Have been getting lots of hits on 1 1/2 oz atom poppers, most are not hooking up. I stop reeling sometimes and try twitching but not getting any follow up strikes. Hooks are sharp. I sometimes try reeling faster as if the bait is frightened, still no good. Fishing 2 treble hooks. They look to be 3/0 or 4/0 stock hooks. I added bucktail to tail hook.

When you get(see the hit) make sure you wait till you feel the fish on the line. Somtimes especially with braid you may pull the lure right out of the fish's mouth. You seem to be doing it right by leaving it after the hit. I was using a Super Strike Little Neck tonight and didn't have a problem with them attaching themselves to the trebles.

Thats a mistake that took me a long time to overcome. The second I felt the hit, I would try to set the hook. Mis everytime.

Going to try some Gorilla Glue on the barbs.

I crush the barbs if it is blues. Much easier to remove a thrashing chopper from the trebble.

Ok, still having problems...no I didn't use the gorilla glue!
I'm using 1.5 oz atom poppers with a St Croix 7' ultra light Ben Doer stick with 8# test. I've had hits way out and 25' out, doesn't seem to matter. I land 1 fish out of 15 hits. I remember times I would get 3-4 hits on one cast. This year I'm only getting one. I've tried letting it sick, light twitches, speeding up retrieve. Can't get the 2nd hit for a hookup. Is it my mouthwash?

when you see the hit let the bass take the popper and go down with it then set the hook hard. stripers sometimes will not take it but just play around with it and will not take a swipe at it again,bluefish will miss then comeback and slam poppers

since i swithced to braid a few years ago, i do not set the hook at all any more. I fish most of my plugs with a slow twitch and if i get a hit, and the fish finds the hooks all i do is twitch one more time and reel in fast to take up any slack..fish on.

hard hooksets were probably born in the days of crappy stretchy mono.. if you didnt try to cross the eyes of that fish, the hook wouldnt penetrate.

Another thing i learned with braid is to use a shock leader thats about 12 to 15 feet long. That gives you enough stretch so that your hooks will not blow a hole in the fish's mouth and still be able to keep a tight drag. ( this works best with conventional reels)

Try not watching the plug and see if that results in more hookups. If you start hooking more fish when you're not watching the lure you'll know that you're pulling it away from them. If that's the case, fish without looking at the plug for a while until you start to get used to "feeling" the fish instead of seeing it.