I went out Friday with a couple of friends and had 8 solid hits, but only brought 3 into the boat. One was lost due to a reel that broke mid-fight, another was lost due to improper drag setting. All the rest were lost after several seconds of fight.

Last week, my wife and kid were losing fish left and right while I lost one (el slobbo, of course ). The ones that were brought to the top before popping off seemed to be hooked on the side of the face with the front hook on the outside of the mouth, as were all the ones that were landed Friday.

My buddies that use single hook soft baits have much higher hook-up ratios, but my divers seem to produce more hits (at least they have lately).

Is this a consequence of using trebles? I believe the fish are getting snagged as they hit the lure and is not affording a chance at a solid lip set. I'm thinking about switching over to single hooks. Any thoughts on this?

P.S. Blair and Tracy are forbidden to mock me!

I know what you mean! Several times recently, I thought that I had hooked Shamu, with visions of me holding up a 60 lb fish for the camera, only to reel in a 36" fish that was hooked in the side. Many people change the trebles to singles and do well. I replaced all of last years hooks with new sharp ones and have done much better. HOOKS HAVE TO BE KEPT SHARP! The guys who taught me to fish years ago, would actually sharpen their hooks after every 4 or 5 fish. Kinda like chalking your pool cue.

I think its the nature of the beast. I've had the same thing happen, fish hooked in the side of the face rather than in the lip. I think some of the problem may be that it's a hard bait, not a soft one like a shad body or Storm...so they're not able to get it into their mouths unless they hit it just right. I've never tried switching out the trebles for singles, but may do it for offshore season. When they do hit it right, its a lot easier to take out one hook, then fight with 3.

While trolling for freshwater stripers we get alot of tail slaps on the stretches.

Sometimes we get foul hooked fish. I always assumed they came at the lure and thought at the last moment to not eat it. The other possibility is that they just hit the lure and get off.

Eric

I think my experience definitely shows that the single hppk soft baits have a higher hook-up ratio. I don't think it is necessarily because of the trebles though because I have the same difficulty with Tomics behind an in-line. My guess is that the swimming motion makes the "grab" a liittle harder on divers, while the storm is a little easier target.

No doubt most of my knock-down no hook-up events are on stretches or Tomics.

You could be fishing with your drag set too tight that causes a quick pull off.Also dont rely on factory hooks to be sharp,always sharpen yourself.Keep your boat in gear when you get a hookup if you are taking your boat out of gear that could be the problem also.I dont think hook sets should be much of a problem with Striper.You could be snagging them they have been in schools so thick this week I have snagged several myself.

I have snagged large bunker and it is something else to feel your lure striking bunker as it drags through the school! My drag is set so that if a decent fish hits it, it will pull drag initially - I use 30lb test, so I don't button it down. I think I will experiment with the single hooks for a while.

Don & Brutter, that makes sense to me. The soft baits don't wobble like the divers and are easy to inhale.

Eric, I think the fish are hitting the lure at the head and the front treble snags the outside of the mouth as the fish slides off.

Good reminders about hook sharpening - my buddy told me to do it but I put it off until Thursday. These fish were lost on very sharp hooks (as measured by the dig into the fingernail test).

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I agree with soft baits, large single hooks. The divers (mainly strecthes) not only don't tend to hook as well, if not set out properly, or boat not managed properly, or conditions not right can be a constant hassle and create a mess behind the boat. On Fri, I swithced to only one stretch WTFB, everything else was single hook soft-bodied stuff. Much higher hook-up ratio, much easier to release fish, no issues with the net, gloves, fish, and fingers stuck in both trebles with a wrtihing striper. Personally, I think stetches produce, but many times not worth the trouble. When the bite gets really hot and they are hitting everything, we pull the stretches in.

I agree with NJ1, and go a step further. I don't use the hard body lures any more. The soft body shads on a jig are my primary baits, along with the big gold spoons down deep. And the occasional storm. Not that I think they really produce more, just they are one hell of a lot eaiser to deal with. And I work without a net. I use heavy leaders and gloves. Take three wraps and up and over the side, right into the fish box. When the bite is on you can bring fish over the side quickly, and reset baits quickly. When they hit about 40 lbs I reach right through the mouth and grab the gill plate, unless I plan on releasing the fish. Then she never leaves the water. Couldn't do that with a bunch of treble hooks hanging around. Just a matter of personal preference I guess.

The only time I put Stretches out is when the fish are hanging at 25 to 30 feet down.I use a 3 foot long 100 # mono Leader with a Spro Wind on swivel. This leader gives me something safe to grab on to when the fish is boatside.With the 100# leader you can lift a 40 lb fish through the splash well with out using a net or touching the stretch.I find that one day the fish like Umbrellas the next day they like Tomics,a day later they hit Stretches that is why I pull different stuff until I find out what they like.The other day I was pulling two Grey Ghost Stretch 30 at the same time they werent hitting anything else in the spread.This week I was having luck with a Bunker Spoon on a three way with mojo,and the Tomic with an inline sinker was hot also.