Crankbait Fishing: Bleeding fish

Does anyone have a particular technique to not catch gills when crankbait fishing? I had a couple fish over the weekend that were bleeding pretty good. I am running a triple grip on the front and a round bend on the back.

I have heard some pros talk about just reeling faster when getting a bite vs setting the hook. Just seeing if there were other ideas out there.

Sounds like you got the right hooks on your bait to me. Some days the fish just really eat the bait like that. Other days they just slap at it. If a fish is big enough to get the whole bait in her mouth the way you set the hook won't alter how the fish is hooked.

Some days they just choke it and no matter how hard & fast you set the hook after detecting the bite they are gonna get a hook in the gill. The next day they may just slap at it.

Seen it happen many times on Fork. One day you will have a group of fish on a deep spot and they are literally fighting over the bait. You get them up and there are four more with it. They are choking the bait. A little front moves through and the next day they just slap at the same bait they were eating the day before. You get one hooked and it comes unbuttoned on its way to the boat.

Then you make adjustments, like throwing a jig or a worm at them. Very rarely will you have the same conditions two days in a row except for maybe the middle of the summer.

I replace all hooks with the VMC round bed hook, both front and back. If it calls for 2 size 6's, I throw a #5 on the front and a 6 on the back Seems to help w/o the bleeding problem. Hope this helps. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

If they are bleeding pour Mt. Dew on it. It'll stop the bleeding instantly. Seriously. There's always a bottle in my rig for the bleeders.