Trouble With Hookset

[AKRISONER]

as a rule when it comes to top water its all about patience...im slowly getting better at waiting for that perfect moment, most of the time the fish is on entirely on its own prior to me setting the hook. As a rule i dont set the hook until i feel the hit, see the lure go below the water and feel the fish kicking away.

[lookinforwalleye]

Tried that once and they snapped like a piece of pasta....

[manitoubass2]

Honestly I dont fish those snagless frogs often, and when I do Its usually a test to see if bass or pike ate active in the slop.

 

The post about holding the rod at 11 oclock during retrieve is great!

 

I have my own method and its similar abit.

 

I loosen my drag, fish hits and I have to tighen my drag to set the hook.

 

Similar concept, it makes you wait a few extra seconds.

 

I like this method because the fiah feels no weight or pressure.

 

Anyhow, I hate livetarget frogs. I find them the worst of the bunch.

 

I honestly like the cheaper versions, like matzuo. But I also found some awesome ones at the great bear from a few companies ive never even heard of lol

 

They dont puncture so easily and fish awesome.

 

In dence weeds my go to is still a berkley chigger craw in black and red fleck, texas rigged and a bullet sinker. I can fish the top, middle and bottom with that rig and it flat out catches fish

[manitoubass2]

Pardon my spelling, for some reason I cannot edit my posts lately

[Garnet]

Yes I still have my Johnson Silver minnows and use them occasionally. Uncle Josh NO.

 

Senkos and flukes t rig have acceptable 80-85% hook up. No throw back cast just stop and bait sinks.

[npt1]

Hi All,

I love to fish bass in the weeds using my fly rod,

When a fish hits, I always count to 2, then the hook set.

Seems to work for me,

The anticipation is always there, I love top water for bass.

[ONbuckhunter]

This so much. I use them prefishing (completely hookless) to locate fish. I almost always fish during a tourney with a jig or a plastic. I suck with frogs. But I have complete confidence in using them to locate them then use a jig to pitch in. Some guys are really good frog anglers but I agree with Garnet. Odds are your better to throw something else if you wanna a solid hook up.

 

PS. I meant to quote Garnet about hookup ratio with frogs but clearly I suck at quoting lol.

Edited July 17, 2015 by ONbuckhunter

[MCTFisher9120]

When done properly frogging for a day can turn into a 90-100% hookup ratio. Three things I do when frogging the slop and sparse cover. Bend the hooks up slightly, especially on the LiveTarget Frog's, the hook size I don't like as I prefer the Bleedin' frog by Snag Proof but anyway bend the hook up slightly. Get a good scent and apply scent to your frog. With the hooks slightly bend up your going to drastically change your hookup ratio even when your staring off in the distance and miss the odd strike. The hooked slightly elevated over the rubber body when sticky sharp will always grab meat in the bass's mouth. Adding scent improves "hang-on" time. You get a extra 2 or 3 seconds on a frog bite when it tastes and smells real so fish will hang on and take them deeper. How many times have we walked a frog slowly while a bass follows behind. Some cases I see them right behind then they will commit. Other times it's a strike and hook-set. 3rd tip is count to 3. This has never steered me wrong and it's only when I set to early or late when things go wrong.

 

Strike, 2, 3, set the hook. Stiffer Ex-Heavy powered rods will allow you to maintain better control of 4lb+ largies. Most MH's and H's will get fish in the boat.

 

Lot's of fun keep at it it will soon become one of your favourite techniques. I'm about to head on a half month trip and most days I cast the frog probably 2-3 hours minimum. They are very productive. Every pad and slop bed around will have frog's on it or on the shore. A Frog is a rare opportunity for a bass so you will tend to get bigger than average bites. I'll take 10 bites on a frog vs a senko any day. Try frogging under the high sun, 11pm-2pm this way you will get a great shadow from your frog having the sun directly above you. Some of the best times of day are when all the ladies are on shore in the shade, get out in the heat just bring the big rod/reel and line for the fight.

Edited July 17, 2015 by MikeTheBassFisher

[fishindevil]

Yesterday I was 2 for 2 on the live target frog !!! Both largies landed !!!! Some days ya get em some days ya don't !!!! And flukes were the ticket yesterday like garnet says !!!! Let them sink I between the pads or drag em over the top & let them sink !!!! I prefer to use flukes in open water or over the weeds but they will work like a frog and do have way better hook ups for me anyways !!!! Speaking of that I need more .....

[dave524]

Hi All,

I love to fish bass in the weeds using my fly rod,

When a fish hits, I always count to 2, then the hook set.

Seems to work for me,

The anticipation is always there, I love top water for bass.

 

Yes!!! always liked a heavy fly rig ( 9 wt bass bug taper ) for weeds , especially pads. You can lay a popper in a card table sized opening and pick it up without retrieving and cast to the next opening. I like to watch for movement at the junction of the leader/flyline knot for when to strike. Big saving making you own deer hair mice and frogs over what those plastic ones cost.

[lookinforwalleye]

Like to know how you guys bend the live target hooks, I tried that and they just snapped.

[BillM]

Like to know how you guys bend the live target hooks, I tried that and they just snapped.

 

Easy there Arnold!

[lookinforwalleye]

LOL....yes Bill....when the suns out the guns come out!!!

[manitoubass2]

LOL....yes Bill....when the suns out the guns come out!!!

Haha, the bass are that way?

[SirCranksalot]

I was just introduced to the top-water technique using those rubber froggies a few weeks ago. I thought that you'd fish with the hooks turned upward in heavy cover but flip the hooks down if the cover was light. Never mind the hook-up percentage, I got a big kick out of watching the fish jump for it even if most were just hammer handle pike! For me it was quite a different type of fishing----more like fly fishing than the usual cast and retrieve.

[Garnet]

That's it if tournament fishing maybe not.

 

I'm going to Emily for few days and will be whipping a frog around. If they play beach volleyball with my little frog who cares.

Edited July 17, 2015 by Garnet

[colin519]

 

I don't think we're talkin about the same thing. This is wall-to-wall lily pads or bullrushes/reeds. Some the size of a yard, some the size of a football field. If someone fishes it by only hitting the few, small "holes" with a standard topwater then someone else will come in with a weedless lure and clean-up as if it had never been fished. I'll try to take a photo if I hit the pads again before fall. I love walk the dog topwaters but this isn't the place for them, except for the edges before going in right up to your armpits.

Agreed. I'm usually doing the edges and pockets along those beds.

 

That said, when I was young I'd fish largemouth in sloppy weeds with my brother in the dead of summer. We'd bomb big blue gold or silver Blue Fox spinners or other flashy buzz baits where we could, ripping them fast on heavy line often dodging in between grass blades and reeds. if you catch a fish in that on anything you've gotta pull it through slop anyway, but we would get some big bass that way. you would clean your lure every cast but eventually you'd clear a little lane or 3 to buzz. Haven't done that in years, now that I'm not shore fishing in ponds often.

[Dabluz]

I don't particularly like the looks of those 2 hooks sitting so low on those frog lures and they are very expensive. In the past 10 years or more, I often use Salad Spoons http://www.lunkercity.com/sal.html

These lures float on the surface and when you give them just the right twitch, they go subsurface. You can even bring them back up to the surface. They twisty tail really beats on the water on retrieve when the lure is on the surface. I use a 4/0 hook (usually Gamakatsu) unweighted or a VMC 1/8 ounce weighted 4/0 hook. I also cut a groove in the lure so the hook will sink further into the body of the lure and therefore expose more of the point after hookup. Otherwise, the hook point is just under the skin of the lure and therefore completely snagless and weedless. I sure would love to one day see the same lure a bit larger than 5 inches.

Edited July 24, 2015 by Dabluz

[fishindevil]

salad spoons work awesome !!! i always have one rigged for buckets in the summer for sure !!!! i as well use a 4/0 hook owner hook,they work great those salad spoons and i think they have a better hookup ratio than my frogs doo,and you can burn them or fish them slow like you said...very versitile