I seem to be missing alot of fish  :-[. I was out today, and caught 4 fish, but missed about half a dozen. Had one half way in, and got off . One right up to the bank, and got off (both largemouths). Three or four I missed completely. Any tips on properly setting the hook? The lures I'm using are in-line spinnerbaits, and mostly brand new (straight with sharp hooks).

Thanks  

If anyone has input on this topic...

I am very new to fishing...First Week.....And this forum has been awesome....

My wife and I were out tonight and I caught 7 fish in 1 1/2 hours but my poor wife could not set a hook to bring one in...she lost at least 6.

She had the exact same set up as I (Aberdeen hook with Texas Rigged 7" Powerbait worm) and seemed to be doing exactly what I was doing...problem is I have no idea what I was doing with the exception of setting the hook based on the feel of the Hit.

Any advice would be appreciated cuz she was getting pretty discouraged and I would love to have her come back there with me.

Here are my other posts of the Lake that is at the backside of my property that I just found out had been stocked with bass...I have been here for 4 years and never thought to fish it.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?action=usersrecentposts;username=brooks

Bigbass

Although it seems fish hook themselves on those spinners it's still important to give them a pop when you feel the weight of the fish.  I dont know what size you are using but panfish and perch like those too.  You might be feeling them peck at it.

Some tips for fighting/landing fish:  keep steady pressure, they go low you pull high, if they're trying to jump point your rod low, leave about the length of your rod in line when landing the fish to give yourself some room, there's probably a million more

Thanks for all the replies. I'll follow Your tips, and hopefully land more fish  

Listen to the guys in here. I would try to help but, I am the guy whom watched too much tv fishing when I was younger and have a hookset that is ridiculous. I have a very bad habit of one style. When I feel a fish I practicaly do a Triple Lindy and fly out of the boat with my set. Whether it be #6 line or #25, its all the same for me,lol. Hmmm, I wonder why I break them off on #6? or why do those little 12 inchers come flying at me and crack me in the head or chest? Don't get into this habit. Its one I wish I could break.

There is probably a VERY simple solution to the problem, one I learned many moons ago: Make sure the hooks are sharp! IMO this is one of the most overlooked aspect of fishing. Contrary to popular belief, often hooks right out of the package are not sharp. They have gotten better over the years, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. As an example, the hooks on a Rat-L-Trap or Heddon Tiny Torpedo are often about as sharp as a Q-tip right out of the box. I discovered this after loosing what might have been the fish of a lifetime on a tiny Torpedo when the hooks didn't bite.

Take the hook you are using and gently scrape it point down over your thumbnail. If it doesn't dig in with just a little pressure it needs to be sharpened.

There are a lot of different hook sharpeners on the market, but I like one made by EZ-LAP:

The sharpener fits inside the cap and there is a clip like a pen has so you can keep it in your pocket and does an excellent job of sharpening hooks. About $5 most places that sell tackle and is well worth the investment.

I both agree, and disagree with Rebbasser....

IMPO it is VERY important that your hooks be surgical sharp at all times. This is why I use nothing but Owners, and it's also why I check my hook points REALLY often.

However, I rarely sharpen hooks. I'd rather throw away .50 cent hooks, and put on fresh ones, and here's why; Sharpening a hook point can, and often does weaken the point. Sure, you can make it feel "sticky" again, but that won't matter if that point hits a bony portion of the fishes mouth, and the hook point folds over before penetrating. I think this happens a lot more often than guys realize, but when they reel in and check their hook point, they think to themselves, "Oh ! I must have hit a rock or something, and damaged my hook 'before that fish bit', and that's why I missed it...... But in reality, that hook point was straight and sharp (after the angler had sharpened it) but then bent over from hitting that hard part of the fishes mouth, causing the angler to miss the fish.

The other big reason I hate to sharpen hooks, is that you can very easily, and often do, without even knowing it, change the angle of the point. Hooks are designed with a VERY specific point angle, in relationship to the eye of the hook. Sharpening almost always changes this angle. {because it's easy to remove metal from the outside, and both sides of the point, but not from the inside}

IMPO, a little sharpening is a little bad.... a lot of sharpening is all bad.

Use premium hooks and change them as often as you have to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

But aside from hooks, you should understand that certain lures have higher or lower hooking percentages. Frog fishermen often feel lucky to hook and land half of the fish they get bit by. Spinnerbaits, or plastic worms will give you a higher percentage of landed fish.

Your line makes a HUGE difference too. With monofilament, especially at the end of a long cast, their is SOOO much stretch, that you really need to swing like a mad man, and run a pretty darn tight drag. With braided line, because it has virtually zero stretch, you don't need to swing near so hard, but on the contrary, if you use braid it is very easy to swing too hard, and rip out, or straighten hooks. This is where a lighter drag setting, and maybe a softer rod helps..... and of course, a lighter hook setting swing.

A lot of this stuff comes from personal experience. Try different hooks, lines, drag settings, and see what works best for you. As your experiences grow, you can fine tune things from there :-)

Great fishing to you,

Fish Chris

All good points so far.

Another thing to consider is if the rod you are using might be (or might not) part of your challenge. Inline spinners usually sport trebles and if your using for the sake of arguement, a rod made for jigs, it could be making you rip the lure out of their mouths.

Also, if you don't already, try to reel up more slack before setting the hook. If there is too much line out when you pull or sweep the rod back, the hook set will be weak.

The rod's position at the hook set is also important. Try to keep it somewhat closer to the water vs having it pointing straight up when working your lure (perhaps somewhere around the 9 to 10 o'clock position if 12 is above you.  If your rod is at 11 or more before the hookset, this will also result in a weak hookset too.

The other side of the coin is we lose some and we win some. I don't think anyone here lands the fish 100% of the time.  The hookset should improve with experience.

I had this same problems the other day. I was fishing the last light of the day fishing a Rebel Pop-R and a 1/8 oz. black Strike King buzzbait. I got two nice hits from smaller bass, one on each lure. I think I was spacing out a little when the first bass hit the popper. It shook the bait after a couple of seconds with the first jump. I completely missed the bass that hit the buzzbait, but I was casting it on a slow action fiberglass rod which doesnt have much hook setting power.

Best advice is to get in the "zone" while fishing. COncentrate on what your doing and be ready to set that hook at any time. The first pull or tug of the fish when it bites give the reel a couple cranks and use the rod to tighten the line. Its going to happen though, I even see the pros on tv missing fishing at times. So don't sweat it, but if you continue to miss fish, you should work on the hook setting.

My wife and I were out tonight and I caught 7 fish in 1 1/2 hours but my poor wife could not set a hook to bring one in...she lost at least 6.

She had the exact same set up as I (Aberdeen hook with Texas Rigged 7" Powerbait worm) and seemed to be doing exactly what I was doing...problem is I have no idea what I was doing with the exception of setting the hook based on the feel of the Hit.

Hey Brooks, you'll want to ditch those Aberdeen hooks. Aberdeen hooks are made for baitfishing and they're made to bend, that means your hook could straighten out on you when you get a biggun. Try 1/0 or larger offset shank or extra wide gap hook made for soft plastics (I prefer 3/0 offset for 7" worms). Eagle Claw hooks are good, Gamakatsu are better, Owner hooks are the best.

mini vid of hooksets

VIDEO

I both agree, and disagree with Rebbasser....

IMPO it is VERY important that your hooks be surgical sharp at all times. This is why I use nothing but Owners, and it's also why I check my hook points REALLY often.

However, I rarely sharpen hooks. I'd rather throw away .50 cent hooks, and put on fresh ones, and here's why; Sharpening a hook point can, and often does weaken the point. Sure, you can make it feel "sticky" again, but that won't matter if that point hits a bony portion of the fishes mouth, and the hook point folds over before penetrating. I think this happens a lot more often than guys realize, but when they reel in and check their hook point, they think to themselves, "Oh ! I must have hit a rock or something, and damaged my hook 'before that fish bit', and that's why I missed it...... But in reality, that hook point was straight and sharp (after the angler had sharpened it) but then bent over from hitting that hard part of the fishes mouth, causing the angler to miss the fish.

The other big reason I hate to sharpen hooks, is that you can very easily, and often do, without even knowing it, change the angle of the point. Hooks are designed with a VERY specific point angle, in relationship to the eye of the hook. Sharpening almost always changes this angle. {because it's easy to remove metal from the outside, and both sides of the point, but not from the inside}

IMPO, a little sharpening is a little bad.... a lot of sharpening is all bad.

Use premium hooks and change them as often as you have to.

Great fishing to you,

Fish Chris

Now this is input from someone who I consider is at a professional level of angling.  Very valid, useful info.

but ......let's remember...............the indians got it done with a piece of bone  

this is very true..... But bone hooks are very hard to find, and even tougher to make for yourself ;-)

I'll stick to Owners :-) LOL

Fish

Whew,...I saw the title and the poster and thought I was gonna get reprimanded by the guru,lmao

this is very true..... But bone hooks are very hard to find, and even tougher to make for yourself ;-)

I'll stick to Owners :-) LOL

Fish

CHEATER!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D

The first thing I do when I buy a new lure is change the hooks!  (some of them you don't have to when they come with upgraded hooks)....but 80% of the lures I buy....i have to change the hooks....if a bass hits one of my crankbaits....I would say 99% of them land in the boat.....crankbaits "Set" themselves for the most part....

Although not the same as hooksetting, someone also mentioned keeping your line tight after the hookset. That point shouldn't be lost, because once the hook is set you've still got to get that baby into the boat. I was recently smallie fishing and lost two nice ones when they went airborne and shook off the hook. Not sure there was anything I could have done differently, but I still have nightmares about it. :-/

mini vid of hooksets

VIDEO

Hey LBH what rod you using in that video bro?

Whew,...I saw the title and the poster and thought I was gonna get reprimanded by the guru,lmao

this is very true..... But bone hooks are very hard to find, and even tougher to make for yourself ;-)

I'll stick to Owners :-) LOL

Fish

CHEATER!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D

man i'd hate to go bone fishing with you guys j/k    ;D

naw that was a great post really

The first thing I do when I buy a new lure is change the hooks! (some of them you don't have to when they come with upgraded hooks)....but 80% of the lures I buy....i have to change the hooks....if a bass hits one of my crankbaits....I would say 99% of them land in the boat.....crankbaits "Set" themselves for the most part....

Buy japanese baits and you'll never have to change hooks again.

The first thing I do when I buy a new lure is change the hooks! (some of them you don't have to when they come with upgraded hooks)....but 80% of the lures I buy....i have to change the hooks....if a bass hits one of my crankbaits....I would say 99% of them land in the boat.....crankbaits "Set" themselves for the most part....

Buy japanese baits and you'll never have to change hooks again.

But Im not going to japan to fish.....But I enjoy making improvements to things...call me Tim the Tool Man.....If I bought the japanese baits I am sure I would find some Titanium Hooks or Diamond tipped hooks....just to tinker with things....