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Posts: 580
| Going against the grain here, I am a bigger believer in a "quick hookset" rather than a "hard hookset". I think we give ourselves a bit too much credit for actually "burying" the hook. The majority of fish that actually get hooked will have set the hook on themselves when then strike the bait. Hitting an already hooked fish really hard doesn't do much other than potentially widening the gaps of the holes that were created when the fish was hooked, potentially making it easier for the fish to throw the bait. Also, the act of rearing back for a heavy hookset can potentially create momentary slack line depending on how it is done. (Right before you rear back, and immediately after the hookset depending on how the fish is moving).
With some baits, I can agree that a hard hookset is not a bad idea, but overall I agree with the guest above, that a quick snap to immediately gain pressure and eliminate slack is the best way to keep a fish hooked up for the duration of the fight... |
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Posts: 8781
| Matt, that's a good point about fish setting the hook themselves. It seems to me that smaller fish do this almost every time. They come up, slash at the bait, and turn off at warp speed. All you really need to do is pop them a bit and keep pressure on them. Big fish are another story, though. I've lost a few bigger fish that came up behind the bait, ate it, and just kept coming right at me. Never quite figured out what to do in that situation, especially when they're coming in fast. |
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Location: Northern Wisconsin | ok thanks for the answers.
i am still confused on how one came off. it hit on the 8 and started fighting right away and swam directly away from the boat. by that time i was sure it was hooked. I dont remember if i really gave a hook set, i think i assumed it hooked itself. it pulled HARD and even striped drag with the drag very tight. then it went to the surface and trashed and the hooks came off. it was on for about 3-4 seconds so i wonder if it was just poorly hooked?? |
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Posts: 267
Location: Ft. Wayne, Indiana | My guess is that the hooks got ripped out of its mouth, a fig 8 fish requires free spool. The drag won't always work, that's why I use free spool. |
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Posts: 2015
| Get enough fish to eat in the 8 and you will have ALOT of fish come unbuttoned in the first 4 seconds..... sometimes there is nothing you can do |
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| I'll agree with "guest" here but I can imagine who "guest" is and Matt D...I think we give ourselves way to much credit for the amount of pressure / force even a "superman" type hookset really is...personally I think a steady sweeping action of the rod to the side, never up, and constant reeling will get the job done..imo if you set super hard and fast and either stopped reeling or slowed down that momentary amount of slack you might have when you bring the rod tip back to the fish is where they will get off...
I don't tend to lose many anymore ...sweep the rod, keep constant pressure and the fish will more than likely do the setting for you as imo there is a lot more force on their end than ours with hour long 8'+ foot rods...everyone has probably seen or heard of a guy holding a lure 20 feet away and having another "set hard"..not as much force as we might think....
figure 8 sets should be back and to one side hard but again never letting slack develop... |
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Location: Sun Prairie, WI | Brad, how do you have your drag set? |
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Posts: 169
Location: Houlton, WI | ive learned from reading to always keep your feet square as if you were gonna set the hook. Also point your rod tip at the lure so you can set the hook on short notice |
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Posts: 646
Location: In a shack in the woods | how can you keep your feet square and run the trolling motor. I just don't understand that. It's a good theory though.
Edited by bassinbob84 6/18/2009 6:16 PM
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Posts: 90
Location: Ohio | Juhas - 6/13/2009 5:58 PM In my opinion you try and set the hooks as hard as you can at the time and position you're in and then take control of the battle. Rod tip low and get the fish in the net as soon as possible. I have seen it too many times someone playing a fish to long and the fish gets off. Fig 8's fish hits and I set the hooks in the same direction as I'm moving the bait. I try and drag the fish around if possible. My opinion. Chris Are you supposed to fight the fish with the Rod Tip pointing down ? and if so why ? does this keep the fish from jumping and spitting the hooks ? |
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| Bob Turgeon gave a Wednesday night talk at Thorne Bros. He made an excellent point on how and why he holds the rod and its advantages with the hookset. I think they have the video somewhere on their site.
Not only did Bod discuss the hookset issue but many other very specific details that will help put big fish in the boat when that moment of truth comes about.
I strongly recommend checking it out if you think you have a wimmpy hookset.
Bob did a great job and I am planning on implementing changes to some of my ways.
Good Luck
Steve |
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Posts: 416
Location: Madtown, WI | mnmusky101, wouldn't it make more sense to have your feet off set? I have much better balance with my right foot slightly further back than my left.
I'm of the opinion that you don't need a superman hook set to impale hooks as long as your hooks are sharp. I can't even pick up a lure without getting pricked, the majority of the time the fish will set the hook on themselves. The quicker you pick up slack line the better chance you have of boating the fish. I don't think I could ever make myself do a second hookset. There have been a lot fish that I have caught that are just barely hooked, a second hook set would definitely send the bait flying directly towards my head. Sucker fishing is another story, I'll definitely set the hook twice if I didn't have much confidence in the first. |
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Posts: 716
| Hey Sorgy thanks for the nice compliments, if you want to look at this or any of seminar videos they are on the Thorne Bros site under message board then seminars.
Bob T |
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Location: Latitude 41.3016 Longitude 88.6160 | I see so many guys do a BABE RUTH hook set and as soon as the rod tip goes down goes down a little the fish is gone, why because they did not reel in the SLACK LINE !!! SET THE HOOK AND REEL IN SLACK LINE AT THE SAME TIME !!!! I will set the hook hard only on soft plastics, but reel as fast as you can to get the slack line on the reel. Hope this helps. |
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Posts: 90
Location: Ohio | Why keep the Rod Tip low when fighting or Reeling in a Muskie ? |
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Posts: 552
Location: WI | I learned the hard way last year that keeping the tip low is a must. a thrashing head above water throws hooks a whole lot easier than one below water. I had the rod in the water w/ in a foot of the cork to keep one from jumping boatside the other night. |
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Posts: 3867
| Man, I'll go down swinging on this one......
You don't need to thumb the spool if your drag is set correctly. I've never lost a boatside fish using just my drag. Actually, I almost never lose a fish that I hook, period.
* Your drag can't be set correctly if you've already damaged the washer system by cranking it down too tight. This is because if you flatten the concave washers found in many reels the drag is shot until you replace those two washers.
* If you get oil in the washers the drag is shot until you TOTALLY clean it.
* If you have an older Abu 5000 or 6000 series reels the drag system is crap right out of the box.
* Lighten the drag on every rod as you are leaving the lake. Reset (tighten) each drag as you once again hit the water.
Most people don't have the drag set at an optimal tension because they don't know what they are doing. I suspect that anyone who has upgraded the stock reel washers with Smooothies will agree that Smooothies are exceptionally effective and durable.
Thumbs down on the thumbs. |
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| I agree w/ Ranger...use your drag correctly and you won't lose fish..
I have upgraded my Morrums to smoothies..the rest of my reels like Trinidads/TE's/Penns all have great drags in them...set them so it takes a good pull from your hand to pull out line and you will be set imo...thumbing the spool to me could lead to too many things going wrong and fish possible getting too much slack ...but do it however you think works best...to me the drags in the new reels these days are unbelievable smooth and I never worry they won't work properly. |
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Posts: 90
Location: Ohio | bn - 6/22/2009 12:44 PM I agree w/ Ranger...use your drag correctly and you won't lose fish.. I have upgraded my Morrums to smoothies..the rest of my reels like Trinidads/TE's/Penns all have great drags in them...set them so it takes a good pull from your hand to pull out line and you will be set imo...thumbing the spool to me could lead to too many things going wrong and fish possible getting too much slack ...but do it however you think works best...to me the drags in the new reels these days are unbelievable smooth and I never worry they won't work properly. I set my Drag on my 400B to where it takes a good pull to pull line out |
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Posts: 8781
| I trust my drag WAYYY more than I trust my ability to figure 8, read the fish, thumb the spool, set the hook, and reel all at the same time. Once I set the hook? THEN I'll freespool, let the fish take some line if it needs to, etc. As for keeping the rod top low, think about it: If your rod is up in the air, what exactly can you do to control a fish? If the fish comes up, head out of the water, thrashing around, what can you do? If the fish charges right at the boat, what can you do? It just leaves you in a position to do nothing except watch the fish throw the lure. |
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