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Posts: 180
| I'm either very unlucky or am doing something wrong while fishing soft plastics like bulldawgs and medusas. Between my brother and I we have had around 8 fish grab our baits and I have only landed one of them which was a regur sized medussa. We have had the biggest issue with double dogs. He had 2 hooked the other day and immediately get off and I had the same today. I tried clipping the top hook on a couple baits. Do I need bigger/different hooks, change my retrieve, etc.??? We see fish hit the bait, feel the weight and set the hook and reel in a bait with a bunch if teeth marks in it. Time to get the lighter out and fix a bait that didn't put a fish in the net...HELP me out here guys lol... |
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Posts: 25
| I use a vary heavy rod and don't seem to loose many fish on bulldawgs. If the rod action is to light the rod just bends and you cant get the hooks in the fish and they just let go of the bait and swim away. |
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Posts: 833
| The most obvious thing is to check to see how sharp your hooks are. If they are not "sticky" sharp, then they are not sharp enough. Get the yellow handle Luhr Jenson file. Yes they are $15. They are the best files out there, they are worth every penny. Cheap files will cost you fish.
Some modifications: Try forming the trebles into a "T" so you have more hook outside of the bait. You want the flat side of the T resting against the bait. I generally up all my Dawg hooks to Mustad 3551s. 9/0 on Pounders, 8/0 on Mag Dawgs. I also tend to up the split rings.
Last but not least, do not be afraid to slam the hooks home a 2nd time. Sometimes with rubber the fish will grab the bait and their teeth will sink in. With the firmer rubber used in the newer Dusas and Dawgs you could just be moving rubber through teeth. Sometimes a 2nd hook set will get the hooks home where the first one just shook the bait loose some. |
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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | Everyone has a different style. My first tip would be to replace the stock hooks. Maybe I have just been unlucky but with the stock hooks I've had a lot of: hit, set the hook, fight the fish for 5-10 seconds and gone. It's like they open their mouth and the bait comes out (not hooked). I can get the stocks plenty sharp, my theory is something is off with the hook gap.
I replace the hooks on the mags with 7/0 Mustad 3551's though 8/0 would work well too.
My technique is to give one good hookset and leave it at that. Even if my first didn't seem that good I try to crank hard on the reel and keep the rod loaded hard, hoping the hooks catch and bury deeper as the fish headshakes. I tried the 2nd hookset thing before and it usually didn't seem to end well for me.
For the most part my luck with rubber baits is the fish hit them quite hard/deep and are hooked up pretty well. BUT, it seems like now and then I have a streak where every fish that hits a rubber bait doesn't get hooked. Sometimes I think they hit just the head and don't get any hooks in their mouth. |
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Posts: 462
Location: Syracuse, Indiana | "Keep the rod loaded". +1 |
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Posts: 180
| I was using a legend tournament sling blade. I have an xxh 9 foot ti rod on the way for plastic so hopefully that helps! |
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Posts: 546
Location: MN | ckhawkeye51 - 7/31/2013 9:39 AM
I was using a legend tournament sling blade. I have an xxh 9 foot ti rod on the way for plastic so hopefully that helps!
Great big rubber rod! Notice how the rod will load and use more of a lob cast, allowing the rod to do the work for you. |
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Posts: 752
| I am not a huge fan of the Plasma Point hooks that were used. I belive most of the new ones have new hooks and they are better but I still put Mustads or VMC's on mine. The Plasma Points do not allow you to sharpen the hooks in the best manner (IMHO). My prefernce is to sharpen the hooks like a broad head arrow so you get better penetration.
I am on board with only one hook set too. The second can often times do more damage than good. If you think its not hooked well do you best to keep constant pressure on it |
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| One other tip here that has not been mentioned, is to use shrink tube on the front hook and split ring connection. This will helps to keep that hook vertical with the bait and not swinging side to side so much. Especially with the cold weather we have been having and the nippers.
Hope this helps.
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Posts: 1169
Location: New Hope MN | I found better hook ups lifting the rod up in a jigging motion vs swinging the rod to the side of my body. Early on, I seemed to miss the hits and feel the fish on them. This is more prevalent in the fall. The up motion allows for an easy transition from jigging to hookset.
PIke make good practice, except they hit sooo much harder. |
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Posts: 180
| I love the tubing idea. I get so dang annoyed when the hook gets up on the leader when you don't cast the bait right. Does the hook seem too far away from the bait when you do this?
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Posts: 180
| dtaijo174 - 7/31/2013 10:54 AM
I found better hook ups lifting the rod up in a jigging motion vs swinging the rod to the side of my body. Early on, I seemed to miss the hits and feel the fish on them. This is more prevalent in the fall. The up motion allows for an easy transition from jigging to hookset.
PIke make good practice, except they hit sooo much harder.
It's interesting that you mentioned this considering I spent my entire trip pulling to the side and watching them swim away lol |
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| No the hooks are not to faraway from the bait. Also helps to keep the hooks from getting stuck in the plastic and or wrapping up any where else also, such as around the leader, etc. Just more exposed hooks consistently in a better location= better hook-ups. Has worked well for me. Try it and you be the judge. |
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| 2 hookset=best way to get skunked |
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Posts: 180
| Guest - 7/31/2013 1:43 PM
2 hookset=best way to get skunked
Next we will all be tuna pumping all the way in lol |
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Improving bulldawg hookups