This may sound very simple, but there are a few small things you can do that will greatly improve your hookup ratio! Here are some general guidelines:
Circle Hooks
For starters, choose a hook size that matches the size of your bait. I generally use 7/0 to 10/0 depending on bait size. Be sure your hook is sharp and that the tip is clean and free of scales! I can’t stress this enough. For a circle hook to work properly, the hook point must be fully exposed in order to penetrate the fishes jaw. To increase your hookup ratio, look for hooks with a wide gap, especially if using larger baits! Be sure to hook your bait in a way that the bait will not rotate and hook into itself. This used to happen to me alot, but I have found a couple of ways to lessen the chances of this happening! I will post a video soon showing this in more details. Finally, if you are fishing in current or drifting, hook baits so that they do not spin through the water. If you aren’t sure about this, drop your bait over the edge of the boat and watch it in the water. The bait should not spin, as a spinning bait is more likely to get snagged, pick up trash, and track to the side causing your lines to get tangled!
Hooking Live Bait
There are a couple of ways I like to hook live bait. If striper fishing, I always prefer to hook baits through the nose or through the lips. Striper will usually attack a bait from the front. Catfish, however, will usually grab a bait from behind. So hooking a bait behind the dorsal fin can be a good option if anchored. However, if you are drifting or fishing in current, you should always hook a bait through the nose or lips. This way the bait will flow naturally through the water. If you hook a bait behind the dorsal fin in current or while drifting too fast, the bait will be pulled backwards, resulting in water flowing backwards through the gills and quickly killing the fish. If you don’t believe me, try it for yourself! As for hooks, it is still important to match hook size to bait size. For hardy live baits such as crappie, bream, or perch, I still prefer to use circle hooks. However, for live shad I usually use a small guage live bait hook. Shad are quite frail, and a smaller hook allows them to swim more freely and stay alive for much longer.
