I may not be setting the hook fast enough because half or more of the fish I catch are hooked pretty deep in the mouth, making it difficult to remove the cricket hooks I use. Do you jerk fast at the slightest feel of a fish?

I do a lot of line watching after a cast. Once I see it start tightening up I set the hook. Fishing for sunfish I usually do not set the hook with a strong hook set. I usually use a medium to light hook set. I also set the hook when I feel the slightest bite. Make sure your line is tight. The more you fish the better you will get.



Side Note: Also the aggressiveness of the bite plays a huge factor in the hook set. If the fish are aggressive a light hook set usually works good. If they are not aggressive and are barley biting the bait you really need to play the feel. Just my two cents.

Thanks for that information Banker. When they are aggressive, I usually do not have a problem getting a hook set in the lip. It is when they are not aggressive that I usually wait a couple of seconds, for fear of missing them, and wind up deep in the mouth. Also, I fish around and in a lot of hydrilla, and that may make it a little harder at times. Haven't quite figured it out, but hate it when the hook is buried deep. I have started mashing my barb down to make it easier to remove the hook. Only problem with that is that the worm doesn't stay on the hook as well.

Oh well, there is always something needing improvement, but it's all fun. Thanks again.

Fishing in weed beds does make it difficult even when using a float. The only thing anyone can do is just do the best they can. I looses most of my fish fishing in heavy weed beds. It is a challenge for sure.

I do not fish for sunfish but have caught a lot of them fishing for other species. All of the sunfish I catch are usually hooked by a smi-strong hook set. I usually target bigger fish and have always used a strong hook set.

I had the same issues when I first started using worms and conventional gear. Ultralight gear to help you feel the bite better and watching line movement like Chuck said helps a lot. I learned you just have to be more focused and quicker setting the hook. Similar to that, if I am fishing with a small popper I don't have a chance of hooking these fish unless I am focused, keep my fly line tight and make a quick strip set. As far as setting the hook I only know one way. Hard and fast. Bluegill often come flying by my head. That's what you call perch jerking

That is a good question. I too ran into that a lot. Hated hurting or killing fish just for the fun of catching them. Now I do set the hook as soon as I feel anything. I feel it's better to lose a fish than kill one. As J-Moe mentioned...with this technique, I have been know to send some gills airborne!! True perch jerking!!

Do you have a hook extractor. I'm usually able to get even the gut hooked ones free without injuring them.

Thanks for the replies, appreciate your feedback. I always get the hook out without killing the fish, but it is not easy and it takes time that I had naturally rather use fishing. i will work on a faster hookset and if that doesn't pretty well solve the problem I will totally switch to barbless hooks.

I mash down the barbs on all my hooks before I tie a fly. The chance of killing the fish is drastically reduced. Also, I've had to pull hooks out my thumb on more than one occasion. If it ain't barbless I usually have to use my pliers and rip a big hole in my thumb pulling it out.

J-Moe, when I use artificial baits, I always mash the barbs down like you do. i actually prefer fishing barbless for several reasons. But when I'm fishing with live worms, the chunk of worm slides off the hook easily and I sometimes wind up fishing with a bare hook, so that is the issue. i enjoy thinking and talking about subtle little things like this, related to fishing, to see if others do, or have had, the same issues. I appreciate the exchange with you.

On all of the sun fish use a fast hook set. Not hard but fast.

Thanks Larry. I'm going to start doing that. Wanting to be sure they have the hook in their mouth, I have been waiting a couple of seconds at times. That has probably been my bad.

Why not try a bait gripper hook? It's not hard to snell them your self and the barb can be bent and you still have a couple of barbs on the body of the hook to hold the bait.

Charlie, I used those hooks at one time. I switched to the cricket hooks because, with the longer shank, they are easier to remove. I never tried fishing them barbless, however, so I may give that a try. Thanks for the suggestion. To keep from burying up in grass//hydrilla and that black gook that is on bottom in a lot of places, I use a dropshot rig. For that I tie the hook with a palamor knot, rather than a snell, but the type knot used with a bait keeper hook makes no difference as far as I know. Would be nice if the hook makers made a bait keeper cricket hook wouldn't it?