Hey all.

I fished Mission Viejo today and threw the Mission Fish around a little. I had the boat in like 15' and was thowing the bait deep and working it up the points. I am fairly new to the swimbait thing and haven't stuck a ton of fish so when I got bit on my second cast it actually scared me a little...and I farmed it...

I know why I missed the fish today, 'cause I'm a barney, but the nature of the bait does not seem to lend itself to a high hookup percentage. I am using the tricks...bending the hook out, trying to leave a little gap, using a piece of drop shot worm...My problem is that the gap keeps pulling through the belly anytime I try to leave a gap between the hook and body, whether I use a piece of worm or not. After every retrieve, maybe every other, the bait looks akin to a big hammer rigged on a lead head (the hook pulls through the plastic and is exposed on top) and I have to readjust the hook.

I could solve the problem by skin hooking the bait, but I don't want to tear it up and I am not sure if that wouldn't mean more missed fish anyway.

Is the problem in the way I rigged the bait, or is there some trick to prevent this from happening? It isn't a big deal, but a solution would make me more efficient for sure.

The bait is awesome though and I would highly recomend it, I can't wait to fish it again.

On another note, the Lake was fun today, got some love on the little jerk baits. Gotta get over my "real men use baitcasters" feelings, not having a spinning reel to thow the light stuff cost me fish today. Can anybody recomend a quality spinning setup...I guess that is another post.

Thanks for any help.

--John

For your spinning outfit I would recomend a 7ft med-heavy rod with an okuma spinning reel. I like the 10 bearing model in the 30 size. This should be good for 8 to 12lb test. Good luck, sorry I have no input on the swimbait, I have the same problem with mine, but I like throwing them anyway. Sean

I bend the hook to one side and skin hook it,it does get a little tore up but you just bend it to the middle or the other side when it does happen.It's a soft plastic bait and it will get torn up but what plastic doesn't get hammered when fish take it? Anyways just keep throwing it and working those good points at LMV and it will produce some good fish.

swing hard and you will hook more than you will lose the fish hammer the mission fish with intention of swallowing it.

I have been doing a little experimenting and I think I may have found a simple solution.

I pushed a 1/4 inch piece of 80lb mono through the belly near the bottom of the bait. It keeps the hook from just pulling through, but with minimal force the hook still comes through. It seems like a good way to control how much gap there is between the hook point and the top of the bait too.

I haven't tried it in the water yet and I guess that will be the ultimate test.