One thing I can guarantee is that on any given day that someone gets
skunked in their favorite spot his or her bait WAS eaten by a fish
and they didn't even realize it! Probably the toughest thing to
figure out for an angler is when a fish is mouthing your bait on
tough days... bass have a nasty tendency of taking baits completely
into their mouth and never even making the line twitch, for an
unfocused angler that could mean a bagel getting served with the
day's efforts.
Years ago I began realizing that I was getting bit but it was too
late to react and hook the fish, I also realized that bass can bite
in a number of ways and to understand all of them will help you boat
more fish. After years of getting caught with my proverbial pants
down I have managed to capitalize more often on the cold front days
and the odd ball bites and the one thing that has increased my
success more than anything is ..... FOCUS. Without it you may as
well throw a spinner around all day and hope a fish commits hara
kiri.
Mental
focus covers a few things but always involves paying attention to
several things at once. Understanding what your bait is doing at ALL
times will help you pick up on subtle differences like structure
transitions, bumping gravel of even when something just plain feels
wrong. It's easy to hook a fish that cracks, thumps or ticks your
bait but when they want to be sneaky they can do a few moves that
may catch you off guard.
The first involves swimming off with your bait, whether it's to the
left, right or at you all of them will give you no physical signal
though your rod until they run out of line and by then it's usually
too late. Success is dependant on you being a line watcher... once
you bait hits the water your focus should be on your line at all
times not the birds chirping or your buddy at the back of the
boat... use your ears to listen and talk to your fishing partner...
keep your eyes on the line and water surrounding it! Sometimes line
is tough to see but there are plenty of new high viz lines on the
market that can really boost your detection... my personal choice
for the last couple of years when using braid has been Hi Viz Yellow
Power Pro and I have noticed quite a bit of things that were
slipping past me before. The only thing you need to have if tying
directly to the bait is a black permanent marker to color the last
4-6 feet of the line.
The next doozy involves pushing a lure forward when they eat it...
this sudden slacking of the line has cost more anglers good fish
than you think, especially when fishing reaction baits like
crankbaits and spinnerbaits. Picking up on the fact that your blades
stopped spinning or the crankbait isn't vibrating anymore should
send a shockwave to your brain telling you to set the hook. This
scenario involves both your hands and your brain... keying in on
what the baits feel like when they are running properly will really
help you notice subtle differences and even more important is how
much load each bait puts on the rod... that resistance should be
constant and any change could indicate a swipe by a fish putting you
on red alert.
The last one is the toughest and it usually involves a fish slurping
in the bait and staying put... that is all about your hands and how
quick they receive the signal from your brain. Learning how to
properly "check" your line before imparting aggressive bait motion
is critical and involves nothing more than a subtle lifting of the
bait from it's resting place. Understanding what the bait feels like
in normal situations will help you know when something just isn't
right and when that thought runs from your hands to your brain, your
brain should fire back to set the hook. Fish that mouth baits often
feel spongy, think of it like a snag but softer... that feeling
should get your blood pumping. At this point there is no need to
think about it or wait for a tell tale sign like the thump on your
line... that thump you feel is them spitting it out after holding it
for the last while.
Fish don't have hands to grab a bait, the first place it goes is in
their mouth and the ultimate advice I can finally give you is WHEN
IN DOUBT... SET THE HOOK! Hook sets are free and there is no limit
as to how many you are allowed in a day.
