[fish4funinfl]

I was watching my Gary Yamamoto DVD again yesterday and it got me to thinking about hooksets with flourocarbon line. I have heard quite a few people say they broke off with flourocarbon line,and i'm wondering if it because of the hookset ? ( I have broken off once on the hookset with Flourocarbon.. and yes it was a monster hookset ) Also I have his book and he recommends a palomar knot.

Now, personaly I consider Gary a very smart man that knows what he is doing when it comes to bass fishing , especialy when it comes to soft plastics . Also Gary is a firm believer in Flourocarbon line ( sugoi brand )

Back to the video now... Gary was explaining a hookset while useing a SENKO ( plus you could watch him in action ) He was useing a Heavy rod with a counter weight in the butt end to balance the rod and useing Flourocarbon line. He basicaly said to let the fish hook himself. Just reel in the slack and keep pressure on the line and that would 'TURN' the hook when the fish swam with it. Then with a little sweep set it would hook him in the side of the mouth. ( kinda of like what a circle hook does....... Even though he didnt say that about a circle hook, but to me it seems that way )

Ok, I can buy what he is saying . Not sure I could do that in a tournament . Plus I dont think you can do that if you are fishing heavy cover. ( I will use my braid for heavy cover )

So, here is my question to yall. What kind of hookset do you use with Flourocarbon line ?
Fishing soft plastics do you use ( 1 ) use a monster hookset ?? or a sweeping hookset ?
Fishing a spinnerbait do you use ( 1 ) a monster hookset or ( 2 ) a sweeping hookset

Also what kind of knot do you use ?

I got to be honest, seems when I use a sweeping hookset useing flourocarbon I havent brokin off any and have landed a good number of bass. I broke off once but that was with a big monster hookset. I realy snapped the heck out of it with a little slack in the line.

 

[Guest]

To me, it seems that more and more people are having problem with their fluorocarbon. I have fished it several times over the past year or so, and I have never broke it, at all.

The only two times that I use fluorocarbon is when I am specifically fishing Senkos and when I am drop-shotting, and it both cases, I use a Palomar knot. The trick is to lubricate the knot thoroughly. Even if you think that you have lubricated it enough, lubricate it some more. LOL

As for your questions, when I fish a Senko or a drop-shot, most of the time the hook is "tex-exposed" as Gary probably demonstrated in the video, or even mentioned in the book. With the hook being set that way, you take a lot of the pressure off the plastic and hook during the hookset, and it makes the hookset a lot easier.

A lot of anglers that fish on TV add drama to the hookset, and most anglers believe that it takes a huge hookset to get the fish into the boat. While is some situations, having a monster hookset is necessary, most bass I have hooked have come with a small but sharp upward lift of the rod, I guess what you would call a "sweeping" hookset. The only time I have consider myself doing a "sweeping" hookset is when I set the hook using a C-rig.

As for fishing spinnerbaits on fluorocarbon, I have never done it. Spinnerbaits on of the lures, which include topwaters, crankbaits, and jerkbaits, that I use mono on, because I do not want to pull the hook away from the fish when they hit. With the extra sensitivity, you could pull the bait away from a fish that is trying to eat the lure. So, to answer this question, I will lay the wood to a bass that hits a spinnerbait, due to the fact that I am using mono. If the bass are short striking a lure, I will either add a trailer hook or I will make a modification to the coloring of the spinnerbait or make a subtle change to the blades, and the bass will usually start hitting the spinnerbait more aggressively.

The only other time that I will use fluorocarbon is when I am fishing a C-rig, and I will use it for the leader material. And this is one of those "iffy" situations. Most of the time, I will use mono to do this, but IF I am having a hard time detecting bites, especially when I know that the bass are present and are hitting the C-rig, then I will switch over to fluoro.

The main things to remember is to lubricate the knot/knots to the point where it's getting diaper rash, ;D , and then, check the line for frays after EACH fish. I know that fluorocarbon is supposed to be more abrasion resistant than mono, but it doesn't mean that the stuff you are using is the Super-Man of fluoro. There are going to be bad batches of ANY kind of line that you use.

In closing, I use P-Line's fluorocarbon and I have not had a single problem with it yet. I have thought about using the BPS XPS fluorocarbon, but I am a firm believer in not fixing something that isn't broken.

 

[fish4funinfl]

Thanks for your reply, John. Now, to me it ' looked ' like the SENKO was skinned hooked ( which is the way I do it 99% of the time ).. Brought all the way through the Senko and skin hook the point.

So, from what I gather from your reply on the SENKO aspect. A gentler hookset is what you do as well ?

I normaly wet the heck out of the line when I am rigging it up ( a few times ), BUT I read a post somewhere and a guy was saying he will dip the line in the lake before cinching it up. Might be an idea to try as it has to be good and wet after that. Plus it would mask any sent from your salava , doing it that way.

 

[Guest]

Yup, that's what I do with the knots, is drop it in the lake for a few seconds, and then cinch it down.

It's hard for any angler to critique the type of hookset that they employ, especially when there is a fish on the other end. I know that when I have wacky rigged Senkos under the docks on Lake Weiss, that it's just a small, sharp hookset. Not really powerful, I don't suppose, but it gets the job done.

I do skin-hook my plastics as well, but even doing that, you don't have nearly the pressure for the hookset as you would when you just bury the hook into the plastic.

But, the bottom line is that when I fish fluorocarbon, I am not going to rip the lips of Mr. Bass. LOL