Learning to detect bites fishing soft plastics

[dmc575]

Been a real tough last few months on my home lake this year. I can usually ALWAYS catch a few bass cranking....but not this year. And needless to say, im not very good at anything else...especially Trigging and worming!

Was fishing a couple weeks ago....and I lost a nice one! It was 100% my fault since I didnt give it a good hookset, cuz I didnt even realize I had a bite right away! I was really mad at myself after that...cuz I feel like I need to be more well rounded and able to fish soft plastics at least decently to help on those days when the bite isnt on fishing my style.

Well my homelake isnt a fish factory...and ive heard its easiest to learn soft plastics by fishing and getting bit. So....if thats not an option what do you all think I should do to become more proficient at worming? Im thinking of leaving all my rods at home and only bringing a fairy wand, flipping stick, and T-rig rod...and just forcing it. What do you all think?

[Transom]

Go pond fishing. That will help. Remember hooksets are free if in doubt swing away.

Sometimes it is one chomp sometimes it is the tap tap sometimes you feel nothing when you should be feeling something sometimes it is a little give sometimes it feels like you are hooked on a stump sometimes your line is going the wrong way............................. I fish a t rig 90 percent of the time and I learn something new every now and then.

[jbh3]

Fish a small straight tail worm on a 3/16 shakey head. Add the Ned rig, if you haven't already. As Transom stated, there are MANY different signals that you're getting bit. These two methods will get you a lot of bites to study.

[Warhawk]

Try throwing a wacky worm

[MJMJ]

A lot of missed hooksets are caused by not taking up the slack with the reel, before the hook set. Watch your line (any little bump or line going in a different direction) reel in the slack and set the hook. Sometimes a lighter wire hook will help till you get better.

[11pounder]

A couple of things will help you detect bites, when you make a cast with a bait caster palm the reel with your index finger placed so the line is laying on top of your finger. BE A LINE WATCHER, you don't always feel the bite often as you go to move the bait you will feel pressure or weight, it feels kinda mushy, that's the fish with the bait in it's mouth, set the hook, if the line starts swimming of to the side or back toward you, set the hook. A remember hook sets are free.

[joebone1]

watch the line and keep in contact with the bait. Sharp hooks in soft plastics should get in the mouth even without the hookset

[BuzzBait53]

I switched to braid and a floro leader,world of difference in what you will feel.

[SPOONMINNOW]

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[SPOONMINNOW]

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[Wackyjig]

Just pick a plastic bait you commonly hear catches fish on your lake and stick with it. Fish will hit plastics 50 different ways and experience is really the only way to learn them. Sometimes they'll slam it, others just a tap, then there are sometimes you'll never feel a thing. Like others have said watching your line will key you in to strikes you don't feel through the rod.
Another tip that I always give my coangler that isn't very experienced with plastics: before you move your bait after you reel back down to it, put a little pressure on the line and feel for weight. You may be against a rock,limb, or whatever but it could also be a fish picked it up while you were reeling down. If you hold a little pressure on the line and it is a fish, you'll feel them move. That's how 75% of my bites are detected, especially offshore this time of year with current pulling on my line.
A high end sensitive rod with good fluoro is also a major help in detecting bites.

[SPOONMINNOW]

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[Transom]

In my experience braided line is more sensitive when the line is fairly taught but when there is wind and there is some bow in the line mono gives you more feel in the semi slack line. The loose line thump makes its way to you better.

[Quillback]

I switched to braid and a floro leader,world of difference in what you will feel.

That is the answer.

[DrewFlu33]

Agree with the suggestion of braid to a fluoro leader. The sensitivity increase is off-the-charts better in comparison to straight mono or even fluoro for sure, but I think the bigger advantage is that you can easily go with a high-vis braid and line watching becomes much easier to do. High-vis braid has really improved my success on the water in a variety of applications.

[Walkabout7781]

In my experience braided line is more sensitive when the line is fairly taught but when there is wind and there is some bow in the line mono gives you more feel in the semi slack line. The loose line thump makes its way to you better.

Yes indeed! Well stated, with extra points for spelling, grammar and penmanship!

Up here, plastics are a major deal, if not THE major deal. For me, if it's calm enough, plastics are IT, but if it's too breezy, then I throw a spinnerbait upwind. However you fish plastics, regardless of what rigging or what bait, the important thing is to "be a line watcher" and also to hold the line in some way. With spinning reels, it's easy to just hook the line over your index finger like you're going to cast. With a baitcaster, I sorta palm the reel and hold the line between the index finger and thumb.

Sometimes you just get a "heavy feeling", but other times you might get a "thump" or what I call an "electric shock" sensation. I don't know what the bass is doing to my bait when that happens, but in my experience, if I'm using too small of a hook, they're more likely to swallow it, so I'll change to a larger hook. With the larger hook, they'll typically munch awhile. Yes, they may spit it out, but that's better than swallowing it, IMO.

I've been urging guys to try the 5" and 6" Zoom lizards on Shakyheads...GP works awesome for me. Use a ball head or other suitable head shape for weedy areas and a football-style head for rocks. I'm still experimenting with different Shakyheads, but they mostly work great. I fish them on a 7' M. or MH baitcaster with straight 10 lb test Fluorocarbon line, but would not feel bad about using Copolymer instead. I've tried some craws on the Shakyhead without a bite. Have yet to try a Trick Worm or a Dinger, but should.

[Walkabout7781]

By the way, IF you know a place where you can get bit often, that's the place you want to try new stuff. When faced with a dink-fest, pull out the stuff that you want to experiment with, to get a feel for it and also for the confidence it brings. I've been lucky enough to find a few such bodies of water and did just that. Just don't whine when you go through multiple bags of whatever you are using on a particular day. The price is pretty insignificant compared to the boat, gas, insurance, etc. Be sure you pay cash!

[DrewFlu33]

In my experience braided line is more sensitive when the line is fairly taught but when there is wind and there is some bow in the line mono gives you more feel in the semi slack line. The loose line thump makes its way to you better.

Watching that bow in the line for a jump against the wind really helps with that. It sounds nuts, but I think the bow in the line combined with high vis braid actually can make line watching more productive in the wind than with no wind, within reason of course!

By the way, IF you know a place where you can get bit often, that's the place you want to try new stuff. When faced with a dink-fest, pull out the stuff that you want to experiment with, to get a feel for it and also for the confidence it brings. I've been lucky enough to find a few such bodies of water and did just that. Just don't whine when you go through multiple bags of whatever you are using on a particular day. The price is pretty insignificant compared to the boat, gas, insurance, etc. Be sure you pay cash!

Awesome advice! In a similar vein, I usually reserve new techniques for springtime fishing here in MN. Though this year and the stupid weather we've had is sort of the exception, fish around here tend to get pretty dumb after having had a roof over their heads for 4 months. Great way to get confidence in new techniques, and to experiment with detecting bites and hooksets as well!

[Walkabout7781]

By the way, I have been meaning to compliment Mr. SPOONMINNOW on his excellent presentations and would like to know how he does it. I'm pretty sure it's some sort of wizardry done off of BBC and then pasted in...but don't know how, and would like to.

[dmc575]

Fishing tomorrow (wednesday) and will take all this in and applying it! thanks bros