I was having that problem on Lake Washington this spring. My weight was on the bottom of the line though. I thought they were hitting the weight. The pole would go down and nothing would be there when I lifted it.
Been noticing with the 3 way rigs, hook first with around 8" line and swivel then in line egg sinker then bottom hook straight down with about a foot of line. My question is, been getting a lot of "short bites this year" line will move, tip may move or pop down. try to set hook and fish will drop minnow right away. What do I need to change? Hook size, minnow size, wait longer?
Been using size 8 lazer hook or one size bigger. Tried both smaller "Crappie Minnows" and a little bigger , what I would call a "walleye minnow"
I was having that problem on Lake Washington this spring. My weight was on the bottom of the line though. I thought they were hitting the weight. The pole would go down and nothing would be there when I lifted it.
I run a 3 way swivel when pushing minnows. I have about a 10-12”in drop up top with a small #2 hook and on my down drop I have 30-36in line with a 1/2oz egg sinker wrapped 3x about 10in above my bottom hook. Generally use #6 crappie minnows unless they are wanting small baits and I’ll switch to #4s. No issues on hook sets other than getting too eager and lifting early.
I have been fishing this way for many years and there are times that I miss lots of bites and I still have not figured out why. I use size #2 or #1 hooks. Sometimes I think they are just not aggressive enough to take the bait and it is very frustrating.
Live Simply, Love Generously, Care Deeply, Speak Kindly, and Trust in our Creator who Loves usSlabSeeker0485 LIKED above post