Watching your line?

[Nick982]

When you guys are fishing weightless plastics do you watch the line closer to the the water, or up near the slack/pole. I do a lot of bank fishing and i cant hardly see the line close to where my bait lies! due to this im not very confident in plastics because i always feel like im gonna miss strikes with such slack line, and every time i try to put tension it feels like im moving the plastic, any tips and suggestions for me to get over being so paranoid and to up my confidence?

Thanks

[John J.]

What I do is watch my line closest to the bait. When the bait sinks, the line appears to dissapear inch by inch into the water with the line towards the reel sitting on the water. I watch that line when it dissapears and about a foot or two towards the reel. If the line jumps or twitches and starts to run (what I like to call 'run like a train') there's a fish, or if the line suddenly moves to the left or right, etc.

With weighless I never try to feel the strike, I watch the line. I watch the line and wait until the bait hits bottom (line quits going out) and then I give the lure a sharp pop or two and let it sink back down, and repeat.

Practice makes perfect. The more you fish weightless and get used to watching the line, the better you will be at detecting strikes. And remember, there are free swings in bass fishing! If something don't look or seem right, set that hook!  

God bless  8-)

[Triton21]

Line watching is a GOOD thing.  I fish 80%of the time with slack line.  Even with my Loomis rods I can't feel a bite on slack line.  I am a constant line watcher and will set the hook at any abnormal movement in the line.  If conditions don't alow me to see my line where it enters the water I watch the line at the furtherest point I can see it.

Kelley

[Guest avid]

Watch the line where you can see it the best.

any twitch will be be transmitted along the entire length.

[David P]

I watch my line 90% of the time while fishing but I mostly feel the tap tap or when I raise my rod I feel a bit of resistance and can feel the fish.

90% of the time, I feel the tap or resistance without seeing any line movement. The second I feel that tap I set the hook, so maybe the line twitch takes an extra .2 seconds.

[grimlin]

Last week i never felt the tap or see my line move..gave it a tug and felt a bit heavy,so i set the hook to be sure.Sure enough a fish was on.I think you just have to be ready to set the hook anytime.

[FatBoy]

This year, I'd say 90% of the fish I caught on senkos, I never felt a thing.  They were all due to watching the line.  I watch the line at the point where it enters the water.  Usually you can see it move one direction or another.  The hardest one for me to detect is when the senko is still falling and the fish moves toward me.  

I've been trying to get better at detecting just the twitch in the line that avid's talking about.  But most of the time my hands and arms give the rod enough virbration that the line seems to always shake a bit.  Guess I need to cut down on the coffee.  

[flechero]

I rarely watch my line.  Since I live in central Tx, wind is almost always a factor.  If you'll learn to fish by feel, you can fish just as effectively at night as you do in the day or in the wind.  My advice would be to watch line when you can but try to learn to fish by feel so you aren't limited in wind or at night.

[bassbob08]

watch and feel,I stay in contact with my line at all time with my hands or my eyes,my wife has asked me why I set the hook so much and I tell her I have a twitchand cant control it. ;D

[ronster71]

I am still new to the weightless senko's and line watching...it is a work in progress for me, as I have always been taught to keep the line fairly tight to feel the bite.  I feel I am getting better at leaving it loose and watching the line, but I still have problems with reeling up the slack and automatically setting the hook when I see something.  Having read enough posts to see that it's the correct thing to do, it is merely a confidence issue with me I guess.  It's always been so drilled into my head to tighten up the line and wait for the fish to run, that I'm always scared to swing and miss.  As I said I'm working on it.

Back to the line issue, I haven't found it that difficult so far to see the strike on my line...that's actually been a pretty easy transition.  To me, wherever I am viewing the line at on top of the water, I can see the strike...it seems to me that when they hit it, the line reacts at all points in its length, but, echoing what another poster said, I have found it more difficult when the fish picks it up and runs toward the boat with it, especially if it's not completely calm on the water and the boat could be floating in.  

[gatrboy53]

fishing plastics weightless line watching is a must.more times than not you wont feel the bite.if you are having a hard time seeing the line get some hi-vis line.

[roadwarrior]

I rarely watch my line. Since I live in central Tx, wind is almost always a factor. If you'll learn to fish by feel, you can fish just as effectively at night as you do in the day or in the wind. My advice would be to watch line when you can but try to learn to fish by feel so you aren't limited in wind or at night.

Whether you are reading fishing magazines, threads here at BassResource.com or posts on another site, you will rarely see anyone making flechero's comment. Line watching seems something akin to the Holy Grail for most fishermen. However, I'm another guy that doesn't pay a great deal of attention to my line, particulary when I'm fishing on a river.  

[Raul]

Watching the line is important IF you can see the line, Flechero made an important point, where I live 50% of the time it 's windy, anywhere from very little to hurricane like, trying to watch the line under such conditions is just wasting your time, on the ther 50% of the time there is no wind at all and the lake looks like glass, oh yeah, you can see the line.

I watch the line when I can otherwise I fish by feel, most important is the lack of feel what matters, anybody can feel a fish biting when they bite hard ( which is not always the case ), but the lack of feel ( not feeling the weight and the drag of your bait pulling the line in most cases indicates a fish has mouthed the bait ........ hooksets are for free, set the hook !

[airborne_angler]

Not only do I watch my line ,but when I use a baitcasting reel I "feel" my line as well. This comes from what my dad taught me when we used to go out Trout fishing when I was a kid.Sometimes the bit can be so subtle that the line never moves or jumps. But feeling it gives a bonus. The only thing I hate is when fishing trick sticks(Senkos) is feeling those pesky Bluegill tappin on the bait as it falls. Just try to keep in mind to move your finger before a hookset or youll run the risk of getting the line cutting into it. DAMHIK(lol)

[IdahoLunkerHunter]

Airbone has a great idea. When I am fishing plastics I also do not watch line very much. I used to watch about 80-90% of the time but after fishing off the bank for smallies in rip wrap, wind, waves, etc... I had to get used to feeling for the bite instead of watching line. Watching the line can be productive but I have found I have become a better fisherman feeling for the bite.

[Juskikn]

There are not enough calm days here to watch for line movement so I depend on feeling the bite.  Hold the line and raise your tip slowly to feel for the fish.  Most times if you have a finger on the line you can feel the bite even with slack.  I like to hold my rod a little farther forward than Airbone's picture right on the cork grip.  The reason for that is sometimes when setting the hook on a good fish the rod will try to jump out of your hand!  

[gatrboy53]

the original ? was w/ weightless plastics.if its real windy weightless plastics get too much bow in the line so watching it wouldnt do any good.in most situations myself anyway fish weightless plastics on a slack line so the bait will fall naturally.the only way to detect a strike is watching your line

[razyrsharpe]

i am a line watcher also...i feel about 75% of the strikes, but i always check the line to see if movement indicates the bite wasn't just me in close contact with a stump or other obstacle.

[NEBassMan]

I do as Airborne showed, with my finger under the line.  Works great!  Also, take his advice in moving your finger before you set the hook.  I found out that 50lb Braid digging through your skin does NOT feel good!!

Jason

[Del from philly]

yep, im a line watcher myself.......this is why nightfishing can be frustrating

i always watch where the line meets the water.....

i dont notice taps, but when that line pulls to a side i know i got something

unless its windy, then it may l;ook like that, but really the slack just pulled to the left

but line watching is a must for me.......especially where i fish, fishing feel only can be misleeding

[Catt]

I'm in the same gang with flechero  

I night fish 80% of the time & line watching isn't possible, I can feel most bites many people never feel. Even when I fish in daylight I don't totally rely on sight. Your worm or jig can fall into an indention on the bottom moving your line enough to give the impression of a pick up. Don't get me wrong I don't totally ignore my line but I don't have to stare at it either. With a Texas Rig, Carolina Rig, or Jig-N-Craw you had better be aware of what your lure is doing at all times; both when moving or sitting still.

[.ghoti.]

I'm a line watcher, but I also know what my bait du jour feels like. I think both concepts are important. You sometimes see bites that you don't feel. You sometimes feel bites that you don't see. SOmetimes you both see and feel the bite; this is the rarest case.

Concentration is the key.

Cheers,

GK

[RoLo]

You sometimes see bites that you don't feel.

You sometimes feel bites that you don't see. Sometimes you both see and feel the bite; this is the rarest case.

Ghoti makes a good point, it's best to work with every faculty available.

You have to wonder how often the fourth scenario takes place, when we niether see nor feel the pickup :-?

Roger