Fishing Forum

I was out on my local lake for the entire day on saturday and this was the only bass I was able to set the hook on...... I could believe it, so many strikes but I was using my new ugly stick with my Daiwa reel and I just couldnt get a decent hookset. I was having trouble with my drag though so I think having the drag set to light may have contributed.
Any way heres the not so huge bass.
Notice its night time. Out from 6 am and caught him at 8:50 pm!!!
Dylan

I admire your dedication, though its not letting me view your photo's, comes up with the forbidden page error.
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here..i resized it for ya




and hopefully u'll have better luck next time...

about how long was it/ how heavy...just wondering?
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hmm i think i might know your problem what kinda ugly stik was it ultra light? light ? medium? medium heavy?
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7 ft med light i think, i was fishing top water the entire day too though, soo many weeds cant do much else

well i know for me at least any of the ugly stiks with clear fast action tips are harder to set the hook with then medium action tips o and when i fish topwater you have to wait till you see the bait completly in his mouth[][]
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with topwater lures when you see the strike lower your rod fast then reel and jerk back hard... HARD.

topwater bass fishing takes some time to learn but once you get it down you will catch every hit.

If you try to set the hook soon as you see the splash you will lose most of the topwater strikes.

Just lower rod tip (gives the bass time to take the bait in) then reel and jerk up hard as hell.
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it is as simple as this. Do not jerk until your rod loads up and you feel the fish when it hits your topwater plugs. alot of the time the fish will come up make a big splash and totally miss the bait. When that happens just twitch the bait again and 9 times out of 10 they will come up and hit it again.

I don't think the action of your rod really had anything to do with it. Your drag however may have. If you wait for the fish to load your rod and then you jerk the hook should set, but if your drag is to loose it will just pull line off your reel without having enough power to sink the hooks in the fishes jaw. So the main think here is keep messing with the drag and you will eventually get it right.
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ya I was having real issues with my drag that day, its all been fixed now, now I need to get out on the lake and make sure , shame I had surgery this morning and will be out of commission for quite sometime.

Good to hear your all fixed up in the Drag department, now you got to fix yourself up. Hope you make a full recovery, and let us know how you do your next time out, whenever that will be.
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