Question About Hooksets 2024

Tuckahoe Joe reply :

Ok. So from everything im hearing/reading, its just giving the rod a good swift snap upwards over your shoulder. But does it matter what direction? Say for example a fish takes my lure and starts swimming to the right. Should I snap left opposite of the direction the fish is going or is it just up over the shoulder no matter what?

SirSnookalot reply :

Just trust your natural reflexes.

flyfisher reply :

Don't try and overthink it and just set the hook. If you take the time to think which shoulder should i set thte hook on you will lose fish. Using modern braided lines with minimal stretch the quick hookset seems to do the trick. I think the more important thing is to have sticky sharp hooks and use a hook as small as you can get away with as it is less metal to push through the fish's mouth.

wademaster1 reply :

when bass fishing and you feel that tug or jerk on your lure or bait then jerk asap; if not alot of time you could lose the fish after he spits it out or sometimes he'll swallow it occassionally; when that line is tight enough for you to feel the fish then set the hook and he should be hooked anyway; if you jerk the rod when there is much slack in the line then your not going to get a good hookset and may lose the fish; good luck

GeorgiaBassBros reply :

I tend to set the hook the opposite way the fish is takin off with it, like with a jig or plastic worm. With anything else I don't really think about what I do, I'll have to actually pay attention next time

GeorgiaBassBros reply :

Tuckahoe Joe reply :

thanks for the help guys. im sure once i get a few more fish under my belt it'll eventually become second nature.

Darren. reply :

Yup, just trust your reflexes.

If you're using spinning gear, when you feel that bite, reel down while lowering the rod tip and sweep it (up, to the side, whatever is automatic) and it'll set the hook.

WdyCrankbait reply :

Yes, after a couple of more fish you will get this hook set thing down. I personally, always go over my right shoulder, but I am right handed. Let your reflexes take over as mentioned above and enjoy.

Once you get really good with hook sets, try striking a pose. I'm working on the Heisman Trophy hookset these days, haha!

Good luck and post pictures of what you catch.

LgMouthGambler reply :

Feel the bite, reel on any slack, and set the hook. It has to be smooth and timely. Takes time to get your own way of setting the hook down.

Tuckahoe Joe reply :

i think i might be forgetting to reel in the slack first. going out this weekend. gonna work on it and maybe if i can find my camera ill post some pics if i catch anything.

hooah212002 reply :

I am not at all confident in my strike detection, so I rarely set the hook like most people with a violent thrust over the shoulder. Instead, if I feel what I think is a strike, i give a quick "pop" that, IMO, should be enough to set the hook. Then, when I am certain I have a fish on, I set a little harder. It's not like LMB have extremely tough mouths that should require such violent hooksets. This could well be because so far, all the fish I've caught have been worked off the bottom. Hopefully once I catch more on different techniques it will be easier to detect bites and I will be able to do a proper hookset.

NBR reply :

Especially when using soft plastics missed fish are normally due to a late hook set. Years ago I was at a seminar listening to Woo Daves. Woo opened by saying that sooner or later someone would ask about when to set the hook so he would get past that right now. Woo said," When a bass eats a soft plastic there are three taps, Tap 1 is when the bass eats the bait, tap 2 is when the bass spits out the bait and tap 3 is God tapping stupid on the shoulder because he missed the fish.

I'm not sure I agree with this 100% but it is pretty close.

WRB reply :

On 9/10/2012 at 3:07 PM, Tuckahoe Joe said:

Ok. So from everything im hearing/reading, its just giving the rod a good swift snap upwards over your shoulder. But does it matter what direction? Say for example a fish takes my lure and starts swimming to the right. Should I snap left opposite of the direction the fish is going or is it just up over the shoulder no matter what?

The old sting that bass don't have hands is true! There is another; swings are free, both apply to plastic worm fishing. Discernible your tackle; rod/reel/line/hook/ worm amd what rig? With this information it will be a lot easier to suggest the most effective hook setting technique.

Tom

Tuckahoe Joe reply :

im mainly fishing texas rigged soft plastics on 4/0 gamakatsu round bend offset shank hooks. my rod isn't anything fancy. its a shakespeare rod with medium/heavy action and a 10lb line.

cheezylotus reply :

just make sure your line is tight, never set the hook on a slack line bad things will happen...also since your fishing with a worm, make sure the fish has it. in time you will develop a feel for it, but dont wait too long.

WRB reply :

On 9/12/2012 at 12:39 PM, Tuckahoe Joe said:

im mainly fishing texas rigged soft plastics on 4/0 gamakatsu round bend offset shank hooks. my rod isn't anything fancy. its a shakespeare rod with medium/heavy action and a 10lb line.

I am not a fan of off set J bend hooks for T-rigs, however you are using a premium hook and large enough for most worms. When you miss the hook set Iis the worm pulled down into the hook gap(bend)?

This is a common problem with T-rigged worms. There some gadgets to help prevent the worm from lodging down the hook shank, the easiest is to avoid inserting the hook point deeper than the J bend; about 3/16" to 1/4", about the depth of the hook barb, you want the hook eye flush with the worm nose. The next step is inserting the hook point/bend is the right spot; hold the hook nest to the worm to see where the point needs to be inserted, it's where the hook bend ts lined up with the bottom of the worm. Push the hook point completely through the worm, straighten the worm outso the hook point lays on top of the worm, exposed.. The worm should be straight, the hook eye flush with the worm head. To cover the hook point with the worm soft plastic; pull the hook bend back about 1/8", pinch the worm body to create a bulge nd slide the hook point under the skin of the worm, so the point tip is covered.. This is called skin hooking and take fr Miles's pressure to hook set a skin hooked worm.

Straight shank worm hooks have small barbs to hold the worm head onto the hook shank nd you rig nd skin hook the straight shnk hook the same as the off-set hook. The big difference is in the angle of the hook point; the straight shank point is angled up, not parallel to the worm body, easier to get good hook sets.

10 lb line with 4/0 heavy wire worm hook like Gamakatsu EWG iMay be a little light, unless you are fishing gin cler water. You could go up to 12 lb, better knot strength.

I assume you are using a sliding sinker (classic T-rig)? What size is the weight? 3/16 oz? The weight size should be heavy enough so you can feel the worm on the bottom, not any heavier.

If give a bass enough slack line so the fish doesn't feel any line pressure, the bass will swallow the worm most of the time. If the bass detects line pressure or rod tip pressure it may spit out the worm, depending on how aggressive the bass is at the time it strikes.. With a pegged sliding sinker you must hook set quickly, with a sliding T-rig sinker you have time to drop the rod tip and point it at the bass, reel in most of the slck line, then snap set, or continue to reel in slack until you feel slight pressure and sweep set; both techniques work. There is no reason to cross their eyes hook set with a premium sharp hook, all you do is risk breaking off a big bass.

When bass move off with your worm, it's because there are other bass close by or the bass is in water too shallow for it's comfort and the bass will usually move straight out into deeper water if it's a big bass. Regardless, reel quickly and set the hook firmly.

Tom

Tuckahoe Joe reply :

Thanks for that WRB. Gave me a lot to think about.

bassr95 reply :

My best advice to you would have to be to go out and try it. find a bass-filled private pond (somone you know probably ownes one-I personaly have plenty of them) and use that texas rig. slowly hop it along the bottom, casting both parallel and perpendicular to shore. after setting/attempting to set the hook a dozen or so times, you will a technique down that works for you.

merc1997 reply :

this is a topic of many great debates! myself personally always set the hook with a bit of slack in the line. with a bit of slack in the line, imom there is much more impact on the hook. a good comparison would be hooking a chain to someone's bummper to tow them. if you take off with the chain taught you will just pull the towed vehicle behind you. but, if you take off with slack in the chain, most of the time it will rip off the bumper of the car being towed. we could also get into hook choices, but that would be another whole can of worms.

WRB reply :

Bo, the key is a little slack; if tow vehicle has several feet of chain out and stops before hitting the end of the chain, nothing happens. The angler must control the slack. Braid is like chain, no stretch, both mono and FC line have stretch and take up some of force and the rod takes up more. Several things to factor in, with practice the hook set ratio should improve.

Tom

merc1997 reply :

right tom. practice makes perfect is such a true statement. most fisherman at close range have decent percentages of hook ups. but, as we get further away from the fish things begin to change, and bad habits begin to show up more often. the end result of that is fish coming off during the fight because the hook was never fully embedded. the sciences of setting the hook is sure an interesting subject, and one that i think has never really been studied, not to my knowledge anyway. as you said about stretch with mono and floro. that is a great example that as we fish deeper, and with more line out using either of those two lines, my opinion is that one needs to use a rod with more backbone and length. in "yesteryears" deepwater fishing with mono, i used nothing but 7'6" heavy action flipping rods. this was the only way to move enough line with enough force to drive the hook through the fish. at least for me anyway. fishing is such a great sport. it makes us use our thought processes along with physical skills. and another great thing is, there is always more than one way to skin a cat. meaning that one certain technique might work for one but not the other. i just hope that some of our ideas and thoughts will help others to catch more fish. i know that i learn something new everytime i fish with others. life is a continual learning process, and i would suppose that when i quit learning, i might be ready to move on from this life.

WRB reply :

The proof is in the pudding, how well the bass was hooked when you land and remove the hook. Worm usually end up hooking the bass through the upper lip on a good hook set. If the hook is in the corner of the mouth , the bass has turned away or was sideways form the hook set, very low percentage hook set. If the hook is in the throat, you weighted to long to react. Hooked in the roof of the mouth the bass was in the process crunching the worm like a jig, a good set.

Today's sharp premium hooks can easily continue to penetrate during the pressure of fighting the bass, if the bass doen't jump and toss the hook before that happens.

It is another can of worms to discuss hooks, but ksn't that the object of the discussion, hook set!

Let's just limit it to Texas rigged worms, what hook?

Tom

merc1997 reply :

tom

you were just mentioning some hooks earlier in this thread. there are so many types and styles of hooks for t-rigging, it should be a complete thread all its own. as i recall, last time we discussed hook physics, we finally agreed to disagree. i would put a smiley face on here, but that function seems to not be working. in my own experimentation, i just feel that there are a lot of hooks that do a much better job of hooking the fisherman than they do the fish. as with most things we fish with, manufactues seem to make lots of claims without any science to back up their claims. better leave the rest to its own thread.

Bluebasser86 reply :

I almost always set up and to the right with casting gear, because I'm right handed and that feels natural to me. With spinning gear it's usually up and to the left, again because that's what feels natural to me. I try to set the hook quickly and put the rod but in my stomach for leverage. I'm not one that feels you need to give a fish time to eat your bait. If it's big enough I even care to catch it they can quickly inhale even the biggest worm or jig I'm going to be using and I don't want to give them time to figure out it's a fake and spit it back out.

SirSnookalot reply :

Setting the hook is about being in touch with your reflexes. With minimal fishing experience it becomes second nature and nothing even to really think about.

unionman reply :

On 9/13/2012 at 12:50 AM, WRB said:

I am not a fan of off set J bend hooks for T-rigs, however you are using a premium hook and large enough for most worms. When you miss the hook set Iis the worm pulled down into the hook gap(bend)?

This is a common problem with T-rigged worms. There some gadgets to help prevent the worm from lodging down the hook shank, the easiest is to avoid inserting the hook point deeper than the J bend; about 3/16" to 1/4", about the depth of the hook barb, you want the hook eye flush with the worm nose. The next step is inserting the hook point/bend is the right spot; hold the hook nest to the worm to see where the point needs to be inserted, it's where the hook bend ts lined up with the bottom of the worm. Push the hook point completely through the worm, straighten the worm outso the hook point lays on top of the worm, exposed.. The worm should be straight, the hook eye flush with the worm head. To cover the hook point with the worm soft plastic; pull the hook bend back about 1/8", pinch the worm body to create a bulge nd slide the hook point under the skin of the worm, so the point tip is covered.. This is called skin hooking and take fr Miles's pressure to hook set a skin hooked worm.

Straight shank worm hooks have small barbs to hold the worm head onto the hook shank nd you rig nd skin hook the straight shnk hook the same as the off-set hook. The big difference is in the angle of the hook point; the straight shank point is angled up, not parallel to the worm body, easier to get good hook sets.

10 lb line with 4/0 heavy wire worm hook like Gamakatsu EWG iMay be a little light, unless you are fishing gin cler water. You could go up to 12 lb, better knot strength.

I assume you are using a sliding sinker (classic T-rig)? What size is the weight? 3/16 oz? The weight size should be heavy enough so you can feel the worm on the bottom, not any heavier.

If give a bass enough slack line so the fish doesn't feel any line pressure, the bass will swallow the worm most of the time. If the bass detects line pressure or rod tip pressure it may spit out the worm, depending on how aggressive the bass is at the time it strikes.. With a pegged sliding sinker you must hook set quickly, with a sliding T-rig sinker you have time to drop the rod tip and point it at the bass, reel in most of the slck line, then snap set, or continue to reel in slack until you feel slight pressure and sweep set; both techniques work. There is no reason to cross their eyes hook set with a premium sharp hook, all you do is risk breaking off a big bass.

When bass move off with your worm, it's because there are other bass close by or the bass is in water too shallow for it's comfort and the bass will usually move straight out into deeper water if it's a big bass. Regardless, reel quickly and set the hook firmly.

Tom

Nice post but I think you need to look into spell check or read your post's before submitting them...

WRB reply :

On 9/25/2012 at 1:24 AM, unionman said:

Nice post but I think you need to look into spell check or read your post's before submitting them...

You are right. Since my surgery and use the iPad and it's a learning curve for me and need to figure out the keyboard, spell check and grammar corrections that Apple does that I am not familiar with.

We started a new thread on T- rigged worm hooks that may be of interest, also with a lot of errors!

Tom

unionman reply :

:-)

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