Hey,

 

Just curious, but how often do you find yourselves fooled by the hook briefly catching a rock, or lure making its way through grass and getting caught up? Sometimes it can be pretty convincing that it's a fish when it scrapes around. Even after 17 years of fishing I still get hit with that false excitement lol..

 

What do you guys think? Does this become less and less as you have been fishing many years, or does this not change for the most part? 

I'm easily fooled with a crankbait rod in hand.

I have seen people set the hook in what they thought was stump, and then the 14 lb 'stump' tail walks and takes them for a ride.

 

The funniest thing I think I have ever seen while fishing was two guys fishing in a rental boat, sitting back to back, fishing out opposite side of the boat. One of them feels a 'hit' and sets the hook. Strangely enough, that's when the other guy gets slammed and he sets the hook too.

 

They were whooping and hollering for what seemed like forever fighting their 'fish'. It was especially funny to us when one would pull up hard, and the other guy thought that his 'fish' was suddenly going on a run. They were back to back, so they couldn't see what everyone else was seeing. Finally, one of them turned around to look at the other one and they realized they had been battling each other and things got real quiet, real fast.

Its the roiling current that gets me the most, pulling a bait from slack water, I feel the weight of the current and then a stronger undertow(for lack of a better word) will get me swinging.

Nice to see I'm not the only one who still gets tricked lol. I have to admit after it happens I feel a bit silly too, have a "how could I fall for that" moment

I give my rod little snaps and pulls pretty often when I'm cranking, fishing a bladed jig, or banging a trap along the bottom. Too often I've had those little bumps turn into fish that didn't really even feel like bites. Worse case, those little snaps will trigger fish a lot of times.

If I feel weight, I'm settin the hook, after all, hook sets are Free..

Getting fooled means your ready.

 

I got fooled so bad recently that I almost netted a submerged branch.

1 hour ago, Bird said:

Getting fooled means your ready.

 

I got fooled so bad recently that I almost netted a submerged branch.

My fishing partner fought 3 nice limbs all the way to the boat and each time I was ready with the net. One was a particularly nice specimen. 

What gets me swinging is when I hang a submerged branch that moves to me when I apply light pressure, then when I ease off it takes up slack returning to its natural position. I either end up sheepishly trolling over to retrieve a buried up jig, or doing Matrix impressions on the boat deck. If I set into a stump with the confidence I have on those swings I would probably break my rod.

done it a million times 

It happens all the time . Rope is the worse . As soon as I figure out its a snag ,  it starts pulling back and now I'm not sure .Especially rope in current .

 

1 hour ago, scaleface said:

It happens all the time . Rope is the worse . As soon as I figure out its a snag ,  it starts pulling back and now I'm not sure .Especially rope in current .

wow yeah I can understand that, with the level of movement of that thing

When in doubt, knock them out. I have ghost hooked a bunch of stuff. 

I think the only way to learn to fish by feel(articials) you have to be able to discern between the stump and the bump of a LMB.

Happened to me about 5 times fishing.......only counting yesterday!  LOL

what really does it for me is when it snags real fast but 2 or three times in a row, quick and sharp like, then I really believe its a fish. Thought it was a big one, only big disappointment

Happens all of the time.

Happens to me too.  Ah well, they're just practice hooksets for the real thing.

Snagging line on the bottom feels like a bass as the jig slides up the line a few feet and pulls back until you stop pulling. If you don't set the hook you will never know if it's a fish or not. Bumping rocks on the bottom where there isn't any rocks means you just missed several strikes.

Strike detection separates the good bass anglers from the rest.

Tom

45 minutes ago, WRB said:

Snagging line on the bottom feels like a bass as the jig slides up the line a few feet and pulls back until you stop pulling. If you don't set the hook you will never know if it's a fish or not. Bumping rocks on the bottom where there isn't any rocks means you just missed several strikes.

Strike detection separates the good bass anglers from the rest.

Tom

I agree with that, if you don't try to set the hook anyway you may just miss nice bass

Try catching a big fish on a jig in running water. When the fish hits it often feels like you got stuck on the bottom then the fish starts moving and the drag starts screaming.

I snagged a branch one time while fishing a little 3ft squarebill, was reeling in with a 7' med mod HMG rod and suddenly the lure stopped, I swept my rod and nothing, no fighting no pulling, though it was a big branch, my buddy started to laugh that I got snagged. Then after 5 seconds of wondering what I'm going to do, my line went for a sharp left and a musky jumped up and the fight was on. Caught a 10lb musky, startled my buddies cottage neighbors who's dock we were fishing off of but all in all that was a good catch. Usually it's a branch!

I got fooled pretty good by a stump a few weeks ago fishing a real prey swimbait...with an 8 foot pool cue of a rod.... And 65lb braid... And a locked drag. 

 

The hookset I made was something to be proud of but the stump won that one. My shoulder let me know I messed up. 

Happens every time I fish. Just last night I was fishing a finesse skirted jig in my local river, felt a thump and reeled down and set the hook... into a rock. Darn! Got it out, checked the hook and the line and continued fishing. Shortly after I felt another thump, reeled down and set the hook and my line got cut. Not snagged and broke, just cut. Hmmmm... Maybe there was a sharp rock or a nick in my line I didn't feel. Tied on a new jig and continued fishing. Felt another thump and set the hook. Rod doubled over and... nothing moved. Darn, another rock! Then my jig came flying out of the water and I saw a big musky roll in the water.

 

First bite was a rock. Second bite was the musky and it bit me off. Third bite was the same musky, but it felt like a rock before it spit the jig out.

4 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

I got fooled pretty good by a stump a few weeks ago fishing a real prey swimbait...with an 8 foot pool cue of a rod.... And 65lb braid... And a locked drag. 

 

The hookset I made was something to be proud of but the stump won that one. My shoulder let me know I messed up. 

This one is great haha I hope your shoulder is doing better man!!