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[essyoo]

to kind of echo what's been said, I've found two things that significantly improved my ratio. rod angle and hook size.

when I stopped keeping the rod vertical, that was the biggest improvement. barely lost more than a handful since changing to that method. not sure if it's the "correct" way to do it or not, but I'm trying to pull opposite horizontally from the direction the fish is trying to go and often find myself switching sides with the rod. as also mentioned, I keep my drag fairly soft and adjust while fighting. I'd rather start the fight knowing I can reel as much as I want without issue and dial it in for that particular fish.

For hook size, I try to go with the thinnest I can get away with and make sure it's sharpened. also on bigger hooks like on a twitching jig, filing down the barb rather than crimping it makes a big difference. that bump on a heavier gauge hook is a real impediment to setting it. I lost a couple on a 3/8 twitching jig this fall before I filed it and didn't have the issue again.

[Jk47]

Somewhere in the General Discussion is a post by Everyday on replacing the siwash hooks on spoons with an octopus hook attached by a short loop of dacron line. Those who tried it say it is the bomb!

I dont fish spoons very often anymore but when I do EVERY one them is rigged up with the trailing hook method, usually with a nice sharp 2/0 Owner hook. Hooks that come with spoons tend to be poor quality. And the advantages gained from not having the pinch and bind points that happen on a split ring and hook are guaranteed to increase your landing ratio. Back when I read that thread I was fishing spoons for Coho a lot, and it literally changed my whole game switching to this.