Why am I losing Bass at boat after hook up?

[Wackyjig]

Sweep to the side on hookset not straight up

[Smalliehunter91]

You reel down and end their life when you set hook.

[bilgerat]

I'm no expert, so take what you will from my comment. I used to use the gammy ewg superline hooks back in my braid only days and loved them. When I finally switched to fluoro and copolymer, I was having a heck of a time keeping fish buttoned up. I think the problem was twofold: I wasn't hitting them hard enoughto sink the heavy wire hook, and the additional stretch from the lines I was using wasn't transmitting the hook set I was giving them like braid would. But, I was getting so many more bites not using braid I didn't want to go back. My solution was going to the light wire Trokar ewg hooks on anything 15lb line or less. My hookup and landing ratio has improved much since that switch. Like others, I can't leave well enough alone, so I am now playing around with offset shank worm hooks to try to pick up A few more of the light biters since it has a better hook opening. My 2 cents. Good luck.

This. It's easier to drive a needle into your arm than a nail. If you can't play/land a decent fish on a light wire hook, it's your fault, not the gear.

[John Jackson]

This. It's easier to drive a needle into your arm than a nail. If you can't play/land a decent fish on a light wire hook, it's your fault, not the gear.

Light hook landing may not work so well in heavy cover. Light vs heavy hook also depends on where you are fishing. They won't work in heavy cover or matted vegetation.

[Walkabout7781]

The next trip out after I made post #18, I lost a SM on an EWG, not right at the boat, but I got just a glimpse of it while it was still about 8' deep and maybe 10' -12' from the boat. It doesn't happen often, and I hit it plenty hard, with plenty of rod power.

I thought it was a pretty decent fish, but a 2 lb SM often fights MUCH better than a 4 or 5 lb SM, for some reason I haven't figured out. If anybody has ideas on why this is, I'm interested. Maybe the bigger, older fish, just got up too early in the AM to go off to school? "Dammit, Jim!" (a quote from what famous Doctor?)

[tlarcher]

How do you rig the plastic on the hook. Is it deep in the plastic or do you run it through and just skin hook the other side of the plastic?

[Casslaw]

On Texas rigged soft plastics I have switched to skimming the top 1/3rd of the point into the body...Texas skimmed? That helped my hook up ratio. The biggest thing FOR ME is making sure I know which direction the fish is moving when I set the hook...swimming toward me, away from me or sitting still I set the hook with a straight up motion. If the fish is swimming to the right or left I keep just enough tension on the line to feel them then set the hook in the opposite direction they are swimming.

Sometimes for me it goes in phases and drives me nuts, then I bring in a fish that can barely fit the hook in its mouth and realize I know nothing!