Reaction Bites

[Bdnoble84]

14 hours ago, Kev-mo said:

You need to have your fish start reading this forum, lol

 

I think we anthropomorphize fish behaviour because that's the only lense in which we have a language to try to describe it or understand it

 

I experience the 'reaction' bite in colder water (river smallies) more than in warmer water. It could still possibly still be a 'feeding bite'... one example - i ran crank bait in high 30's or low 40's water over the same spot several times. The time i got bit was when i gave the reel a speed crank and made the lure do something funky along with a pause somewhere in there. The fish dam near ripped the rod out of my hand. Bdnoble84 used the term aggressive above but maybe we could add 'abnormally' as a qualifier to describe 'reaction bite'

That is a good point, experienced it yeaterday. I was working a jerkbait in a shalow spot in the river, i tryed several different twitching cadences over the same spot. Started straight reeling it on a cast kind of wuick, as soon as i sped up, this guy smashed it. Had to of went past him a few times. Foul hooked him but i think thats because i got him too (wait for it) react aggresively to an abnormal occurence in the bait. Side note: found out why amazon trebels are so cheep. You can see i broke a hook.

[MickD]

On 9/28/2021 at 5:26 PM, MN Fisher said:

Will we likes it?"

Smallies have better grammar.   Sounds like a largemouth.  ?

 

[Spankey]

 Y’all ever just drift fish the river pitching CB’s toward the bank and have Smallies hit your lure immediately upon contact with the water? Not one second, or two or three seconds later after your retrieve is started. I’m talking immediately. Probably a lot of you have not. I have and if that not a reaction strike nothing is but, strikes most of y’all are talking about are reaction strikes. The talk about Hunger, thought process, finesse, the day of the week, everything is a strike, thinking like a bass is all BS. If you never had a reaction strike and hookup you don’t know what one is. But I believe most of you do know what it is and have had them. 

[Finessegenics]

4 minutes ago, Spankey said:

 Y’all ever just drift fish the river pitching CB’s toward the bank and have Smallies hit your lure immediately upon contact with the water? Not one second, or two or three seconds later after your retrieve is started. I’m talking immediately. Probably a lot of you have not. I have and if that not a reaction strike nothing is but, strikes most of y’all are talking about are reaction strikes. The talk about Hunger, thought process, finesse, the day of the week, everything is a strike, thinking like a bass is all BS. If you never had a reaction strike and hookup you don’t know what one is. But I believe most of you do know what it is and have had them. 

Probably 50% of all my catches in my river  are like that, regardless of species; pike, smallmouth, even walleye at the right times of year. Maybe more, 50 is a conservative guess. Whether it’s a spinnerbait or jig worm or swimbait a lot of my bites come as soon as my bait hits the water. 

[J Francho]

Your bait being completely ignored is a reaction.

[TnRiver46]

9 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Your bait being completely ignored is a reaction.

But is it equal and opposite??

[Standard]

30 minutes ago, Spankey said:

 Y’all ever just drift fish the river pitching CB’s toward the bank and have Smallies hit your lure immediately upon contact with the water? Not one second, or two or three seconds later after your retrieve is started. I’m talking immediately. Probably a lot of you have not. I have and if that not a reaction strike nothing is but, strikes most of y’all are talking about are reaction strikes. The talk about Hunger, thought process, finesse, the day of the week, everything is a strike, thinking like a bass is all BS. If you never had a reaction strike and hookup you don’t know what one is. But I believe most of you do know what it is and have had them. 

 

I've had some where I swear they got their mouth on it before it even hit the water.  I love river fishing for Smallies.

 

I did have a pike launch itself straight vertical out of the water, tail and everything, in the process of totally missing my top water on the lake this year, that was pretty neat.

[Finessegenics]

This seems more like an argument about semantics. I don’t know which side I’ll take. I understand the idea of a “reaction” bite but whether it’s true or not, I’ll never know. 

[Mat_ski]

You people sure this thread belongs on a fishing forum? 
Maybe let’s move it to Frankfurt school internet boards under section “critical deconstruction of fishing term definitions” 

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, Finessegenics said:

This seems more like an argument about semantics. I don’t know which side I’ll take. I understand the idea of a “reaction” bite but whether it’s true or not, I’ll never know. 

I haven’t even figured out if there are sides to take 

 

Now if there was a side of macaroni and cheese I would take that

[Team9nine]

Just found this excerpt from Steve Quinn and Ralph Manns on the subject that was part of an In'Fisherman article on the subject. Ralph has long espoused that there is no such thing as a "reaction strike," arguing instead that a fish that bites is one that had at least some inclination to feed already, and that a truly dormant or inactive bass can't be made to strike. Interestingly, John Hope came to the same conclusion in his book, "Trackin' Trophies," stating that if a bass was "suspended in a resting mode, it is 'non-catchable.'"

 

FWIW...

 

Quote

 

The question, “What makes bass bite?” is an eternal one for anglers and lure designers. Some phrase it more personally: “How can I make ‘em bite?”

 

Anglers often try to make bass bite by eliciting what’s called a “reaction strike.” Anglers may even define lure selection in terms of triggering effect. “Reaction baits” include buzzbaits, jerkbaits, bladed jigs, and fast-moving topwaters like a Whopper Plopper or Zara Spook. You could add techniques like snapjigging to that list.

 

They feel confident that lures convince bass to bite by erratic movement or speed. Indeed, you can often observe fish in clear water responding to these presentations. I recently talked about the concept of reaction strikes with Ralph Manns of Texas, longtime In-Fisherman researcher and contributor of articles on bass science. “When anglers talk about a reaction strike, they’re really describing a feeding reaction,” Manns told me. “It’s not in their genetic makeup to get aggravated with a lure, unless they’re defending a spawning bed. They may display territorial behavior, but that’s solely when interacting with other fish.

 

“To strike effectively, bass often must react quickly to nearby prey,” he says. “In that situation, fast-moving or erratic lures may work best. But it’s still a feeding response. If the fish bites, the angler has succeeded in fooling it into mistakenly biting a fake. When weather conditions or prey abundance improve feeding opportunities, active lures score and results often are spectacular.”

 

 

[Tennessee Boy]

I think what many people are referring to here is what the Portuguese call a mordida de reação.

[Bdnoble84]

2 hours ago, Spankey said:

 Y’all ever just drift fish the river pitching CB’s toward the bank and have Smallies hit your lure immediately upon contact with the water? Not one second, or two or three seconds later after your retrieve is started. I’m talking immediately. Probably a lot of you have not. I have and if that not a reaction strike nothing is but, strikes most of y’all are talking about are reaction strikes. The talk about Hunger, thought process, finesse, the day of the week, everything is a strike, thinking like a bass is all BS. If you never had a reaction strike and hookup you don’t know what one is. But I believe most of you do know what it is and have had them. 

Lost a 3-4 lber last saturday exact situation, just with a spinnerbait. Couple weeks before, exact same type of bite. Just with a swimjig and a northern (he bet me off because i couldnt react fast enough). Had to of hit both of them in the head with the cast.

1 hour ago, Mat_ski said:

You people sure this thread belongs on a fishing forum? 
Maybe let’s move it to Frankfurt school internet boards under section “critical deconstruction of fishing term definitions” 

I feel like im in my functional behavioral assessment class trying to nail down a operational def for a specific behavior. ? I wonder if i can log this convo for practicum hours. ?. 
 

at this point can we all agree that the term reaction is very general, but we can all kind of figure out what a pro or whoever means when he talks about it? Im much more interested in talking about the aggressiveness and power river fish will hit a bait.

[TOXIC]

3 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Just found this excerpt from Steve Quinn and Ralph Manns on the subject that was part of an In'Fisherman article on the subject. Ralph has long espoused that there is no such thing as a "reaction strike," arguing instead that a fish that bites is one that had at least some inclination to feed already, and that a truly dormant or inactive bass can't be made to strike. Interestingly, John Hope came to the same conclusion in his book, "Trackin' Trophies," stating that if a bass was "suspended in a resting mode, it is 'non-catchable.'"

 

FWIW...

 

 

While I am inclined to go with this, they restrict their non catchable to dormant and inactive and that they had some inclination to feed, totally sidesteps fish on the nest who are not eating but rather protecting.  It just means that there are in fact situations beyond feeding that will garner a strike.

[Bdnoble84]

3 hours ago, TOXIC said:

While I am inclined to go with this, they restrict their non catchable to dormant and inactive and that they had some inclination to feed, totally sidesteps fish on the nest who are not eating but rather protecting.  It just means that there are in fact situations beyond feeding that will garner a strike.

I agree, fish have tempers, even when its not spawn. When the swipe at it, bump it, dont even have their mouth open.

[MGF]

On 9/23/2021 at 10:35 AM, cyclops2 said:

I read ALL of the posts on this Thread of reaction bites.  Will give you my  take on REACTION bite.  Almost every fish of ALL TYPES this spring / summer / fall in upstate N Y are............. REACTION ....... bites.  Why can I make such a BOLD statement about every fish ?  Simple  ALL are ONLY hooked in the 1/8" of the outer upper & lower lips.  I and others have done Catch & Release on these fish for DECADES.     That has been imprinted into their GENES about how to bite anything.  BITE VERY CAREFULLY.   ALL THE TIME.  The whole lure is outside the mouth every time.  Or other hooks around the outside of the  mouth.

 

Even 3" fish on the 1.5"  Rapala have just the tail treble in their WIDE OPEN MOUT. The hook points are just in the lip ring.  Catch & Release has WORKED WITH RAPALS style lures at all depths.   Reason why the 4# test Mono has such low hook ups. Plenty of bites.  Barely felt.

 

The big SMB can and do CLAMP DOWN TIGHTLY for a while. Then Laugh at us by quickly opening their mouths and MOST TIMES there is no hookup............. I catch MANY MORE FISH with the 40 & 60 pound BRAIDED lines.

 

Almost forgot the proof of all the above information.  

I have NOT HAD a  FULL ON  SIDE  ATTACK on a lure with it .....SIDEWAYS...... in a fish mouth.  At least 5 years. 

Interesting because I've had the opposite experience. Just this year I started fishing barbless hooks because I was injuring too many fish with so many of them hooked very deep. These fish really are trying to eat the bait.

[cyclops2]

Do you need a fishing co-angler ?  ?

 

We have the BAIT  !!

[Spankey]

15 hours ago, J Francho said:

Your bait being completely ignored is a reaction.

But if it’s not “hit” it’s obviously not a reaction “strike”. 
 

I’d generally write off your opinions as being from someone who is clueless but I know that is not the case. I just think your posting as to oppose something differently than you believe. Maybe the real  hang up on reaction and reaction less. Which has nothing to do with a reaction strike. 
 

A reaction and a reaction strike are two different things. I’ll stick to that. If a fish were to do nothing at all stayed unphased and never acknowledged that a bait was thrown in it’s presence. And never moved. This takes place everyday. That’s not a reaction, that’s being reaction less. 
 

I’ll pull out of this post. We all seem to differ on some real simple terminology and I’ll leave it at that. 
 

All I know is Tomorrow morning I’m going to be looking for some reaction strikes on a few crankbaits. Some of y’all might be looking for a reaction of not getting bit or a plain reaction or the reaction of Bass being reaction less. I don’t think that is the case you are fishing for. I think y’all are fishing for a “strike” in the morning. 
 

 

[J Francho]

17 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

But is it equal and opposite??

No reaction is equal.  They're just reactions.  Some feel the need to categorize them I guess, and then construct absolutes based off them.  Bite or no bite, I'm probably setting the hook.  Sometimes I win.

[Bdnoble84]

2 hours ago, Spankey said:

But if it’s not “hit” it’s obviously not a reaction “strike”. 
 

I’d generally write off your opinions as being from someone who is clueless but I know that is not the case. I just think your posting as to oppose something differently than you believe. Maybe the real  hang up on reaction and reaction less. Which has nothing to do with a reaction strike. 
 

A reaction and a reaction strike are two different things. I’ll stick to that. If a fish were to do nothing at all stayed unphased and never acknowledged that a bait was thrown in it’s presence. And never moved. This takes place everyday. That’s not a reaction, that’s being reaction less. 
 

I’ll pull out of this post. We all seem to differ on some real simple terminology and I’ll leave it at that. 
 

All I know is Tomorrow morning I’m going to be looking for some reaction strikes on a few crankbaits. Some of y’all might be looking for a reaction of not getting bit or a plain reaction or the reaction of Bass being reaction less. I don’t think that is the case you are fishing for. I think y’all are fishing for a “strike” in the morning. 
 

 

Still a reaction, just because it is less of a reaction, its still a reaction. The only way there would not be a reaction is if a fish did not see or sense the bait. We get hung up on what we can visibly see, but there is always something going on underneath.

[Tennessee Boy]

Very good thread.   

 

I agree that every strike is a reaction strike.  A crankbait that is running true is more likely to get a reaction than one that is not running true.  A crankbait that bounces off an object may be more likely to get a reaction than one that does not.  It's our job to figure out how to get a reaction.  I believe that some strikes result from reactions that are triggered by things other than hunger and I'm not talking about bedding fish.  As long as fish refuse to answer our questions about why they do what they do it's nearly impossible to prove any of this.

[cyclops2]

I like it when after a rain & it is still windy & cloudy. My biggest & longest feeding sessions.

[Blue Raider Bob]

On 9/30/2021 at 1:36 PM, Spankey said:

 Y’all ever just drift fish the river pitching CB’s toward the bank and have Smallies hit your lure immediately upon contact with the water? Not one second, or two or three seconds later after your retrieve is started. I’m talking immediately. Probably a lot of you have not. I have and if that not a reaction strike nothing is but, strikes most of y’all are talking about are reaction strikes. The talk about Hunger, thought process, finesse, the day of the week, everything is a strike, thinking like a bass is all BS. If you never had a reaction strike and hookup you don’t know what one is. But I believe most of you do know what it is and have had them. 

Absolutely

I have always thought that they see it coming and time their strike. 

[cyclops2]

We will need sworn affidavits  from the fish stating.

 

  I just could not stop myself. I saw the hooks & line.