Missed some fish recently and wanted to get some others’ techniques for fishing Gulp baits weedless. When you feel a hit do you automatically set the hook once the fish has it in his mouth, or do you feed it some line then set the hook? How hard do you set the hook?
I missed one today where the fish had it in its mouth and starting swimming sideways - I set the hook and it didn’t set. Wonder if I need to set it harder aka Bill Dance style.
As a fyi, I was fishing a jerk shad weedless.
Thoughts?
Jim,
I have had several times where I am fishing a jerk shad weedless and miss fish. Sometimes the reds just pick it up differently and don’t really swallow it and when you set the hook it comes out. I have other days where you do the same thing and the hook-up ratio is much better. You could try putting a circle hook on the top of the jerk shad instead of the weedless setup if you are missing fish. I know I missed the first five the other day and ended up switching to bait with circle hooks and caught an eight pounder. We went to another spot and went back to the jerk shad and wore out the reds and flounder in a different spot. I think it just depends on how aggressive they are eating it!! Hope this helps
Capt Mike Able Jr
HADDRELL’S POINT TACKLE & SUPPLY
Your Complete Sportfishing Center
www.haddrellspoint.com
When redfish and flounder are not feeding agressively, they tend to hit a bait once to kill it, and then they will start to swim off with it. You will usually feel another bump on the line or two as they start to swim off. The second bump you feel is when they are swallowing the bait. If you can wait until you feel the second bump your hookup rates should improve. Sometimes they will just swallow it on the first hit, but not usually. The most difficult thing to do is to let the fish move off with the bait when you know he is there. Seconds feel like minutes but this almost always works. It is remarkable to me how long a fish will hold onto a Gulp bait even without being hooked. I reeled in an 8" flounder all the way into the boat and when it got to the side of the boat, I realized that it was not hooked at all…it was holding on to the tail of a Gulp shrimp and only let go when I tried to pull it out of the water.
PioneerLouie
Pioneer Venture 175, Johnson 90
Summerville, SC
What style and size of hook were you using?
This has alway been my problem also - when you are moving or have a bend in your line from the wind
I just made a change that works great
Use a larger weedless hook like a #5 - this gives more space for the bite and much better hook ups
Also Most of the time you can make a small cut on the under side area of the jerk bait inside the hook this makes it a little more flexable so when they bite there is less restiance
Capt Dave
Fishing Kayaks SC
make sure hook comes all the way out of the top of bait and then barely tuck point back in.also use widest gap hook you can find.
Thanks for the tips. I am doing all of the above. I guess they weren’t feeding aggressively enough yesterday. I like the idea of using a circle up as a back-up.
when i feel that thump or tap, i immediately cross their eyes. I like gulps, but the trash fish will sure hit them pretty hard too, and you will miss them.
Capt. Tim Cutting
www.fishthegeorgiacoast.com
I use circle hooks mostly. When I am fishing under a cork and I know it’s a red (cork usually goes down sideways), I count 1001, 1002, 1003, reel up any slack, lightly set the hook and reel them in.
If you’re lucky enough to be fishing, you’re lucky enough.
“Setting the hook on Spot tails”…I agree with the captain…we have gone to circle hooks, almost exclusively, hooked through the front of the bait and not run down through the bait. When the fish takes the bait, allow a few seconds and then set but not hard. Haven’t missed near as many. Red fishiing has been great in lots of areas along the SC coast. Hope this helps!
Once you use a circle hook, don’t you lose the weedless capability or am I missing something? I only use Gulp baits when I need something weedless. Otherwise, I use live stuff.
Circle hooks set themselves. No need to wait or try and set the hook, the fish will do that. They are not weedless, with the gulp let that fish run with it for a couple seconds then set.