Random Thoughts While Shaving

[Catt]

Every so often our forums are flooded with questions of the touchy subject of how to feel bites when using such techniques as Texas Rigs, Jigs, Wacky Rigs aka techniques that require a lot of feel

The replies that often surface first have to do the sensitivity of our equipment or the lack the of.

There will be comparisons of rods, reels, lines, and the material that our weights are made from.

While these things are helpful and to a degree needful I think what is not taken into consideration is that sensitivity is in the hands of the angler and feeling the "bite" is an interpretation of the brain.

Example

If I took a G. Loomis rod and placed a Core50MG reel on it spooled braided line and tied on a tungsten weighted t-rig would we not all agree this setup to fairly "sensitive"?

Now if I placed this setup in my wife's hands she would not feel a bite any better than if I had given her a Zebco combo.

Why?

Because of a disconnection between the hands and the brain, she does not know what to feel for nor does she care.

Now my hands if a bass farted near it I would know it

[BrianinMD]

Excellent point!

One thing I see when fishing with a lot of guys when they throw these types of baits is a lack of line watching. After the cast they are looking around, talking with their partner or looking at scenery. Sometimes you don't feel the bite for whatever reason but a slight twitch in the line will tell you something is going on.

[Lund Explorer]

Every so often our forums are flooded with questions of the touchy subject of how to feel bites when using such techniques as Texas Rigs, Jigs, Wacky Rigs aka techniques that require a lot of feel

The replies that often surface first have to do the sensitivity of our equipment or the lack the of.

There will be comparisons of rods, reels, lines, and the material that our weights are made from.

While these things are helpful and to a degree needful I think what is not taken into consideration is that sensitivity is in the hands of the angler and feeling the "bite" is an interpretation of the brain.

Example

If I took a G. Loomis rod and placed a Core50MG reel on it spooled braided line and tied on a tungsten weighted t-rig would we not all agree this setup to fairly "sensitive"?

Now if I placed this setup in my wife's hands she would not feel a bite any better than if I had given her a Zebco combo.

Why?

Because of a disconnection between the hands and the brain, she does know what to feel for nor does she care.

Now my hands if a bass farted near it I would know it

Does Know - or - Does Not Know?

I will agree with the disconnect thing. I am always amazed how many times my wife is completely "surprised" when she finally gets a bite. Just after the fish tries to pull her rod out of her hands!

[Catt]

Sorry for any mistakes my kids decided I don't need a computer so the bought the wife & me a Kinder Fire & a Ipad, I bate both.

As with every part of bass fishing the experience we gain the better we be come

To the amazement of most when they first fish with me I'm not big on line watching but 40 yrs of night fishing taught me not.

[J Francho]

I bate both.

LOL, nice! I fixed your original post.

[A-Jay]

Catt I agree whole heartedly. I content that although equipment plays a role here, the fact that some anglers just start with more in the sensitivity "well" as it were, can't be understated. The feeling can be learned but some people can just feel more. It's like hitting a curve ball. Some players are born with the ability to simply wait on it and make solid contact. Others might have to teach themselves to wait on it before they can get on it regularly. And some just never get it.

I think like many things, time and experience are great teachers but when you add that to a higher God given ability there's a decided difference. This might explain why we sometimes get schooled by the guy "in the back of the boat".

A-Jay

[Ima Bass Ninja]

Although i see your point, i must disagree in some respect if i understand what you are saying correctly. I think you are trying to say it is more important to know what a bite before buying the expensive equipment, which i completely agree with. However the equipment is not to blame. Its doing what it is supposed to do . It is transmitting the vibration more than what the lesser equipment would.Hence the higher cost would be justified by the superior product to an avid angler.

P.S

If this deep of stuff is what you think about when shaving i'd hate to hear about what goes through your head while sittin on the throne

[J Francho]

In the kayak fishing classes I taught, I saw many that needed to see the tip of their rod wiggle to detect a bite. They usually had a preference for braid, and didn't fish too many slack or loose line types of baits. It used to blow my mind when a big northern would blast their bait, putting feet of slack in their line, while they were blindly winding away. "Set the hook man!" They'd invariably reel up the slack, hold the rod tip up high, look at the tip, and exclaim, "OHMYGOSHIGOTTAFISH!" LOL. Where you been buddy? That fish has been on for ten seconds. Probably the main point I try to make with anyone is, know what you bait is doing when it ISN'T getting bit. If it isn't doing that, set the hook. It's pretty easy to figure out, since 90% of the time there isn't a fish there.

[Tony Monticelli]

i agree, how your fishing it what your fishing and etc and how sensitive you need something for what your doing is more the question and what sacrifice is made to get it more and more and what point is it sensitive enofe?

try cod fishing LOL there famous at sucking that bait off the hook without a trace but yet its a weird feeling though hard to explain but half the time your like was that a bite, well instead of thinking about it just set the hook because it was.

[Tony Monticelli]

or go ocean fishing with those sensitive rods,,, that will drive you nuts, you'll be setting the hook on nothing every 30 seconds.

[Hyrule Bass]

Although i see your point, i must disagree in some respect if i understand what you are saying correctly. I think you are trying to say it is more important to know what a bite before buying the expensive equipment, which i completely agree with. However the equipment is not to blame. Its doing what it is supposed to do . It is transmitting the vibration more than what the lesser equipment would.Hence the higher cost would be justified by the superior product to an avid angler.

P.S

If this deep of stuff is what you think about when shaving i'd hate to hear about what goes through your head while sittin I the throne

i disagree with the underlined. i think the sensitivity of equipment angle is severely overrated and overstated. if you ask me, the ever so slightest difference in sensitivity is not nearly enough to justify the exorbitant prices of many expensive rods compared to cheaper rods...

[Tony Monticelli]

i disagree with the underlined. i think the sensitivity of equipment angle is severely overrated and overstated. if you ask me, the ever so slightest difference in sensitivity is not nearly enough to justify the exorbitant prices of many expensive rods compared to cheaper rods...

oh just wait a couple years until they find something new to sell and then get it for less than half the cost.. keep it for 5 years and when its discontinued and people can't get it, sell it for a profit.

[Catt]

I loved the why Denny Brauer put it when asked what a jig bite felt like, he answered "I don't know but I do know what it does not feel like". He went on to say don't be embarrassed in set hook on nothin, I still set hook on twigs, limbs, stumps, weeds, rocks or whatever. But at the end of each day I'm totally confident that I at least set hook on every bass that bit my jig.

When in doubt, drop the rod, reel the slack, & set the hook

Until y'all learn this it does not matter if its on a G. Loomis or a Lighting rod!

[scrutch]

I think there were many times when I was getting back into bass fishing, when I had found the fish, dragged a jig through them, and had bites that I never knew about because I was trying to " feel" the bottom with the jig. I'd be trying to pull it over a perceived limb or rock and it was actually a pick up.

[BrianinMD]

Lost track of the number of good size bass I have caught, or my partner has caught, setting the hook just because something felt "different".

Some of my biggest bass have come on little taps some refer to as "bluegill bites". Whenever I hear my boater comment, they got a couple taps but didn't set the hook because they thought it was a bluegill I figure out where they had cast so I can hit that spot next.....

[K_Mac]

Wed evening I was fishing at a local strip pit with a friend. I caught several good fish on a jig. The only indication of a bite was a slight tick when they picked it up. Had I not been there and done that before, I would have missed most of those fish. Yes, I have soft hands that are able to feel a subtle bite, but experience is what has taught me what a subtle bite is. I have fished with some though who wouldn't know they had a bite if the fish jerked the rod from their hand.

[Daniel My Brother]

Great point. When I go fishing with my daughters I often say "Hey, I think you got a fish" while they're holding the rod and talking.

[Scorcher214]

Agreed. Equipment plays a good part of sensitivity. But experienced and focused on feeling for a bite plays a bigger one.

[Bassn Blvd]

i disagree with the underlined. i think the sensitivity of equipment angle is severely overrated and overstated. if you ask me, the ever so slightest difference in sensitivity is not nearly enough to justify the exorbitant prices of many expensive rods compared to cheaper rods...

I hate to say it, but you are oh soooo wrong. My hands are extremely sensitve. Like Catt, I too can feel a fish fart from accross the lake. I'm not sure if my hands are different than the average hand or if my hands have been conditioned to know what they feel.

I can feel a tap tap using a tree limb and kite string, but that tap tap is much more pronounced using my NRX. Don't be too narrow minded that just because you can't feel the tap tap any better with a "high" end rod over a "cheap" rod that it's the rods fault. More than likely it's you.

Now, back to the title of this thread.

My random thought while shaving is "I'm too sexy for beard, too sexy for my beard. Yea, I'm too sexy."

[WookieeJedi]

When I started out, it took me a long time to learn to detect a strike. Once I learned, repetition made it almost feel like instinct. More than just a few years later, I got a severe cervical spinal cord injury and I don't feel my hands very well at all. Strange thing, though, I still catch them by feel. Sometimes I don't even notice I'm setting the hook until it's almost done. Those signals may not be reaching my brain any longer, but my hands and arms seem to know what they are doing.

[Catt]

High end rods, no stretch lines, & tungsten weights absolutely make difference but how much difference is impossible to measure. The reason its impossible to measure is the vast differences in what each angler "feels" & how each angler interprets what is being felt.

When the angler is not sure of what's being felt but he knows what is being felt is not normal then he should set hook.

[gr8outdoorz]

In the kayak fishing classes I taught, I saw many that needed to see the tip of their rod wiggle to detect a bite. They usually had a preference for braid, and didn't fish too many slack or loose line types of baits. It used to blow my mind when a big northern would blast their bait, putting feet of slack in their line, while they were blindly winding away. "Set the hook man!" They'd invariably reel up the slack, hold the rod tip up high, look at the tip, and exclaim, "OHMYGOSHIGOTTAFISH!" LOL. Where you been buddy? That fish has been on for ten seconds. Probably the main point I try to make with anyone is, know what you bait is doing when it ISN'T getting bit. If it isn't doing that, set the hook. It's pretty easy to figure out, since 90% of the time there isn't a fish there.

IMO this is the absolute best advice for anyone new to fishing or having trouble detecting bites!!

[tomustang]

Now my hands if a bass farted near it I would know it

ah-ha, my wife says that with her setup

[Gatorbassman]

You make a good point Catt. I have the opportunity to take new fishermen out almost every day I'm guiding. When the ask that question I do a simple demonstration. I take their lure in my hands and go to the back of the boat and have them stand up in the front of the boat with rod in hand. I tell them to shut their eyes and a take my forceps out of my pocket. With the line semi slack I lightly tap it just above the lure. I ask them if they felt that in their hands and they almost always say yes. I tell them that is a bite..... Problem solved.