How To Entice Bass To Inhale The Lure Instead Of Just Hitting It?

[IamNewbie]

I just started plastic lure fishing and very often I often feel a "strike" or a hit but then nothing after words. 

 

My first lure fish absolutely inhaled my lure and it took me by surprise as I was about to take my line out of the water to make a cast. 

How would I go about getting a bass to commit to the bite ? Are there any techniques to setting the hook when you feel the hit or do I have to wait to feel the bass take off with my lure? 

 

If you can't tell I'm a new bass fisherman haha. If this has already been asked or whatever it'd be awful kind if you could redirect me to it if it was answered. 

 

EDIT: my mistake I didn't list lure type. I'm using a variety of plastics from Strike King Rage Craws to Zoom Ol' Monsters and Superflukes all T-rigged. I watched a few videos and one video a guy felt a bite and he jerked to set the hook and he kept missing.

[NotnatsSamoht]

Need more info, what kind of lure are we talking about, and how are you rigging it?

When I Texas rig it and fish the bottom I can feel every rock, at first they felt like bites.

[bigbill]

Scents they hang on longer for a hookset.

Did you ever fish for trout from a boat using Velveeta cheese? It's the fastest strike I ever seen. In a mili second the cheese and fish are gone.

My point with using plastics set the hook on the slightest nibble. When you do it right and your quick enough the fish will be lip hooked.

Got to be quick on the draw brother.

[BrianinMD]

Hooksets are free, if you feel a bite, think you feel a bite or anything different set the hook. Yes sometime it will be grass or rocks but you will learn the difference over time while hooking more fish.

[Fishing Rhino]

There will be times when you will have to "delay" your hook set.  On days when the fish pick up the bait and swim with it they do not necessarily have the hook in their mouth.  On those days you have to taunt them by slowing the retrieve and wiggling the rod tip which may make the fish think their prize is trying to escape, so they'll take it deeper into their mouth.  If it drops it during that process, let the bait sit there.  Many times they will pick up the bait or maybe other fish that are interested will pick it up.

 

There is nothing like a little competition for your bait.  The fish are much more aggressive if they think someone is trying to steal their snack.

 

The downside is that you better know how to remove the hook from a gullet hooked fish without doing any harm to the fish. 

 

I fish a lot of grassy bottom, and the bait will scratch around on the stems.  Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between a strike and a grass snag.  When that happens, I'll keep a light tension in the line and wait to feel movement.  If I don't, I'll just pull the bait slowly allowing the bait to ride up the step and off the top of the plant.  (This does not work on all plants, but it does on those with long stems or tendrils with few "branches" on the stem.

[papajoe222]

If you catch an aggressive bass on one cast and get a bump or hit on another, it's likely because the fish you caught was hitting the fast moving lure as you went to take it out and the bumps you came up empty on were from the slower way you were presenting the lure.  This is the perfect example of the fish 'telling' you they want a fast moving presentation, or at the least one with bursts of speed.

[ClackerBuzz]

sounds like the tapping of baitfish

[F14A-B]

Watch your line.. Slack line bite detection is the way I catch most of my soft plastic Bass. Tap, tap accounts for a few.. Bluegills, etc will tap your worm as well. A bass has no problem inhaling a bait. Bluegills try to take a bite out of it.

[IamNewbie]

my mistake I didn't list lure type. I'm using a variety of plastics from Strike King Rage Craws to Zoom Ol' Monsters and Superflukes all T-rigged. I watched a few videos and one video a guy felt a bite and he jerked to set the hook and he kept missing.

And I can see baitfish being the reason why... I had 3-4 bluegill attempt to absolutely demolish my ragecraw when I dropped it in the water to clear some backlash I had. (Understatement calling it some backlash.) 

 

But thanks everyone! I've felt some pretty nasty bites before and not just the "strikes" or "tapping" I'm describing as well. Also using a Zoom Horny Toad I've seen a bass physically just "Swipe it" or hit it and not take it, which made me wonder. It was about a 12 incher.

[scaleface]

Sunfish like to hit the appendages of craws, creature baits , lizards... Might just try using a 6 inch straight tail worm .

[zeth]

theres only one real answer to your questions: Experience.

 

Over time you will figure it out. 

[fishballer06]

As many have already stated, you'll learn the feel of a bite over time. Additionally, bluegill/perch/crappie love to peck at plastic baits (especially craws). Many of Havoc Pit Bosses I've felt nibbles on and reeled it in only to find that the claws are all gone.

[Jaderose]

Megastrike

[WRB]

There is a old saying that is true "bass don't have hands". If you feel a strike the bass had the lure in it's mouth and rejected it before you detected the initial strike. Lures like jigs and other soft plastics with a single hook partially protected to prevent snagging also prevents the hook point from sticking into any mouth tissue, the bass simply rejects the fake critter.

Suggest looking at the vedio Big Mouth Forever and watch how bass strike lures.

There is another old saying "swings are free", set the hook when you feel anything different with your lure.

Tom

[bigbill]

I think we forgot something. I seen bass actually slap my topnocker to stun it then do a 360 degree turn and inhale it. I see the size of the fish as it went after my topnocker like it was a PT boat. It slapped my topwater lure, missing it, I froze in awe. As I seen it turn to hit my paused lure.

My point is if you get a hit, pause for a minute. It just might hit it again.

There's some history behind this bass that hit my topnocker. I buddy broke his bass rod trying to horse it out of the deep weeds in this cove. He lasted like 30 minutes. Now this bass took my topnocker into the deep weeds she went again. I tried to pull her up but it was a long cast from shore.

Human 0 big bass 1

Since then I upgraded my line test.

[bigbill]

Maybe the bass smack my topnocker to turn it around because it's facing the wrong direction to eat it?

I froze and stopped my presentation on the first pass. One hail Mary as she turned.

Do bass stun there prey before eating it?

Can they do the same thing with deeper running baits that's my point.