Hook Up versus Hook Down

[jimmadsen]

I tied a couple of stealth Bombers and Dahlberg Divers reversed with the hook up to be weed free so I can drag it across all the weeds that ring the pond I fish.

HOWEVER - I had 6 or 7 missed LMB strikes using these...I even counted to three and did a strip set and still lost them. I could tell I had them on for at least a couple of seconds, but they got off.

Does anyone ever have the same issue? What do you do to get hook sets?

It was most frustrating to have these bass hit and not be able to set the hook.

THANKS!!!

[jeffro]

Gotta always remember to make sure the hook is sharp.
also give the hook a twisted-bend to the side kinda like a True turn hook.....may have ta just set the hook faster and harder especially on Bass.

[afishinado]

I tied up some poppers for the pads with the hook point up. They were padless, weedless.........and fishless when I set the hook...lol

[Bluegill222]

I've always had the same results with hook up patterns on the surface so now all my surface bugs are hook down with a light weed guard if I'm working weeds or pads. Subsurface I go hook up and it doesn't seem to make a difference in my hookup ratio.

[tailingloop]

Capt Kevin Doran, who guides on the California Delta spent a lot of time with some other anglers who like to fish weed mats on the Delta for largemouth bass. The result was a fly, named the KDM Rat, that is tied with the hook point up in such a way that the hook will always land up, and if it doesn't the fly rolls to the hook up position. One of the challenges of creating a successful design was creating a hook up pattern that would hook fish. The initial attempts didn't get many hookups. The solution they eventually hit on was to slightly bend the hook shank of a long shank hook up a few degrees (looking at the hook with the point down) opposite the hook point. When the fly is on the water in the correct attitude (hook up) the hook gape is opened up a little and results in better hookups. The trade off is fish are more likely to throw the hook once on, but that is still better than not hooking them.

The bent hook looks something like this :