Fish on…fish off…*#&%^!!!!

I’m always looking for ways to make myself a better angler. One thing I’d like to improve on is my walleye hook rate under my bobber line. I’m typically running a slip bobber with a split shot and a single Gamakatsu octopus hook. The line I’m using is a braid (no stretch) Berkley Nanofil 6lb on a med/light.

Scenario: look over and bobber is under, grab the rod and at the same time drop the rod tip giving the fish slack. Slowly real up excess slack and right before taught I slightly lift the rod to take in last remaining slack until I feel the weight of the fish. The thing I’m trying to perfect is a higher hook rate and not feeling the disappointment of the hook popping out of the fishes mouth. I’ve been experimenting with different hook sets but still haven’t found my perfection.
Are you guys/gals giving a fast sharp set or is it a hard lift for your hook sets? How many feet approximately is your hook set from start to reeling down to fighting the fish. One last thing, I do not overreaching my hook sets and finishing way above my head. I start the set with the rod tip about 8-12 inches off the top of the ice. Lately I’ve been trying to finishing the set at or about eye level.

Any thoughts…..

I’m about as amateur as it gets when it comes to walleye fishing, but something to maybe think about is how much time you give them before setting the hook. Sometimes I feel like walleyes love to grab the tip of the minnow and just suck on it for a while.

I’ve learned from fishing on Red Lake a lot that they will take it down and almost hold it in place. You have to be patient enough to wait for the second run, where they’ve finally got it the whole minnow in their mouth. Once I learned to be patient with the hook set my percentages went up exponentially.

Every bite can be different. Sometimes you have to take am right away, sometimes not.
How big is the bait? How big are the targeted fish?

When you do set the hook, there really isn’t any length you should be thinking about, it’s all feel at that point.

Just my $0.02

I was watching some underwater video of walleyes on youtube and it was amazing how often they had the bait half in their mouth for a good 10 seconds or more then sucked it in. Without an underwater camera it is impossible to know if the hook is actually in their mouth. Half the time you will be patient and they spit it out and the other half you set the hook before they have it in their mouth. I have been thinking about getting an underwater camera to help me improve my jigging action, but this would be another benefit.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

Every bite can be different. Sometimes you have to take am right away, sometimes not.
How big is the bait? How big are the targeted fish?

When you do set the hook, there really isn’t any length you should be thinking about, it’s all feel at that point.

Just my $0.02

X2

I’ll add and I’m sure will have some who disagree but going with mono for bobber is a good idea. No stretch with tiny rods spells alot of hooks ripped out for lack of stretch. Mono will keep that small hook pinned to the fish.

Most guys with braid don’t you just reel up? No “typical” hookset?

copete44 wrote:

it was amazing how often they had the bait half in their mouth for a good 10 seconds or more then sucked it in

I think this is because they can feel something is wrong.
Instead of a bobber, I have had better luck with the Beaver Dam Easy Bite Strike Indicator on a MH rod and a rod holder that allows the rod tip to pivot up and down freely. This setup will give me 10” of movement. With this the fish wouldn’t feel any resistance like they would with a bobber and seem to take the minnow more eagerly. This year I bought a TUCR dead stick with bait feeder reel. It is a nice setup but not as sensitive as my $5 rod with the Easy Bite. Now the TUCR just sits and wait until I put it out on the finicky fooler.

I think you have to read what the fish is doing. What the bobber is doing tells me a lot about how aggressive the fish is. If is goes down and pulled under the ice immediately and keeps running, i feel pretty comfortable taking the fish early. If the fish takes his time, i take my time. My general rule of thumb is a ten count and then adjust accordingly.

Usually just reel down to feel the pressure and do a steady up swing. not anything like a hook set using a jig or whatever. I usually use a small octopus hook and It almost sets itself much like a circle would for sturgeon so I approach it similarly.

Allot of variables. Line stretch, rod action, length of rod, hooks, depth of water (amount of line out),and fish aggression.
Personally I like braid with a 3 foot leader and #8-#10 treble. 32-34” or longer fast action rod. On days when others are letting the fish gullet the bait I have been more aggressive on my time I let them have it and more aggressive on my hookset. I don’t mean set it like a bass fisherman or tarpon but a solid set. My set is probably about 18-24” set but fairly hard. My hookups have been anchoring in the roof of the mouth and no gulleted hooks. I’d rather miss a fish than barrying it in there guts. But this has produced more fish than others around me letting the fish have it longer. Not sure why but it’s working for me. Maybe too much time to feel the hook or taste the metal makes them hold it looser in there mouth.

You just have to play it by ear. Sometimes they’ll inhale it, and if you wait too long they’ll swallow it. Other times they’ll sit and took around for a few minutes with the tail/head in its mouth and you’ll never get a good hook up.

I usually just adjust accordingly. If I’m missing fish, I let them take it longer. Sometime it’s agonizing watching that bobber slowly move around for minutes, and sometimes they’ll just altogether spit it. But, it is what it is.

Something critical I’ve learned is to set your bobber as close to neutral buoyancy as humanly possible. Any little resistance they feel from that bobber could trigger the fish to spit. I also give a lot of really loose slack when setting it up. It’ll curl around the hole a time or two (if fishing inside where it won’t freeze in). Even pulling line off an open bail can give some resistance.

Lastly, downsizing seems to help get those light biters at times.

One thing I make sure is have my transducer catching both my baits. When I see a fish swim up to the bobber rod, I watch the bobber, not the screen.

That bobber gives one twitch and is still then goes away the fish gulped it in, if you don’t see that twitch, rather the bobber just swims away slowly odds are it just grabbed it and is swimming. Very important to have as close to neutral boyuncy with the bobber that way when the fish does readjust the bait the bobber under the water doesn’t pull it right out.

If the bobber just disappears with no fish on screen whatever hit it attacked it, and typically can be set right away. Which also typically ends in a nice clean break at the lure from a stupid pike

This year I’ve completely gone away from bobbers and put my TUCR DS into play. Both of my DS rods (36” and 32”) are paired with an Okuma Avenger baitfeeder, and have been absolutely incredible all season. The rod has a soft enough tip that you can see your fathead swimming, and a fish can typically get 2”-3” of pull before the reel starts feeding line.

I have had the best success this season using VMC Teardrop jigs with a tail-hooked fathead, but if I’m fishing medium or large shiners I use #6 VMC SureSet trebles – I can count on one hand how many fish I’ve failed to button up this season. 95% of my hookups have been right in the roof of the mouth with the Teardrops, and I think it has a lot to do with the timing of the bite in relation to the way the setup is rigged – most times it takes approximately 10-15 seconds from the initial strike (initial drop of the rod tip) until the spool starts feeding line and I pull the rod from the holder. I close the bail as I drop the rod tip, watch the rod load, and set the hook with approximately 18” of sharp lift.

I had the same problem last weekend on ML. Lost three fish on my TUCR Deadstick with Okuma Avenger in the span of 3 hrs. Ripped the hook out of the shiner instead of into the fish’s mouth. Had a painted single hook on for those bites and decided to change to a Sureset treble and never had a bite the rest of the weekend. Anyone feel like trebles are too obvious or is it just my imagination?

Eelpoutguy wrote:

Every bite can be different. Sometimes you have to take am right away, sometimes not.
How big is the bait? How big are the targeted fish?

When you do set the hook, there really isn’t any length you should be thinking about, it’s all feel at that point.

Just my $0.02

I agree with EPG, do what *feels* right. But in your case–where obviously what feels right isn’t working–consider a change in hardware or hookset technique. In the case of the former, consider 6-8 lb monofilament to allow some stretch. It may help, it may not. Just keep experimenting

mahtofire14 wrote:

I had the same problem last weekend on ML. Lost three fish on my TUCR Deadstick with Okuma Avenger in the span of 3 hrs. Ripped the hook out of the shiner instead of into the fish’s mouth. Had a painted single hook on for those bites and decided to change to a Sureset treble and never had a bite the rest of the weekend. Anyone feel like trebles are too obvious or is it just my imagination?

mahtofire:

How big of a treble… I used to run 12’s, sometimes 14’s on tip-ups and generally never had a problem… but I was generally also fishing catch and keep walleyes…

Mark

This was interesting to watch. may give you a little perspective on whats happening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMHElfVUnQs

Great video Ice – Them dang walleyes sure are finicky.

Great video… Thanks for the share!