What’s The Best Hookset Technique To Land More Flounder?

What’s the best hookset for flounder or fluke???

A buddy of mine thinks the “lift set” is the way to go while I use a very sharp “slam set” popularized by bass anglers you likely have seen on television.

But which one will produce more hookups and land you more fish?

I hit the water to find out!!

What’s The Best Hookset For Flounder? [VIDEO]

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Equipment Used:

This experiment lasted over the course of 3 trips and I caught 40 fluke in total.

The same exact rig was used for both types of hooksets.

Would the lift set or the slam set catch more fish?

I alternated hooksets every single time I got a bite.

One lift set and then the next the slam set.

The lift set is basically just lifting the rod tip up quickly.

The slam set is really aggressive to drive that hook into the mouth securely.

The inspiration for this test was a buddy of mine who uses and relies on the lift set.

My thought was the slam set secures more bites and you lose more fish on the lift set.

So I needed to back that up with some numbers and on-the-water research.

As I mentioned earlier, this was across 3 different days of fishing to get a lot of data.

Final Results & Conclusions

I tallied up the 40 fish I caught over the course of those 3 days.

It came out to 20 fish for the lift set and 20 for the slam set – as it should because I was alternating.

However, I looked further into the numbers to see which fish were successfully hooked and landed.

10 fish were hooked and landed on the lift or sweep set.

14 fish were caught and landed on the harder slam set.

So I missed 10 fish on the lift set and 6 fish on the slam set.

At the end of the day, I ended up catching more fish on the harder slam set than on the lift set.

Overall, I think this was due to where the fish was hooked and how deeply the hook sank in.

The fish hooked using the lift set would either spit the hook in the net or it would just fall out of their mouths.

Whereas on the slam set fish, I had to work the hook free from their jaws.

This is not scientific and this is not to say this is the ultimate research for flounder or fluke hooksets.

But if I were to continue to target flounder and fluke, I’d go with the slam hookset.

What type of hookset do you currently use and why?

Do you think you catch more fish with your preferred technique?

Get the conversation started down below in the comments section!!

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Bill B
9 months ago

I’d be interested to know the hookup ratio between the two methodologies after missing on the first attempt. I prefer the lift method because I believe you have a better shot at hooking up after missing the initial hit(s) with the lift method. Also, the summer flounder are less aggressive in the early season here in NY when the water is cold, so the lift method is preferred.

Bill Travers
9 months ago

Very interesting. I almost always slam. But good point on smaller fish and lift set. Thumbs up!

Steven Free
9 months ago

Because I usually catch about 95 percent of my flounder on a zman spinnerbait usually when they hit itnthey seem to set the hook themselves but I still give it a quick snap of the wrist to be sure but very rarely do I loose flounder because the hook was not set right not trying to brag or make myself out to be the perfect angler but I catch alot of flounder on mostly spinnerbaits slowrolled by oyster mounds or pitched in and around grasslines with scattered oysters and under docks all with a baitcasting rod is the way I do it alot of guys think that a finger mullet or mudminnow on a fishfinder rig is the only way well I got news for them I hate and not very confident in any live bait to much stink and hassel keeping whatever it is your using alive about the only thing that I use that comes close to the stink if live bait is a gulp paddletail but boy do they work anyways different strokes for different folks in otherwords what works for some sometimes not with others thanks for the info and all you do😉👍

Wes Lomax
9 months ago

Glad to see this because I use that “Bill Dance” hookset pretty often. Does this change when you are rigged weedless with a weighted hook? what if there is a weed guard wire? Does it change the length of time between feeling the bite and the hookset or how you set the hook?

Adriel Calo
9 months ago

This video is helpful. I’m a lift set guy and I do feel I am losing some fish. I’ll try the slam set. Do you crimp the barbs on your hooks? I’ve been thinking of starting to crimp mine for quick release but I haven’t out of fear of missing fish.

Last edited 9 months ago by Adriel Calo
Jason Coles
9 months ago

Man this video was amazing.. Never have i caught that many Flounder! 40 plus in 3 days my goodness that’s a dream week!

Allan Butler
9 months ago

Thanks for the testing!
Out of curiosity, how sharp were your hooks? Most new hooks/jigs “out to the box” are not all that sharp and need “touching-up” to make them “sticky” (can not be dragged over a fingernail). I think that with hooks that are not as sharp as they could be, a more aggressive hookset can help even more… I use a more aggressive hook set for myself and my clients and videos show how they will come back even if you tickle them! Also, you can see in John Skinners Videos how fluke sucks the whole “bait” in and if on the hook set, you are not “moving” the hook, it will not find purchase.

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