ESPN

Despite advertising to the contrary, modern bass fishing is sometimes not all that modern. Granted, the boats look like gelcoated rocket ships. Our rods and reels are made from the most technologically advanced composite materials. And now we've got revolutionary soft plastics that can stretch from here to next week.

Yet, amidst all this so-called "high tech," the science of hooking, fighting and landing bass has not changed substantially since Dr. James Henshall wrote his seminal work The Book of the Black Bass in 1881.

But in some ways, the current crop of bass anglers act as though they have forgotten what modern marvels are at their disposal. Chemically sharpened hooks. No-stretch line. Seven- and even 8-foot rods that transmit power and performance in nanoseconds. These are advancements that make the job of placing a hook solidly in a fish's mouth that much easier.

So why do so many bass fishermen persist in using hook setting techniques that were popularized in the late 1970s?

Disco is dead. So is the necessity of "crossing their eyes."

First, the modern hook requires far less setting force than ever before. Second, low- or no-stretch fishing lines deliver hook setting power in a demonstrably more efficient way. Third, longer, lighter and more responsive rods put all of this technology at an angler's fingertips.

Instead of bending deeply at the waist, reeling down and firing back with mammoth force, these new implements demand far less in terms of hook setting power. In fact, the pressure they are capable of generating could easily overtax one's knots — still the weakest link in the chain.

With all of these improvements in hardware, is it any wonder that stories of break-offs and lost fish persist? The firepower behind the hook set has to be delivered in concert with the equipment being used.

It's a subtle adjustment to be sure, but an important one nevertheless.

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