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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | I am getting really frustrated with these darn things! I have been using the Magnum Bull Dawg for the last month and a half, and the fish are eating them up! I can not, however, get/keep hooks into the stupid fish. This past weekend I boated 3 fish on Saturday on the mag dawg, but I missed 4 others. My partner also missed a fish that he had a solid hookset in but lost it after 10 seconds of getting the crap kicked out of him. On Sunday I missed another fish after it almost ripped my arms off on the strike, and all I got was a tailless dawg. I have now missed 2-3 fish each weekend for the past month and a half.
Is anyone else having problems keeping/getting hooks into these fish with a bull dawg? My hooks are very sharp, and I am really laying into the fish when I set the hooks. I can catch all the smaller fish that hit, but for some odd reason the bigger ones just aren't getting stuck. Does anyone have any advice? Do you keep the top hook on the dawg, or clipp it off? Are there any modifications you are making?
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Posts: 1137
Location: Holly, MI | Are the fish getting up in the air? Is that when you are losing them? Time for a stinger hanging off the back? Is it possible they are getting plastic but not steel? Just a few thoughts |
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Posts: 5230
| Hook ups are bad on this lure.Clipping off the top hook helps,fish can not gain leverage then, when hooked by both hooks.Sometimes when fish are tough it is only thing that will work.I do not know anyone that uses this lure consistantly that has hook% over 50 percent.If fish are going well ,I would use a different lure.0723
Edited by 0723 8/18/2003 11:11 AM
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Posts: 743
| Travis, i was going to post on here to not cut off hooks like some folks might email you or post here and say, but looks like 0723 beat me to it.
DON"T cut your hooks or hook off you bait. seriously. Have you ever heard anyone saying "i missed a bunch of fish last week, then i took a hook off my...Suick, bucktail, topraider...and now i catch more...seriously.
in 2002 and 2001 i took 40% of my fish on bulldawgs, best hooking bait i have. I suggest not cutting off any hooks, unless you want to give the fish a better chance of getting away. Pretty much sounds like it's musky fishing. Not matter what bait you throw, you're never gonna land them all.
I'd say on the last 10 strikes i got on bulldawgs, i landed 10 fish. Seems like the just inhale it...but it's musky fishing. you're never gonna land them all. Just dont' cut off any hooks.
As far as help to get higher hooking percentages, are you jerking it in?or straight retrieve?
tomcat. i throw the dawg a bunch.
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Posts: 1023
Location: Lafayette, IN | Tomcat, Shouldn't he make sure the bottom hooks are totally exposed? If I remember correctly they come with 1 of the 3 barbs burried in the plastic. Pull it free to expose all the points. I've never caught one on them yet but had maybe 3-5 follows. I use the shortest stiffest rod I own so I can move the bait (if I ever get one to bite it). Crap, if they're biting it, modify it! |
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Posts: 155
Location: Watertown MN | Travis
Your not the only one having problems with Dawg hookups, lost 2 this weekend on the mag dawg. One friday night had the bait t-boned with the single hook in, and the other one just smoked it at boat side at dark, niether were on for more than a few second, I guess just keep throwing and hoping the big one stays pinned. I always have the hooks hanging down, I don't beleive they come being stuck in the body. No problems of with the DDD, 22" walleye had no problem staying hooked.
Good luck
Troyz |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | Maybe I should have explained how I work the bait.
Maybe it's the twitch I developed from crankbaits, but I never do a constant retrieve. I start out slowly cranking the bait back, but give the bait a sharp rip 4-5 times during the retrieve. I fish it very similarly to the way I work crankbaits, but only do single rips instead of multiple rips. Almost every fish I have hit the bait is right after the rip. I have only had 1 fish out of the last 20 or so hit on the straight crank, and I also missed that fish. All I got was a few scales.
Maybe this is the reason for missing so many fish. I guess maybe it's a bit too erratic for them to home in on clearly, but I have a hard time going away from it because it moves fish like none other on certain lakes.
I also let the hooks dangle freely below the bait.
Thanks for all the respones! Keep them coming! |
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Posts: 202
Location: Angola, IN | Like my brother said (Tomcat), Bulldawgs are great hooking lures for us. I've never had a bulldawg musky get off....all of them were in the net. In the past two years, I've had 15 strikes and 15 releases. I just reel mine straight in. Make sure all the hook points are exposes, DON'T cut any hooks off your lure....I don't care who tells you other wise, and set the hook real hard. Maybe your problem is that you have a whimpy rod. Make sure you're using a pool cue for a rod and set the hook like you mean it. Are you using a medium-weight rod or something?? I've never even seen a dawgbull hooked fish get off. I've seen approx. 40 muskies caught on bulldawgs....I don't think I've ever seen one come off. |
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| I recently lost a very big muskie on a dawg. Set the hook hard twice, and she just came up and spit it. Other than that it has been a pretty high percentage hooker for me. |
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Posts: 51
Location: Sheboygan Falls, WI | I'll probably be seeing the guys from Musky Innovations at the M.I. meeting on Thursday. I'll see what he has to say. This post is a surprise to me because my biggest complaint with the magnum Bulldog is that the fish engulf it and it's a real pain trying to retrieve it without damaging the gills. I use a really hard hookset on Bulldogs because it seems like it takes a lot to move that soft plastic once their teeth are buried in it. I've only lost one fish and it ws because I cast off the front of the boat before the boat stopped moving and I couldn't get a decent hookset. |
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Posts: 938
Location: NeverNever Lake | Probably my #1 bait of all time. It's my confidence bait when I can't buy a fish on anything. I have lost a couple nice fish on them, and they were violent strikes that about ripped the rod out of my hands. Those fish all grabbed the head of the Dawg and one shredded the head beyond repair. The best hook-ups have been with that tick that this bait is famous for. It's a strange feeling, but that's just how they suck em in sometimes.
My two biggest fish and the biggest muskie I have ever seen(bent the hooks at boatside on a Spring Dawg)have come from this bait.
I got no complaints.
I have been told to heat shrink the split rings like Bucher does on the Top Raider for better hook-ups, never tried it yet. |
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Posts: 2061
Location: Belgium | I've had at least a dozen fish grab my small firetiger BD but I never felt a thing and the body and tail are cut up badly |
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Posts: 385
| I've got a few on dawgs and the thing I've noticed is the fish either inhale the bait or they jack it toward the head. The ones that hit it sideways or toward the head of the bait get off sometimes. One of my boat buddies has experienced the same thing when we are dawg tossing. We've caught some bigguns and lost some bigguns on dawgs. I do leave my hooks in the bait and don't cut any off. Use a stiff rod, heavy braid and good strong snaps on your leader. I let the hook dangle on the spring dawg, but the medium and mag, I've done better with the hooks in. Seems like when the hang loose they catch on various parts of the rubber body. I guess that part of it is personal preference. |
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Posts: 66
Location: Padova - Italy | I fish for pike.
My big problems with 9’’ regular dawgs was unhook pike, and not necessary “big” pike.
I use this bait mainly as “swimming jig” with straight retrieve and, only some days, adding some good pulls during retrieve. So, in the right days, nearly all my fish inhale this baits, specially with straight retrieve. I have studied bull dawgs action and tried to duplicate with other big swimming jig I custom made using some bucktail on head and big grub trailer, with the same fish catching results. I remember two particular days during an Ireland trip in march where pike respond better to straight retrieve and the only baits catching pike was 9’’ cisco BD and my natural white and orange chartreuse big jigs (I called Gator Bug).
In my gin clear lakes these things are some of the best big fish producers.
Hope you second me: I consider bull dawg and other similar baits the best innovation in the pike/musky world in the last 10 years.
Use long stiff rod and set hook very hard for big fish. It’s better repeat hook setting.
Luca
Check out my web site with the name inspired by you
www.pikefirst.com
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | For all you guys not cutting the top hook off I have a question. How many of the fish that you have caught have been on the top hook? I have only caught one fish on that top hook, and that is including all the pike that hit it. |
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Posts: 5230
| Any of you guys dong any good on the shallow Dawg/It has good action jerked slowly.0723 |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | I used one in Canada for a short amount of time. First cast I got a pike around 36". Third cast set hooks into a 45-46" silver muskie that I missed and the fish came flying out of the water. about the 6 cast had a small one follow to the boat. Around the 10th cast on my twitch the bait fell off because my leader worked it's way off the split ring! I replaced it last week, and had a nice follow from a fish in the alliance tourny in Eagle River.
One word of advice to anyone using bull dawgs of any sort. Replace all the split rings they come with with a stronger split ring. I use Bucher split rings.
Very anxious to get more time with the shallow dawg. |
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Posts: 385
| I do recall a few with the top jig hook stuck in their beak. One I remember having to cut the jig hook to remove the bait. |
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Posts: 66
Location: Padova - Italy | Shallow bull dawg have an incredible action when jerked. I don’t cut jig hook because I use sometimes with a stinger treble, instead of two belly trebles, for fishing near cover. I like to fish very close to deep fallen trees, fish cribs, deep weeds and cabbage beds. It’s nice to see advice as replacing split rings from you muskie anglers. I think this save me when hooked on very large pike.
Luca
www.pikefirst.com
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Posts: 19
Location: Menomonie, WI | What kind of tick is Raze1 talking about when he said the tick that this bait is famous for. I'm a big fan of the Bulldawg and use it quite often, but all my strikes have been hard and fast. Do a lot of fish just lightly "tick" this bait. If so, I have a feeling I've been missing out on a lot of opportunities. Any info. would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!
Ben |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | Ben,
There are 3 types of strikes I get most often. A smash, a dead weight, and the infamous "tick". The tick feels very similar to a walleye or bass picking up a jig off the bottom. If you don't walleye fish I'll try and explain it. It's simply a very sharp and crisp, yet light and sometimes hard to pick up feeling. It happens because the fish inhales the bait, and that is why you don't feel the smashing hit. |
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Posts: 19
Location: Menomonie, WI | Travis,
Excellent description!! Thanks a lot for the info. I would never even have known that was a strike, as I never fish walleye. Thanks again!
Ben |
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Posts: 66
Location: Padova - Italy | Speaking about hooking, I think new bulldawg version with VMC Cone Cut trebles and solid mono wire instead of stranded wire have more catching ratio. |
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