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Fish that miss... Strike again?


LUV-2-CATCH'EM
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When a fish misses a Topwater such as a Slammer or a rat...

 

...any wakebait for that matter...

 

How do you get them to strike again?

 

I ask because I have had ZERO luck triggering a 2nd strike from the same fish on a cast!

 

SCENARIO 1

Your just straight "wakeing" a Slammer/Rat on a constant retrieve and a fish strikes and misses.

 

SCENARIO 2

Make a cast and as soon as the bait hits the water it gets Blown up on and the fish misses (This is where most of my misses happen)

 

Do you...

A.) Kill the bait and dead stick it?

B.) Just continue reeling same speed with out any pauses at all

C.) Pop/walk the bait back and forth in place

D.) Quickly reel and make multiple cast back to the same spot

E.) Throw an alternative bait such as a soft plastic

D.) Move on and come back later

F.) Snap your rod over your knee and sell all your SB gear...buy spinning gear

 

Since "F" is not an option...

 

I hope someone has some insight to help the struggle

 

Thanks SU!

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The issue is always whether the fish felt the hooks. Tough to do sometimes....now there could also be a tail slap and u deadstick the bait then. I have had fish pop baits into the air....As far as slammers go, I think u only get one chance cuz chance of tasters is unlikely imo. I have married reels and rods for life once I have confidence in their hooking ability.

 

P.S. Got a near 6lber this year with an su member at night on a 2.5 oz topwater. He was the boater and trolled back to area where I had the hit cuz what he heard and saw suggested fish never felt bait. It was windy out and bait did buzz my ear on the hooksett maybe that was the sign. I thought otherwise and would not have gone back if I were alone.

Edited by bigpoppabass
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Luv-2-Catch'em, this makes me think back to conventional fishing with topwaters such as jitterbugs, buzzbaits, torpedos, etc. I know with those types of lures, whenever I get strikes but no hook-up, I have experienced the beset results when I employ a straight, steady retrieve back. So, I answer "B." Again, just my experience. I've always thought that if this were to happen with a real baitfish, mammal, lizard, etc., that the prey would naturally want to flee, therefore swimming off to safety. I try to keep this same mindset when throwing big wakebaits, even though I haven't experienced a blow-up yet on the big baits. Hopefully this is helpful.

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I keep the retrieve steady back to the boat if I can keep my nerve during the miss. I have a very low conversion rate casting back to wake fish that just boil under it or slap it. I haven't figured any thing out apart from one follow up bait and just straight steady retrieve

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When this happens I pause the bait for a bit - maybe 15-20 seconds. If the fish doesn't hit it by then I give a couple hard twitches and pause again. If still no blow up, then I continue to wake it back the way I was when the fish initially hit. When I do get them to come back, they usually hit during the hard twitches after the pause.

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My theory is that those true giants (I'm talking about those 10-13 lbers) know that the bait is not real. They just want it out of their territory. Because of that, if you speed up, stop, or start twitching your bait that fish will think it's done its job. . . I try to stick with option B, maybe reeling a tiny bit slower. I will TRY not to set the hook on a true giant until I feel it, if its a smaller fish I'll rip/pause and try to work them.

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My theory is that those true giants know the bait is not real

 

Agreed. Big fish are big because they're smart, they won't chase unless committed. Takes too much energy. Key is to note where it came from and quickly offer follow up of something different before their mood changes. Hunger or defense irrelevant.

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I've had decent luck with both C and D this season. If it is a true miss by the fish usually go with C and if I put the screws to one and loose it halfway to the boat, Ive had luck burning it back in and casting back to the area where the fish came unbuttoned.

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