WTF is up with setting the hook using poppers?

[Livewyre]

I've tried every possible technique and there seems to be no way to actually set the hook using a popper. Is it pure rng or what? If so, thats just lazy game design. I don't mind it requiring a certain skill lvl but NOTHING works. The fish either hooks itself on the strike or it drags the popper a few feet and lets it go...

[Lenny Rat]

The best method I have found is to pop twice then rest one count, then twice again. Never stop reeling. It is the popping action that seems to snatch the popper from the fish when they are trying to strike. Always speed 1.

If you see a wake forming behind, stop popping and just keep reeling until he strikes or loses interest.

[gazza]

had the same issue yesterday, hooked 1 out of 20 fish, also on some lakes the popper sits flat on top of the water, others the rear of the popper drops down.

[Madkeen]

The fish just don't want the lure that much. Sometimes they keep spitting the lure on me too. Othertimes I hook the same fish with the same lure one after the other. The other lures and baits in the game do the same thing. Many of those bumps and missed strikes with underwater lures and baits are the fish spitting the lure as well, you just do not see it happening, Sometimes I change lures many times in one session chasing the one species because the fish suddenly stop getting hooked. So, like real fishing, if what you are doing is not working try something else.

[shadrays]

In my experience there is no way to set the hook, as Lenny said, speed 1 and never stop reeling, you really only need to pop it a few times over the course of a cast.

Maybe its a thing and maybe not but some time ago I began a quest to win the muskie topping event and I ran into the issue of the fish coming up behind the lure and hitting it then simply darting away, as the OP stated there seemed to be no way to prevent this or entice the fish to take the lure, during my time trying to work out this event I discovered that if I lowered my drag setting a few notches below where I would normally run it for that set up I would almost never miss a strike (ended up winning twice)
Again maybe its just me but lowering the drag really seems to work, why I don't know, maybe its a resistance thing in the fish AI.
Whatever the case its something to try, maybe it'll work for you.

[Capt_Mac_141]

Originally posted by shadrays:

In my experience there is no way to set the hook, as Lenny said, speed 1 and never stop reeling, you really only need to pop it a few times over the course of a cast.

Maybe its a thing and maybe not but some time ago I began a quest to win the muskie topping event and I ran into the issue of the fish coming up behind the lure and hitting it then simply darting away, as the OP stated there seemed to be no way to prevent this or entice the fish to take the lure, during my time trying to work out this event I discovered that if I lowered my drag setting a few notches below where I would normally run it for that set up I would almost never miss a strike (ended up winning twice)
Again maybe its just me but lowering the drag really seems to work, why I don't know, maybe its a resistance thing in the fish AI.
Whatever the case its something to try, maybe it'll work for you.

Tried it, (reduced drag setting on retrieve), works for me.

Thanks for the tip. o7

[moonpiespotlight]

Never had a problem. IRL you don't set the hook on a popper based on visual indication. You wait for the feel since the fish first has to knock the lure underwater then will inhale it. They rarely take it from the surface right into their mouths. In the game we cannot feel the strike, so I wait for the indicator to show tension. At that point I set the hook. The technique isn't hard, as long as you hear the popping sound and see at least one dot. I do the popper like a horse trot... left mouse..right mouse almost overlapping with only a half second pause between pops. It works.

Topwater fishing IRL involves as many blowups without a connection as it does actually hookups, if not more. It's very common to have several fish take a swing at a topwater bait before one ever commits. In the real world you can just throw something else behind it right away like a trick worm or something they can see, but in the game once the fish is gone he's gone.

[Maj.Tryhard]

@Moonpie Yeah, it's very simplified in the game. In reality, topwater seems like one of the most difficult ways to fish. You really have to have your technique down.