Mepps MAL Lure Tips Series: Tip #6

Foreword: This is one in a series of tips forthcoming in the summer of 2022. These helpful suggestions are borne out of thousands of hours of on-the-water experience in pursuing white bass and hybrid striped bass in Texas using the in-line spinners in the MAL Lure family. With tens of thousands of the MAL Lures now in use (and most of those in Texas!) I want to help give current and future MAL Lure users their best shot at catching fish by sharing what I've discovered 'the hard way' in hopes of reducing your own learning curve. These tips are in no particular order.

TIP #6: Resist the urge to make powerful, sweeping hooksets when using MAL Lures.




CAPTION: Kids and rookies routinely outfish more experienced anglers in their party while fishing with me because the less experienced clients do not automatically set the hook. Hooksetting is counterproductive as explained further below.

When using the MAL for topwater action or fishing it vertically, I have found that a powerful, sweeping hookset is counter-productive. The less experienced folks I have on my boat tend to hook and land more fish than my anglers coming from a largemouth bass fishing background because these rookies have no automatic hooksetting reflex like the bass anglers do.

You will hook fish a greater percentage of the time if you just keep reeling in straight and fast until a fish hooks itself. This is especially true if you use zero-stretch braided line.

By setting the hook the instant you feel a sensation, you will likely miss the fish that struck (because the pressure wave a fish pushes ahead of itself caused a change in the rhythm of your spinner, not because the fish had the bait in his mouth yet).

By setting the hook you will also pull the bait farther away from the other pursuing schoolmates, thus reducing the chances of a second, third, or fourth strike on that same retrieve.

Setting a hook while using the horizontal “sawtooth” method is optional.



CAPTION: The MAL Dense is the heaviest of all the lures in the MAL Lure family. Its lead body brings its total weight to ~25 grams (~0.88 ounces), thus it gets to bottom fast. This is a plus for vertical and horizontal tactics.

GIVE THE MAL LURE A TRY: SEE ALL MAL LURES HERE

If you have tips of your own, feel free to respond to this post, or send a private message. I will give credit where credit is due!

Great pic Bob.

Thanks, T Bird. That picture was taken earlier this year on one of my "SKIFF" (Soldiers' Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) program trips. The kids' dad was deployed. Mom, who is also active duty Army, was pulling homefront duty for several months.