Bites on a swinghead are hard to detect

[Luke Barnes]

I recently got some swing heads and lures for them. I like the idea and being able to cover water with them.

 

I fished one last night with a Rage Bug and I caught my first fish of 2021 on it! But I feel I missed so many bites and the only reason I caught the one was because it swam off with it and I saw the line shooting sideways.

 

With all the bumping off rocks and wood and whatever on the bottom, how do I tell better when its a bite and not a rock? 

[Finessegenics]

I went through the same thing last season. I singled out the swing head as my technique to learn for the season. I had tried them before with very little success. The first time dedicating a session to them, I got two bites which resulted in two hookups but zero landed fish. I lost both when they jumped. I attributed those lost fish to the same problem you’re describing. I had trouble distinguishing what was a bite and what was just cover I was banging into. In turn, I made a hesitant  hookset and lost those fish. I realize that’s a poor excuse but I was never and am still not a “cross their eyes” kind of guy ?
 

What I noticed with more time fishing them is that the bite usually ends up feeling two ways. Most of the time it is mushy as if you were dragging the bait through some slimy muck. It’s like an extra weight, moving along with the bait. Moving along rocks and hard cover, it feels like more of a grinding-y feeling. I noticed the same feeling when fishing neds by ticking them along hard bottoms. The second way is a loss of feedback from the bait. You’ll be ticking and bumping along and suddenly - nothing. I think this is the fish picking the bait up and swimming towards you, which would also result in a slack line, another way to detect that bite.

 

I’ve also heard here on bassresource, that bite detection is a funny thing. With more experience, it becomes instinctual and you’ll be setting the hook before even realizing a bite is there. I don’t think I’m at that point yet, but I’ve begun to notice it in some of my fishing. It reminds me of my days playing hockey. After making a bad play, my coach would blast me and once I replied “I thought ..” and he just cut me off and said “that was your first mistake. You thought. Don’t think, just do”. I think the same applies to fishing but it takes some time for that second nature to develop. And before someone points it out, yes this completely contradicts everything I just told you but it’s something to consider. 
 

Sorry for the long post but I hope it helped. Best of luck and let us know how it goes!!!

[Luke Barnes]

35 minutes ago, Finessegenics said:

I went through the same thing as you last season. I singled out the swing head as my technique to learn for the season. I had tried them before with very little success. The first time dedicating a session to them, I got two bites which resulted in two hookups but zero landed fish. I lost both when they jumped. I attributed those lost fish to the same problem you’re describing. I had trouble distinguishing what was a bite and what was just cover I was banging into. In turn, I made a hesitant  hookset and lost those fish. I realize that’s a poor excuse but I was never and am still not a “cross their eyes” kind of guy ?
 

What I noticed with more time fishing them is that the bite usually ends up feeling two ways. Most of the time it is mushy as if you were dragging the bait through some slimy muck. It’s like an extra weight, moving along with the bait. Moving along rocks and hard cover, it feels like more of a grinding-y feeling. I noticed the same feeling when fishing neds by ticking them along hard bottoms. The second way is a loss of feedback from the bait. You’ll be ticking and bumping along and suddenly - nothing. I think this is the fish picking the bait up and swimming towards you, which would also result in a slack line, another way to detect that bite.

 

I’ve also heard here on bassresource, that bite detection is a funny thing. With more experience, it becomes instinctual and you’ll be setting the hook before even realizing a bite is there. I don’t think I’m at that point yet, but I’ve begun to notice it in some of my fishing. It reminds me of my days playing hockey. After making a bad play, my coach would blast me and once I replied “I thought ..” and he just cut me off and said “that was your first mistake. You thought. Don’t think, just do”. I think the same applies to fishing but it takes some time for that second nature to develop. And before someone points it out, yes this completely contradicts everything I just told you but it’s something to consider. 
 

Sorry for the long post but I hope it helped. Best of luck and let us know how it goes!!!

Thank you for the reply it helped alot. Ive heard about the mushy feeling and kind of forgot and now reading it and thinking back, I definitely missed bites. Makes sense about them swimming towards you too. The one I caught I would never have known if I didnt see the line moving to the side. Didn't feel a difference. If it was swimming towards me I would assume I was on a clear patch of ground if I don't see the line. So I guess when in doubt reel down and set the hook?

 

I'm with you that I dont hook set very hard. Especially if I dont know if its a bite. If I'm fishing a t rig and know it's a bite I will swing away, but its usually half effort in case there actually is a fish there hook set. 

[galyonj]

1 hour ago, Luke Barnes said:

So I guess when in doubt reel down and set the hook?

Always.

[Luke Barnes]

1 hour ago, galyonj said:

Always.

I did that alot yesterday and feel like I ruined alot of casts flinging the bait out of the water back at me.

[GReb]

Swings are free. It takes a lot of time on the water 

[WRB]

A swinghead is a jig last I looked.

Tom

[papajoe222]

When I first started fish jigs, it was strictly cast and work it back. Flipping and later pitching came a couple of decades later.  A companion told me to pause whenever I felt something.  Keep your rod tip elevated and as little slack in your line as the wind will allow. With moving baits, bass will normally turn after inhaling the bait and that will transmit back to you.  Be a line watcher. As Glen has mentioned numerous times in his videos; Watch your line, if it does something that you didn't impart on it, set the hook.

With time, you'll be able to eliminate the pause because you'll know from experience.

[Luke Barnes]

17 minutes ago, papajoe222 said:

When I first started fish jigs, it was strictly cast and work it back. Flipping and later pitching came a couple of decades later.  A companion told me to pause whenever I felt something.  Keep your rod tip elevated and as little slack in your line as the wind will allow. With moving baits, bass will normally turn after inhaling the bait and that will transmit back to you.  Be a line watcher. As Glen has mentioned numerous times in his videos; Watch your line, if it does something that you didn't impart on it, set the hook.

With time, you'll be able to eliminate the pause because you'll know from experience.

Watching the line is something ive been working on. Its just such a different feeling slowly cranking that swinghead along and hitting everything on the bottom. I need to get WAY better at pausing if I think I got a bite. I ways worry its a pickup and instantly spit out situation. The one fish I did catch on it yesterday came after quite a few casts then dipping the claws of the rage bug in chart spike it. Between color and scent it may have helped, so I smeared the bait with FishSticks to help with them not spitting it so fast.

[softwateronly]

Most of my swinghead fishing is done in a grassy lake so this might not apply, but I like speeding up my reeling on the mushy feeling.  It seems that the feel will change telling me it's a fish not a weed and then I'm half way home to the side sweep hookset, just be ready for it and commit.

 

scott

[galyonj]

11 hours ago, Luke Barnes said:

I did that alot yesterday and feel like I ruined alot of casts flinging the bait out of the water back at me.

 

That's gonna happen, yeah. I probably should have expanded on the concept rather than just posting what I did without qualifying the answer.

 

11 hours ago, GReb said:

Swings are free. It takes a lot of time on the water 

 

Yes, and...

 

10 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

Watch your line, if it does something that you didn't impart on it, set the hook.

 

Watching the line can tell you a whole bunch, but my experience is that fishing a jig-type presentation requires understanding how that presentation should and should not feel when it's moving along on or near the bottom where I'm throwing it.

 

I don't have electronics, so I kinda like having a few casts to give myself a chance to feel around with that presentation and acquaint myself with where I'm fishing and how it feels to fish that lure on the bottom where I'm at.

 

So my personal rule for fishing these presentations is very simple:

 

If it doesn't feel like I think it ought to, I'm setting the hook.

[Deleted account]

4 hours ago, softwateronly said:

Most of my swinghead fishing is done in a grassy lake so this might not apply, but I like speeding up my reeling on the mushy feeling.  It seems that the feel will change telling me it's a fish not a weed and then I'm half way home to the side sweep hookset, just be ready for it and commit.

 

scott

That's how I do it most of the time for contact baits, if I feel something that might be a bite, or something feels different, I lower the rod and reel in the slack in one motion, then it either is or isn't, and either sweep, or keep fishing.

[Luke Barnes]

12 hours ago, galyonj said:

 

That's gonna happen, yeah. I probably should have expanded on the concept rather than just posting what I did without qualifying the answer.

 

 

Yes, and...

 

 

Watching the line can tell you a whole bunch, but my experience is that fishing a jig-type presentation requires understanding how that presentation should and should not feel when it's moving along on or near the bottom where I'm throwing it.

 

I don't have electronics, so I kinda like having a few casts to give myself a chance to feel around with that presentation and acquaint myself with where I'm fishing and how it feels to fish that lure on the bottom where I'm at.

 

So my personal rule for fishing these presentations is very simple:

 

If it doesn't feel like I think it ought to, I'm setting the hook.

I set the hook alot. But I understand what you and others are saying and I need to take some time and maybe even close my eyes and feel what the bait is doing and what feels different. Maybe not even worry about fishing but cast to different areas and just pay attention to what I feel and stop and think even. 

[galyonj]

Yeah. Might help, anyway. You maybe don't need to go super overboard with the exercise, but I feel like it helps me a) not let my mind wander too much while I'm fishing, and b) not act the fool at every piece of junk that the lure touches.

 

You still wanna fish, and you still wanna work the lure the way you're gonna be working the lure, but really let yourself feel what's going on at the other end as much as you can during the retrieve, instead of just waiting to feel a fish.

 

To paraphrase @BassWhole!'s comment above, the next time you take a lure out for a nice drag, and it feels like it's hung on something or it feels a little funny, reel up some slack and gently raise your rod tip a little bit. If the feeling goes away or you can tell that you're bumping across a log or whatever, you go back to what you were doing and work it back to you. If you feel weight, or the line changes direction, or you can't feel anything at all anymore, it's time to commit to that hookset.

[Luke Barnes]

19 hours ago, galyonj said:

Yeah. Might help, anyway. You maybe don't need to go super overboard with the exercise, but I feel like it helps me a) not let my mind wander too much while I'm fishing, and b) not act the fool at every piece of junk that the lure touches.

 

You still wanna fish, and you still wanna work the lure the way you're gonna be working the lure, but really let yourself feel what's going on at the other end as much as you can during the retrieve, instead of just waiting to feel a fish.

 

To paraphrase @BassWhole!'s comment above, the next time you take a lure out for a nice drag, and it feels like it's hung on something or it feels a little funny, reel up some slack and gently raise your rod tip a little bit. If the feeling goes away or you can tell that you're bumping across a log or whatever, you go back to what you were doing and work it back to you. If you feel weight, or the line changes direction, or you can't feel anything at all anymore, it's time to commit to that hookset.

Very good advice that I will definitely remember. Thank you. 

[galyonj]

De nada. I hope it helps!

[Kdizzle]

I've always noticed that fishing rocks can give you a very similar feel from time to time as a fish biting down on a lure.  I adapted to this by only setting the hook after I've lost bottom contact.  I've had a lot of success with that method.

[Catt]

On 4/19/2021 at 10:17 PM, galyonj said:

really let yourself feel what's going on at the other end as much as you can during the retrieve, instead of just waiting to feel a fish.

 

On 4/19/2021 at 10:17 PM, galyonj said:

If you feel weight, or the line changes direction, or you can't feel anything at all anymore, it's time to commit to that hookset.

 

Pretty dang solid advice right there!

 

 

On 4/19/2021 at 10:51 AM, BassWhole! said:

I lower the rod and reel in the slack in one motion, then it either is or isn't,

 

To take it to the next level ?

 

Drop the rod, reel the slack, set the hook, turn her head, & get em coming up...all in one motion!

 

With jigs ya gonna have a stout hook...set hook like you mean it!

 

 

[galyonj]

31 minutes ago, Catt said:

Pretty dang solid advice right there!

 

 

[Fishes in trees]

The videos I've watched on how Tommy Biffle fishes the Biffle Bug, it is kinda like a crank bait that always stays on the bottom.   He's moving it kinda quick most of the time - so that's how I fish it.  For me, strikes were similar to a crank bait strike - something feels off, so set the hook asap and try to set in the opposite direction from where to bite is going and hope for the best.  More or less like you set the hook for a Carolina rig or crank bait fishing, in that setting the hook sideways yields better results for me than setting the hook straight up.  But every hook set is different.   You've got a lot of time to recognize the bite - fractions of seconds - so just decide which way to strike and do it.   The more you do it the better you get at determining which way to go.

[the reel ess]

You probably only got that one bite. And don't feel bad. That's how I notice most of my jig bites. The good news is they'll usually hold it a while.

[E-rude dude]

HOOK SETS ARE FREE

I’d rather swung and miss on a rock, log, weed bed, or stump, Than miss a fish. If anything feels mushy, heavy, an impeadment  to movement of the bait, or your line looks fun. SWING!

[PotatoLake]

Bend the hook point up a touch. I was missing fish a lot more often before I did that.