TackleTour

Hi Guys,

Lately I seem to have a lot of trouble hooking up with fish on topwater spook baits. I like to throw the Megabass Giant Dog-X. I thought maybe my hooks were not as sharp any more so I changed them out for brand new ones. Went fishing yesterday. I probably had about 8 bites on it and only hooked up with 2 fish. Most of the fish were smallmouth. It seems like the smallmouth a lot of times just try to swipe at it. Maybe this is part of the problem. Also I was fishing at dusk so maybe they are having a hard time zeroing in on it?

Is there anything I can do to improve hook up ratio? I am using a flashy yellow color (perch color). It's frustrating getting so many bites and hooking up with so few fish. My buddy was throwing a Sammy 100 and had the same problem too.

Well being that someone fishing a different bait had the same problem tells me it was how the fish were striking and perhaps a popper type bait of smaller walking bait might have been better. I came across the same thing last season, the fish were smaking my super spook but no hook ups and then one hit close enough to the boat that I could see it and what the fish were doing was coming up to within a foot of the surface and they would quickly turn and use their tail to smack the bait. I found that if I didn't set the hook about once every 5 hits, a fish would come back and get it after it first tail whipped the bait and it sounds like this was happening to you. When it happened to me I eventually switched to a super spook jr. and they kept tail smacking that but when I tied on a LC Flash minnow and worked it quick just below the surface the fish were really hitting it. So if that happens again try a different topwater or a shallow diving jerkbait and work it fast, it worked for me and may help you too.

Switching to a size bigger hook helps also on fishing any topwater bait don't set the hook on the blowup. You have to wait until you feel the fish.

I think generally fish seem to have a little harder time connecting with walking baits. Last time I was out I had 6 aggressive hits on a spook in one pool. Smallies were launching completely out of the water and coming down on top of it. Only one of them actually hit the lure and I caught him.

Changing color or size may help, but my experience has been that they just don't always hit the bait. The best thing to do IMO is to keep walking the bait after the strike and sometimes they'll come back for it. If you're willing to put down the topwater setup (I'm usually not ) try a fluke or another dying minnow presentation.

Hooks can only help if they're hitting them.

I would switch to a popper and see if that works. I always have a fluke tied on when topwater is hot so I can quickly cast to the fish that missed. The fluke will also work well when I'm having a lot of blow ups but can't seem to connect.

This is very common with smallmouth. I have had smallmouth hit my Spook five times before I pinned them, its just how it goes with such baits. When it comes to largemouth its a different story however, I rarely don't connect when fishing any topwater. The key to fishing such baits is to not get excited when you get a hit, just start reeling slowly and if there isn't any pressure stop reeling, let the bait come to the surface and continue retrieving, they often come back for another try.

Katron wrote:This is very common with smallmouth. I have had smallmouth hit my Spook five times before I pinned them, its just how it goes with such baits. When it comes to largemouth its a different story however, I rarely don't connect when fishing any topwater. The key to fishing such baits is to not get excited when you get a hit, just start reeling slowly and if there isn't any pressure stop reeling, let the bait come to the surface and continue retrieving, they often come back for another try.

x2 The hooks on the giant dog x are excellent, I think it is just the way the fish are hitting, I dont really even set the hook with these baits, just tighten up after you feel pressure and keep reeling.

As bass fisherman we all love are topwater baits. I live in East Tennessee and throw them a lot. The water is clear and the fish are pretty spooky due to relatively clear water and a lot of fishing pressure. I still throw 5 inch topwater baits regularly, but once you have biting fish located and you are missing them it is probably a good idea to bring your bait size down a little bit if you want increase your hooking percentage.

Add an extra split ring of same size as the original to the hooks. It will make them hang a little lower and it will also help with leverage from jumping and headshaking fish in my opinion. It has made a big difference in the hook to land ratio to me.

I also went to a glass rod for a lot of topwaters. I rarely lose a fish on a spook now.

Just my thoughts, hope it helps.

Steve

I switched all my spook hooks to Excaliber with split rings. Cutdown my Smallie blowup misses.

This is an issue with walking baits in general and I experienced it again yesterday on a vicious strike on a Gen III Vixen.

Although this takes time to do, it works extremely well, I upgrade to size 4 KVD VMC TGE trebles on most of my 1/2 oz sized walking baits.

https://www.saltstrong.com/articles/how ... lit-rings/