs, and a slight vertical on any lure with a treble hook, and spinerbaits set the hook for you.

Hey you do not have to put that much thought into stuff like this. Long Mike is right the rod does the work. I like the spiral warp more for the way if feels with crank baits and on the cast. I never really conssidered the hook set. Don't stress out on the small stuff

 I would think if you started flipping rods and reels during the hookest they are just going to fall outta your hands and into the lake anyway

Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer. If you are using a baitcaster the eyes should face up. If you are using a spinning rig the eyes should face down.

BS aside, the load on the eyes is transferred to the rod in either case.

I LIKE A PERSON THAT GIVES AN HONEST ANSWER.

You old guys are brutal

We don't have time to mess around with the BS!!!!!!!!!!!!

When setting a hook be sure to rip that rod over your head with a lot of power, keeping pressure on the line to remove all slack.

Except.....

When setting a treble hook bait on mono SWEEP the rod to the right or left.

Reel in slack ASAP and keep line tight.  Point rod tip towards or into the water to stop fish from jumping and throwing your treble hook baits.

Good question and this is why we are here, to give you the answwer!  

The feeling I get from a strong hook set on a texas rig or weightless plastic is a big part of the fun of fishing for me.

The feeling I get from a strong hook set on a texas rig or weightless plastic is a big part of the fun of fishing for me.

Same here Dan, I love the feel of connecting on a fish.

As for spiral wrap...

It really depends on where you're living or how "in the know" people are around you.  I've known about spiral wrapping for about 2 years now but I've NEVER seen one being used where I fish in VA nor have I seen any sold in stores or online from major rod companies like st croix, loomis etc.  Megabass is the only one I know of that makes spiral wrapped rods but of course they're the uber expensive japanese rods...

So as a rule of thumb Dan's reply still holds true

The feeling I get from a strong hook set on a texas rig or weightless plastic is a big part of the fun of fishing for me.

Same here Dan, I love the feel of connecting on a fish.

As for spiral wrap...

It really depends on where you're living or how "in the know" people are around you. I've known about spiral wrapping for about 2 years now but I've NEVER seen one being used where I fish in VA nor have I seen any sold in stores or online from major rod companies like st croix, loomis etc. Megabass is the only one I know of that makes spiral wrapped rods but of course they're the uber expensive japanese rods...

So as a rule of thumb Dan's reply still holds true

Me neither. In general it isn't very common. You pretty much have to get it custom made.

Simon, I may get a spiral wrapped rod by christmas, not sure yet though.