Well as far as getting them to sitck, I have carried over my saltwater technics. I don't swing to set the hook which may be some what of a natural reaction if you have fished a lot of jigs and worms. I would swing if the fish picked up the bait either when it was falling or if it were dead in the water and then started to swim away with it but that circumstance has rarely presented it's self to me with freshwater bass. If you fish saltwater and throw the iron especially light surface iron you will what I'm talking about.

I have had most my success with keeping the bait moving. I seem to get bit best just slow rolling but that might just be my preference. I think it really depends on the action of the bait. For example You want to swim the bait at the speed which produces the best action for that particular bait but of course what you might think is the best action and what a bass percieves as the best action may be completely different. That's where time on the water learning your baits will come in to play.

Now about hook sets. I use the cranking power of the reel to set the hook. I try not the lift the rod tip because this often times will result in one of two outcomes. First being that it pulls lure out of the fishes mouth and the second is that it can cause the fish to go airborn often with violent shakes. At this point beware your big bait may coming back at you with high vilosity. I generally wind down hard and fast sometimes adding side sweeping motion towards either my right or left but only if the rod has started to load up. I never stop winding as long as the fish is facing toward me and it keeps coming. When it gets turned around on you is when the true battle really begins. I've landed some fish that just never got turned around and came straight in. I had one nice fish that never had a chance to get turned around. It struck the lure close to shore and momentem of the strike combined with a hard cranking hook set put the fish right on to the bank. Hope the info helps.

JerryG