Where was your bass hooked?

[HarveysMinnow]

The discussion in the earlier thread entitled "LINE" reached a point where I began to wonder what part of the bass' mouth gets hooked most of the time. To tell the truth, I've never paid that much attention when de-hooking a bass, but I have a feeling the hooked location depends on a number of factors -- the type of bait, size of the fish, the angle from which he attacks the bait, the timing of the angler's reaction, etc, etc.

I'm not enough of a fish anatomist to know the correct name for the various areas within a bass' mouth, but perhaps some of you are. In any case, it would be interesting to read where the hook seems to most frequently end up in the fish you catch. I do know that I've caught a couple of bass while fly fishing and had the popper literally fall out of his mouth just as I grabbed him. Not sure what that indicates, other than being lucky (or maybe dumb for using a 4# leader, but I was really fishing for bluegill).

As can be seen from watching films of bass feeding and striking varioius lures, when the fish takes the bait, a lot happens within the fishes' mouth in an incredibly short time interval. This makes me think that the location of the hookset could be totally random. Let's have some other opinions, please.

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[keithdog]

I would have to say that most of my bass are hooked in either of two spots. Either the upper portion, "jaw"' of the mouth or deep insode near the throat opening. I'm going to guess it's because the fish is below me when I apply pressure to set the hooks, which would pull the hooks upward. But occationally if both trebles are inhaled I'll get both the upper and lower jaws. But thats not often.

[TN_Bassin]

Originally Posted by HarveysMinnow

I do know that I've caught a couple of bass while fly fishing and had the popper literally fall out of his mouth just as I grabbed him. Not sure what that indicates, other than being lucky (or maybe dumb for using a 4# leader, but I was really fishing for bluegill).


.

Earlier this spring I was fishing a rattle trap and caught a 4-4.5lber while practicing and when my cousin netted the fish the trap fell right out of the fishes mouth. Closer inspection of the mouth showed no damage from hooks, but closer inspection on the line showed where the fish was just holding on to the line. Your little story reminded me of that so i'd thought i'd share.

When you hook a fish, the ideal place to stick them would be in the upper part of the jaw. That happens most frequently when your using a single hook bait. Trebles however are more random. Usually with trebles I guess the hooks end up in the side of the jaw more.

[bassinbob]

I was just up my cabin recently and caught a lot of bass with the horny toad. The majority of them were either top of the mouth or on the right side jaw. I did make sure the toad was skin hooked as opposed to burying the hook. I did catch a few on some other baits and they were hooked mostly in the lower jaw. Did catch a nice channel cat on a sexy shad that was hooked both top and bottom of its mouth.

[walkeraviator]

when they just fall out like that, it means you did your job of keeping tension on teh line.

[fish_hunter]

I agree with TN Bassin 150%...with single hooked baits you usually hook them on the upper portion of the jaw. With trebles, however, its a lot more random.

For example, when I use a TK150 Dropshot or a TK130 Flippin' Trokar hook, the fish is usually caught in the upper lip. There are a few occasions where its on the side, or more near the throat area, but 9 out of 10 times its in the upper jaw.

But when i use a treble topwater or plug, then the hookset is random. Sometimes its the first treble, sometimes the second, sometimes both. The positioning can be in the top jaw, bottom lip, side of the mouth, etc.

Thats just my take on it...

[Abbeysdad]

I think most fish I've ever hooked is side or upper jaw. Once in a blue moon, the hook is deeper, but then it's harder to remove and neither the fish nor I really appreciate the process.

[BassEngineer]

I've hook them in the uppser and the lower jaw, inside, outside, right, left,....
Ideally you would like to hook him in the upper jaw, but your lure could easily turn inside the bass' mouth...which would mean you could hook him anywhere....

[Solidbad]

Most the time i see the hook in the upper jaw. Sometimes i notice it's off to the side but I usually am just glad i caught it and don't care how it happened lol

[Cavs1123]

Most of my hooks land in the roof of the mouth or on the side.

[cassidyta]

I hadn't put much thought into it but decided to pay attention to it this weekend.

On my spinnerbaits almost all were hooked in the corner of the mouth. My jig bites were half in the roof and the other half in the corner.

My drop shot fish were all hooked deeper in the roof of the roof of the mouth.

[Bubba_Bruiser]

I have noticed that since I started rigging my flukes with a Gammy Skip Gap Hook, most of my fish are hooked at 6 o'clock in the mouth. Usually most of mine are hooked from 10-2 though. But it had me wondering why the hook is turned straight down most of the time.