Was out on the river tonight (Wisconsin River, smallmouth)  We've had a drastic change in weather.  Very cold windy with snow and rain showers this past week.  The river temp by me was up to 54-55 degrees last week and tonight it was 46.  The water is a lot higher too.  I was targeting slack water areas off the current.  The current was really roaring through tonight.  Anyway, last week I did really well on crankbaits and rattletraps.  Not a bite on those tonight.  Was trying everything tonight.  Never fished a Shaky head before.  I think I had it rigged right from reading other posts on this forum and was working it painfully slooooow.  I only managed 3 bites on the shaky head.  The first two bites felt good and I set the hook as soon as I saw the line jump and felt the bite.  Missed both fish completely.  I figured next time I'd give the fish a little more time to eat it.  I did.  I saw the line jump, felt him hit and then he started swimming off sideways with my worm.  I went to set the hook and nothing.  Unfortunately I didn't get any more bites to experiment some more.  Maybe they were little fish and just didn't have the bait in their mouth all the way?  Do you usually wait to set the hook or let them have it right away.  I did manage one more bite tonight on an X-rap fished very slow too.  Used slow pulls, didn't really jerk it, with long pauses.  I think I had every bait in my tackle box tied on tonight.  What a humbling night.  By the way, it's still cold and rainy here too.  Need a nice warming spell!

If you are fishing with a finesse worm as soon as you feel a bump give your reel two quick turns and set the hook. If you get several short strikes try dipping the head of the worm (instead of the tail) in spike-it to get the fish to concentrate on the buisness end of the lure.