Spooky, mysterious question: Do you ever know....

[Swamp Girl]

I know I'm about to step into the Twilight Zone here, but do you ever know when a bass is about to hit your surface lure?

 

 

I do know, about once or twice every trip. I'm not talking about the obvious line in shallow water where a bass is charging your lure or FFS, where you see a bass rising to your lure, but that little flutter inside, much like Spiderman's tingle, where you say, "Hey, a bass is about to hit." and then it does.

 

 

It could be I'm seeing a shift in the water made by a bass around my lure that I can't actually to define it with words because it's so subtle. It could also be that my lure is sitting, structure, cover, and weather-wise, in a situation so similar to others where I've caught bass that I'm making a very good guess that one is about to strike. Or it could be straight-up Spidey-sense.

 

Whatever it is, it feels a little like a pigeon is fluttering inside of me and I prepare to set the hook because a bass is about to strike. 

 

 

 

[Zcoker]

Not such a mysterious spooky question. I think everyone has that feeling of “knowing” when all is right. Can go for anything in life. The gist of it with fishing is in getting everything right in order to assure that strike.

[ironbjorn]

I get that every once in awhile with any lure. I think it's just a matter of experience and knowing everything is right for the bite.

[padlin]

I’ve caught exactly one bass on a top water, so I can reliably guess when I’m not going to get a hit.

[king fisher]

Just the opposite for me. Bass always hit my surface lure when I least expect them to. Out of shock I react jerking the bait away from the bass.

[Pat Brown]

I feel like it's the ones I know are gonna bite - I struggle to hook and it's the one that surprise me that I catch way more often.

 

Weird huh?

[Dwight Hottle]

I have had that happen numerous times when working a jerk baits under water & out of sight. I can sense I'm going to get bit before it happens & I call it out loud to my fishing partner. They are always amazed when it happens like I'm clairvoyant.  

[Jig Man]

No I don’t think I have.  I rarely fish top water because they don’t work well where I fish.  I mainly fish bottom contact baits and swim baits.  I need and use custom rods that have great sensitivity and can let me feel even the slightest change in a bait weight or action.

[casts_by_fly]

There are times when you make just that perfect cast and think to yourself that there just has to be a bass right there. Often for me it’s with a buzzbait that ive hit the last inch of a gap between the weeds just along the side of another piece of cover. Or it’s that ‘V’ in the lily pads where you’re bring it right along to the point of the ‘v’ and know one is going to hit it there.  You just know something is going to happen. 
 

my other favorite is when you’re bringing in a topwater and you see the wake of a fish about to shark your lure. It’s hard waiting for the actual hit. 

[jbmaine]

Yes, and not just about fishing. Every so often I'll get a " something is about to happen" thought, and more often it's right. Had it all my life.

[scaleface]

If I did know I guarantee I would set the hook to soon and miss almost everyone of them. 

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, jbmaine said:

Yes, and not just about fishing. Every so often I'll get a " something is about to happen" thought, and more often it's right. Had it all my life.

 

Now I'm wondering if all Mainers have been bit by radioactive spiders. Or radioactive ticks?

[LrgmouthShad]

I do not possess spidey senses

[Mike L]

One of the most exciting things that happens is when you’re throwing a frog in a pad field, a prop bait in scattered grass or a Magnum Speed Worm over topped out vegetation.
Then out of the corner of your eye about 20ft away you notice a pad move down or the grass is pushed just slightly to the side.
  You stare at it for 3 seconds and realize its getting closer. 
 

You grab the rod a little tighter, your reel hand tenses, you breathe faster, you plant your feet harder on the deck all the while never taking your eyes off whatever’s 

coming towards you.

You don’t even watch the bait anymore. 

Then nothing. No movement. Everything is still, while your whole body tenses up. 

You see the splash but don’t hear it, you hold your breath and BAM!!

 

Yeah, you’ll know

 

 

 

Mike

 

[SC53]

I got to fish Mercurys Lake X 3 times in my life back in the 80’s. It was never fished except maybe a couple times a year.  Our club was invited to fish it as guides for the customers of the guy that bought it from Mercury, Ken Kirchman. 
You could call you shots almost everywhere.  If there was a grass point and you threw a lure by it and you just knew there was a bass there, and there was.  It was an amazing place to fish.

I’ve had numerous experiences when flipping that I’d drop my bait into a spot and the grass or pad would shake and I would just set the hook.  There’d be a bass there every time.   

[WRB]

What you are discussing is a gut feeling or intuitive thought you know a bass is going to strike without conscious awareness.

intuition is something we have to some degree, not always a good feeling.

Bass fishing for some means getting in touch with surroundings looking for clues for activity and when everything is in focus undistracted your intuition kicks in and know where the bass is and when it will strike so trust you gut feeling.

Tom

 

[jbmaine]

3 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

Now I'm wondering if all Mainers have been bit by radioactive spiders. Or radioactive ticks?

 This is Maine we are talking about . My folks told me I ate radioactive lobstah when I was a little kid.

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

What you are discussing is a gut feeling or intuitive thought you know a bass is going to strike without conscious awareness.

intuition is something we have to some degree, not always a good feeling.

Bass fishing for some means getting in touch with surroundings looking for clues for activity and when everything is in focus undistracted your intuition kicks in and know where the bass is and when it will strike so trust you gut feeling.

Tom

 

 

[MickD]

I've detected a few impending strikes of a surface lure by seeing an approaching wake and also when minnows fly out of the water around a surface lure.  That's all I can think of.  

[Catt]

Sounds like when Nadine inhales a jig & just sits there. No thump-thump, no line movement, nothing, but I set hook anyway!

 

My grandson Aiden: You wasn't even paying attention.  

Me: Yeah I was, that's why I set hook!

 

If the bass is big enough I can tell when it's trailing my spinnerbait/crankbait.

[Mike L]

We look for clues and tells 

Two different things. 
 

Why else did you stop where you did, and use what you tied on?

 Taking advantage of what you’re seeing and putting those pieces together is the recipe for success. 

But when nothing tells you anything and you set the hook because it just feels right sometimes that’s the best feeling of all. 
 

 

Mike

[GreenPig]

I've had the feeling many times, on the boat, in the deer stand, in crowds, and driving in traffic, that somethings about to happen. 

[Mobasser]

Sometimes you'll make a good cast to the perfect spot, and get a quiet bait entry. Then, you get that gut feeling that a bass will hit. I've had it happen. Not often, but it does happen.                         You've got to be really tuned in and focused on everything. The bait, cover, wind etc.

[Columbia Craw]

Never

[Swest18x]

Happens to me every time after I've caught a bass on the previous two casts!

 

Those are the good mornings. My powers of clairvoyance are much stronger on the bad mornings. On those days, I know ahead of time every single cast that I won't catch a fish!