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To be fair, he's hardly likely to tell you to use Fox Arma Points is he

It is the hookpulls that to me makes me think the hair was too short, so lengthening it you have gotten them to take a bit more confidently. Again, on the extreme edge of the mouth, I would possibly add a little bit more length until hooks were firmly embedded centre of bottom lip. The other way possibly to get better hookholds could actually be to feed a bit more, so the fish are feeding a bit more confidently as well. I have always considered in my mind that confident feeding fish don't necessarily inspect, or suck and blow hookbaits as much as those that are not feeding comfortably, so increasing your groundbait (particles groundbait or whatever background feed), may lead them to be more confident. If they really do start feeding comfortably though, and get pre-occupied, then shortening the hair may be the answer. I know, blooming circles again! Beanz makes a fair point in hook and hair position, and I think I have mentioned it in the past? Remember the pic: Where the hair leaves the hook; From thejust below the eye as KD, then the hook may well be going in point downwards, and as it is blown out, then automatically hooks the lip. From the eye itself, may be going in backwards, and be blown out, and from the bend of the hook, can be blown out backwards, so the point is still facing the throat, no chance of a hookhold. So my preference has been for the hair to leave the shank of the hook, opposite the barb/point of the hook.

well I now know exactly how big the pike I lost last week was! I took my friend Colin for his first ever pike trip yesterday, and on his 2nd cast with a smelt on the float rod he landed a 9lb pike, a very tentative take, that the float merely twitched on. He wasn't sure about it, so I told him to hit it. A very scrappy pike then surfaced, and had taken the bait very confidently on the spot, and was for such a take, deeply hooked About 3 hours later he flicked a ledgered smelt under the tree to the left and within 20minutes had another indication of 3 bleeps, which he hit quickly and played himself a decent pike to the landing net. As I lifted the net under it, I could only laugh and he couldn't work out why. When I lifted it onto the mat, there was around 6feet of my line that had some very large abrasion rubs across it, and my trace in the corner of its mouth, which I managed to remove easily, although his trace was very deep and in the stomach. I immediately cut t he line from his rod, so that attached to the trace was just a foot length of line, and no rod hanging around. An over officious bailiff then started to make life very awkward. I have unhooked goodness knows how many deep pike, and always found that even with a big fish, a small pair of forceps I can free deep hooked fish by going in carefully through the gill rakers, someone gently pull the line/trace, and I can unhook the trebles with no damage. I had the bailiff telling me I should go in the front, with a pair of long noses, which with my head looking at what I was doing, my left hand holding the mouth open in the gill flaps the other side and astride the fish on the unhooking mat, and my mate gently holding the line to prevent it going back in as far as I was concerned was not an option. I also had him telling me to pull the fish backward and forward in the margins to flush it through! I unhooked and sorted, weighed it and got a mat picture within 3 minutes, which with an extra trace in, I reckon is acceptable, and when I held it in the margins for release, she swam away strongly I really feel for Colin as it was the fish of a lifetime, and his 2nd ever pike at 24lb, I could not get a decent picture as the bailiff was so panicky, and he wouldn't let Colin lift it for a pic.