Amidst all of the crazy hustle and bustle of the ICAST 2012 show, Pops and I had the chance to sit back and talk fishing for a while with famed big bass hunter Bill Siemantel at the Spro booth.
Opportunities like this don’t come at you every day, so we made sure to take advantage.
The thing about talking to a guy like Bill is you are going to get a serious amount of information coming at you fast and furious—and this isn’t theory…
Bill has honed his craft like few others, catching lunker size bass over 10 pounds on a regular basis. It is not an exaggeration to say that Bill has forgotten more about bass fishing than I will probably ever know. He gave us a lot of outstanding information, but one tip really stood out.
When we started talking about setting the hook, he offered us a couple of simple changes you can make to your technique to make sure you are landing more bass.
Holding The Rod
I know for a fact that most people don’t pay the slightest attention to holding the rod.
If you are out there with a casting reel, this can be a huge mistake.
The first thing you need to do is cradle the reel, almost with an underhand grip. Allow the handle of your rod to rest along your forearm, as if your were cradling a baby.
Not only will this put you at a mechanical advantage, but it will also allow you to fish all day because you aren’t using strength to hold the rod.
The Baseball Swing Hook Set
Setting the hook properly involves sweeping the rod as if you were swinging a baseball bat. Now, this part isn’t new information, but the next part is pure gold.
The direction of your rod sweep is absolutely key.
Most people swing away from the hand that they have cranking on the reel. This can lead to losing big fish and plenty of them.
If you get a big strike that takes you by surprise, sweeping away from your cranking hand means you lose contact with the reel handle, and in the time it takes you to get your hand back on the reel, you’ve probably lost the fish.
Instead, sweep your rod toward the cranking hand.
This will ensure that you are constantly in contact with the reel handle, and you can crank the slack line up like crazy. When you sweep, concentrate on getting five solid cranks on the rod handle, taking up as much line as possible. Now, you can keep cranking, and let the rod move back to the starting position, taking in line the whole time.
Just like that, you’ve got a solid hook set, and you are fighting the fish.
This wasn’t the only tip we got from Bill Siemantel—he is a guy that elevates fishing to the level of art form—but we thought that this tip would be something you could put into practice immediately and it would make you a better fisherman.