I was fishing a sandy beach today that was loaded with small schoolies all afternoon. 10' spinning rod with 20# mono. All they wanted was a Kastmaster and teaser (mostly the teaser).

I landed 10+ fish and probably dropped another 15 more, which bugged the hell out of me. I'm thinking the hooks were not sharp enough or I was blowing setting the hook.

I know it's a little elementary, but any advice on technique would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Were you actually hooked up or missing fish?

On shallow- sandy beaches I like to use tins where the hook rides point up such as the Pt Judes or Charlie Graves for a better hook-up ratio.

If they were small schoolies you were probably ripping the lure out of there mouth on the hookset....10' rod is a little overkill there....you might have downsized to something in the 7-71/2 foot range and better success.

In the advent of braided lines setting the hook is quite a bit different from the days of mono.I go back and forth with braid and mono while black fishing.Currently I'm on a mono kick.There are times U might see me running half way down the boat to set the hook...
With the lack of stretch in the line and the thinner diameters of braids.Usually a good quick snap is all you need.While I might give it a good secondary set sometimes I often wonder if I might be doing more harm than good..Perhaps ripping the hook loose.
There are things to keep in mind..Like the size of the hooks your using..Chunking with a big 10/0 hook.Your gonna have to set it pretty good to set the barb..Casting a bomber type lure with 1/0 trebles..Perhaps not as hard..
In your instance with the smaller fish there are a few things at play here.Smaller fish have smaller mouths they simply miss your offerings from time to time.Tro a small jig for better hook-up ratio's..Something like a small lead head and a 6" sluggo trimmed back..Another thing to consider is smaller fish simply do not give enough resistance when you set up..MaKe sure your hooks are razor sharp.I am a hook fanatic...Always sharpening and tuning em up.And changing em when I have any doubt of there reliability.

Thanks for your replies guys.


Tman - i was hooked up (or so i thought) and then losing the fish. Thanks for the tip on the tins with hooks up. I hadn't noticed that.