Are You Better with Successfully Setting the Hook... 2025

islandbass reply :

Are You Better with Successfully Setting the Hook...

When the fish is:

1) in plain sight

2) unseen

For me, I think I do better setting the hook when I don't see the fish. I think I react too quickly in anticipation of the fish taking the lure. The price I usually pay in yanking lure out of their mouths too soon.

This was always on my back burner as a thought to ponder and brought to light after watching the interview with Hank who brought up sight fishing.

I'm not too good at sight fishing and hats off to those who have the discipline to remain calm and ensure a successful hook set.

Or, perhaps you're 50/50.

A-Jay reply :

Where having the right gear in your hand at the time, rod, reel, line & terminal tackle, definitely contributes to hook set success (or failure), whether or not I can 'see' the fish take the bait, might not play that big a role for me.

The act itself is at this point is pretty much 'automatic'.

Of course, one can never account for how the fish strikes the bait or where / how my offering may be situated in the fish's mouth.

I don't miss much, but it does happen.

A-Jay

Darren. reply :

Good question. I've definitely experienced more bites and

hooksets when I canNOT see the fish than when I can.

So probably when I can't see. That said, it's fun when I CAN

see the bass engulf the bait and set the hook!

geo g reply :

The whole time I'm out fishing I think about what the bait is doing and what i'm feeling on the bottom, or how the bait is performing. Is it working like it should. Do I need more weight or less weight. What type of bottom is it hitting, wood or weeds, sand, or rock. Keep the line out of the pad-V. Are any weeds suddenly moving on their own. Have I hit the rock wall, or has it cleared the weed lines.

When it comes to the hook set, the thinking just stops. From the slightest bump, to a line moving off, to the line changing speed on the fall. At that point I go on automatic pilot, and the hook set starts. Its all reaction, and instinct, at that point, and its always the same. The hook set is something I never think about. Its all speed and reaction! I live for that moment in time, regardless of fish size!

MichaelCopeland reply :

My hook sets are best when I don't see the fish also when it's at more of a distance. Those short distance strikes for some reason always get me. Guess it kinda catches me by surprise and instead of what I probably should do, swing for the fences, I usually give kind of a quick tug to one side or the other or a quick tug upward, depending whether I'm Texas or Carolina rigging or fishing a jig or chatter bait or whatever else really. Gotta get passed the excitement of the short distance strikes.

clh121787 reply :

Plain sight... it's simply more efficient. And takes the "feel factor" out of the equation.

everythingthatswims reply :

If I see the fish before I cast, I absolutely have a better hook up percentage, I have plenty of time to think about it and get the timing right.

The PROBLEM is when one comes rocketing out of no where and smashes the bait when you least expect it. At that point you might as well be smashing my knee with a hammer!

Catt reply :

Are You Better with Successfully Setting the Hook...When I'm getting bite!

Really don't matter

I fish crystal clear marshes where I see em & cast to em

I fishing 15-25' offshore structure at night

Bluebasser86 reply :

I'd guess when I can't see them but most of the lakes I fish are too dirty to see fish very often so I don't have a very big sample size there.

Angealy reply :

I'm good at both, I try to do a little of everything

For bass: Unseen.

For Rainbow/Panfish/Smallfish: In plain sight.

I throw my little pink worm under the bridge and wait for them to go to town on it.

The lake for bass: I tend to throw a senko in the middle/almost on the other side of the lake and it seems to get them every time.

Bass_Fishing_Socal reply :

Depends on if I see that fish before I intend to catch them then I have no problem setting hook. The one that give me problem is the one that hit me by surprise within 5' either I didn't give a good hookset or lockup on spool.

BarefootBassin reply :

I definitely get better hookups when sight fishing. Some of it seems to depend on the mood of the fish as well. I tend to get better hookups when the bite is more subtle and I have a little more time to react. The ones that get me are the hard and fast strikes when fishing soft plastics. If the fish bites and runs immediately and spits the bait before I have a chance to react. Thankfully that doesn't happen often and it seems to be the dinks that hit and run more often than not.

MichaelCopeland reply :

On 9/30/2017 at 2:27 PM, Bluebasser86 said:

I'd guess when I can't see them but most of the lakes I fish are too dirty to see fish very often so I don't have a very big sample size there.

I can relate. The waters I fish have very little visibility. Maybe a foot deep and about a foot or so out from the bank. The only time I have seen the bass and tried to cast to it, it either just looked at my bait like nope not today or just turned its nose up at it so to speak and swam away. Little to no sight fishing experience here or opportunity to do so.

Mike L reply :

On 9/30/2017 at 11:02 AM, geo g said:

The whole time I'm out fishing I think about what the bait is doing and what i'm feeling on the bottom, or how the bait is performing. Is it working like it should. Do I need more weight or less weight. What type of bottom is it hitting, wood or weeds, sand, or rock. Keep the line out of the pad-V. Are any weeds suddenly moving on their own. Have I hit the rock wall, or has it cleared the weed lines.

When it comes to the hook set, the thinking just stops. From the slightest bump, to a line moving off, to the line changing speed on the fall. At that point I go on automatic pilot, and the hook set starts. Its all reaction, and instinct, at that point, and its always the same. The hook set is something I never think about. Its all speed and reaction! I live for that moment in time, regardless of fish size!

Couldn't have said it better!

Mike

flatcreek reply :

Either way I still feel the rush, go on point and let the good times roll.

BarefootBassin reply :

On 9/30/2017 at 9:33 PM, flatcreek said:

Either way I still feel the rush, go on point and let the good times roll.

Very true. Whether it's a topwater blowup, watching a fish react in clear water or feeling that 'tick' right before you set the hook on who-knows-what...the addiction is real.

Bankbeater reply :

Probably when I can't see them. Some of the lakes I fish are muddy, and the others have vegetation, so the bass have plenty of places to hide.

ww2farmer reply :

I'm generally very very good at both.

BUT..I had a very humbling exp. sight fishing in a tournament this year. It was just one of "those days" where once I pulled it away from one good one, it snow balled into a fiasco of epic proportions the rest of they day.

Raul reply :

99.99% of the time I don't see the fish.

guest reply :

I rarely get to see the fish unless but when it's spawn season I throw a white lure and set the hook as soon as it dissapears

Quarry Man reply :

i hook more when i see the fish hit the lure.

fishwizzard reply :

I swear I miss 2/3 of the fish I see take the lure. It drives me insane it I am too jumpy to calm down and weight until I feel the hit.

Scarborough817 reply :

unseen for sure just by shear numbers, i have caught a lot more fish that i haven't seen than ones i have unless we are including topwater in which case it might be close. but i am the same i saw a bass take my jig last week and set the hook far too quickly

WRB reply :

If add bed fishing as sight fishing then your strike to hook ratio is going to be low.

Detecting strikes from underwater bass you can't see is also a low percentage, getting a good hook set on strikes you do detect or see should very high.

Tom

Ratherbfishing reply :

The vast majority of the bites have been when I couldn't see the bait (or the fish) however, as I've gained experience, when I do see a bite, I don't ****** it away as much as I used to. Perhaps it's just these old reflexes crapping out on me. So, there ARE some advantages to getting old.

Choporoz reply :

I spend most of my time in dirty water. Generally, the only time I see a bass take a lure, it is rocketing towards the boat and scares the crap out of me....missed a monster the other day crashed my jig at the boat...after I was reeling full speed, preparing to make next pitch...I'm still wondering why she didn't just grab that jig off the bottom and save me a couple years on my ticker

bigbill reply :

But my heart is pumping faster when I watch a bass slap my topwater bait silly as it passes by, then turns to inhale it. Now other times I'm depending on the feel of the rod or watching the rod tip for the slightest nibble. Using a split shot rigged worm they can sneek up on it with no feeling on the rod. Either way when in doubt set the hook.

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Are You Better with Successfully Setting the Hook... 2025

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