ALWAYS set the hook!

[Newman12Fan]

Well, one thing I have learned this summer from this page and from my fishing experiences is that when in doubt, set the hook.  Hook sets are free as they say.  You never know when it is going to be the fish of your life!  So I went out tonight and was fishing a pipe.  the first cast, got a little nibble, waited for more, nothing.  Next cast was the same thing.  On the third cast I got a nibble and SET the hook.  The bait was about 10  feet off shore from me.  As I set the hook, here comes my 6 inch worm t-rigged flying out of the water over my left shoulder landing 10 feet behind me.  

Now, this is not abnormal so far, but I have not told you that attached to the 6 inch worm and hook was a 5 inch bass.  Poor thing was in the water minding her own business one second, and then going on a 20 foot ride out of the water and into the air the next second!  It came off the hook and was flopping around, but I was laughing so hard I could not crab her.  I had to take a deep breath before I could get her back into the water.

I have had lures fly at me before, but never with fish attached!

[FD.]

I have done that flipping in shallow water, set the hook and out comes the lure and a 6" bass up and over the front of the boat and back into the water.  BUT, it could have been a DD.

Keep setting the Hook!

[Castamasta]

i did that yesterday with a 4 oz bass. it was hilarious

[basser89]

I've done that on a couple of occasions but the one I'll remember most was on a private pond I was fishing with one of my friends. There were some GOOD bass in there (close to double digits). I was fishing the edge of some cattails when I caught some movement back inside the tails. I pitched a tube in the area and twitched the bait once. WHAM! The "beast" absolutely crushed the tube. Well, I reeled down and crossed its eyes! I could see its eyes were crossed as that 10" bass went flyin over my head and landed about 15' behind me! My buddy and I couldn't stop laughin about it! Matter a fact, that story comes up from time to time even now.  ;D

[Big-O]

Flying fish live in fresh water too!!!

Years ago, a friend and his young son went fishing with me and neither of them were familiar with flipping jigs in brush and timber and in close quarters. My previous outings in this area were very productive hitting several larger fish each time so I was keyed up and loaded for bear....

You can imagine the sight to my friends young boy who had never seen a bass before this time, and some of the fish that were of the smaller version were flying over the boat right and left then a big one would hit and the fight wound up with the fish in the bottom of the boat thrashing all over the place....

At the end of the day the young boy told his mother that he wanted a motorcycle helmet for his birthday, she quickly replied that he didn't have a motorcycle and he told her "Not for a motorcycle Mom, it's for flying fish when I go fishin' with Big O again".

Now Anthony is 35 yrs old and is a die hard bass fisherman and his mom reminds of that often....Flying Fish.

Big O

[Joshawa]

Swings are always free, unless your fishing in stumps and submerged timber... Then swings usually cost a trip to shore

[IDbasser]

That is what I was doing last night.  I could not feel the hits, but would see a twitch in the line, or a little resistance and would set the hook.  I caught several fish.  They were LM, I usually catch smallies, but fun nonetheless.