T Rig Hookset time

[fin]

Five seconds is a lifetime. You can’t really be waiting THAT long. You would be gut-hooking or they would be long gone.

 

I set the hook at the slightest hint of a bite most of the time, although there are times when I feel something that’s not quite a bite, so I tighten up my line and drop the rod tip and I’m ready to yank it into orbit in a microsecond. Many times then the real bite will come.

 

In high-pressure lakes and sometimes in the winter they are skittish and if you don’t give them that first sample nibble, you’ll be yanking it out of their mouth, but I only do that after I have missed one.

 

[Bankbeater]

It depends on how the bass are taking the bait.  If they are slamming the bait or swimming off with it then I don't wait.  I swing as soon as I feel them. 

I wait a few seconds to set the hook if the bass are short striking or if they are not biting hard.

[thediscochef]

1 hour ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Regardless, the larger fish seem to most always take the bait quickly. 

I have a theory about this, it's one of those things that I'm thinking about when I stare off into space while casting - the larger bass often use the suction displacement of opening their mouths to get faster prey in more reliably, right? So it would make sense that you would only feel the end of the inhale, whereas on a smaller fish maybe you feel the bait hitting jaws before it's fully eaten. Or maybe the smaller fish just doesn't have the power to simply eat the bait (or food that size) without using more of the swimming abilities.
i think i need to go outside

[papajoe222]

The only time I don’t swing at the first indication of a bite, is when I’m throwing big worms. I’ll hesitate a fraction of a second then, but never five seconds. 

[LrgmouthShad]

2 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

Or maybe the smaller fish just doesn't have the power to simply eat the bait (or food that size) without using more of the swimming abilities.

For the really small bass, I think they are trying to reposition your bait in their mouth and that is why you feel those rapid taps. Opening and closing their mouth

[thediscochef]

2 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

For the really small bass, I think they are trying to reposition your bait in their mouth and that is why you feel those rapid taps. Opening and closing their mouth

this?

[Bankc]

There are instances where I'll set the hook immediately and there are instances where I'll wait maybe a full second or more.  I usually try to set the hook immediately, but if I'm missing hookset or especially if I reel back my bait and find the worm has been pulled down the hook, I'll slow it down and start giving them more slack before setting the hook.  I never know what's going to work best until I find out what's not working.  

[Catt]

I use to believe that Bluegill bite until I started setting hook & found out it was NADINE!

 

With this bass all I saw was tiny little rings around my line like someone strummed a guitar.

 

[WRB]

Back in the 60’s to 70’s the standard strike sequence was feeling the tap and count to 10 watching the bass move off with the worm. Times have changed. When we figured out bass don’t have hands we set the hook faster and harder.

Tom

[LrgmouthShad]

8 minutes ago, Catt said:

use to believe that Bluegill bite until I started setting hook & found out it was NADINE!

As I said, most of the time it is bluegill, sometimes it is not. I am setting hook regardless. 

[N Florida Mike]

I wait longer than most of y’all. I miss more fish by quickly setting the hook. I feel the tap, or see the line moving. Then, I reel up to just barely make contact, then drop the rod and set. Maybe it’s not 5 seconds but it’s close. I rarely have a fish drop it once they pick it up( unless it’s on a bed ).

I had a friend who was a very experienced bass fisherman, and he took  a lot longer than me!!

[BigAngus752]

2 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

I feel something, I set the hook...no waiting.

Or if I don't feel something I was feeling a second ago...

[Jar11591]

No waiting. Bass don’t “mouth” baits. They either suction-feed or ram-feed, and neither methods involve them gumming only half the bait long enough for an angler to have to wait to set the hook. When I feel a strike or anything that feels “different”, I’m leaning back on em immediately. 
 

There is a hot debate when it comes to frog fishing specifically on whether or not wait to set the hook when you see a blow up on your frog. There is a very eye-opening close-up video on YouTube (TacticalBassin I believe) that shows by the time you see a blowup on your frog, the bass has already inhaled your frog and turned its head back to dive back down. I never wait. 

[flyfisher]

Other than frogs I am setting any time I feel the bait doing something it shouldn't be doing.  That varies but it also comes with experience to know what your bait is doing as opposed to detecting strikes.  We all love the solid thump of a good hit but that isn't always gonna happen and like has already been mentioned, hooksets are free.....

[Catt]

What drove it home for me was the first time I saw the "Hawg Trough", ya know that big aquarium on a trailer at tackle shows. I was standing right up against the plexiglass when the Pro threw a Texas Rig & a 3# bass sucked it in & spit it out before my pea brain could comprehend what happened.

 

I started setting hook on everything! 

[MN Fisher]

2 minutes ago, Catt said:

a 3# bass sucked it in & spit it out before my pea brain could comprehend what happened.

Imma gonna leave that one alone, Tommy.

[Woody B]

I normally set the hook as soon as I feel anything.   

 

What about small mouth?   I only fish one lake that has a decent smallie population and don't fish it often.  The reason I ask.  40ish years ago I took a kid (12 at the time) to Lake James.  (the lake I fish with smallies)  It was spring during the spawn.  The water was clear.  We could see the fish on their beds.  He threw a t rig to a BIG one.   She picked it up by the tail and moved it away from the bed.  He was wanting to set the hook but I could see she only had it by the tail.  I grabbed him, kinda in a bear hug to keep him from setting the hook.  The third time he threw it out there she engulfed it.  She was over 8 pounds and is on his wall.  He's been hooked on bass fishing since then.   

 

I don't have enough smallmouth experience......are they slower to fully take a bait, or was this just a spawning thing?   

 

I've only been to that lake 1 time this year.  I caught 3 LM and 3 SM, but none on a Texas rig.   

[A-Jay]

37 minutes ago, Woody B said:

I normally set the hook as soon as I feel anything.   

 

What about small mouth?   I only fish one lake that has a decent smallie population and don't fish it often.  The reason I ask.  40ish years ago I took a kid (12 at the time) to Lake James.  (the lake I fish with smallies)  It was spring during the spawn.  The water was clear.  We could see the fish on their beds.  He threw a t rig to a BIG one.   She picked it up by the tail and moved it away from the bed.  He was wanting to set the hook but I could see she only had it by the tail.  I grabbed him, kinda in a bear hug to keep him from setting the hook.  The third time he threw it out there she engulfed it.  She was over 8 pounds and is on his wall.  He's been hooked on bass fishing since then.   

 

I don't have enough smallmouth experience......are they slower to fully take a bait, or was this just a spawning thing?   

 

I've only been to that lake 1 time this year.  I caught 3 LM and 3 SM, but none on a Texas rig.   

8 lbs is a fish of a life time ~

IME, defending or cleaning out a spawning bed may not be the same as "Eating".

If brown bass only ever nipped at the tail of whatever they were looking to dine on,

that prey, whatever it is, would get away a good percentage of the time.

Smaillies still suck in their food (crayfish, baitfish, insects etc), 

smash it up with their crushers to kill it, and then it goes down the hatch.

None of that needs to happen to move an intruder from a nest, especially one that the bass has no intentions of eating. Just grab it, relocate it and set it free. 

A-Jay

 

 

[Darren.]

What @Catt said (ok, what Shaw Grigsby told him) .

[fin]

I find it interesting that a lot of people are saying there’s never a need for hesitation. I have personally seen situations where it pays off, and I have seen it many times, so I’m curious what the difference is in our experiences. I admit it is the exception to the rule, generally an instant hookset is best, but not always, in my experience.

 

One situation I used to see it with was fishing craw trailers t-rigged with 1/16 oz bullet on 1/16 oz weighted hook. I usually fish extremely light t-rigs, maybe that is the difference. I also fish mostly shallow water, like less than 10 feet. I guess both of those things might play into it.

[dodgeguy]

4 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Hooksets are free ~ I Don't wait.

Most anytime my bait 'feels different', I'm coming tight on it.

And different can be a few things; heavier, lighter, weightless, mushy and of course,

that exciting feeling that something alive is on the other end. 

The more I fished, the better I got at it.

But I still get 'surprised' on occasion.

A-Jay

Exactly correct.

[GaryH]

1 hour ago, N Florida Mike said:

I wait longer than most of y’all. I miss more fish by quickly setting the hook. I feel the tap, or see the line moving. Then, I reel up to just barely make contact, then drop the rod and set. Maybe it’s not 5 seconds but it’s close. I rarely have a fish drop it once they pick it up( unless it’s on a bed ).

I had a friend who was a very experienced bass fisherman, and he took  a lot longer than me!!

Mike that’s because your fishing those Florida bass that moved down there to retire and most of them mouth there food. ??

[RB 77]

How long should you wait? You shouldn't. I hit em' instantly.  

[Catt]

3 hours ago, fin said:

I find it interesting that a lot of people are saying there’s never a need for hesitation. 

 

When I start dropping the rod tip I'm reeling slack at the same time & then the sethook.

 

This time frame is y'all's 1-3 seconds!

 

You are correct, there are occasions where hesitation is warranted. 

 

Toledo Bend has a healthy population of Kentucky Spotted Bass. They infamous for the tap, tap, tap bite y'all call Bluegill bites. There's a ridge out on the main lake we call "machine gun ridge" because you'll feel 4-5 taps.

[Skunkmaster-k]

I use the “there he is “ method.