Bad hookset?

[slurpie]

Been trolling with good luck but getting frustrated. About half the fish are hooked till about 20 feet from the boat then get off. Using line coun ter with a fireline and 9 ' pole. I dont feel its the line. Could it be we are forcing them through the water to hard?

[Shane May]

It could very well be, do you pull your rod tip up and then reel down? If so that could be your problem because you tend to lose line pressure and the fish has the opportunity to turn its head sideways causing them to spit the hook. Something I do is keeping constant pressure on the line by after the hook set I will not keep my motor in neutral until the fish is landed,I will have the boat always in a "slow" forward motion to assist me in keeping things tight. On the other side of that is too much pressure will cause the hook to tear out of the fishes mouth. Are you pulling plugs? if so try a bigger hook on the tail end. that will get them everytime

[rodmaker]

What are you using for a rod?? You should be using something with a moderate action. You don't need a stiff strong tip.

When the eyes hit, they hook themselves.

Don't have your drag super tifht also.

[riverrat56]

Try trolling with the clicker on, my hooking percentage has skyrocketed since doing this.

Pick rod up, close bail, reel in fish

[Northlander]

Keep the clicker on, set drag to release a bit when fish hits, use a long soft rod and reel slowly with no pauses with the boat moving slowly forward. I also do the same when trolling boards.

[slurpie]

Thanks for the info. I"LL TRY THE clicker deal was wondering what it was for I have a cabelas depthmaster combo bought cheap to see if i was going to like now time to upgrade to a better reel Again thanks guys

[fishermatt]

It's a good idea to not set the hook hard when using Fireline. With no stretch line if you set the hook hard, you can either pull the fish loose on the hookset, or create tears (holes)in the fish's mouth that make it easy for them to shake out of.

[SM1]

I like to leave the spool engaged with the clicker on and the drag set just light enough to not let out line.

I first had to learn the hard way that too tight of drag pulls hooks out from the fishes mouth while trolling cranks. Its easy to tighten the drag back up while fighting the fish.