Am I Doing Something Wrong?

[SumoNinja]

I lost 3 different fish on 3 different days, all the same way. It's very defeating when you grind it out to get one bite, dedicating your time to a bait to find that one fish that'll commit and just watch or feel the weight of the fish disappear. 

So I'm fishing a new mattlures strong bass, the medium size one. Using a dobyns 806 with a lexa 300 on 20 lb big game. 

I retrieve, get a hit, set the hook, reeling the fish in, as soon as it breaks the surface it spits the bait. First time it happened i went home and took the stock hooks off. I'm not sure what kind of hooks they come with but I put on size 1 owners st 36 hooks.

My next trip, same thing, hooked up, reeled it in, it's head surfaced and the bait came off. 

I thought maybe I was forcing them in too hard so next trip I hooked up again, finessed it a little and tried to take my time. As it came closer it breached the surface, no jump, then went under and the bait came off

Very frustrating. What are your guy's thoughts and any suggestions? I'm thinking to go to 1/0 hooks...... thanks for reading 

 

 

[Garrett]

I had this problem last year fishing the huddleston. Roughly 30 bites in two weeks hooked 4 or 5 and all of them spit the bait half way to the boat. 3 of them when they surfaced. I still haven't figured out what I was doing wrong. It sucks but you just got to keep grinding man!

[SumoNinja]

Thanks for the response. Yea, maybe it's just bad luck, I think I'll switch the hooks again just to be sure, maybe go with a 1/0 on the front hook. 

[carlsbadbassin89]

Keep rod tip down and underwater if possible to avoid the jump?

[SumoNinja]

7 minutes ago, carlsbadbassin89 said:

Keep rod tip down and underwater if possible to avoid the jump?

Yea, that I didn't do. Will try that next time. 

[Low&Slow]

2 hours ago, SumoNinja said:

I thought maybe I was forcing them in too hard so next trip I hooked up again, finessed it a little and tried to take my time. As it came closer it breached the surface, no jump, then went under and the bait came off

Imo this is what you did wrong. With any big bait and especially a trebled bait (and this is my opinion others may disagree) You really should grind the fish the whole way to the boat. Rod tip down..in the water even better. The fish always tries to use the weight of the bait to try and throw it.

[carlsbadbassin89]

11 minutes ago, Low&Slow said:

Imo this is what you did wrong. With any big bait and especially a trebled bait (and this is my opinion others may disagree) You really should grind the fish the whole way to the boat. Rod tip down..in the water even better. The fish always tries to use the weight of the bait to try and throw it.

Agree

[SumoNinja]

Thanks guys, will definitely do the rod tip down technique. I'll report back with the results. Hopefully there will be pics...

[Rogervang]

You did not do anything wrong. A lot of the time the fish uses the weight of the lure to throw out the hooks. IMO, right when I have control of the fish and this is mostly right after I set the hook. I horse them in. A lot of the time they float to he top and come straight in. I feel if i let them turn their head, it an opportunity for them to escape. 

[chevro1et]

1 hour ago, Rogervang said:

You did not do anything wrong. A lot of the time the fish uses the weight of the lure to throw out the hooks. IMO, right when I have control of the fish and this is mostly right after I set the hook. I horse them in. A lot of the time they float to he top and come straight in. I feel if i let them turn their head, it an opportunity for them to escape. 

I've heard Oliver Ngy say the same thing several times... get their head turned, grind them straight in and don't let up. 

[pbaker]

i used to use big game a lot and then switched to fluorocarbon and noticed how much stretch big game had.. maybe just not burying the hooks enough with big game.. idk just an idea.. 

[SumoNinja]

Thanks for the input guys

Pbaker, I wondered that as well, was not sure if I was setting the hook hard enough

[MA Frog Man]

1/0. Get that rod down into the water. I know a lot of guys fish buttoned down drags but I found that if a fish did throw slack into the line, when there was tension back on the line it almost had a slingshot effect.  That setup is going to be relatively soft compared to others but with treble hook baits you should be good.

[JoshPerkins802]

I have to second the rod tip down. Keep it as far under the surface as you can. If your shore fishing. Its tough, really tough. I like to horse a fish in so keeping the tip down is hard for me, even in a boat. And I'd definitely go with some 1/0.

[SumoNinja]

It happened twice on the tube, one on the bank

I got 1/0 on it already. Hopefully I'll have pics after my next outing. 

Appreciate the input guys