I don't have much experience using top water lures but last year I brought a Zara Spook and a Zara Puppy to Quetico. I got quite a few hits on these but had trouble setting the hook and as a result missed quite a few fish. Is there a trick to setting the hook for these types of lures? Thanks

Patience is key! You must let the fish eat the bait before setting the hook. This is way easier said than done. I have airballed many hook sets when excited about a topwater explosion. When you feel the weight of the fish, set the hooks into the fish. Pike are notorious for completely missing topwater lures. If they miss, just wait for them to hit again. Bass are more likely to connect on the first strike, in my experience.

quote Capsized: "I don't have much experience using top water lures but last year I brought a Zara Spook and a Zara Puppy to Quetico. I got quite a few hits on these but had trouble setting the hook and as a result missed quite a few fish. Is there a trick to setting the hook for these types of lures? Thanks"

If you're missing fish, you are probably trying to set the hook too quickly. Give the fish a second to suck it all the way in.

Thanks guys. I try to be more patient on the hook set when I'm up there this spring.

+1 on patience. I remember the first night of my first trip into the BW my brother and I went out at dusk looking to see what we could find. This was the first time any of us had fished topwaters. I tied on a Heddon Lucky 13 and my brother put on a Hula Popper. We started to cast the shoreline and it seemed like every other cast we had a bite. It was blast and we still talk about it. When we got back to camp that night we started counting up how many fish we caught... the answer was 4. Only then did we realize that we weren't actually catching fish, we were so excited with all the commotion that it didn't matter in the moment.

The next day I started experimenting and I would only set the hook once the lure disappeared and the line started moving. This helped considerably. If only we would have known that on night #1.

My first time fishing with a tournament bass angler I took him to one of my hidey hole lakes back in the woods. It was mid day with a good chop on the water and he pulls out a magnum Heddon torpedo. I thought it was an odd choice at the time but watched as he slung the thing out.........ripped it about 3 or 4 ft and let it set. It disappeared in a big swirl and he did absolutely.......nothing. He waited for what I thought was forever, but probably only a slow count of 3 and slammed the hooks home. That was an education!

The Puppy has some rather small hooks IMO. I think I would be inclined to remove both sets of trebles and add a single J style hook to the rear. Maybe tie some white feather to the hook or add a small curly tail. Zara's tend to ride a bit high for my tastes and you can drill a tiny hole in them and using a syringe add a little vegetable oil and the reseal with super glue. They will move a bit more water and the fish tends to inhale it a bit better as well.

As per missed strikes often they are indeed small pike which tend to launch themselves.

The key for me to have success with hooksets on topwater baits is to never react until you feel the weight of the fish. Never try setting the hook on the fish's explosion...you're only yanking the bait away from him and you may just spook it off in doing so. Resist the urge and just keep working the bait and the fish may blow up on it more than once before he sucks it in. Feel weight...set the hook.

It is part your fault, part the fish's fault and part lure at fault.

As others have said, you need to wait until you feel the fish before setting the hook. Easier said then done during all of the excitement. When I see people having this problem I always tell them to try and count in your head 1, 1000 when you see the hit and then set the hook.

Sometimes the fish are attacking the lure and wanting to kill the thing and they blast lure but never get it's mouth close enough to the hooks and knock the lure upwards. Nothing you can do about that, other than let it a pause where the miss took place. Wait a little bit before you move it again.

The lure, a Spook, can be so erratic that a fish has a hard time hitting the lure. Sometimes the lure moves right out of the way of the attacking fish. I love to throw the Spook and love to see the action, I just have a lower hook up ratio using this lure compared to popping or prop type of topwater lures. A Super Pop-R or Magnum Heddon Torpedo work well for me. These types of lures are much easier for the non-professional to increase their hook up ratio. These lures are not erratic, it is easier to hit a non-moving target when the lure is paused.

"Not to Hurry ; Not to Worry"

All depends *why* you were missing fish. Sometimes the fish miss the lure completely. Sometimes the fisherman sets the hook too soon and pulls it away from the fish. Sometimes, on a long cast, the fishing rod doesn't have the umph to set the hooks home. Sometimes that long cast and weak hookset are exacerbated by using mono. All depends on the misses. Did you set the hook with nothing there? Did you have them on for a second before they got off?

Re: pro fisherman and topwater, I watch waaay too many fishing shows, and the guys on the TV shows I watch *don't* wait anywhere near three seconds to set the hook. They don't wait two seconds. As far as I can tell, they see the swirl, pause a tiny bit, and they're setting the hook. I can't remember watching one of them wait until they "feel it" before pulling back. Yep, they miss some, but back in they go with a jig or senko. Of course, there's nothing wrong with waiting until you feel the weight of the fish, but if you pause a bit and pull back, you're in good company.

"Sometimes, on a long cast, the fishing rod doesn't have the umph to set the hooks home."

I stopped fishing medium light rods for this reason. I could hook set smaller bass, but over 17 inches, you need more rod for their thicker jaws.

Another tip is to set the hook downward when using top water lures. Then if you flinched and set the hook too soon, or the fish hadn't really clamped down, you do not have a missile with hooks coming back at you. Plus, the lure is still there right in front of the fish and they may take a second whack at it.

I use a walk the dog zig zag retrieve with these lures. I never let more than a foot or two slack in the line with this method. Just wait a second after it slams it before you start reeling in. Take up the slack and the fish will set the hook.

quote Savage Voyageur: "I use a walk the dog zig zag retrieve with these lures. I never let more than a foot or two slack in the line with this method. Just wait a second after it slams it before you start reeling in. Take up the slack and the fish will set the hook. "

Good advice......"Just reel" is a much underutilized hook setting method. When one considers how much line is taken in per revolution of the handle the positive physics are undeniable. I tend to reel quickly until I get tight and then snap the hooks home.

quote mastertangler: "

quote Savage Voyageur: "I use a walk the dog zig zag retrieve with these lures. I never let more than a foot or two slack in the line with this method. Just wait a second after it slams it before you start reeling in. Take up the slack and the fish will set the hook. "

Good advice......"Just reel" is a much underutilized hook setting method. When one considers how much line is taken in per revolution of the handle the positive physics are undeniable. I tend to reel quickly until I get tight and then snap the hooks home. "

I also just reel. I'm fishing barbless, so the hooks penetrate without much force.

I'm just giddy reading all these comments about a Spook.

In my experience, if a bass is attacking your hula popper and missing but continuing to strike repeatedly in one retrieve its a very large bass.

;)

One second you are feeling disgusted for missing the hook set twice and your reeling it back to the canoe, and the next second your watching a monster bass launch at your lure a few feet away.



I had the same sort of thing happen with a 20" large mouth in st. Paul

quote thinblueline: "The key for me to have success with hooksets on topwater baits is to never react until you feel the weight of the fish. Never try setting the hook on the fish's explosion...you're only yanking the bait away from him and you may just spook it off in doing so. Resist the urge and just keep working the bait and the fish may blow up on it more than once before he sucks it in. Feel weight...set the hook. "

Exactly where I was headed.