What is a classic tap tap?

[fishwizzard]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

I believe jigs are much harder to detect strikes with then Texas rigged worms with slinging sinker.

I would agree, I have noticed that a lot of my jig-bass come from a spidey-sense hookset.  I wonder, is the double tap on a worm 1: the bass grabbing it and 2: the bass crushing it?  

[813basstard]

They ain’t got the whole thing in their mouth. Have to reel down. Hook sets on slack line won’t catch fish. Many times you can feel they have the back of the bait in their mouth. Idk about the 2 second theory or none of that, when I feel them MOVE the line, not tap or thump, but pick the line up and move it, get after him

[Sam]

The secret is how much pressure does it take to lift the bait up and down.

 

Raise the worm up slowly and let it fall within a two-foot radius. That is all you need. A two-foot radius from where the worm hits the water using a spinning rig.

 

You let the worm sit on the bottom for a few seconds and then you lift your rod tip about six inches and let the worm fall again. You do this twice or three times within a two-foot radius. Then reel in and do it again and again and again and again.

 

Always keep a finger on the line coming off your spinning reel. A tungsten weight will transmit feelings back to your finger so be ready all the time for the tap tap. Braid will transmit what tis going on back to your finger. All line will transmit back to you but tungsten weights and braid line do it best.

 

The worm is supposed to go up and down easily. If it feels "heavy" the bass has the bait. SET THE HOOK.

 

Learn how the bait feels without a bass on it. If the bait feels "different or heavy" then it does without any fish on it, you SET THE HOOK. Concentrate on how the bait feels when you lift it or start your retrieve back to you. This is the secret to catching bass.

 

Many times you may think a bream is pecking on your bait. Very lightly lift the rod tip and if it is heavy or feels different you SET THE  HOOK. You could have a five pound bass that has inhaled your bait or holding it in their mouth and is just sitting there with it in their mouth as there are no other bass around for competition.

 

90% of the time the bass will hit the worm on the fall, be it on the initial fall or if you lift your rod tip to move it upwards so it can float down, like a wacky Senko or trick worm.

 

If you feel a "tap tap" watch your line. If you feel a "tap tap" and your line starts to move right or left, the bass has your worm in their mouth and is swimming away with it.  But if the bass grabs the bait and just sits there with it in their mouth you will not feel a "tap tap." You will fee the worm being heavy.

 

When this happens, SET THE HOOK.

 

I remember fishing a country club pond and I just flipped a Senko about 10 feet from the bank. What was different was that the bait landed on a stump and stopped falling. I then remembered there were no stumps in the pond. So I reeled in the slack and set the hook and landed a beautiful four pounder. Never felt a tap. Never felt any weight. The line never moved. She just inhaled it and was holding it in her mouth for whatever reason.

 

As Hank Parker says, " it don't cost anything to set the hook." So set the hook. You may look funny but I would rather look funny setting the hook over my head with nothing on the other end than to miss a big one because I could not determine if the bass has taken the bait.

 

If there is nothing on the other end of your line when you set the hook don't fall down on the ground if you are bank fishing or fall out of the boat in case there is no fish on the other end of the line.  Keep your balance and get ready for the bait to sail past your head or hit you between your legs. If this happens, you are doing everything right.

 

Now go to your favorite body of water; cast out; and learn the feel of the worm with nothing on it. And remember, if the bait feels "heavy" or "different" you SET THE HOOK.

[Glaucus]

2 hours ago, fishwizzard said:

I would agree, I have noticed that a lot of my jig-bass come from a spidey-sense hookset.  I wonder, is the double tap on a worm 1: the bass grabbing it and 2: the bass crushing it?  

I've seen bass eat my worms far too many times to believe that the second tap is the fish generally spitting it back out. They get a portion of it in their mouth, and then slurp up whatever portion is still left outside of the mouth. Hence tap, tap.

[thinkingredneck]

Use a fast rod, no stretch line, and tungsten weight.  Sharp hooks.  Tex pose just under the skin of the worm.  Set the hook like yanking out a tooth with a string.  You want to move the end of your rod to set the hook.

[Koz]

On 6/9/2018 at 7:53 PM, reason said:

Sure, sometimes you may miss a bite, or mistake a branch, rock or other stuff for a bite, but the more you do it, the more it becomes second nature. 

 

For me, what I notice when differentiating between structure and a fish is that when it's a fish I feel a vibration along with the tap, while when it's structure I just feel a solid tap or thud.

 

Maybe I'm missing out on a lot of bites. Then again, I've landed my fair share of tree branches

[Todd2]

On 6/9/2018 at 10:05 PM, Sam said:

The secret is how much pressure does it take to lift the bait up and down.

 

Raise the worm up slowly and let it fall within a two-foot radius. That is all you need. A two-foot radius from where the worm hits the water using a spinning rig.

 

You let the worm sit on the bottom for a few seconds and then you lift your rod tip about six inches and let the worm fall again. You do this twice or three times within a two-foot radius. Then reel in and do it again and again and again and again.

 

Always keep a finger on the line coming off your spinning reel. A tungsten weight will transmit feelings back to your finger so be ready all the time for the tap tap. Braid will transmit what tis going on back to your finger. All line will transmit back to you but tungsten weights and braid line do it best.

 

The worm is supposed to go up and down easily. If it feels "heavy" the bass has the bait. SET THE HOOK.

 

Learn how the bait feels without a bass on it. If the bait feels "different or heavy" then it does without any fish on it, you SET THE HOOK. Concentrate on how the bait feels when you lift it or start your retrieve back to you. This is the secret to catching bass.

 

Many times you may think a bream is pecking on your bait. Very lightly lift the rod tip and if it is heavy or feels different you SET THE  HOOK. You could have a five pound bass that has inhaled your bait or holding it in their mouth and is just sitting there with it in their mouth as there are no other bass around for competition.

 

90% of the time the bass will hit the worm on the fall, be it on the initial fall or if you lift your rod tip to move it upwards so it can float down, like a wacky Senko or trick worm.

 

If you feel a "tap tap" watch your line. If you feel a "tap tap" and your line starts to move right or left, the bass has your worm in their mouth and is swimming away with it.  But if the bass grabs the bait and just sits there with it in their mouth you will not feel a "tap tap." You will fee the worm being heavy.

 

When this happens, SET THE HOOK.

 

I remember fishing a country club pond and I just flipped a Senko about 10 feet from the bank. What was different was that the bait landed on a stump and stopped falling. I then remembered there were no stumps in the pond. So I reeled in the slack and set the hook and landed a beautiful four pounder. Never felt a tap. Never felt any weight. The line never moved. She just inhaled it and was holding it in her mouth for whatever reason.

 

As Hank Parker says, " it don't cost anything to set the hook." So set the hook. You may look funny but I would rather look funny setting the hook over my head with nothing on the other end than to miss a big one because I could not determine if the bass has taken the bait.

 

If there is nothing on the other end of your line when you set the hook don't fall down on the ground if you are bank fishing or fall out of the boat in case there is no fish on the other end of the line.  Keep your balance and get ready for the bait to sail past your head or hit you between your legs. If this happens, you are doing everything right.

 

Now go to your favorite body of water; cast out; and learn the feel of the worm with nothing on it. And remember, if the bait feels "heavy" or "different" you SET THE HOOK.

 

If you guys missed this (like I did while fishing Sat night)  do yourself a favor and read this. Good stuff Sam...

[scaleface]

I remember well,  my first bass caught on a Texas rig . I was bouncing it on a rock bank and felt a subtle tap just like the magazines described . I lowered the 5'5" Lews Speed stick , reeled in the slack  and set the hook like a boss . That was not the biggest bass I ever caught but it was the most important .

[WRB]

Back in the dark ages of the 60's when Texas rigged soft plastic worms were a secret, our hook setting technique was to let the bass swim off with the worm pulling off line so the bass didn't feel line resistance while counting to 10 before cross their eyes hook setting. Surprisingly we gut hooked very few bass. The problem this technique created was the bass often swam through a lot of bushes before getting hooked so we used 17 lb to 20 lb mono and broom stick rods to get the bass back out of the cover.

Today hook setting happens as soon a possible.

Tom

[RPreeb]

I just try to think about how it was when I fished with a worm and bobber as a kid.  Watching the bobber twitch and jerk, but never taking any action until it was pulled under, or started to move away.  That's how I sort of expect it to feel when a perch or panfish is tasting my T-rigged worm.  Sometimes a sunfish or perch would nibble for quite some time before actually taking the hook.

[Catt]

In the real world that classic "tap-tap" is the last thing I expect to feel.

 

Love it when it happens because there's no doubt I've been bite. 

 

With Texas Rigs & Jigs the bass will simply flare its gills causing a vacuum which moves water and your bait into their mouth. With this bite there is very little if any line movement thereby not much is transmitted to your rod tip.

 

The majority of my worm/jigs bites when casting, flipping, pitching, & punching come with NO line movement or tap, nothing until I apply pressure & feel resistance, at this point I set hook, most anglers simply apply more pressure, at which time the bass spit your worm/jig.

[WRB]

You just know!

If you don't focus and concentrate to visualize on what the jig or worm is doing from the time it hits the water you miss most strikes and only detect the most aggressive strikes.

You know how long it takes for the jig or worm to hit bottom because you know where you cast how deep it is, it's automatic after years of casting jigs and worms. 

You know the difference in the weight or line resistance between cover, structure and a live bass, it's a automatic reaction to set the hook, you do it before thinking about it.

The one thing that fakes me out every time is line under the water, you set the hook and it moves....

Tom 

 

[Fairtax4me]

What I've found is often on that first tap the line will go light. You feel less weight on the line because the fish picked it up and may be moving towards you. 

Right after the fish sucks in your lure it's going to crush it, and this is where the second tap comes in.

One of two things happens...

1. The fish didn't get the whole lure on the initial pickup, so the second tap (and possibly third) is the feeling of the fish sucking in the rest of the lure. 

2. The fish sucked in the lure and crushes it, but it feels the hook point poke it somewhere in the mouth. The second tap is the fish spitting the lure back out.

If you have the hook point buried in the lure, the fish won't feel the point and will more than likely swim away with it until it feels tension from your line. 

 

Ive found that when fishing open hook lures I set the hook immediately after the first tap, I get a fish. 

With Texas rigged plastics or other weedless lures I wait until I feel the fish pull the line slightly or see/feel the line move. 

 

If if the line goes totally weightless, whether you feel a tap or not, set the hook. 

[rtwvumtneer6]

If I experience this repeatedly, with no fish to show for it, I'll often reach for a dropshot.  Most of the time they will hit again, but now with a smaller hook my chances of sticking the fish increase, and I don't have to use such a violent hook set.  Most of the time that "machine gun" bite is a panfish, but once in a while it is a bass.

 

Side note: the majority of my bigger bass, let's call that over 3#, tend to be a much more subtle bite, where the smaller bass are more aggressive.  That is, assuming it is not a reaction style bait.  I'll either see my line move, or feel weight, but never feel a tap or thump.  Anyone else experience this?

[Catt]

Goto youtube & search for Glen Lau's videos Bigmouth & Bigmouth Forever.

 

Please watch both videos noting how many times a bass bites a lure by the tail & report back here with the results.

 

Thank you very much, have a nice day ?

[Todd2]

Ok, the when has been covered. How about the how?

 

So here is the scenario, you make an average cast and watch the line till it goes slack, in the mean time your buddy is telling a story about high school football or whatever..lol..Some time has passed, you refocus on your T-Rig down on the bottom. You start to pull and feel resistance. Do you wait to see if it moves? Do you set immediately? Do you reel out the slack then drop the rod to slack set? Or do you reel hard until your load loads and sweep?

 

Everyone has a style and some of this has to play in here too. I've been reeling fast and sweeping on tight line with pretty good success but I miss some here and there too.

 

[kenmitch]

14 hours ago, Catt said:

Goto youtube & search for Glen Lau's videos Bigmouth & Bigmouth Forever.

 

Please watch both videos noting how many times a bass bites a lure by the tail & report back here with the results.

 

Thank you very much, have a nice day ?

That would be too many to count.

 

Those are some interesting videos for sure. Kind of eye opening to some extent. Too bad the visual quality of them is so dated.

 

On another note  I really like to throw the lipless crankbaits in areas that are what I call snag city so I tend to let the fish do all the work as far as setting the hook. I really hate to get snagged as most of the time I throw my lure there because it looks like a fish worthy spot. That and I kayak fish so I really have no leverage to pull my snags out. I have to peddle over and retrieve my lures which kills the spot in my mind.

 

What did I learn from the video....I've probably lost more than a few larger bass as more than once I've felt what feels like a tap or two at times but chalked it up as hitting a stick or other cover. After watching the videos and seeing the suck and spit over and over it makes me wonder what I've lost in the end. 

 

Time for some Jedi lure training I guess....Be one with the lure! lol

 

 

[Arlo Smithereen]

On 6/9/2018 at 8:33 PM, Catt said:

A jig imitates a crawfish correct?

Yes I believes they do

 

A crawfish has a hard shell does it not?

Yes they in fact have a hard shell

 

Why would a bass spit what it perceives to be a crawfish because it feels something hard?

 

When the bass "crushes" the jig to kill it; it feels the hardness of a shell, the softness of the skirt, & the firmness of the trailer just like a crawfish.

 

Ever look at an un-painted lead bullet weight after catching a bass?

 

You will see teeth marks! ?

A jig can imitate a crawfish. It can just as easily imitate a bluegill. 

[Catt]

8 hours ago, Arlo Smithereen said:

A jig can imitate a crawfish. It can just as easily imitate a bluegill. 

 

Yes sir you’re exactly right but I referencing the notion that bass will not hold on to a jig long because the hardness of the lead head feels unnatural.