Keeping fish on the line

First off, I have to say that I agree with all that’s already been said. An ultralight fisherman has a different bag of tricks than some of the other styles of fishing. I’ve had days where I seemingly lost more fish than usual. One thing I’ve done is to not react to the fish til they load the rod. I watched Victor have three and four hits that never got the hook enough to get connected on the same cast. Watching this brought back memories of when that happened to me. The fish ran small and they were interested but too small. It doesn’t happen much since I’ve gone to a #8 sickle but it’s still a thing.

Most of the time I don’t set the hook , I raise the rod , and start winding.
On several occasions, I’ve gotten my hemostats out to remove what I thought was a deep hook and when I open the fish’s mouth , the point wasn’t in the fish’s skin . The fish was holding onto the jig .
A lot of the ones that get off , are the ones that are holding onto the jig with their mouth without the hook being impelled in the flesh . If they swim toward the rod and open their mouths , the jig comes out .
BTW , I use size 10 hooks 90% of the time .

I started using 1/32 oz jigs a friend pours. By using a jig, I do not miss many and they are never gut hooked like a bream hook does. My hooks are not JDM sharp, but they do work with a hook set. Good luck.

Thanks for the advice! I went back to my spot for big fish, where there are far fewer nippers, although they were present too.

Throughout the fight, I ensured that there was tension the entire time, and I lost far fewer, making me think that the hooks aren't fully penetrating their mouth.

I'll look for some sharper hooks (and potentially some new line, I found that my braid was fraying and breaking far more often than I'd like, now that I'm muscling them in).

Thanks again!


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:ThumbsUp

Good deal, thanks for the report.

I used to fish Croton a long time ago. I live near Newburgh, NY and fish many water within 45 min. from the house.

Suggestions for keeping the little dudes hooked (from a little-dude fish expert):

1. light action rod a must!!! 5'6" or 6'
2. 6 # test braid gets it done for the following reasons:
a. no stretch
b. faint strike detection even at a long distance
c. fish are more apt to panic once the feel the hook point and many times make hooksets much easier
d. most times once the hookset is started, a slow sweep of the rod upward or to the side finishes it. One more rod tip set - get it in the boat
3. smaller fish or those that nip many time require downsizing - either the lure the jig head or both. I got into some nippers yesterday, went to a smaller soft plastic and smaller jig hook for size. Once I got nippers to bite, many in the area fished were hooked.
4. lure design does make a difference for nippers: a curl tail not so much/ a straight tail or no tail usually a winner.

Of course nipper schools don't happen very often and heavier 1/16 oz jigs with a #4 hook does fine. No tail example and thin tail :
Attachment 488407
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A small swimbait on a small jig /hook:
Attachment 488409

These are my suggestions - don't shoot the author. My partner and I have had over 140 fish days this spring and if they work in Orange L. they work anywhere.

You're not that far from me, probably just about an hour or so. Thanks for all the tips!

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I had an uncle that lived near Newburg. He was a maintenance supervisor for fort Buckner or camp Buckner which was a training camp for West Point. Loved that area, good memories.

Proof is in the catching!
Yesterday I fished a padded area that held some tail nippers but no takers. So just for the h of it, I downsized to a 1/64 oz. jig and 1 3/4" soft plastic. Started catching those little guys one after another and then the big boys joined the party in the same area.
Attachment 488593 Attachment 488594 Attachment 488595

44 fish for the outing on a hot sunny day ain't bad which included other species thanks to light jig and finesse-action lures.