Bad decisions result in poor hookups

[macgyver]

Well as many of you know I don't consider myself much of a crankbait guy, but have been working pretty hard on them this year. I learned a lot, but still have a ways to go. Anyway as the heading states when you make poor decisions on the water, then usually hookups/hooksets usually is one of the first things that suffer. I went out this past weekend and decided to really hit the cranks hard. I threw shallows runners, Rat-L-Trap's, husky jerks. I caught fish on all of them ;D. However I also missed fish on all of them. The reason I believe I missed so many were due to some bad decisions on the water.
1. I was using a MH rod, with little flex
2. I was using Fireline, a NO-STRETCH line
3. I was trying to set the hook too much like a rigged Plastic

IMO all of the above had to due with my poor hooksets. I could be wrong, but would have to say that only 50%-60% hook up ratio is poor with a crankbait. That saying that I caught 10 and missed 8-10 on these cranks. The good news is I got them all to draw strikes, the bad news is a lot of missed opportunities to put fish in the boat. Now that you read what bad decisions I made, and how it cost me a lot of fish, maybe you will be more attentative to what you're doing to keep from loosing fish also. Such as always have your hook sharp. I have said it many times here, that my preferred setup for cranks is a Medium rod, with mono for it forgiving nature. I however failed to comply with this, thinking I was good enough to compensate for it. Well obviously I was wrong. :-[ So especially for you tourny guys, this could've definately made a huge difference in your placing and payout. I will still use the Fireline if working deep diving cranks, for the thinner line, but I will make sure I'm using my Medium rod

Lizards