Hey all!  First, thanks for all the great responses to my first question yesterday.  This place is great!

Now, another "dumb" question.  Fishing in this small farm pond, both me and a friend have had a fish bite a bait right in two.  In his case, it was a Storm swimbait.  Something bit the tail off.  In my case, it was a 7" Berkeley worm t-rigged.  I felt the tug, set the hook hard, and came up with half a worm.  And it looked like a clean cut.  It's not like the bottom was somehow snagged and I pulled it in half.  

Can a bass do that?  Or is more likely that somebody threw some northerm in there?  Or is there another likely fish it could be?

btw, I'm in Central Illinois (Champaign-Urbana.  Go Illini!).

Later!

Dan

Pickerel or snapping turtle maybe?

Had the same thing happen to me last year. Was fishing 4 inch renegade worms t rigged and kept getting that"tap tap". Would set the hook and come up with nothing but a worm with the tail bit cleanly off. Afterwards I noticed heads of turtles cruising the surface. Had to be the culprit.

I've had my baits ripped apart a couple of times.  In the area I was fishing, the only fish it could have been are bass, trout, catfish, or crappie.  Of those fish, the only one capable of sawing a plastic bait in half would have to be a bass.  Each time I've had a bait sawed off, it was a big strike.  If you have full tension on the line (ie, as you are setting the hook) I thinks it's possible for a bass to rip a soft plastic.  Their teeth aren't real sharp, but they can cut you if there is enough pressure applied or if you were to run the tip of your finger over the teeth really fast.  

Turtles are probably your problem.  If they are, sooner or later you'll hook one.  My case was with crankbait.  All three trebles!  Make sure you have a pair of pliers.

Turtles are probably your problem. If they are, sooner or later you'll hook one. My case was with crankbait. All three trebles! Make sure you have a pair of pliers.

that sucks lol i dont know y it is funny

Unless using a high stretch worm a bass most certainly can bite a worm into. I've had many bass to the boat with just the rear half in its mouth, departing boatside rudely with his half. Bream and crappie are notorious for snapping a worm in half, yankng legs off lizards, destroying swim bait tails. So are chain pickerel as small as 6" bad about that. I doubt a turtle (except a snapper) would bother biting a worm.

Jim

Yeah, though I have learned from this site that a snapping turtle will eat a lure, it doesn't happen all that often.  I can tell you that I have had the tail bitten off enough grubs and worms to know that any sunny will nibble the things right off, making for a quick bag of baits...grrr

i caught a huge snapper last month.  by miracle after i was finally able to reel it in and had it against the side of the canoe, the hook fell out.  wasn't really looking forward to messing with it  .

I frequently have bass bite the tails off of my storm swimbaits. I hate it when this happens because it ruins the lures action. I have 3 bags worth of tail-less swimbaits in my tackle box because I'm too big of a packrat to throw anything away. I also have had bass bite the tails off worms. It is bass that do this because I have actually seen them with the lure in there mouth when this happened. You can't blame everything on the turtles even though I hate the things and wish they'd move to a different lake.  >

So it sounds like a plain old bass could be my worm cutting culprit.  I guess I was hoping for something more exotic.  But I wasn't looking forward to messing with a snapping turtle either.  

BTW, I tried the Storm swimbait in the same pond tonight and got skunked on it.  As the sun set though they were hitting my black buzzbait really hard.  I caught about 8 but none of them were of any size.  Ah well....there's always tomorrow.   ;D

Hey Fatboy.... I'm willing to bet the Culprit is YOU!..

Here's the more likely senario... The bass clamps down on the worm... You feel a tick and set the hook... The bass doesn't have but half the worm in it's mouth and all of a sudden you jerk causing the worm to break in half....Try it with a new one....Hold it tighly(almost pinching) halfway in one hand and then jerk real hard with the other hand.... The worm will break cleanly in half almost like it was cut......

At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it!! ;D

all of these things are possible....if i'm not mistaken those Berkeley worms are real soft. bass has those sandpaper teeth designed to hold of to something obviously because their mouths are huge. So if he has the worm and the line is tick tick ticking don't set it....reel down on it as its ticking then when its starts to run away in a constant motion set it. the tick tick ticking is the bass bumbing into it with its lips because bass have taste buds on their lips ....or he is picking it up and putting it down really quickly.

I'm with scwildbill on this one.

Thanks, everybody.  Especially scwildbill and fishingrulz!  I didn't expect to get help on technique with this question, but I think you might be onto something.  A lot of times when I feel that tick tick, I try to set the hook...probably too early...and I miss the fish.  I'll try to be more patient, but it's hard!  When I feel that tick and I know a fish is there the adrenaline goes through the roof.

Bass like the texture and taste of most soft plastics, especially GYCB baits. Jigs generally require a very fast hook-set (bass don't like the feel of lead), but soft plastis are different. I reel down to pick up excess line and then dip the rod and come back with a snap-set, then reel fast and load up the rod.

I totally agree with RW post and will add don't wait to long or the next tick may be the bass spitting the worm out.

Good advice RW.  What if the fish takes off with the worm, esp moving away from you?  She's pretty much taking out the slack for you, right?  I had a fish do that two casts in a row the other day but I couldn't get the hook set either time.  If a fish starts moving with the bait, can I assume she's got it all in her mouth, or will they sometimes start to swim off pulling the bait in as they go?  eat and run?

Line can't swim!

When your line starts moving, reel down and set the hook.

Just an aside AT THISPOINT IN MY LIFE ID LIKE TO DATE A WOMAN WHO STILL HAS TEETH

Well after reading through this post seems your question was answerd but i have one of my own.. kinda.A few days ago i lost 2 hooks and 2 senkos probly with in 30 min.I was casting at the end of some fallen tree's i fished for about 10 minutes then i got tap tap and before i knew what was going on my line was slack and both my hook and worm were gone.I blamed in on faulty knot retied one and fished the same spot for another 15 ish min.Same d**n thing happend again tap tap then nithing but slack this time my line ( mono 12lb test) was frayed and split into 3 strands.I still ticks me off not knowing what the hell happend my buddy called me a noob and said i probly got snagged but i know for sure it wasnt a snag.Makes me want to go out and buy some braid....

I also have a problem setting the hook i was out at a local gravel pit , the most insane amount of weeds it is horrid.I bought a booyah rattling jig(1/2 oz i thought it was big but buddy said it wasnt big at all) and got to break it in.I realy love this thing even tho i got skunked it is just so awsome lookin in the water.I think that and t-riggged senko are all i am going to be fishing for awhile.I didnt get snagged up one time the whole night , there was times i realy had to pull throw some weeds tho but no snags.Back to the point of hook setting , there is about a 2-3 foot length off shore before the rest is just so thick in weeds i was fishing in the water and bluegill and baby sunfish were just swarmin me.Before i left i decided to play with them a little.I through out a little jig with some fur on it , i musta got 20 million bites but i didnt hook one of them scoundrels.I think every fish i catch hooks itself , i would either rip the lure away from them or pull it clear out of the water sometimes hitting myself ;D ;D.Any tips on setting the hook? there is no reason i shouldnt have pulled out atleast 20 of those things they were all over me.If i was usin a treble hook i am sure they woulda just hooked themselves , but i know i am not a good hook setter so i wanted to practice on them.

**EDIT** I forgot to mention the best part... i fished for 4 hours got nothing.This guy walks up as i am leaving and takes my spot , he pulls out a nice size pike on the first cast.BAD news , he asks me if i want to keep it.That is bad news because that is why no perch are in there anymore idiots kept them.There is no way for fish to come back into that pond you know?Ignorance.... why would anyone keep the fish from there is beyind me.

I have had the same thing happen to me. Cast a Worm out and then have it come back half gone.  Thinking it was a nice bass, I put a new worm on and cast it right back to the same spot and came up with a nice size snapping turtle. Thank god I had my pliers with me.  Lets just say the turtle wasn't too happy after being caught, it was a mess trying to release him. Teach him a lesson for stealing my bait....  

a lot of the time when i get the tap tap tap i'm convinced it's crappie.  sometimes i'll catch a pickerel with the tapping but rarely.  bass even more rarely.  i like to think i've become pretty good at sensing how hard the fish has or hasn't yet hit the bait.  helps with braided line.  if it's real light taps i'll usually try and wait until the fish actually starts moving with.  the line will be moving not jerking intermitently.

yea the small fish (i.e. bluegill and small crappie) will most of the time try to rip the bait to pieces especially plastics. what they do is swim up to it in schools of 643265477432 and they each take a turn at ripping a piece off. then that piece is ripped over and over. this way everyone gets a little bit. its because they tend to have small mouths also. they can't fit a tiny minnow so they would rather rip it into bits. it could also be that they are just trying to kill it.

I almost never get my plastic worms bitten off but it seems like a good amount of my small swimbaits and road runners are missing their tails?