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One of the most important keys to success is keeping enough constant tension on the line to avoid giving that fish enough slack and time to get off that hook.
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The best bet is to avoid the premature by patiently waiting for that tension sensation of the full GULP before you make that hook setting maneuver, and that comes only with the experience of failing to do that enough that you begin to recognize the intimate differences. Without that instant grab and dash strike, we will feel things that mimick snags and dragging over obstacles, or tugs that disappear either because we pulled too soon or the fish quickly spit out the hook for some reason. This is just one example of how setup versus species can have various results. Reeling speed set too quick will not produce results with slower moving fish. A faster moving lure, for example, will often require the fish to attack more decisively IF that species is fast enough. Different species have different characteristics, and depending on our setups we anglers present varying responses. That instant grab and dash would make our lives much easier if the fish always did that.īut they dont. Sometimes the fish will just attack with immediate intent swallowing/gulping whole and actually setting the hook themselves. Without the foreplay of the bobber setup, which did most of the feeling up for us, we must now do that feeling ourselves. We must wait for the fish to actually make that critical GULP before we try to insert, or set, that hook into the fish, or we will either tug the hook out of its mouth, or scare it off before it even decides to gulp it down. With floats, you just ignore the nibbling, the nudges, the half hearted tugs, etc., and just wait for the fish to decide it's going to actually strike, at which point it has taken the bait into its mouth completely intending to quickly swim away with it, but now realizing the mechanics of being hooked and directly connected to something which is keeping it from swimming off freely.Įxcept for the bait being stationary dangling beneath the bobber, and the lure having to be taken on the move, the experience on the anglers end regarding the strike dynamic is not much different. And now we are forced to set that hook into the fish without aid. With lures however, we lose that advantage. It's like having a hand right there at the fishes mouth putting hook right into the ready position for you to set. When float fishing you have the advantage of the bobber which acts as both indicator and also strike assistance as it creates instant drag temporarily placing that hook tip right at the ready point of insertion. I use xbox ctrl, and do mostly lure fishing.
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