Rattle trap/Red eye shad???

[Jimmy RodandReel]

I'm losing way too many fish on these baits.

I'm using Mustad x3 grip hooks and they are sharp as heck but it does not seem to matter. Stock hooks, after market hooks I'm still losing a bunch of fish.
 This weekend I lost 3 fish over 4pnds that would have won my club tournament and last year I lost a huge fish that would have went well over 10 on a redeye.  What am I doing wrong?

[Wizard]

You may not be doing anything wrong. Often, anglers use too stiff of a rod for lipless cranks. A medium action rod with a parabolic bend works the best. It allows some "give" to the rod when the bass fights harder and quickly re-bends to keep the bait tight in the bass' mouth. Bass throw the bait when the line gets some slackness in it. A rod with a parabolic bend helps to prevent that. Another thing that happens is the hard bait turns slightly in the bass' mouth and the bass uses the bait itself to pull loose the hooks. Nothing you can do to prevent that. When I use lipless cranks, I cast them about 50% of the time and vertical jig them about 50%.

[Bullet3119]

I changed which rod I was using and it helped a ton!

[Curt]

As @Wizard mentioned, a rod that's to stiff will cause this a lot Jimmy.

Lipless cranks are known for losing fish and a lot of it is because the bait is small but fairly heavy. The weight of it is all concentrated in a small area, so when a bass shakes it's head, the weight of the lure works like a lever to their advantage.

I typically use a medium action rod with these baits, vs. a medium heavy. And be sure to use line with some stretch to it, not fluoro or braid. Because of its stretchy properties, Berkley Big Game works well.