Where you can't land a fish to save your life? Lost 3 or 4 on the way to the boat in an hour. Including two decent sized fish. I have up and went home.

I have those days all the time. I'm usually pleased if i just get bit. Getting them in the boat is a bonus.

On one I was talking to my wife on the phone so my hook set was lame. But I tried to yank the teeth out of a 5+ and he spit it out.

Oh sure. Not often but it happens.

Had one of those days 3 or 4 weeks ago. Had four or five fish in the 4-5 lb range that I fought all the way to the boat, then off for no good reason. Frustrating.

My deal lately is throwing top water and the first couple casts I make in a different spot I see 2 bubble where I was throwing before. So frustrating.

I never really had issues with loosing hookups and yes I have lost a few but I fish small lures a lot and one thing I learned from watching the pros; especially fishing lures that are prone to this like spinnerbaits (always use trailer hook here), crankbaits, and the lipless cranks, if you think you have a weak hook up or are fishing one of these lures keep the fish under the surface until it is tired out and ready to be landed. I'll kneel down on the deck of the boat and shove everything but the reel down in the water if I have to and keep the fish under the surface until I feel it starting to let up on the urge to fight. Is this technique fool proof? No, but it will minimize the number of lost fish due to thrown hooks by a bunch......my two cents

Yeah those days are frustrating.

I'm like Ogles, I've lost fish a million ways, but I've noticed when a big fish jumps, that's when your most likely to lose her. A lot of times with a big fish, thats the first thing they try to do. I guess cause you're pulling up on them. I run my rod straight down in the water and reel like crazy. Is that the right thing to do ? I was trying to lip a buddies lifetime big bass, and grabbed his line to pull the fish closer to grab him. Don't ever do that, made both of us sick.

I wish I could get bit 3 or 4 times!

Most big fish will come up to jump first. I hooked an 8 1/2 in a brushpile in 25ft and the first thing she did was start slowly swimming up to jump.... It was a good thing she did because she came out of the brushpile. But man when they swim that slow up and are fixing to jump it's Heart wrenching!! I landed her on the 4th of July!

I would have left my phone in my truck.

I keep a dip net handy in that case. I don't always use it but if there is a fish on the other end of my line that I feel is going to be in the top 10 or 20% in size of the fish I have caught I break out that dip net. The only exception would be if I was in a tournament that didn't allow me to use one. So far I haven't had to do that............
I forgot one real important piece to this puzzle.....rod selection! This plays just as big of a part as landing/retrieving technique. An easy rule to follow really and will help tons on lost fish. Basically anything that is in the crankbait family; including lipless and top water, should be thrown on nothing heavier than a medium action rod. The reason being the lighter rod is more of a spring, it bends further and when the fish comes to the surface to shake the lure loose it can't get slack in the line which is how they get rid of the lure. The only exception to this rule is when you are using heavier cranks, like DD22's and such or 3/4 oz. or larger spinnerbaits. Then I look at the recommended lure weight on the rod and match up to that. I reserve heavy range rods for jigs and anything to do with soft plastics where you need high sensitivity......Applying these rules to your fishing will help a bunch.........

Happens to me and the only thing to do is keep fishing and it passes. Since I fish soft plastics most
of the time its usually because I'm setting the hook too early or too late.