Noticed today that dolphin seemed to be hitting the baits differently than usual and had another boat report the same. Seemed all of our fish were hooked strangely today. Either barely hooked or foul hooked. Most were caught after a short strike with pulled hook and 1,2, or even 3 dropback. Happened on everything from surface chuggers to heavy islanders. Just seemed like the fish were trying to wound the baits with initial strikes rather than inhaling the baits as usual. Fish were mostly in the 15-20lb range. Wondered if anybody had suggestions for effectively increasing initial hookups when this is going on? Was wondering if maybe having the hook farther back inside the bait might help.
Moon phase…They are feeding at night due to the bright moon so they are essentially full but will reactionary strike a properly presented bait. Don’t get me wrong they are dolphin,they are never really full…Just the difference between you eating dinner after a late lunch and dinner after a skipped lunch.
stinger hooks!
Your bait was probably to big. Ive had this happen using large ballyhoo.
Happened most frequently on a 4" chugger with a 6/0 hook.
KeyWest15