Keep losing fish

[Ryandr]

In the grand scheme of things I'm still fairly new to tying panfish jigs and panfish fishing. Today I went 2/6. The 2 I got where a small sunfish and a half pound bass. The fish I lost all bit my jig and were on for about 2 seconds then I lost them. I was mostly fishing with a 1/32 ball head jig with a #6 matzuo sickle hook. I was using a 5'4" Fenwick Silverhawk UL mod. fast with 4lb fluorocarbon. From what they felt like all the fish I lost were fighting like 8-10 inchers. Both sunfish and perch.

I have a feeling it's my rod? Maybe my hook set? I just gave it a little "trout" hook set. Or maybe my drag was too high but I pretty sure I set it on the lower end.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[deathb4disco]

Maybe my hook set? I just gave it a little "trout" hook set.

You don't need much of a hookset with those little hooks. You certainly don't need to "cross their eyes" like the bass pros do.

[wicklundrh]

Ryan,

It would be hard to pinpoint the exact issue without knowing a little bit of information first. Were you bank fishing? Boat fishing? Casting and retrieving or vertical jig fishing? Casting a float? What bait were you using? Live bait? Soft plastics?

The reason for the questions can help determine what might be done wrong (if anything at all). Take for instance one particular lake that I fish. I cast 1/16th oz jigs tipped with a twister tail. I catch a ton of crappies on this lake with this setup but also lose a fair number of fish as well. Mostly, the fish that I lose are small blue gills. They usually only get the twister tail in their mouths. You fight them for a few seconds and they are gone. Primarily because the hook never reaches their mouths. Eventually, they will tear the twister tail right off the bait.

If you were casting a float, I would say that your rod is too short. Many times, a longer rod would be needed in order to take up any slack in the line and quickly set the hook when a strike is indicated.

If you were casting a retrieving a jig/fly combination (hair jig) it could possibly be the retrieve being too fast. I like to use a lift reel, sink repeat technique. I do this with soft plastics as well. As for vertical presentation, I don't attribute it to a hook set as much as I do a firm upward motion of the rod.

I will say this, there are days that I miss way more than I catch. Other days, they pound it and you don't have to worry much about the hook set. Today just might not have been your day. Heck, you might have done better than others. We call a lot of this as "short biting" fish. They don't tend to bite the whole jig combination but rather the tail of it. Oftentimes they will spit it out long before you knew they were there. The sunfish family are filter feeders. Hookups can be hard when they light bite.

I hope this helps. I would say that your issue today had more to do with the fish and less to do with what you were doing at the time.

[Ryandr]

Ryan,

It would be hard to pinpoint the exact issue without knowing a little bit of information first. Were you bank fishing? Boat fishing? Casting and retrieving or vertical jig fishing? Casting a float? What bait were you using? Live bait? Soft plastics?

The reason for the questions can help determine what might be done wrong (if anything at all). Take for instance one particular lake that I fish. I cast 1/16th oz jigs tipped with a twister tail. I catch a ton of crappies on this lake with this setup but also lose a fair number of fish as well. Mostly, the fish that I lose are small blue gills. They usually only get the twister tail in their mouths. You fight them for a few seconds and they are gone. Primarily because the hook never reaches their mouths. Eventually, they will tear the twister tail right off the bait.

If you were casting a float, I would say that your rod is too short. Many times, a longer rod would be needed in order to take up any slack in the line and quickly set the hook when a strike is indicated.

If you were casting a retrieving a jig/fly combination (hair jig) it could possibly be the retrieve being too fast. I like to use a lift reel, sink repeat technique. I do this with soft plastics as well. As for vertical presentation, I don't attribute it to a hook set as much as I do a firm upward motion of the rod.

I will say this, there are days that I miss way more than I catch. Other days, they pound it and you don't have to worry much about the hook set. Today just might not have been your day. Heck, you might have done better than others. We call a lot of this as "short biting" fish. They don't tend to bite the whole jig combination but rather the tail of it. Oftentimes they will spit it out long before you knew they were there. The sunfish family are filter feeders. Hookups can be hard when they light bite.

I hope this helps. I would say that your issue today had more to do with the fish and less to do with what you were doing at the time.

Thanks for the reply. I was fishing from the shore and using a hair jig I tied. My retrieve may have been too fast on the ones I missed now that I think back. I varied my retrieve from the pull back and sink and twitch and retrieve. I'm sure over time I'll figure it out but it never hurts to ask the help of fellow anglers.

[wicklundrh]

Like I said, sometimes it depends on the day. Fast retrieve, slow retrieve, jerk, lift and lower... all have their place. Remember to let the fish decide what they want. You just have to keep it in your mind to change your retrieve if you are not receiving the desired results. And, some days, they just don't want to cooperate.

[lowe175]

Let's see the jig. It could be your body is to far passed you hook. Sometimes this will cause you to lose fish .

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[spartannation]

I've had good luck, when fishing small jigs, to suspend them under either a set or slip bobber, depending on the depth you're fishing. Once you figure out what depth the fish are at you can use the bobber to return your bait to that exact depth every time. I then swim the jig back with a slow lift, drop and reel, slow lift, drop and reel. Watch the bobber for anything that looks different, lots of times they just lay on it on it's side, others they swim it sideways, still others they slam it. Good luck, try different techniques and have fun with it.

[Eagle 1]

You can always bend the hook gap open a tad to see if it helps .

[Ryandr]

Thanks for all the replies. I totally forgot to mention I was fishing for bluegills not crappie yesterday! So I'm guessing a smaller hook for bluegill?

[bandchaser]

You can always bend the hook gap open a tad to see if it helps .

I second this advice. To me that hook size is a bit small. I open up most of my hook gaps with a pair of needle nose pliers.
I learned this from a guide in Mississippi because the fish are much bigger and I was loosing or missing strikes.
You won't believe some of the smallest crappie will inhale a 1/8oz jig with 0 size sickle hook, and a 2" tube! And you wonder how in the world they did it, then darn near kill them trying to remove it.

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