Light strikes happen in all sorts of varieties, many people probably don’t even know they got struck when they happen.
One has to be 100% in tune with the feel and tension of the lure when it pulls through the water, any deviations from that should be considered a strike and the hook-set.
(of course there is debris in the water that will fool you as well)
It isn’t always an obvious strike.
I’ll remind you that I have not been fishing the duct for years so I don’t want to come off like I know everything about the duct.
I simply state and share what works for me and in some degree of regularity.
Many times the fish strike in a much more aggressive attack that clearly is felt as a “strike”-no brainer there but there are many variable strikes that occur and in different water/weather conditions.
I’ll also remind you that most of my fish I catch at night as well, the strike pattern may very well be different than that of a fish feeding during daylight, I could not speculate until I fish more during daylight.
There are a number of strike patterns I’ve witnessed, I’m sure there are more than I personally have even experienced to date.
* The load up strike : this was happening b4 the weird funky weather/barometer fluxes happened. They would grab hold of the lure and Straight tension would occur and be felt.
When I began fishing there, I confused this with a snag until all of the sudden I
felt a “Thump…thump..Thump” It took a few times to adapt.
This strike is certainly notable, there is a whole lot of pressure when it occurs.
*The Crushing strike: I’ve only experienced this once, the very 1st time I fished the duct, the water was moving solidly and I actually worked the lure
downstream, cross current, somewhat fast, the striper came up high on the
Transition, and was obviously chasing the bait down, he CRUSHED it !, hit it
like a freight train, instant bendo and drag pulling, unfortunately I lost that one
due to it shaking off and I haven’t experienced that pattern since, the weather was
really hot then so I wouldn’t be surprised to see that pattern kick back into gear
as the weather has changed to steady hot patterns.
The fish striking the lure again is a no brainer on this one, you’ll know it when
it happens.
*The Batting strike: this was common when the water was still cold and would occur in between those hard barometer flux we were having.
There were short stages when the fish fed and this is how those strikes were (again at night)
I’d be retrieving slowly with my left index finger gently riding in front of the level wind on my Shimano baitcaster mounted on 7 ½’ crucial graphite rod, this method and gear combo allows you to feel those most subtle variables during a retrieve, a very very very slight “tick” would be all that was felt and an IMMEDIATE strike response was necessary to incorporate the hook set, there were a few fish that I’d hook up on the nose or in the eye, plus many were hooked on the tail hook as well which is far from the normal bite when the fish actually GRABS the lure.
All that is a clear indicator that the striper were attempting to “KNOCK OUT” the bait and eat it after. They seem to approach the lure and turn HARD on it to swat it, couldn’t say for a fact but that is my assessment, hence why you don’t feel the strike much and the lure isn’t solid in their mouth.
*The T-BONE strike: There were a few times when the fish were coming out of the batting pattern, they would T-BONE strike, basically chase it down in a real docile fashion and “T-BONE” the lure from the side, the telltale signs of this behavior are the instances when both sets of treble hooks are hooked into their mouth, most commonly belly hook on top upper lip and tail hook on lower jaw.
I saw a post from fellow FNN’r “SENG” from lake skinner that had a pic where the striper t-boned the lure…..same pattern (see Seng’s Skinner post “another KPN success story 5-7
http://fishingnetwork.net/forum4/showthread.php?t=32967) you’ll see what I speak of.
*The Standard solid bumping strike: This is the more common bite I’ve experienced lately.
A solid bump or thump is felt during the retrieve, they seem to be getting a little more aggressive day by day so therefore the bumps get a little stronger.
It’s almost as if the striper is “grabbing hold of the lure” but not really engulfing it entirely, though he grabs it, a quick powerful hook set must be laid down to seal the deal, other wise you’ll come up short, good SOLID SHARP STRONG hooks should be used, I’ve had 1 fish bend a #2 owner stinger hook and that’s a real SOLID hook, walmart specials and lures of sorts are gonna leave you disappointed in the event of a big toad.
*The “ENGULFING” strike: this has only happened to me once, it’s where the striper basically “EATS” the lure, no messing about, it’s just grabs it inside it’s mouth entirely and commits 100%, the one instance I had with this type of strike happened about a week ago and the fish was in the 15 lb class.
That fish broke off with my hand on his lip but I never got a chance to see how far up in it's mouth the lure was but it was nowhere in sight.
No brainer here, set the hook and hold on for the ride.
Well I think that about covers it (I hope) that should answer all your questions and give you more insight about why I say what I say on my posts, there are clearly many variable that go with the territory, if one waits for the strike to always be a solid crushing strike, one may potentially miss out on many other hookups.
It’s all about getting in tune with the lure while your’e running it, sensing everything going on and “focusing” all your attention to what the lure does at any given moment.
Hope this helps,
Gary
Originally Posted by gletemfeelsteelgary
Great info aswell. Thanks alot.
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