This one makes me smile 😀 because the last few fish I caught, I was actually mumbling to myself "I'M NOT LOSING YOU" while "setting" the hook 2 or 3 more times. Of course by this time the fish were already pulling away, and me yanking back just set my drag off. But, hey, it worked on my 48.5, so unless someone tells me it hurts the fish, I'm going to continue!
The one to take hook setting advice from is John E. Sox – hardest, fastest rod snap in the biz, and never gives slack line for a second. Yet, like all of us, he still loses fish (as recent as Friday!)…so in the end you are at the mercy of fate I suppose. Later the same day, I pretty much botched a hook set on a nice fish, had to give it slack line around some timber…yet lucked that one into the net with one barb spinning around in the snout. Sharp hooks, set hard, tight line, keep 'em down…pretty much a crapshoot after that!
Not trying to be a jerk here but I would work on getting a good first hook instead of wondering how many times to set the hook. I was wondering the same question last year when I was missing a ton of fish on magdawgs, but I switched grips and really focused on hitting the fish hard a single time and my catches really improved. I moved my hand to the fore grip and made sure my body was always in good position to set the hook.
so unless someone tells me it hurts the fish
I think any regular hook set hurts the fish a little so I wouldn't worry about that too much
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