line watching

[CallMeTheSeeker]

i have a couple questions about line watching, fishing with senkos as well as other soft plastics.

first off, im an amateur bass fisherman.  Secondly i have caught a buncha bass with soft plastics, usually weightless.

Often though, i find myself thinking to myself...i wonder if i a missing a hit at this very moment.

So lets look at a scenario:  Cast my soft plastic out  say 35 feet.  it hits the water and starts sinking....i can see my line on the top of the water sinking below the water as it drops(sometimes, depending on conditions.)  also i can see the line from my rod to where it  lays in the water(i try to keep a nice slack between rod tip and where the line touches the water.)  now, if i can see the line dropping below the surface as it falls, i am fairly confident in my ability to detect a hit(IE: line pulls a diffrent direction or pulls down more quickly then the natural fall.)   When i am unsure is when i am retreiving with

rod jerks and letting the bait settle on the bottom again which part of the line should i be watching; the part where the line is going under the water towards the bait, or the part of the line going from my rod tip to the water surface right in front of me.  sometimes i cannot clearly see the line that falls from the surface at the end of the line(not the line from the rod tip directly to the water surface.)  Basicly my question is, even with a lot of line out should i be able to see/feel a hit by watching the line from the rod tip to the surface.  or should i always be trying to watch the line at the end of my line on the surface, where it is dropping beneath the surface?  

Sometimes the line dropping at the far end of my line is hard to see...so i think i may be missing hits when i am watching the line from my rod tip to the surface(especailly when my line is a long ways out from the boat.)

Any specific tips/hints about watching my line when i have alot of line out would be much appreciated.   Should i always be able to see a hit by watching the line from the rod tip to the surface?  I find myself also having trouble figuring out when my lure is done dropping when i cannot clearly see the line as it drop from the surface to beneath the surface.

It seems to me i have noticed many more hits when my line is closer to the boat(or when there is no slack line laying on the surface of the water) then when i have alot of line out.  So i am just worried i am missing hits.

Please give me any insights you have about this.

thanks much.

-Seeker

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

After such a detailed post, you're gonna hate this answer.

You need to watch both, or simply, the whole line.  

[Shad_Master]

The rest of the answer is that you are going to miss some hits and this can't be avoided.  Fish are sneakly little devils and we don't catch 'em all.  But it seems like you are on the right track.  Fishin time helps us all improve

[5bass]

Just like LBH said,watch any part of your line that you can see.I try to watch my line closer to the fish rather than at the end of my rod.But sometimes you cant see in the water so you just have to watch what you can.

[Hamlet]

i've had the same question as you. like the others said, i like to watch the line closer to the fish but if i cant see it the only other option is watching the line near the tip.

[Will]

If you watch your line where it first goes in the water, you can see it jump when a fish bites.

[Sam]

I reel in the slack ASAP and watch the line near the water line.

Or, while I am reeling in the slack I watch the line at the water line to see if it moves right or left.

One of my friends had the line move towards him and that blew his mind. Yes, it was a bass and he finally set the hook.  That is the only time I know of when the fish swims towards the boat.

I also use my fingers when using a baitcaster to feel for differences in line pressure.

Last weekend I caught a bass on a Senko (watermealon with red flake) and I saw the line run left on its way down so I set the hook.  Lucky for me there was a fish on the other end.

Good luck.

[Gatorbassman]

Like LBH and fivebass limit sais you need to try to watch the entire line. If that's not possible than watch what you can see. Look for the slightest change from the norm. Also a good pare of polarized glasses are a must because many times (This happend to me today while fishing a fluke on slack line.) all you see is the flash from a fish.

[CallMeTheSeeker]

thanks guys, seems im watching where i need to be as close as i can.

And yea, i'm about to invest in a nice pair of polarized glasses.  i have a regular pair of rose colored sunglasses that help quite a bit, but everyone keep telling me the polarized ones are a hundred times better.  Also i usually like to use a flourescent line like the one fireline makes.  im thinking im going to start using a flourocarbon leader with it too.

sometimes also if i cant see the far end of the line ill reel in a bit more line and take some more of the slack out of the line, and a bit of the line off of the surface without tightening the line too much.

another question, if there is line laying on the surfae of the water, do you still have to worry about tightening the line enough that you can negativly impact the action of the bait(especially with the soft stickbaits).  It seems to me that the bait would pull more line from the surface of the water before moving the lure closer to the boat and affecting the action alot.  I still am unsure at times of how my reeling/jerking the rod is affecting the actual bait when it is farther from the boat.

thanks again guys.

-Seeker

[Guest avid]

Welcom to the thinking mans bass forum

A few thoughts come to mind.  First.  Why not try using a braided line?  Braids float high in the water.  I use heavy braid with a fluoro leader.  This gives me the best of both worlds. High visability for line watching on top of the water and near invisibility down under.  Also, fly fisherman use what they call a "strike indicator" for nymph fishing.  If you run searches for strike indicators you will see that they are simply a bright colored piece of yarn, or some other highly visible material that they tie to the line.  (I just love the way fly fisherman make something snooty out of a piece of orange yarn)

Finally, as far as the action of the senko is concerned. Just raise your rod to the 12 or 1 o'clock position and the bait will swim up then flutter back down.  It's a beautiful thing.  By the way, have fun out there.