My buddy and I had a problem this weekend while using a big jig and a big minnow on our spider rigs. The fish kept hitting the bait to far back, but they wouldn't hit a smaller bait setup for us. With a lot of fish hitting the bait short, and either getting hooked out in the lips and pulling off (Big Fish can pull off easy when lip hooked), or just hitting the minnow too far back and taking the pole down but never hitting the hook (we never felt the fish when we tried to set the hook), we tried this little trick that I posted on my other thread and I copied and pasted it here---------
We had a bunch of fish get off so we added a small treble hook (I think it was a #6) trailer on about 2" of line, and BAM!!! Never lost another fish. We didn't put the treble in the minnow, we just let it hang below them. They were short striking the bait and pulling off because the hook was out in their lips, or they just hit the minnow to far back and we never felt them when we tried to set the hook. The treble caught most of them because they couldn't pull off of it, and it was far enough back that they hit the trailer. The next time you're having trouble with the fish taking the pole down and not taking the hook, give this little trick a try. It'll solve your problem when they're short striking.
BTW, we talked to lots of people that were having the same short strike, losing fish problem yesterday. I tied these trailers awhile back, but hadn't needed to try them. I worked out like I thought it might when I tied the trailers. Might not work every time, but hey, nothing works every time!!!!
Just thought I'd share this. Hope it helps ya!!!
