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Set The Hook
By Terry Battisti

July/August 2003

So much is written about techniques, rods and equipment, baits and seasonal patterns. But one aspect of our sport is often overlooked, and it’s possibly the most important one - getting that little steel point to penetrate, setting the hook.

How many times have you felt the tell-tale “tap” on your Texas-rigged worm, reeled your rod tip down to the water’s surface, reared back with enough force to move a Peterbilt Truck, only to realize that the fish was swimming towards you the whole time? Where did your rod tip end up after that set, and if you got any pressure on the fish at all, was it enough to set the hook?

How many times has a fish blasted to the surface only to spit the rig right back into your face? Personally, I don’t want to think about it…it’s too depressing. But there’s an alternative to the standard hookset we all know, use, and hate. It’s the reel set. Here’s how to do it, and why I believe it’s so effective.

Standard Hookset

When first learning to fish, most fishermen are taught that when a fish bites you jerk the rod as hard as you can, in hopes of penetrating the fish’s mouth with the hook. For bait-fishing youngsters this approach usually works fine - most of the time a fish picks up the offering and immediately swallows the bait, allowing for a solid hookset, even if there’s a little slack in the line.

But, when you start bass fishing it all changes - weedless and semi-weedless baits are the norm. Because of that, our lure’s hooks are more apt not to meet with their target, the flesh within the fish’s mouth or jaw. It takes a lot of pressure to force the hook point through the plastic worm, or to bend a jig’s weedguard down enough to expose the hook point.

The standard method of setting the hook with a worm or jig is to reel down to the water, wait for a little pressure, and rear back. If the fish you are setting up on is swimming away from you, taking all the slack out of the line, you are generally okay. But, if the fish is swimming towards the boat or at some angle other than away from the boat, you may be in for a bit of trouble.

Setting the hook on that type of bite normally results in the rod tip going past shoulder level, up and over your head. When that happens you’re just stuck - instead of the fish - you have no alternative but to lower the rod tip and reel like crazy in an attempt to get or keep pressure on the fish. And, if at any time during this zany operation the fish gets any slack, it’s usually bye-bye, a missed fish.

Reel Set Method

One solution to this problem is the reel set. Like with the standard set, after getting bit you immediately lower your rod tip to the water surface, right where your line enters. Next, you simply start reeling as fast as you can. Once you feel the rod starting to bend, or load up, set the hook with a short, fast stroke. With this method your rod is never out of position, i.e., over your head. You are in constant contact with the fish during the entire process; it’s that simple.

This method works, and here’s why. Modern reels take up more than 20 inches of line per turn of the handle, with the average being around 24 inches, and some high-speed high-ratio reels take up much more. Assuming you make only five turns on the reel handle, you have moved 120 inches (ten feet) of line through the water, before ever setting the hook.

Compare this to a 90-degree swing with a seven-foot rod, which moves eleven feet of line (yes, I did the math). The swing set did move one more foot of line, but consider where your rod tip is at the end of that swing – right, above your head. From that position you’ve got to reel down to recover that eleven feet of line, all the while hoping to maintain sufficient pressure on the rod so as not to allow any slack.

And, because you weren’t exerting full pressure on the fish during that time, you’re also allowing it ample opportunity to dig itself into some nasty cover. With the reel set you’re always in control, with the rod out in front of you, exerting full pressure.

Many times it’s not necessary to set the hook with the reel set, just a fast, constant turn of the reel handle can be enough to begin penetration or bury the hook, and then the pressure of the fighting fish finishes the job, especially with today’s chemically sharpened spears.

Although this hook set will take a trip or two on the water to master, once you do, I’m confident your hook-up ratio will increase dramatically. If you’ve had problems with the old standard “swing and pray set”, give this technique a try; I know it will add weight to your livewell.

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