Trying to explain what a bite feels like...

[lo n slo]

2 hours ago, scaleface said:

...and lost fishing line in a brush pile .

i had to break off two fish Sunday morning. first time that’s happened in a while. but i fish a lot of brush. it comes with the territory i suppose.

[diehardbassfishing]

If something feels "funny", SET THE HOOK!

 

 

Karl

[SC53]

Oh and those that say a tap tap is most times a small fish, I can’t tell you the times I’ve had that type of hit and it’s a big fish. 
Now when it’s a real heavy feeling or when you pitch into reeds or grass and it just shakes ? now that’s the time to load up and get r done. 

[Tizi]

To me it’s all about line watching.  You must pay attention to that line, the slightest movement or heavy feeling I’m setting the hook.  Anything that feels different, I’m setting the hook.  After some practice you can tell the difference between rocks, grass, or a perch...

[PaulVE64]

Every spring I go out to a shallow spot I know with very clear water about 3 to 5 feet deep on very calm days so I can see my weight on the bottom.

I throw a  white lead weight (5/8oz to 1/8 oz)

on the end of my braid. 

Since the water is clear I watch my weight bounce over/off/into boulders and rocks and I get to relearn what that feels like. 

I know I've done it enough when I can feel the 1/8 oz banging over everything with my eyes shut. I assume every other feeling is a fish.

 

Unfortunately it doesnt help my weed fishing. I tend to set the hook on alot of cabbage.

[Koz]

The best way I can describe it is that when a fish takes the bait it feels "alive". The vibration that is transmitted to my line, rod, and fingers feels different than bouncing or dragging off underwater structure and surfaces.

 

When I taught my son to fish I had him use nightcrawlers and drop his line in the water and watch and feel the smaller fish attack the bait. He progressed to bobber fishing for a brief time and then on to t-rigs and wacky rigs.

 

To this day he's still a much better wacky rig angler than I am.

[BayouSlide]

On 9/8/2020 at 9:10 AM, BigAngus752 said:

It’s funny, the little LMs fight like the devil and anything over five pounds is just dragging a wet lump in comparison. I’ve caught two over 5lbs this year so far and while I was thrilled, they weren’t hard to get to the side of the boat, even dragging one out of water willows. My toughest fights are always seem to be in the 3-4 range. Rod-bending fights to the boat.

My experience as well.

[Cgolf]

Not sure if someone mentioned the push hit on a crankbait. This is where you are reeling in and the bait is thumping away and all of a sudden you feel nothing because they have pushed the bait forward. These are difficult to hook up depending on how aggressive the hit was. Definitely feels different than going through weeds because all of a sudden you feel absolutely nothing.

[Kev-mo]

14 hours ago, Koz said:

The best way I can describe it is that when a fish takes the bait it feels "alive". The vibration that is transmitted to my line, rod, and fingers feels different than bouncing or dragging off underwater structure and surfaces.

 

When I taught my son to fish I had him use nightcrawlers and drop his line in the water and watch and feel the smaller fish attack the bait. He progressed to bobber fishing for a brief time and then on to t-rigs and wacky rigs.

 

To this day he's still a much better wacky rig angler than I am.

X2 on the 'alive' part! i struggled mightily to verbally explain what a bite feels like to my boys. in the end they just had figure it out for themselves.

[Bassun]

On 9/8/2020 at 4:59 PM, fin said:

Rather than try to explain it with words, show him what it feels like by actually pulling on his line on dry land. Have him cast a plug with no hooks 30 feet or so on the lawn. Show him how it feels when you tug on slack line versus tight. Show him what it feels when you just slowly pull the plug, etc. He will be able to see what you are doing and his mind will make the connection. It won't feel exactly like it does when his line is in the water, but he'll learn a lot quicker than listening to you.

I kind of do something similar when teaching someone the basics of fly fishing.  Everyone wants to whip the rod around like they are swatting a fly.  I literally walk behind them and pull the line backwards to give them the feeling of the load up so they know when to go back forward.  Sounds funny, but has worked well to give them an idea of what they are feeling for.

[galyonj]

It seems like it's different with every fish.

 

All I know is that if I feel something that I don't expect, or I don't feel something when I do expect to, I'm setting the hook.

[Bassun]

On 9/14/2020 at 6:21 PM, galyonj said:

It seems like it's different with every fish.

 

All I know is that if I feel something that I don't expect, or I don't feel something when I do expect to, I'm setting the hook.

Timely to this - Sunday I was fishing some limby cover with a spinnerbait.  Felt a bump that felt like I bumped across a limb.  I stopped cranking to let it fall, then started to crank again and felt a little pull back like I was on the limb.  No biggie, I just kind of raised my tip a bit and reeled on to pull through it.

Then she turned her head and I felt that thick heavy shake and saw a flash of big ole white belly.  BAM!  Hook set!!
Or, I should say, attempted hook set after she had tossed it.  Drew a blank.  Apparently she took it from behind, and I wrote it off as cover instead of banging that hook set immediately.  IDK how big she was because I only got a flash, but based on the feel and flash I'm guessing she was 5+, and could have been much more for all I know.  Only good hit of the day, and I didn't set the hook.  Sad times...

[Armtx77]

I introduced my city slicker nephew(now 15yo) to fishing about 3 years ago. We started fishing small, CLEAR rivers and creeks that required wading.

 

Light gear, with light line, polarized sunglasses and an uncle that told him he was gonna lose a bunch of lures and that was ok. What I hoped it would do, is let him both see and feel a strike at the same time.

 

I made him throw white RoosterTails in 1/8oz the first couple of hours. We spent a bunch of time getting them out of trees and snags, but I had the very fortunate experience of watching him put a perfect cast, into a little slack pocket and saw that white flash hit the lure. Before I could say 'set the hook' he had already dropped the tip and broke its head. I'll never forget that.

 

I walked over to him and asked to explain what he saw and what he felt that made him set the hook. "I saw a flash, right where my lure landed and than I felt like the rod was being pulled from me"...

 

I think it something that is hard to explain to the new and experienced fishermen. It comes with a ton of water time. It comes with a ton of dead space between bites, than missing one and feeling that 'depression'.

 

That is why I am subscriber to the theory of "when in doubt, knock em out". StickBass,StoneBass,GrassBass,BootBass,RopeBass...I have caught them all, Fella and hook sets are cheaper than Senkos and I have been giving em for free for a good bit.

[galyonj]

22 hours ago, Armtx77 said:

That is why I am subscriber to the theory of "when in doubt, knock em out". StickBass,StoneBass,GrassBass,BootBass,RopeBass...I have caught them all, Fella and hook sets are cheaper than Senkos and I have been giving em for free for a good bit.

Ropebass are the worst. Especially when they get ahold of a treble hook.