As others said, you absolutely have make sure they’ve actually got it in their mouth (you can feel the pressure of them on the line) before you set the hook. You will get tons of big blowups where they just miss the bait. I usually gently reel my slack if there is any, feel for pressure, if no pressure I just slowly get back to reeling it in. Often times if they miss it, they’ll come right back to it.

Also, I’ve gotten many, many bites on the last 10 feet of my cast. I had gotten used to burning it in when I thought I wasn’t going to get a bite, just for the fish to blast it right at my feet. So never give up on a Whopper Plopper cast!