The top 10 fishing mistakes—and how to avoid them!

#4 DON’T SHARPEN YOUR HOOKS

Do you pay a few dollars more for premium jigs poured around quality hooks? Do you replace the stock treblehooks on your newly purchased surface baits, jerkbaits and crankbaits with the finest hooks money can buy? Do you keep a diamond hook sharpener in your pocket whenever you’re fishing? If your answer is no to any of those questions, you’re missing multiple fish every time you head out—and they could be trophies of a lifetime.

My buddy Bob Izumi is the most fastidious angler I’ve ever fished with, and the fussiest when it comes to sharp hooks. He gets angry if you don’t sharpen your hook, for example, if you nick a rock, log or underwater obstruction. Ditto if you don’t touch it up after you land a fish. How many times have you set the hook on a fish, then exclaimed, “Whoa, he got off,” or, my all-time favourite, “He dropped the hook.” ’Nuff said.