Hello guys, and gals..I was fishing today and I had two rods, one for brim and one bass. I set my bass rod down after i threw it in the water with a bullet weight and 11 inch worm, and rigged up my brim rod. All of a sudden, after about 2 minutes of just sitting on the bottom of the pond, please note the lure was NOT in motion whatso ever, and the line just started going out, like a catfish would pull. I set the hook, but nothing was on it, and then after about 2 jerks, i saw a big bass slam it. I got it in..weighed 5 pounds and came in at an impressive 19.5 inches. But was the line shooting out a bass, or a catfish? I have never seen this happen before so just wondering. Thanks

***the rod that went out was the bass rod i talked about, the brim rod wasn't in the water yet***

Could have been a bass and you just pulled the bait out of his mouth.

Around here, most LM are caught by old guys catfishing off the bottom by accident.

Yeah could have been a bass. Deadsticking is a term for what you did. Ive done this with senko toss out and just leave it while I fish a jig on another set-up. After a while the pole start jerking and bass on.

Couple months ago I tossed out and saw a bass go to the worm and just stare at it and stare and stare like for minutes other bass came by I guess wondering what this bass was looking at, well I gave-in and just twitched the line a little and that set the bass off and bam got'em.

Deadsticking plastics and other baits is a popular way to catch sluggish or finicky bass for those who have the patience. I'm sure lots of guys on here have gotten a backlash and been picking it and suddenly noticed their line moving off or had a fish start pulling.

I always throw a senko in dead sticking, while Im working another rod. Always get a bass but more than often they arent real big.

The line started going out via drag or were you in free spool?

If in free spool the bass probably took it and started swimming off. Whoever said you yanked the hook out of its mouth is right. Did you "sweep set"? you want to "pop" set it upwards with a worm so you dont pull it out.

Good news is he wasnt to happy with his meal trying to escape! Maybe if you hadnt pulled it out he would have noticed something wasnt quite right and spit it out! Nice technique!

If it was taking drag and not hooked you had something that isnt going to make it too far in its life

wasn't in fs or drag going out the line was just jumping