Should I or not?

[CJ]

Great post hawg caller!

RW, your right. The problem has been the fishing conditions. Post spawn, finnicky fish + lack of current= plastics. This weekend the TVA is predicting some flow. Maybe a big spinnerbait will do.

Teria, your going to have to get used to a joke or two if your going to fish with me! It's part of bass fishing. Don't worry you'll be whackin' em' before long! Just have "some" patience.

Like hawg caller was saying, you need to learn what every contour and cover feels like. Then if it feels different, it's probally a bite....or, the bouy line.....or, my line......or, dad's line.

CJ

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

1. CJ- Ya done good bud

2.  Catt's famous 3 tap rule---

1st tap is the fish sucking in your bait

2nd tap is the fish spitting out your bait

3rd tap is me tapping you on the shoulder asking why you didn't set the hook on the first tap????!!!!

Some excellent advice from a number of folks here, way to go guys.  Good luck Teria

[CJ]

Russ, I thought the third tap was me smacking you on the back of the head?

Anyway, I told her that and she mentioned a fourth tap. LOL

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

lol,...I said "tap on the shoulder" to avoid the fourth tap.  That's where the ref is tapping you out if you cuff your wife in the head!  ;D

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

PS- CJ- In Terias avatar,.....

.........either you have HUGE guns or you need to stop hunting small dogs with antlers,lol  Wassup with that?  Jackalope?

[CJ]

PS- CJ- In Terias avatar,.....

.........either you have HUGE guns or you need to stop hunting small dogs with antlers,lol Wassup with that? Jackalope?

It's a key chain holder my grandpa had. Just one of the things that brings back memories and I am the only one who wanted it. That's a nice gun collection he left me aswell. He was the foundation my love for the outdoors was built on. He was my Papa and best friend. We lost him two weeks ago. He was 85 years old. He lived long and lived well.

Sorry to get off topic. I was planning on posting something about him as soon as I got a picture scanned.

CJ

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Please do.  I know lots of us would like to share in his memory.  My condolences.

[Teria]

Great post hawg caller!

RW, your right. The problem has been the fishing conditions. Post spawn, finnicky fish + lack of current= plastics. This weekend the TVA is predicting some flow. Maybe a big spinnerbait will do.

Teria, your going to have to get used to a joke or two if your going to fish with me! It's part of bass fishing. Don't worry you'll be whackin' em' before long! Just have "some" patience.

Like hawg caller was saying, you need to learn what every contour and cover feels like. Then if it feels different, it's probally a bite....or, the bouy line.....or, my line......or, dad's line.

CJ

Now we all know who was making fun of me! :

[tennwalkinghorse]

If your not sure set the hook any way. Watch your line and try to feel the weight of the fish and know he has the lure or you may pull the lure out of the fishs mouth. You may want to try  using someones more sensitive rod to see if that helps before buying one more sensitive usually means more money. Try not to feel bad about fishing most of us do it for fun. Lots of Luck

Walking Horse ;)

[.dsaavedra.]

i've really been paying attention to my line lately and really getting in touch with my lure and whats going on down there.

i use braided line so its pretty visible on the surface of the water.

i have found there are VERY distinct feelings for each thing your bait encounters underwater.

it is difficult to explain, but i will try to type what i feel. i experience all of this when im fishing weigtless, t-rigged plastics.

when im pulling it through weeds, it feels kinda crunchy. cant really explain it better than that, crunch. imagin pulling your figners through very tangly hair. kinda like that.

i can always tell when my lure is about to hit a piece of rock or wood because i can feel my line scraping over it. braid is very textured so i can feel my line against hard objects. i will feel the vibration from the line and then it will just stop and i know my bait has hit the piece of cover. then i just ease the bait over it and continue.

gravel feels like a bunch of constant teeny taps, while mud feels like constant stickyness, like something is dragging your lure.

the most important thing i have found out when im fishing plastics is that if i am moving my rod and i feel something that feels like a hit, 90% of the time its not a hit. its just me pulling the bait into/through something. however, if im not moving the rod or reel and i feel a tap or see my line move at all, it is a fish of some sort, and i'll let em have the bait for a few seconds, reel in the slack, and set the hook hard.

hope that helps you distinguish some stuff.

PS. dont worry about what the other guys say, just do what feels right to you.

good fishin!

[fishfordollars]

Teria;

    I admire you for what you are trying to do. Keep on setting the hook as often as you like. That is how you learn what different bites feel like.

Good luck, and remember you already know more than a lot on this site. How do I know; by the questions you ask.

[weknowhowtolive]

Set it! People wont laugh when you set the hook 20 times on weeds and the 21st time you pull in a big fish.

Ive been having a hell of a time setting the hook. This last trip I was on, I  had a dink bite and I set the hook about 6 times to make sure  ;D

I'm in the same situation at you and I'm gettin all kinds of awesome sticks, weeds and clay clumps

[Teria]

Thanks it makes me feel better to know I'm not the only one.

[GStrider]

I suggest the next time your husband has a question for the forum that you post it for him.  My guess is that after 3 or 4 responses you probably got a feeling for what to do and the rest answered because you're a woman.  So note to self: if you want answers to posts have a pic of a woman and responses will flood in.  Good luck with your hook sets!

[thetr20one]

Anytime I feel a tap I set the hook immediatly. Like Catt said hooksets are free, and I too after many years I still set hooks in trees, rocks, weeds, dicarded fishing line and so on. You never know.

[CJ]

I suggest the next time your husband has a question for the forum that you post it for him. My guess is that after 3 or 4 responses you probably got a feeling for what to do and the rest answered because you're a woman. So note to self: if you want answers to posts have a pic of a woman and responses will flood in. Good luck with your hook sets!

It was my question!   J/K

She's starting to get the hang of it. I told her hooksets were free too. Then the other day we were out and I was fishing a t-rigged worm when I felt some brush. I gently lifted my rod and got it to come through clean when a bass nailed the worm while falling off the brush. If I had set the hook on the brush the bass would have probally scattered. It seems I get alot of bites right after I clear a rock, brush, or stump without having to jerk it or rip it out. It's got me wondering, are hooksets free? Teria has set the hook on several types of cover. What if she would have come through the cover lightly? I think it takes sly techniques to fool mature fish. I like to present my lure as natural as possible alot of the time. Especially when conditions aren't favorable.

[NBR]

Several years ago I was at a seminar where Woo Daves spoke. Very near his opening remarks he said that before he was through someone would ask how to tell if you are getting bit so lets answer this now. Quote, "You spend 99.9% of your time fishing not getting bit, so you should know what not getting bit feels like. When it doesn't feel like not getting bit set the hook".

[Teria]

I suggest the next time your husband has a question for the forum that you post it for him. My guess is that after 3 or 4 responses you probably got a feeling for what to do and the rest answered because you're a woman. So note to self: if you want answers to posts have a pic of a woman and responses will flood in. Good luck with your hook sets!

Oh... thanks for your input. Although it has nothing to do with the topic. Maybe next time you post you should focus more on the topic not the person who started it.

Teria

[tyrius.]

Something happened this weekend that made me think of this thread.  I was fishing a jig through scattered rocks and got a "bite".  I'm still no jig expert so I wasn't sure but set the hook anyways.  Well I hooked into a nice bass.  Got him to shore and I had actually hooked the fish through his side! No where near his mouth either (was about half way down).

I'm guessing I missed the actual bite and set the hook when he spit the jig back out.  Just got lucky that he was between me and the jig!