What's the average strike ratio?

[Tennessee Boy]

It’s something we all think about a lot when we’re fishing.  Is there a fish there and if so can I get it to bite? If you don’t get a bite,  do you assume there was no fish there or do you assume you just were not able to get it to bite.  We usually don’t know the answer,  we can only speculate.  Which leads me to this question.

 

When a fish becomes aware of an angler's lure and has the opportunity to strike it,  what percentage of the time do you think it will strike?

 

I’m asking everyone to speculate on an overall percentage over the course of a season.  I suspect we will get a wide variety of answers on this.

[Catt]

IDK! ?

 

Every bass is different...every bite is different!

[Dwight Hottle]

I'll bite. Most of the time fishing in FL when they are not biting they are not in the space your targeting. I think our strike ratio is between 50-60%. 

[Team9nine]

So many variables - but just sitting at the computer pondering for a couple minutes on the question, <=5% seems reasonable as a yearly average. That means 1 out of every 20 bass I get my bait in front of might strike. Could be lower, doubt it's higher, over an entire season - some days and times will obviously be higher. I base some of this off using LS for an entire season now, especially crappie fishing. I can see just how many are down there, but so many times they simply shut off after catching a limited number, while the rest never bite no matter how long I sit on a spot and change baits. Live bait might change the answer some, but that wasn't inherent in the original question.

[WRB]

Strike detection is the difference between catching bass and just fishing.

I would say we miss most Strikes fishing bottom contact single hook lures, especially from big bass.

If you read my Cosmic Clock and Bass Calendar a big factor about bass behavior is based on activity level. I broke activity into 4 categories from Very Active, Active, Neutral, Inactive.

Very Active Bass are feeding/hunting for prey and very alert, Active Bass are alert but not hunting prey, Neutral Bass are not hunting feeding but aware of prey and inactive bass are sleeping bass no interest in prey or feeding.

Activity level is also related to water temperatures, warmer longer activity periods, colder water shorter activity periods. Timing the Active periods with appropriate lures and presentations is critical. 

Each bass is an individual activity level and sometimes groups are on the same schedule. Breaking it down very active are aggressive easy to catch, active are less aggressive and require lures presented nearby, neutral bass are not hunting but catchable if the lures is close and easy to strike, inactive bass simply ate not catchable no interest in striking. 

Missed strikes usually happen with bass in the less active to neutral time periods which makes up the majority of the time within a 24 hour period.

Tom 

PS, eye opener watch Big Mouth Forever video.

 

 

[Choporoz]

I'd be surprised if it were over 5%.

 

But, I tend to assess blame on the fish...not the fisherman....when I don't catch what I think I should --  

 

Also....to keep my head in the game, I am always assuming a fish is getting a good look every cast.    So for those reasons, my estimate could be low.....but I wouldn't be shocked if it is in the range of 1 or 2%

[DitchPanda]

Ill go along with @Team9nine on this and I'd put my estimate at somewhere between 5% and 10%. My opinion has been built on 15 years of ice fishing with a fish finder and seeing fish reject lures over and over. Another thing that tells me this is I read that dnr electrofishing report and the numbers of bass compared to the numbers I've caught were surprising to say the least.

 

[TnRiver46]

21 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

So many variables - but just sitting at the computer pondering for a couple minutes on the question, <=5% seems reasonable as a yearly average. That means 1 out of every 20 bass I get my bait in front of might strike. Could be lower, doubt it's higher, over an entire season - some days and times will obviously be higher. I base some of this off using LS for an entire season now, especially crappie fishing. I can see just how many are down there, but so many times they simply shut off after catching a limited number, while the rest never bite no matter how long I sit on a spot and change baits. Live bait might change the answer some, but that wasn't inherent in the original question.

Have you tried shutting the machine off and see if they bite better afterwards? 
 

I feel like the answer to the question is species dependent. White bass bite like sharks, black bass ignore lures 

[Deleted account]

Live scope.

[A-Jay]

Having never used or even seen any of the LIVE units, I am vicariously subjected to the findings of those who've fished with them.

Without and before the LIVE unit info was available, my opinion on this would most likely still be on the low side.  Just not sure I would be willing to go down into the single digits, although I have no doubt the Live Scopers (new term, look at that) are right on the money.

However, when hunting for the size of brown bass that easily contains the smallest number in any system, believing that 95 % of the fatties I somehow manage to get a bait in front of, will have lockjaw, is depressing and hard to digest, even if it is true.  

Might explain some things though.

Fish Hard

A-Jay

 

[FryDog62]

I think there was a percentage pre-Covid and one today - two different numbers. With all the added pressure I've seen a big change in many lakes the past 2 years... 

[Tennessee Boy]

Not many of you are giving a number.  I'm not looking for the right answer to the question here because I don't think anyone knows the answer.  I'm more interested in your opinion because it says a lot about how you approach fishing.  Are you focused on getting  better at finding fish?  or would you like to get better at catching the fish you've found?  

 

 

[Deleted account]

4 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

Not many of you are giving number.  I'm not looking for the right answer to the question here because I don't think anyone knows the answer.  I'm more interested in your opinion because it says a lot about how you approach fishing.  Are you focused on getting  better at finding fish?  or would you like to get better at catching the fish you've found?  

 

 

8.37215%

[Skunkmaster-k]

60% of the time a purple worm works every time. 

[Columbia Craw]

36 minutes ago, Deleted account said:

8.37215%

You’re close

[T-Billy]

I remember KVD being shocked at how low the % is when he was on Hook and Look. I think less than 10% on average.

[OldManLure]

When I typed this, I believed that 20-25% of the fish that become aware of and have the opportunity to strike a lure will strike.  But then I did the math, and realize that at this rate, on a float that I catch 16 fish (which excites me), I’ve exposed my lure to 64 fish.  So maybe the percentage is actually higher.  Hmmm.  

[Tennessee Boy]

14 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

I remember KVD being shocked at how low the % is when he was on Hook and Look. I think less than 10% on average.

Yeah,  maybe 10% of the fish that swam after his lure.  The percentage of strikes of those that were aware of his lure was much lower.

 

 

[Catt]

2 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Without and before the LIVE unit info was available, my opinion on this would most likely still be on the low side.  Just not sure I would be willing to go down into the single digits,

 

Pretty much ?

 

As for the "LIVE" imaging I hearing it's like bed fishing, see a lot, catch a few, leave a few.

[PhishLI]

3 hours ago, Tennessee Boy said:

If you don’t get a bite,  do you assume there was no fish there

Nope, and here's why. I usually comb an area pretty thoroughly with several presentations beginning with smaller soft entry baits, then progressing toward larger and louder entry baits. When I started if I was blanking I'd simply assume that I was just fishing dead water if nothing bit, but came to learn this often wasn't true. A correct for-the-moment-tweak in presentation has ended up catching me a good number of nice fish quickly exactly where I'd been blanking. This has happened many times wade fishing in my local shallow lakes.

 

Livescope can be super frustrating when you're on top of fish in a negative mood and you blank all day, and great if they're active.

 

I'm not sure if any of this can be boiled down to a meaningful number unless it was broken down by season and region. As most have said so far, it's usually a low percentage. Also, I doubt that any of us would actually like to know or keep track of what our ratio of casts to catches is. Yikes. By that metric there are probably far better ways to spend one's time. Regardless, we block out that truth,  embrace the grind, and take our wins when we can get them.

[WRB]

From personal experience I know very few bass anglers can detect jig strikes from big bass. There is no doubt in my mind that every good jig angler that hasn’t caught his or her PB bass on a jig missed the opportunity by not detecting the strike.

Lakes are full of bass and we do get skunked occasionally. You must know the bass knew your lure was nearby and either bit and you missed or they were inactive at the time you made the cast. Timing and strike detection. What % who knows? The day you were skunked it was 100% missed strikes.

Tom

[Tennessee Boy]

This is what high percentage fishing looks like.

 

 

[OldManLure]

9 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

Nope, and here's why. I usually comb an area pretty thoroughly with several presentations beginning with smaller soft entry baits, then progressing toward larger and louder entry baits. When I started if I was blanking I'd simply assume that I was just fishing dead water if nothing bit, but came to learn this often wasn't true. A correct for-the-moment-tweak in presentation has ended up catching me a good number of nice fish quickly exactly where I'd been blanking. This has happened many times wade fishing in my local shallow lakes.

 

Livescope can be super frustrating when you're on top of fish in a negative mood and you blank all day, and great if they're active.

 

I'm not sure if any of this can be boiled down to a meaningful number unless it was broken down by season and region. As most have said so far, it's usually a low percentage. Also, I doubt that any of us would actually like to know or keep track of what our ratio of casts to catches is. Yikes. By that metric there are probably far better ways to spend one's time. Regardless, we block out that truth,  embrace the grind, and take our wins when we can get them.

Actually, a couple years ago a buddy and I kept track of average casts and catches for river smallies. We limited it to a particular stretch of the Shenandoah River and a particular stretch of the Upper Potomac, and did it for only 3 trips on each.  On both stretches, about 5% of casts resulted in a catch.   We both questioned if the information had any real value, but it was interesting to quantify something we had only given a passing thought.  What was most surprising was the number of casts we made.  Many more than either of us would have guessed.  The percentage was disappointing, but we did catch some nice fish, and on a couple of the trips one of us ended up catching what at the time was a personal best.  I think we both agreed that even a 5% catch rate was worth it when at least one of them was was a pig.

[king fisher]

Not as many as I would like, but once in awhile a few more than I deserve.

[scaleface]

I think almost 100 per cent of the time a good piece of  cover holds at least one bass . I come to this conclusion while snorkeling in clear water . If the place looked like it should hold bass it did ,I have no idea  what percentage strikes my lure but I try to get it as high as possible by making good cast , being stealthy ...