Tap! Tap! Ugh!
There have been a few times when working a bait very very slowly across the
bottom I have gotten a very quick tap tap. Then nothing. I was using a
heavy fast rod in most of these cases. Usually with braid or flourocarbon.
Sensitivity is definitely not the issue. I am sure a fish picked up the
bait and then immediately spit it out. Those were the two taps I felt.
Basically in the same breath. What do you do? Leave it sit dead stick and
hope they will pick it up again? Keep moving the bait very very slowly?
Reel it in and cast back trying to cross the exact same spot again? Try a
different bait in the same place?I know the ideal thing to have done was be more aware and hook the fish on
the first tap, but my reflexes just don't seem to be up to it. A couple
days those have been the only bites I have gotten. I'ld sure like to figure
out how to optimize my hook ups on fish that hit like that. When those are
the only bites I am getting the tend to be few and far between so it really
hurts to miss one. Bob La Londe
www.YumaBassMan.com |
Bob
Apr 7
2005
|
| Could those taps be from small fish? Bluegills,very small bass and the
sort? I have had those bites as well and in most cases I've found it
to be small fish. Just my 2 cents? Heavy |
Heavy
Apr 7
|
| Kev, That is the same question i was going to ask. I have swung and missed
big time when I was getting short taps, but I have also gave a half ass
attempt at a hookset only to come up and have a 3 or 4 pound fish be there.
I have witnessed bass first hand sit and tap at a bait, as well as
sunfish. The taps are hard to tell apart, so when all else fails set
the hook. You really don't have another choice. You could drop a
smaller bait maybe fitting the mood of the fish, or maybe switch colors,
maybe add some scent. Chris |
Chris
Apr 7
|
| I thought about smaller fish like sunfish or bluegill, but usually they will
hit a bait three or four times. Also, this was worked very slowly across
the bottom not falling. This is the exact same feel as when a bass sucks your bait up and spits it
out of a bed. I have had the same feel when sight fishing and I could tell
what was hitting. I know its a subtle difference, but I am pretty sure it
was a bass. It had that kind of feel. |
Bob
Apr 7
|
| Bob, all you can really do is then pack the bait full of some kind of
scent , just to make him hold a little longer. One thing I do for
steelhead is pack a tube with yarn or a piece of sponge and load that up
with a bait oils. It seems to release a little slower, but constant.
Or I would go to a smaller bait, and as soon as you feel it (as I am
sure you already do) hit em. I guess that is all you can really do, maybe push the hook all the way
through the bait, maybe switch to a jig/worm combo (if cover allows an
exposed hook). Good luck, Chris |
Chris
Apr 7
|
| I clearly recall a Club T on a small local river when the bite was just like
this. If you swung on the first sensation, you had a bass 50% of the time.
If you waited...maybe 10%. I'd rather have a pressure bite... |
Eric
Apr 7
|
| I'd try a soft plastic bait like a 4" lizard (or perhaps tube in
chartreuse or watermelon (unweighted) & work it slowly along he bottom.
When the tap-tap occurs wait a few seconds & then twitch it a few times.
If this can't convince the reluctant biter nothing can, perhaps with the
exception of an almost dead minnow or worm. Good luck, Carl |
GrayGhostYankee
Apr 7
|
| When they get picky like that on me, I usually try a crankbait. At
least they can't spit those out. |
irbfishin
Apr 7
|
| Don't bet on that. Have you ever seen the video "Bigmouth?" I believe that
it had Homer Circle (a pretty fair bass angler) as the "on-screen talent"
and was filmed/produced by Jim Lau (?). It showed on several occasions where a big bass absolutely engulfed a
crankbait and spit it back out and Homer never felt the strike. I've had muskies hit a crankbait armed with three razor sharp 5/0 treble
hooks so hard that they just about took the rod out of my hands. Rear back
on the rod and there's nothing there. Don't say they CAN'T spit out a crankbait, because I'd be willing to bet
that it happens more often than you'd like to imagine. |
Steve
Apr 7
|
| I'ld have to agree. At the county fair a couple years ago a pro let one of
the kids in the audience come up and cast a big ol' white crank bait in the
tank. Four or five fish hit that sucker before the kid finally hooked one. |
Bob
Apr 7
|
| One thing I have noticed is when I don't watch my line like I should be I
will miss those short strikes. I just try to watch for the slightest
movement and then set the hook. Especially when fishing slow. When in doubt
set the hook right? |
Kevin
Apr 7
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| In a nutshell :-). No-stretch main lines, and a very light, sensitive
graphite rod help it along as well. Chris |
Chris
Apr 8
|
| You are right Steve.I own those videos and what gets me is how hard that
bass hits that crankbait and Homer never feels a thing.Then Glen Lau
surfaces and says "why didn't you set the hook on that bass".
I also like the one where the bass nails the baby duck and pulls it under
only to have the duck escape his jaws.Pretty incredible stuff. |
Bass_Mr.
Apr 8
|
| > crankbait and spit it back out and Homer never felt the strike. |
irbfishin
Apr 7
|
| ....this time of year if you're blind fishing bedding areas that's all you're
going to feel as the buck is just removing the threat rather than
feeding....follow up with a tube, jig, craw or creature ....and pay more
attention to line movement
Huck speculated |
Huck
Apr 8
|
| IMHO if you're not feeling the bite your problem is far worse... WW |
go-bassn
Apr 8
|
| maybe so. all i know is that if they won't fully commit to the slow
plastic stuff, i can keep going and maybe get skunked or i can throw a
crankbait and catch some. i'm sure there are equally good or better
approaches but that one has worked for me. |
irbfishin
Apr 8
|
