Hookset

  • Thread starter Carlos Hathcock III
  • Start date
Nitro Owners Forum

Help Support Nitro Owners Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Carlos Hathcock III

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2002
Messages
4,777
Reaction score
0
OK,

I am about tired of watching the bass jump 10 feet off the bow of my boat and throw my Senko at me. What the heck am I doing wrong?

When I first see that the fish has the senko I initally give him some slack to take the worm. I then set the hook. I do not do the "Toxic Nuke hookset" but I apply some pretty good pressure. Should I pump up my hookset? I saw 3 of them do that to me today. That does not count the fiah I missed today on my buzzbait.....that will be the topic of the next post I guess :)



Carlos



PS Just to think, I used to complain when I did not get any bites. Now I am getting the bites and am complaining about not getting them to the boat HAHAHAHAHAHAAH
 
Dave,

I am using a slider heads. Here is the web link. Not to sound naive, but I think that the hooks are 2/0.



Carlos

http://www.basspro-shops.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=46141&hvarSearchValue2=240&hvarSearchValue3=121&hvarSearchValue4=16&hvarTarget=search
 
Carlos,My brother-in-law always sets the hook a few times as he is bringing in the fish.I have seen him lose a few that were probably skin hooked by doing this.



You are darned if you do,darned if you don't.



I usually have pretty good luck with senkos,I use a 2/0 wide gap hook.



Steve R
 
Carlos, I too was losing a lot of fish at the boat until I went out with a pro guide and he knew instantly what was wrong. The rod that I was using was too soft. I switched to a rod with more backbone to drive the hookset home and I miss far fewer fish. What kind of rod are you using? Are you using line that has a lot of stretch that might be inhibiting your hooksetting power?
 
Seems like whenever I do one of those Pro style full macho type hooksets I either drive the hook into a stump like a 10 penny nail or the dang thang goes whizzin' by my ear at the speed of sound. I know I must be missing fish but whenever I catch bass on soft plastic they seem to hook themselves and suddenly are there. I don't think I have ever felt the little tap-tap-tap and I reel down and set the hook like I see the pro's on TV do.

I guess that's why I like spinnerbaits, you know where you stand with a spinnerbait.





Harpo
 
Carlos,



I lost some fish on the lighter Slider heads. It wasn't that I was getting a bad hookset, it's that they were bending. When I use sliders now, I use the heavier ones, not the light wire version.



Tex
 
Now I'm not gonna have to give you another lesson am I??? There's a reason for the "TOXIC nuke hookset"!! And I think you now know what it is!! Hey, I always warned ya!! Gotta give the old oooo-- oooooo-- ooooooo--WHAM!! I use gamakatsu 3.0 or 4.0 hooks depending on how fast I want a senko to fall and how deep the water is. I never weight them unless I am fishing them on a carolina rig Wait till you see that hookset in 40 feet of water on mono!! I practicly run to the other end of the boat. I learned from a guy who fished mostly t-rigged worms in my little 2 man boat. He would reel down and if you weren't paying attention, just about throw you outta the boat with his hooksets. NEVER be timid!! You ever see the pros just give em' a little jerk....heck no, they rip lips. You are gonna catch more than you will lose to a skin hook. Jerk back like you are pullin your hand out of a snakepit and if you don't think it's set... DO IT AGAIN!!



Call me for your next lesson!!



TOXIC
 
Hey, I have a similar problem with the hookset, however, my fishing buddy cued me in.... I was not reeling up the slack on the fish, I was just lifting the rod and reeling. LIke TOX said, that won't make it. I use a BPS 3/0, 4/0 and 5/0 exta wide gap hook, depending on the length of the senko and how slow I want it to sink.

Just keep working with it and making adjustments. Just out of curosity, why did you decide to fish the lure on a slider head anyway? Any advantages to it that us eastern guys can take from it?
 
What everyone above said...



Good hooks, 3/0 Gama EWG for the 4" 4/- (or 5/0) for the 5" senkos... MH Fast action (3-4) power rods.



Snap that hook! Yeah, soetimes its a rock or a tree



I was having the same troubles with lead heads, and jigs, until I realized that sometimes the bass is holding the bait so tight it takes extra force just to move it the 1/2" needed to actually set the hook.



I also rarely feel the "tapity tap tap" with a senko, If I do, it's usually a sunfish or baby bass. The bigger bass just eat and swim. Once you feel the wieght of the fish (only check once, when you feel it, it can feel you) Snap set that hook home.



Also, make sure your line wieght is right for the style hook... thinner wire hooks require smaller wieght line to prevent bending, and heavier gauge hooks require heavier line to set.



Similar to the rod, you ain't gonna set a 5/0 Superline Gama with a 2 power rod and 6# mono.



Have fun, you've found the fish (the hardest part for me) now you can hook em, dano!

 
One other thing... once you have the fish hooked, lower the rod downward toward the water. This will help keep the fish in the water instead of jumping. It's not foolproof, but it helps.
 
I've always used a 4/0 to 5/0 wide gap hook for my soft stick type baits. This year I've been using a red Mustad dropshot hook with great results and a lot more hookups. I just nose hook the bait with the dropshot hook. I have missed far fewer fish since switching to this hook. Walmart has them in my area for 1.89 for a 6 pack of them.
 
Hey Soonerfan,



I'm with you. I never feel the tap tap. They just seem to hook themselves. Sometime I will have to go out with Toxic to learn how to do it.



david.....
 
Easy guys, careful on overpowering your senko's with too big of hooks. When you get to the 4.0 and 5.0 EWG, heavy wire hooks, you are starting to defeat the one thing that seperates the senko from other plastics (along with the salt content) and that is the action on the fall. Remember these are really a finesse bait (yeah, even the 5 inchers) and are designed to be worked very slow. If you watch a senko fall it undulates like a greek belly dancer's stomach as it decends. It doesn't drop nose first and knife the water if rigged right. Weight it down with those big honkin hooks and you will lose a LOT of the action that makes them work. Let me give you the most important "senko secret" that will improve your catches. Hold a senko by the wide end in your fingers and let it hang verticly. Now look at it....did you think they were straight? Well, they're not, there is a curve to them. There actually is a right and wrong way to rig them. So for all of you guys that have just been threading them on your hooks...suprize!!



And you are right, fish don't usually "bite" the senko, they flare their gills and inhale them. The key to not gut hooking (which is THE biggest problem with senkos) is to keep the right tension on your line as the senko falls. You don't want to pull it (and ruin the action) but on the other hand, you don't want it falling on a slack line either. You have to watch your line very closely, any movement and you load the rod (by reeling down) and if there is any resistance......RIP EM'!! That is why I liked the Trilene Tournament strength line in photochromic. It was orange and you could watch it clearly and there was no underwater visability. BPS makes a line that is like that and I am going to give it a try. Also, never throw a senko on anything larger than 8lb test (usually 6lb for me). Larger than that and the line will ruin the action. And for heaven sakes, make sure your line is fresh, no phone cords layin on the water. If you don't want to buy new line, use "Reel Magic". You can't watch a line for bites that lays on the top coiled like a phone cord with more memory than my home computer!! It'll hit bottom before the loops are out. There are also tricks for working them on the top, in brush, using them like a fluke, nose hooking, trick rigging, c-rigging, dropshotting, and working them in the wind and current but Y'all are just gonna have to come fishin with me to learn the rest!!



Yeah, I like my senko's!!



TOXIC
 
Soonerfan and David, when yall fish with plastics do yall have a problem with fishing swallowing the hooks, since you say you can't feel the bump that the fish gives.
 
AND.....Although the majority of your bites will come on the initial fall, you can work it back to the boat. If you lift your rod tip and reel, the senko will climb the water column really fast. I can climb mine back up 10 feet or more with one pull/reel. Then just let it settle and do it again. I rarely do more than 2 or 3 rises depending on the length of the cast.



Man, I think Yamamoto needs to sponsor me!!



Class dismissed.



TOXIC
 
JimBob, that is why senko's are a line watchin bait. Most of bass fishing relies on the rod and we put lots of $$ into the rods to get sensitivity and feel but these baits are designed to free fall. It requires (IMHO) that you step up to the next level and concentrate more than when you drag a c-rigs and jigs on the bottom, or cranks and spinners at varying depths, or topwaters. Gotta refine your skills a little. That's the problem I see with most of my clients...they can't move to the next level. They just wait for the tug on their string!! I will actually watch their line and tell them to set the hook....often times it is a "DO IT NOW!!" type of thing. I am veeery good at operating on Mr. Bass!!



TOXIC
 
Toxic, I think that is one of the problems I was having with the Power Pro line, I'm talking T-rigged worms here. You just can't see the line with Power Pro. I have swithed to mono (P-Line) and it's like night and day. I seldom fish Senkos but find your info above very interesting.



JimBob, No I don't gut hook them at all. They're either hooked or not. I use a pretty good rod, BPS Extreme 7'6" and until a week ago using Power Pro 30#, so I don't think it is an equipment issue.





Harpo
 
And you say you can't feel the bump that a fish gives on a T-Rig. I would say you just need to fish it more to gain a better feel for it. Practice makes perfect.
 
You actually get more "feel" with the PowerPro but you are right, you cant see it as well. I use it to tube fish with 1/4 oz. weight, I almost feel too much bottom with it and it is funny...the tube bite IS the tap,tap,tap....while the senko is not. My guess would be that since a tube is fished on the bottom, a bass traps it and bites it more than plucking it off the fall.
 
I don't think I've ever lost a fish on a Senko/Stick-O in the couple of years I've been using them since I learned about them on this board.



I use a 5'6" light action Bionic Blade/Shimano Sahara 1000 with 6# Stren clear and #3 wide gap Mustads. I fish them mostly un-weighted, soft jerkbait style. When I do use a weight, it's a very small split shot attached right at the eye of the hook. Favorite is the 4" watermelon/red flake.



me!
 
Hey Toxic ....what lb test of the Photochromic tournament strenght line do you like to use.....we still make that line in Canada ...even though it's not available in the USA any more.



Bill
 
Well, you learn a little new everyday.



Toxic, Can you describe the "semi-slack-tight" line a little more? I have a hard time getting a vertical fall if I don't have a lot of slack out.....



For the record, I usually use a 4/0 hook on the 5" Senko, the 3/0 just feels to small.



I mostly fish with the 4" versions.



I have had slams on it when swimming it back to the boat as well.
 
Well,

Loads and lods of good informaion for sure!!!

Here is what I think that I am doing incorrect.

-I have very limber rods. I am using 6lb test on light action rods. It is a Lews light action, 6' pole from Sports Authority.

-I am using the "slider" heads to get to the fish and the hook size/style is incorrect.



I have to use weight to get the senko to them fairly fast as the tide rips through the inlet that I fish. I need to explore the drop shot method, that may help. But nuts, the slider heads work, and I get the hits, and find the fish....I guess I am a hard head.... I will try a stiffer rod and see how that works.



As for the fish hitting. I can feel the tap tap and also see the line moving off, most of the time anyway. So that is not a problem. It varies on how fast the water is moving, if the hit is felt or if they just pick and move.



Mike, I will try the rod tip to the water. I have not tried that. Tox, I can honestly say, that after I missed the good fish yesterday, I was trying to break my rod!! It made me a bit frustrated and after you almost threw me out of your boat on your hookset, I gave that a try. Sim, thanks for the info and I think that you are onto something with the jighead comment. I need to set it harder!!!

Tony, I use the slider to get to the senko to the fish a bit faster. If you go weightless you will never get to the fish in time. As a matter of fact, it wil nto even make it to the bottom becuse of the current. I messed with the bullet heads and found that they snag more then the sliders do.

Sooner HAHAHAHAHA I did the same thing yesterday after I got frustrated!!! I was lucky it missed me, but man, I heard it whoose by!!!!!



THANKS YA'ALL!!!!



Carlos
 
oh yeah Tox, you said there was a right way to rig the senko, based on the "bend"... inquireing minds want to know.
 
Andy,



I have a "case" (6 spools) of the photocromic in 12#, let me know if you're interested.
 
Champion 176,- 6, 8 & 12. I really liked that line. I was floored when it left the shelves. I have seen it on some web sites but had a sneaking suspision is was all "old" line and that is a definate problem for me. I am extreemely picky about my line. I change line about once a month. Sometimes I use a backing to reduce the amount I have to spool but I still go through a lot of line. All things considered, that was the best and my favorite. Turned a lot of people on to it. Everybody knew what it was when they got on my boat. There's no mistaking it for another line.



Carlos, your rod is NOT the problem. I can set the hook with a 9 foot flyrod on smallmouth, so limber tips don't prevent hooksets. If I had to guess it would be your size of hook or brand. When you started putting the wood to them were you hooking up? If not, was your senko coming in scrunched on the hook? If so, you are trying to catch dink fish. That happens a lot. Everything will bite them.



Sim, if everything is rigged right, you can keep a bow in your line with the sink rate from the falling senko looking like a fuse burning up the line twords your rod as the line sinks. Too tight of line and you drag the senko, too slack of line and there can be anywhere from 2 to 4 feet of space from where your line lays on the water and where the fuse effect is. Learn to read that "fuse" point of the line. If it is falling too fast, it's probably a fish, if it falls too slow, it's probably a fish, if it moves sideways, I GUARANTEE it's a fish. Put your rod tip down, reel up the slack (the bow) until you feel either resistance or the rod "loads" up (if you have the perfect fuse effect going, you can just lift your rod tip a little and know if there is a fish there) and then pull the trigger!! Don't delay or wait to see if the line move more, or you feel mor, or the rod loads more, that is how most of the gut hooks happen. Better warn Carlos though if he is in your boat, he's a little jumpy. Carlos has a challenge with current. That affects both the bait AND the line. I'll show him in person cause he likes pictures and I can't draw on the net LOL!! I assume everyone is Texsposing their hooks right? That is where you rig them TX style and then skin hook the point of the hook in the senko....And finally, you want the senko to turn up on the end after being rigged. It should look like a 1/4 moon with the bulk of the hook hanging out the bottom, point out the top. That is for maximum action. That is one little tidbit that I normally do not give out in my seminars. Kind of an "insider" secret. You guys won't tell, right?LOL



TOXIC

 
JimBob, I guess part of my problem is I am always fishing in heavy timber. Can't tell the differance in the bait hitting a limb or a strike. I have fished plastics alot but with so-so sucess. That's why I like a bait that moves through the water like a spinnerbait, crankbait, ect.

Harpo
 
Carlos,

I"m from Georgia, but have been living in Florida for two years. Fishing floating worms is a big thing down here with all the vegetation. I'm not good at that. However, I now use a 1/16 screw in weight with my senkos. I doesn't really affect the rate of fall and it gets the bait down quicker. Have you tried using a screw-in weight to reach those fish... though I imagine that current will still puch your bait along.

Also guys... with the light screw-in weight I can get more than 10 casts or 1 fish off of a senko. (Just a little tony tip there)
 
Soonerfan

I guess your like anybody else in the fishing world. Everybody has there strong suites and everybody has there not so strong suites. Maybe fishing with plastics is yours. I know my weakness is a cranbait. I harldy ever fish a crank bait. I would much rather fish a worm.
 
As Woo Daves say's set the hook to break the rod. I use 3/0 on 4" and 4/0 on 5" Gammy hooks. My partner ducks if I miss the fish. I also like slider heads on 4" ring worms. Be carful they can become missles. To see how good your hook set is, have a friend hold the end of your line when it's 100 feet out and try to pull it out of his hand on a hook set you'll be surprized how little energy the is in a killer hook set. It needs to be fast and strong with a pop.

Remember, hit them to hard. worst thing that will happen is that they actually launch into your boat. And use good line



Dave
 
When I was on vacation last week, I FINALLY felt the tap tap and thought I had set the hook when I yanked up. Ha! Mr. Bass had other ideas and after about 1 second of battle he promptly sent the worm flying over my shoulder (only about 3' of water). So I cast again and felt the tap tap and really set the hook and landed that fish (all 12" inches), so I really have to believe all the advice about how hard you have set the hook.



david.....
 
David,

I am going out this weekend and will try the tips from here too!!! Thanks!!!



Carlos
 

Latest posts

Back
Top