Setting the hook

[Icerunner45]

Does it matter if you are looking straight at the line or turned sideways to hook them with a higher %? 

 

Also, I play on the PS4. When I get the controller rumble and the indication of tension and a potential strike, is that a guaranteed strike that I should be able to hook every time or is that just a potential for a hook?

[Slippyfish]

14 hours ago, Icerunner45 said:

Does it matter if you are looking straight at the line or turned sideways to hook them with a higher %? 

 

Also, I play on the PS4. When I get the controller rumble and the indication of tension and a potential strike, is that a guaranteed strike that I should be able to hook every time or is that just a potential for a hook?

Your first question is a little hard to answer. I will say that after a strike if you also jerk your pole to the right or left it will sometimes help. Keeping slack out of your line is the biggest thing.

Rumbles are indications of a fish. It doesn't mean they have taken the the bait/lure yet so no that is not guaranteed.

[Icerunner45]

Is there anything to catching more fish other than attempting to set the hook every time you get the rumble and hope you get it? Outside of the equipment that is.

[Slippyfish]

Youtube videos can help a lot. Just make sure you filter the videos so the ones you pull up are fairly recent. If you're using a lure and keep getting hits but no fish, try switching lures with a different hook size. 

Edit: PC and PS4 versions are the same so no worries there when it comes to the videos. 

[Yuzukisuzuki]

i don't have ps4 but do have pc verion as for setting the hook i go to right most of time, like i do in real life, as for when to hook them play it by ear umm by eye keep eye on bars if go half full or so pull it set the hook. Best way i remember how to do it, i try make video on it later to explain it better. 

[PH_Hilrond]

I'm on PC and giving specifics about when to set the hook is difficult, but to get a greater percentage of good hook-ups this is what I do:  i never have the rod pointed straight down the line, I always hold it at angle (either left or right) at a 45 degree angle.  When I detect a bite I set the hook with the right mouse button and at the same time pull on my rod and reel.  I just know this works for me. 

[[40-1]SturmTurm]

^^ me too - its all in the wrist

[Roxxisalive]

When the dober is going under water. And what the other guys are saying; when you see your bars lift half way, it's a good time to strike and indeed also use R3 up or sideways when you strike with R2. Just be patient, wait till the fish bites good and you'll have him almost everytime! Watching some youtube videos of real fishers helped me a lot in this game and I also watched some vid's about lures, so there's a tip  have fun and good like

[Derrick Miller]

This suggestion may be late for the conversation but I use a controller on the PC and was missing nearly all of bites on lures. I turned off the vibration in the settings menu so that I only had the visual indicators. That showed me the problem was setting the hook when the controller vibrated instead of waiting for the bars to indicate a strong bite before setting the hook. I was too early. After  couple of hours, though, I was consistently setting the hook with success. I play with the vibration turned back on, now and have no problems.

[nickaroo88]

On 08/10/2017 at 8:47 PM, Derrick Miller said:

This suggestion may be late for the conversation but I use a controller on the PC and was missing nearly all of bites on lures. I turned off the vibration in the settings menu so that I only had the visual indicators. That showed me the problem was setting the hook when the controller vibrated instead of waiting for the bars to indicate a strong bite before setting the hook. I was too early. After  couple of hours, though, I was consistently setting the hook with success. I play with the vibration turned back on, now and have no problems.

Good tip, I'm going to have to give that a try!

[Demawlish]

I use xbox ctrl, and do mostly lure fishing.

When float fishing you have the advantage of the bobber which acts as both indicator and also strike assistance as it creates instant drag temporarily placing that hook tip right at the ready point of insertion. 

It's like having a hand right there at the fishes mouth putting hook right into the ready position for you to set.

With lures however, we lose that advantage. And now we are forced to set that hook into the fish without aid.

Its a whole new ball game.

With floats, you just ignore the nibbling, the nudges, the half hearted tugs, etc., and just wait for the fish to decide it's going to actually strike, at which point it has taken the bait into its mouth completely intending to quickly swim away with it, but now realizing the mechanics of being hooked and directly connected to something which is keeping it from swimming off freely.

Except for the bait being stationary dangling beneath the bobber, and the lure having to be taken on the move, the experience on the anglers end regarding the strike dynamic is not much different.

We must wait for the fish to actually make that critical GULP before we try to insert, or set, that hook into the fish, or we will either tug the hook out of its mouth, or scare it off before it even decides to gulp it down.

Without the foreplay of the bobber setup, which did most of the feeling up for us, we must now do that feeling ourselves. Sometimes the fish will just attack with immediate intent swallowing/gulping whole and actually setting the hook themselves. That instant grab and dash would make our lives much easier if the fish always did that.

But they dont. Different species have different characteristics, and depending on our setups we anglers present varying responses. A faster moving lure, for example, will often require the fish to attack more decisively IF that species is fast enough. Reeling speed set too quick will not produce results with slower moving fish. This is just one example of how setup versus species can have various results.

Without that instant grab and dash strike, we will feel things that mimick snags and dragging over obstacles, or tugs that disappear either because we pulled too soon or the fish quickly spit out the hook for some reason.

The best bet is to avoid the premature by patiently waiting for that tension sensation of the full GULP before you make that hook setting maneuver, and that comes only with the experience of failing to do that enough that you begin to recognize the intimate differences.

One of the most important keys to success is keeping enough constant tension on the line to avoid giving that fish enough slack and time to get off that hook. This means proper drag to line setup, and skilled rod maneuvering and reeling to counter the efforts of the fish, and to be prepared and ready for its tactics.

When fighting a fish that is speedy and it suddenly turns to run directly at you and you can no longer keep a strain on that line, depending on your reel recovery speed and line weight/thickness, you may or may not see that HUD text telling you that "fish escaped due to lack of line tension."

How you set the hook initially doesnt mean jack after that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BabyBoomer_60]

Just a few thoughts.

When I lure fish I often keep the rod in the strike position ie on PS4 i hold down L2 (the left trigger) as I reel in and this will often help you set the hook even on finicky bites. I use it a lot when I lure fish - I guess I am sort of lazy but it does help

I think there is a similar method for float/bobber fishing where you do the same thing ie keep the rod in the strike position with the line fairly tight to the bobber. I think it has been called the "quick strike". I haven't really used it yet when i bobber fish but I understand it can be quite effective 

[Demawlish]

My understanding is that the strike button is really just the control for raising the rod top.

So at the time the bait/lure is taken into the fish mouth that sudden lifting of the rod tip provides the resistance necessary to actually make the hook penetrate into the fishes body, whereas without that rod strike the fish could still spit it out.

That's just common sense. But once hook is set that button is now only for raising the rod tip. When not applied the rod remains at neutral position. When applied the tip will raise.

Now, when the rod tip is raised it does apply further resistance/pull on the fish and serve to keep tension on the line. So that is good. However, with the rod tip constantly applied the only means of retrieving line is in the reeling process which is governed by amount of drag versus amount of pull applied by fish.

So when keeping rod tip continuously raised you have no option for playing that drag versus pull dynamic.

And different species require different tactics, depending on differences in setups.

For example, I use the basscaster as my salmon rod at Kaniq and I find that with some of the heavier fish I must be careful, once they near to within 50 yards or so, that I do not allow any slack, but also that I only gain a couple of feet of line on it at a time, by stopping my reeling completely while simultaneously raising the rod tip to keep resistance, and then reeling as I lower/release tip to gather in the slack line I just gained between the rod at neutral point and rod at highest point.

Doing this keeps the line taut and manages to gather in a few feet each time regardless of drag. But you have to make sure your reel is fast enough to recover so as to avoid giving that fish that little bit of slack it needs to get free.

Using the raise and lower dynamics of reeling in fish will often be key to the landing. By my techniques anyway, lol.

There is something about the drag mechanics I am still working out though. I read that whenever you are reeling you are not allowing for the full potential of the drag setting applied, or that it is lessened by reeling. Which suggests that the release of the reel button enables the full drag of your setting, which would be what you would want to do when the fish is hauling out line.

And i do seem to experience that difference, but if true it also plays a part differently in the raising and lowering of the rod tip, because you will not be able to gain line during tip raise if you dont have that reeling trigger on if the fish doesnt have it already pulled to the max of your setting.

As you can see the dynamics can get a little trickier than just holding buttons in one position.

 

 

 

[xSKULLHUNTERxxx]

Good info thanks