like said before, your probably not getting the hook set in deep enough. i saw a prime example of this, this last weekend. i've really gotten into fishing bobbers, but my dad was fishing with me and rarely uses a bobber. i hooked and landed almost every fish i had a bobber down on, but my dad lost over 1/2 the fish he had on. this is very unusual for him. it was directly due to the hook sets! if you have lots of line on the water, it makes it kind of hard to set the hook. now your not supposed to have any line on the water but, many times it can't be helped. i gave him a couple of tips that helped. if you have a lot of line on teh water and a fish hits, use the line as an extension of the rod, and use it to help set the hook. the other tip i told him was, to think of it as a spring salmon bite, kind of let them take it while reeling up the slack and then hammer it home, with a mondo hookset! the tips worked, because after he watched me he figured it out and his landing ratio increased quite dramaticly. hope this helps ya.