Forgive my use of the title of a great video Detroithardcore loaned me a while back, Focus on the 8. But while things got better for me later last season, some heartbreaks already this year have me over-analyzing this yet again. Missing and losing good fish at least seems to indicate one is doing some things right, but in my case also seems to point to a hook-setting problem with already several good ones lost this early season. This has been mostly with hard-body baits and a pause in the retrieve, plus coupled with big winds thus some slack in the line, it has me about ready to throw expensive tackle in the drink.
So any suggestions from my fellow nutjobs are appreciated, all of you are likely better at closing the deal than I am, though I do like to think I get a fair amount of strikes at least. Already last night I returned after multiple heartbreaks to change to some wider gap hooks on a couple of baits, and I try to keep all hooks razor sharp. Does barbless or semi-barbless (my usual preference) penetrate easier? Is it best to "T" hooks on all hardbody baits, not just trolling baits? As for technique, I've tried not to raise the rod too high to therefore reduce surface thrashing, plus I try to keep the unrelenting pressure on especially early after the hookset, which seemed to improve things last year. But I'm back to suckville and thanks for any insight you may have into this problem.
One thing you might not be thinking about is putting too much pressure on the fish, especially boatside? Do you let fish take line while still keeping good pressure? In the beginning, I would loose fish by keeping too much pressure on the fish and not allow them to go where they want to go. Another thing to think about is rushing yourself or the fish in the net, especially fishing alone. I think some of us get in the habit of immediately trying to get the fish into the net as quickly as possible and forget the fish is still ready to go toe to toe. I've seen perfect examples of guys (myself included) of not giving a thrashing fish enough line boatside and there becomes so much tension on the line that baits or hooks become like rubberbands and snap out fast. You could also be loosening the hole where the hook penetrated thus allowing fish to get off.
When a fish hits boatside for me, I've been pretty good at setting hook towards the fish or setting hook straight up. Then I find myself pretty close to down on one knee, loosening my drag and burying rod in water to prevent jumping and spitting hooks. Sometimes, I'll muscle my fish in as well and all seems to work fine.
I've also seen Dahlberg do something with Tarpon where he somehow rolls the fish on it's belly with rod and it almost calms fish or screws up their equalibrium and is able to control big tarpon boatside and kee most pinned. I wonder if it will work with muskies??
And after all that…. Sometimes there's nothing you can do, nothing but just hold on and hope for the best. In the heat of the moment you can forget all you learn or know and just hold on. I know i've done it several times with good and bad results….
I dont think I answered your question at all…. I was thinking about boatside.
What about adding a additional split ring to bait so the fish has less leverage with hook against a hard body bait? The hook will be able to twist more…
Also, in the bass world they have treble hooks that can rotate 360 degrees. Therefore allowing the fish to thrash all they want without using leverage and spitting hooks. I don't know if they have strong or big enough hooks for muskies. Cool idea though!
One thing I think is feel that fish first, don't let your eye's deceive you. When I work a top water bait, I'm looking all over the place but that bait, you want to see it but you don't. When I can I try to get that rod under water and keep the fish there, when they get on top they have the upper hand. [smilie=2c.gif]
"pikerule2" said:
Already last night I returned after multiple heartbreaks to change to some wider gap hooks on a couple of baits, and I try to keep all hooks razor sharp. Does barbless or semi-barbless (my usual preference) penetrate easier? Is it best to "T" hooks on all hardbody baits, not just trolling baits? As for technique, I've tried not to raise the rod too high to therefore reduce surface thrashing, plus I try to keep the unrelenting pressure on especially early after the hookset, which seemed to improve things last year. But I'm back to suckville and thanks for any insight you may have into this problem.
I don't know that I can offer much withouth seeing what happened or at least knowing more about the situation (how the fish hit, bait type, hook type, etc).
This time of year I wouldn't worry about it too much and would write most of it off to springtime nippers. Springtime muskies often eat lazily and though you can hammer a hookset they'll get pinned in some not so great areas of the mouth. Spring seems to be a time when I see a lot of them get hooked in the front of the mouth (upper and lower) which makes things exciting for a few seconds but leaves us wondering what happened. Neutral buoyant baits and gliders are especially prone to provoking nipping type strikes that don't allow hooks to grab anything good when the fish is facing the boat.
T'd hooks doesn't seem to make much difference on the hookup IMO unless you're talking a trolled bait. If you think about many spring baits that are often at rest, or being jerked/twitched, when a fish hits the hooks are most likely hanging below the bait. In this circumstance a t'd hook has no benefit.
Rod position can make a difference but is most important once the fish is hooked. Setting acrosss your body but also keeping a bend in the rod is key. This is where a long but not too stiff rod with a tight but not locked down drag will put fish in the net that otherwise might not have hit the net.
Im 2 for 3 this spring but lost one coming up on top thrashing after a very hard hookset. 4th fish, a small one, totally missed a top water and came completely out of the water going for it. Still much better than last year which was 0 for 20 something… I am still trying to figure out how hard to set and how to keep them off the top.
Yeah. Frustrating. I lost 2 of the three fish I've hooked this year so far because of them short-striking, and all I got was maybe one point of the tailhook into the front of their beak. On top of that, the fish were full of energy and thrashed wildly, ending up with my lure getting tossed, even though I wasn't trying to horse them in. The one I DID bag was also beak-hooked with my tailhook.
Frustrating, but I don't feel there was anything major I could have done differently, hookset-wise or playing-wise or hook-preparation-wise.
Thanks all, very good points. The losses weren't boatside or visual strikes, I should've mentioned they were well subsurface, unseen, suspending twitch baits which usually seem to hook up better than gliders at least. I do think the drag has been too tight and I pressed too much, some arm-jarring thrills for a few seconds as mentioned, and one bigger one on for about halfway in, but could've all been fish already expelling the baits after taking on the pause, so hooks barely connecting then being torqued hard by an excited and desperate angler. Interesting that the few boated have rolled up in the line like I normally see more in the fall. Crazy fish, crazier to be obsessed with them. But thanks again for the help, it is appreciated.
P.S. If they only hit more like pike, which seem to hook up over 90% of the time with much more room for error by the angler. But that's part of the musky mystique, ornery damn fish they are.
Michelle and I used to have lots of problems with Little Claws, Cranes and small baits in general and hook sets on the pauses. We both learned to be patient and wait until we felt the fish. The tech is a lot like top water when we fish shallow suspending twitch baits of any type. We both have learned to not react to the flash and boil of a big fish taking a lure but respond quickly when we feel the fish. Our biggest plus has come from matching lures to the right rods. I fish three rods and all three have a purpose and lure size delegated to them. I still need a 4th rod for big rubber but Will helped me out with that. Little Claws require a 3 ounce rod not a cuestick made for bigger baits. Lighter lines and leaders (on smaller baits) improved our catch rates by at least 4 times which has given us the ability to catch over 100 to 200 fish per year. In my opinion matching rod,reel, line, leader, snap or splitring to the lure is key to less lost fish. I used to rip cranes right of the fishes mouth before getting a Bass Mag Flippin Stick to toss those smaller baits. Now I have the right tension and amount of hook set matching the hooks on each lure. Bigger hooks require more power to set them.
I have fished with you and your technique is not lacking. You as good a fisherman as I know so DONT out think yourself on this. Maybe look at your line tests, leader selections and snaps or not for certain lures. Most likely your problem is in this area. Mike
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