zara spook???ahhh it scared me

[KH.]

i been hearing this for quite a while now and decided to buy one 3 days ago.
alright so heres the deal,it was very cloudy and full cloud cover,wind of 5 mph
and there was a little chop in the water.the first thing that went through my mind was topwater.the conditions were perfect!!low light and chop on the water.i knew the fish werent suspended because i could see them attacking shad in the shallow areas.so i found the sharpest dropoff i could find.it was a big break,one part ranging from 5 to 3 feet,and the other part was about 10 the rest of the way.i found some trees in the water from hurricane katrina and decided i would run my topwater parallel to the trees.so i went to my topwater bag and saw that unopened zara spook,just had to try it.tied it on and put some
yum attracant on it and it was ready to fly.took about 15 casts to get a strike and it was probbaly a 5 pound fish.the reason i said probbally was because i never got it to the boat.i saw him blow up on it and reeled up the slack and felt the fish and set the hook.i missed him it happened four times
the next hour and a half.then they stoped hitting it.it probbally had something to do with the wind.i saw that they stoped feeding on the shad
and they probbally were suspened.knowing this i grabed a white/chartruese
buzzbait and caught two small ones in a half an hour.


i dont know what happened with the spook.i never have that problem with a pop-r or any other topwater. I WAS SUPOSED TO BE PRE-FISHIN FOR THE TOURNAMENT

hmmmm i was usin a 7 foot medium heavy rod,i dont know what happened




does anybody have this problem with spooks???

[JB]

Next time keep your rod tip straight up and wait for the feel of some wieght before setting the hook, you may be setting the hook the very instant that you see the strike, and not getting all the hook in her

[KH.]

i never have that problem with other topwaters though.i will try it again tonight and tell yall what happened

[Rebbasser]

i dont know what happened with the spook

I do. I'll be willing to bet you did not check the hooks, and they are not sharp. As good as Heddon baits are, they are almost as bad as Rat-L-Traps for dull hooks. I learned that lesson a long time ago the hard way with a Tiny Torpedo. Which is why I never throw any bait without checking the hooks to make sure they are sharp.

[KH.]

hahaha but you are wrong my friend,i tested the hooks as soon as they came out of the package,and i switched themthey were as dull as dull.i would have a better chance of getting a better hookset with a baseball.yep you heard me baseball.i switched them out reb and maybe sell on ebay(hehehe) but i was way ahead of you.


i am going to big buck sports tomorrow and pickin up some fireline and a high gear ratio reel on one of my 7 foot rods.
and there you have it the solution to this math problem.i will use fireline my favorite no stretch line.a high gear ratio reel so i can real up the abundant amount of slack i use for a perfect "walk the dog" retrieve.and finally a 7 foot rod for quick hooksets.
i hate use that kind of money but hopefully it will be of good use

just a simple equation really
lol

[Rebbasser]

I stand corrected.

[Rodman_Rob]

could be setting the hook to early. When i first started fishing topwaters I often found myself setting the hook the instant I saw the fish blow up on the lure. Now when fishing topwaters, I force myself to hold my rod straight up in the air, this not only gets the lure to the top of the water faster but forces me to reel down when I see the blow up allowing the fish to take the lure. From the time of the blow up to the time I reel down gives the fish just enough time to get the lure in its mouth for my hookset. Once I reel down, a flick of the wrist is all thats needed as I use medium/fast action rods and braid on my topwaters.

On a side note, to test your hooks sharpness, run the point on your thumbnail at a 90 degree angle. If its digs into the nail, its sharp, if it goes over your nail like fingernail polish, well you're probably too girly to be fishing since you knew how fingernail polish went on, but you've got dull hooks as well.

[KH.]

Originally Posted by Rodman_Rob

could be setting the hook to early. When i first started fishing topwaters I often found myself setting the hook the instant I saw the fish blow up on the lure. Now when fishing topwaters, I force myself to hold my rod straight up in the air, this not only gets the lure to the top of the water faster but forces me to reel down when I see the blow up allowing the fish to take the lure. From the time of the blow up to the time I reel down gives the fish just enough time to get the lure in its mouth for my hookset. Once I reel down, a flick of the wrist is all thats needed as I use medium/fast action rods and braid on my topwaters.

On a side note, to test your hooks sharpness, run the point on your thumbnail at a 90 degree angle. If its digs into the nail, its sharp, if it goes over your nail like fingernail polish, well you're probably too girly to be fishing since you knew how fingernail polish went on, but you've got dull hooks as well.

hmmm well aviously you have never fished a zara spook,and if you did you were doing it wrong.walk the dog means light twitches from the SIDE you cant do it holding it up.second of all i havent missed a hookset all year on a topwater.i have missed fish when they throw the bait. today was a wierd one
and i will try to correct it

[KH.]

oh yeah tomm mann jr is the man.i was watchin a show on tv and guess what he was usin,you got it right the spook.he said,"you will miss a lot of fish on this lure(mainley the fishes fault,see the fish see this as a golden oppurtunity to get a easy snack,thus causing a "overblow"and the fish misses it)he said no matter what keep doin the walk-the dog retrieve and if you dont see the lure doin its thing then set the hook.

just another example why little things like that can turn people pro.if i caught those 5 fish i would be at the top of the tournament right now.but hopefully tommorow(which is expected)the same condition will accur,so try to steal my tornament srategy



kevin

[Rodman_Rob]

Originally Posted by kh51501

hmmm well aviously you have never fished a zara spook,and if you did you were doing it wrong.walk the dog means light twitches from the SIDE you cant do it holding it up.second of all i havent missed a hookset all year on a topwater.i have missed fish when they throw the bait. today was a wierd one
and i will try to correct it

oh, well obviously you've never spelled obviously before. i was speaking of topwaters in general when I made that comment, and I can even walk the dog with my pole sticking up in the air. Its not that hard to do leaning the pole to the side a little. it appears from your responses that you can't do any wrong and want an answer from us that will put bass in your boat yesterday. too bad, no more advice from me. I'm glad you haven't missed a hookset all year on topwater..........maybe you should fish top water a little more often as any seasoned veteran has already accepted the fact that top water strikes are more often than not short strikes..............doesn't matter if you're roland martin, kevin van dam, or Joe Smith. If you're fishing topwater, i GUARENTEE bare minimum, 1 out of 10 will miss.

[Rodman_Rob]

Originally Posted by kh51501

second of all i havent missed a hookset all year on a topwater.

sounds like you missed 4 today, was it your first time fishing?

[1FASTLASER]

Obviously kh5101 hasnt fished a spook very much himself or he wouldnt have made the statement.......you where fishing it wrong. The only way you fish ANY bait wrong is to not fish it at all. I have been fishing the spook almost as long as it has been made and have found that a slow walk with the dog is not always the best. MANY MANY times I have RUN the dog and had EXCELLANT results.

[KH.]

Originally Posted by Rodman_Rob

oh, well obviously you've never spelled obviously before. i was speaking of topwaters in general when I made that comment, and I can even walk the dog with my pole sticking up in the air. Its not that hard to do leaning the pole to the side a little. it appears from your responses that you can't do any wrong and want an answer from us that will put bass in your boat yesterday. too bad, no more advice from me. I'm glad you haven't missed a hookset all year on topwater..........maybe you should fish top water a little more often as any seasoned veteran has already accepted the fact that top water strikes are more often than not short strikes..............doesn't matter if you're roland martin, kevin van dam, or Joe Smith. If you're fishing topwater, i GUARENTEE bare minimum, 1 out of 10 will miss.

actually i spelled it right.maybe you can walk the dog with holding it straight,but i cant.i was pre-fishing for tournament this morning and caught 7 in 2 hours with the biggest wheighing in at 4 pounds and the rest were barely 12 inches.every time they struck at at it the first time they missed but i kept
retrieving knowing that they would miss and 5 seconds they would pop it again.

the popper i use is a excalibur pop-n-image and i can see it quite well.i have never misssed a fish on this and let me tell you why.i can see it from a far distance and when getting a strike i reel in the slack i simpily look for the lure or my line moving.when i see this i set the hook.i dont "feel"the fish becuse then your gently putting hook pressure on the fish and theres a better chance of it just simpily letting go since its not hooked yet.

[basstech]

All I can say is I never "wait" to feel the fish. If you can feel it...it can probably feel you too. I just wait to see the bait is gone..and set the hook.

[H2O]

Originally Posted by kh51501

....

the popper i use is a excalibur pop-n-image and i can see it quite well.i have never misssed a fish on this and let me tell you why.....

Since you have NEVER missed a fish on popper, why don't you keep using it all the time! However, IMO, if the dog is walkin smoothly enough; and you are not as excited as the fish to pull off the Spook out of BASS mouth early, it's hard to miss a 5lb BASS! or even a 5LB blow up! I mean other species such as pike miss spook a lot, but not a 5lb Bass. If a >5lb bass decides to hit the lure, most time she will strike it very solidly and hooks her by herslef! So I just simply wait until I feel (not to see) she runs away, and then give my line a little bit power to push the hook deeper in her mouth. I think I miss some fish cuz I set hook too late, however I almost never miss a bass like 5lb size.

I believe it's more often that we simply pull off the spook out of a big bass' mouth (such as a 5LB )rather than she spits it off.

I like spook cuz BIG bass likes the lure's action.

[KH.]

yeah if i didnt have the spook i wouldnt of used it,but i decidedto give it a try.i figured out my problem and hooking up with them Quite well.yeah i think i missed that 4 pounder because it was the biggest blow up i have ever seen and stood in amazement.

[H2O]

Keep trying it, don't give up! I will feel as comfortably as popper. And trust me, Spook will brings you more BIG bass than any other top water lures Another advantage is spook or any same kind walkin' dog definitely covers more surface than others due to its long and easy casting.

[KH.]

in late summer the pop-r was my go to lure.keeping in mind that topwaters are better in the fall,i didnt how crazy they where going to do to it.i figured out the problem and i fixed it

[dodgeguy]

I have a friend who fishes a spook a lot.use mono and a softer rod.wait until you feel weight.even then a spook is not a high percentage hook up bait to begin with.i have seen days where he will loose %50 of the fish that hit it.sometimes they don't bite it they just side slap it or knock it up in the air.it sure is a fun bait to fish with even if you do miss a few.

[KH.]

hell yeah it was fun they hit it hard

[thomas32140]

im just wonderin which spook r you using the zara puppy the zara spook jr or the zara spook

[thomas32140]

ok i just got finished looking through my tackle box and found a super spook jr it is a baby bass color. will it do any good right now? should i try other colors?

[Dyas]

I like the clear and silver colores....... The frog and baby bass are also very goodcolors. I would pick up a clear one and a silver in a minnow pattern in case the baby bass doesnt cut it.......... Dont wait to feel the fish. As soon as you see the line moving stick em'

[KH.]

its a spook jr and its a wierd color and hard to explain,yellow and blue