How To Detect Strikes On A Slack Line?

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

Ok cool. So do you leave the reel engaged or locked? On rivermonsters he leaves it free. But then again he is getting humongous fish. :-)

[WRB]

Learning to interpret what a strike looks and feels like with a variety of soft plastic presentations takes time because each technique is different.

Drop shot using a spinning outfit on light line is very different than using a bait caster with a sliding bullet sinker T-rig. The weight is blow the worm on a drop shot, it's difficult to run the line over your finger tip with a spinning reel, so with the drop shot/spinning reel your rod becomes very important because the bass feels the line tension before you can react to the change, a softer rod tip helps and becomes a strike indicator.

With a bait casting reel you can easily run the line under your thumb and over the finger index finger tip, both very sensitive to slight line pressure changes. You can feel the line slap when working a drop shot for example, if the line slaps or tightens slightly into slack line when you are not working the rod tip you just had a strike. Don't wait seconds to set the hook, bass don't have hands.

The T-rig on a spinning outfit is a similar problem to drop shot rig, difficult to feel the line, some folks can use their index finger effectively, I can't. The T-rig requires a firmer rod tip to get hook sets than drop shot and I prefer a baitcasting outfit for that reason, plus feeling the line is easy.

I mention fishing at night to quickly learn how to detect strikes by feel, try it.

Tom

[Pz3]

Usually I keep the rod off to my side so i can give the fish a couple feet to play with the bait if he decides to run. Slowly point strait and then set the hook.

Otherwise I reel in the slack carefully and set it.

Always engage your reel as soon as possible. If you are waiting for the bait to sink, while feeding line out for the depth.... be ready for a hook set. A lot of people miss the strikes on the fall for this reason.

[WRB]

When you feel any indication the bass has you soft plastic set the hook instantly if not sooner!

Only 2 things can happen if you hesitate; 1, the bass spits out your lure, 2 the bass swallows your lure, both are bad.

The exceptions are smallmouth and spotted striking soft plastics that resemble crawdads with claws, both these bass like to bite the claws to remove them before engulfing the bug. A largemouth simply engulf everything and kill it by crushing it in the back of their mouth.

Missed strikes are common with underwater soft plastics and jigs due to not detecting the strike. It's been my experience that a top pro bass angler detects about 50% of the strikes and rarely misses getting hooks sets.

The top pro is batting about 500, excellent average. The good weekend or club angler is batting around 300, good average. The average recreational bass angler doesn't detect 75% of the strikes and hooks about 50% of the strikes detected for a 125 average.

Before you jump off the couch and start yelling at me that You are a better bass angler than 125 batting average, try buying into this and improve your strike detection techniques to improve your numbers for bass caught using underwater soft plastics and jigs.

If you believe you can catch as many bass as a top pro or top club angler using soft plastics and don't believe the pro can out fish you 5 to 1, then disregard improving strike detection.

Tom

[Grant Schuen]

i know when a fish is on my bait when the line is being slowly pulled away and the slack line is picked up.

if you feel a series of rapid ticks it is usually a bluegill.

[gallowaypt]

You should be feeling for any tics, change in pressure (i.e. more or less resistance or tension on the line), and anything that feels different in general!

[Pz3]

Blue gill and pickeral have very rapid ticks and small bass.

[boostr]

One rapid tick from a pickeral...Tie on a new bait.

[Fishes in trees]

If you've ever fished for trout using a sinking fly, you know what a strike indicator is.  Using lightly colored braid (for spinning gear, my current preference is Fireline Crystal) functions more of less like a strike indicator.  Off and on I play around with making/ using a floating strike indicator for my drop shot fishing.  The best I can report right now is mixed results for that effort.

[Violinguy]

You should be feeling for any tics, change in pressure (i.e. more or less resistance or tension on the line), and anything that feels different in general!

 

Yep.  This is what I go by.  I know what it feels like to pull on the rod and feel the regular resistance of the lure, so anything that doesn't feel like that, I give it a hook set.  As I've gotten more experienced, I can rule out weeds and other resistance as well, so I definitely know what's a fish and what's a rock, log, or weeds. 

 

With the newer salty/scented plastics, fish hold on to the bait for a long time so when you reel in a little slack to move your bait, you will feel that "tap tap" that lets you know you got some action.

[jhoffman]

If you've ever fished for trout using a sinking fly, you know what a strike indicator is.  Using lightly colored braid (for spinning gear, my current preference is Fireline Crystal) functions more of less like a strike indicator.  Off and on I play around with making/ using a floating strike indicator for my drop shot fishing.  The best I can report right now is mixed results for that effort.

 

I think thats why I can feel it so well and it definitely DOES matter what rod is in your hand. I have a fly rod that almost gives me a sixth sense, I can lay it to them before an indicator would ever move. I still miss fish. A cheap rod you really cant feel it, ive proven it to myself multiple times over the years and im sure some will not agree however Ive seen catch rates increase tremendously from one rod to the next.

[geo g]

Wow, tons of good information in those posts.  You can tell there are a lot of good fishermen on this site.  I will throw my two cents into the mix. 

 

Great advice, be a line watcher!  It doesn't mean you don't concentrate on feel too.  I often throw plastics on a slack fall.  I don't keep the line slack all the time but definitely on the fall.  Especially when weightless, and I go weightless often,  especially with senkos and trick worms.  I want them to dance as they fall to the bottom.   Weightless they will dance and dart as they fall.  I let them sit on the bottom slack for quite some time. During the pause I will watch for any movement.

On the retrieve if you jerk and give slack immediately that senko will walk side to side even on the bottom.  Just like walking a zara spook but slower.  When I let it sit I give some slack, but go back to watching the line.  The side to side action will knock them dead.  Practice in a pool, where you can watch the action of the bait.   Zoom Trick Worm walk great also.   Don't forget to pause and let it sit still.  Many of the bites occur while sitting there. 

 

I use Trilene 100% Professional Floro.  I can feel everything going on at the end of the line.  I can feel what type of bottom, and type of veggies that are down there.  Not all Floros are the same, find one you can handle.  It took me a while, but now I have eliminated many of the problems with floro, and now love the stuff.  It took a while.

 

Good luck, the more you do it, the better you'll get.  Just keep doing it until you need glasses.  Lol !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

[hatrix]

The art of feeling a worm bite is a fine combination of watching your line & feeling for unnatural sensations of what your lure shouldn't feel like. Some times you will feel that ckassic "tap", some times you'll only see line movement, some times your line will simply go slack, but some times there will only be a feeling of heaviness that is almost like your lure will not move

Feeling a worm or jig bite requires keeping a certain amount of tension on your line while at the same time keeping a certain amount of slackness in your line. To the average angler this makes no sense at all but to the worm/jig angler it makes total sense.

This^^

It's not knowing what a bite feels like. It's knowing what a fish feels like. Its some change in the way your line feels being heavy or slack. Everyone can feel when a fish actually ticks a lure or when your line starts swimming away.