Eye-Opening Observation

[kikstand454]

That video was awesome. That spinnerbait bite at the end was eye opening!

[Catt]

There is a length of time in which as series if events occur, starting with the bass inhalung your lure, followed by you feeling the strike or not, & ending with the bass exhaling your lure. If you are late in detecting that strike & setting hook in the bottom half of that time frame your bite/hookup ratio will be diminished.

The problems of bite detection, when to set hook & with how much authority is the reasons some do not fish a Texas Rig or Jig-n-Craw.

[Raul]

Gentlemen, I placed a thread not long ago called Know Your Prey, the link to the full movie Bigmouth Forever is there.

[boostr]

Many other times they hit and spit it so fast I barely have any time to set the hook.

I've seen that happen many times, by the time your finger even touches the crank to reel in the slack it's too late.

[A-Jay]

At night all your senses heighten because it's usually quite and you can't see well so you become more aware.

The other factor is the bass are often more active at night and less aware of our presence, it all adds up to better "feel" of what's going on underwater. You must concentrate to feel you lure without outside interference, hard to shut out the sun and daytime distractions.

Tom

 

 

It is ridicules to eliminate any of your senses when fishing. To think you should only fish at night is ridicules as well. Use all your senses, and during daylight fishing you will see movement in the line before you feel it. Now if you want to fish entirely at night without a moon, then close your eyes and play blind. To give up the importance to sight while fishing is just plain stupid. Using all your senses is the only thing that makes any sense at all, that includes sight, sound, feel, smell, and any other sense you may have mastered. Anything less makes absolutely NO Sense!!!!!

 

 geo g, using "ridiculous" ( defined as; arousing or deserving ridicule:  extremely silly or unreasonable : absurd, preposterous) is a poor choice of words.

 

Your post indicates little to no night fishing experience.  You are missing out on one of bass fishing's truly magical experiences and I'd urge you to give it a try.

 

As mentioned by a few Very Accomplished anglers here, the benefits are many.  Additionally, you can't realize them reading about it.  You'll have to get out on the water as see (or not) for yourself.

 

A-Jay

[einscodek]

In summer you have a plethora of weeds which when ticked can really put you on yer heels when trying to "feel a bite"

I am talking about the subtlest bites where you feel a tick and have a split second to either set the hook or check if its a lifeless weed.. these kind of bites will always be problematic as they can spit it out lightning quick.

I dont think there is a good rule to solve this problem esp around underwater summer weeds.

If it were open water, any slight tick and I'm setting the hook fast but doing this around weeds just guarantees you  minutes of unraveling weeds and ruined plastics.

I also find this more of a problem for finesse presentations

[Master Bait'r]

 

All the while, I felt nothing.....no tick, no jerk. Nothing. I was using braid - pretty sensitive stuff. I was using a Crucial rod - definitely not junk. The only way I knew I had a fish on was seeing the lure disappear in the fish's mouth, then I could set the hook.

 

Makes me wonder in other circumstances how many times I've had a fish with my lure in its mouth, while I stood there unaware, admiring the scenery.......

 

 

This is why I try to leave a little slack in the line and obsessively stare at the line on the surface as it floats there between the tugs when working unweighted t-rigged plastics around.  The second I see it twitch or move in the least- and often you'll never feel it- whip a hook set.  I've capitalized on literally dozens and dozens of tiny tastes taken by bass once I started doing this.  Often it is impossible to feel what they're doing, but there is a feedback even if it is microscpoic and you can see it if you're concentrating ridiculously hard on what your line is doing.   

 

 

I hope that helps!  

[senile1]

I find the reason that I don't always care for fishing wacky-rigged Senkos is that it requires so much concentration... I'm staring at the line the whole time.  Sometimes I just want to relax and chunk-and-wind a crankbait or spinnerbait/chatterbait, but today, the bass wouldn't play nice and I had to pitch the Senko.  

 

I won't fault anyone for fishing in the manner they want to fish as long as they enjoy it.  More power to you. 

 

For me though, fishing baits like jig/craw combinations that require concentration, and feeling the bait every step of the way, is what I love the most about fishing for bass.  To catch a large bass on a bait where I have to recognize a bite that isn't obvious is one of the greatest feelings in fishing.  I enjoy working it through thick brush and having to feel my way through it to avoid getting hung up.  When I have to do that, I know that it is likely my lure is in the right place for a good fish.  Every bait you use has its time and place.  When the fish are hunkered down in cover, baits that require concentration are paramount to catching fish.

 

We never know how many bites we miss.  We can only work to increase the concentration needed to miss fewer and fewer bites and there is lots of good advice in this thread on how to do that.

[desmobob]

I won't fault anyone for fishing in the manner they want to fish as long as they enjoy it.  More power to you. 

 

For me though, fishing baits like jig/craw combinations that require concentration, and feeling the bait every step of the way, is what I love the most about fishing for bass. 

 

Don't get me wrong... I also love fishing that requires total concentration.  Just not ALL the time.  Once in a while, I just want to relax, cast and reel, and hopefully catch a few.  Most of the time, it's much more serious than that.  :-)

 

Tight lines,

Bob