How to Learn to Detect Bites

By Ian

  The effectiveness of soft plastics and jigs is indisputable. Countless fish have been caught these ways, accounting for more tournament wins and more fish caught than any other ways. The stickworm, the jig, the curly tailed worm, the straight tailed worm, the creature bait, etc, all must be fished detecting bites that aren't so noticeable. The aggressive strikes of moving lures (crank baits, spinnerbaits, swim jigs, etc) won't be felt here. You need to feel bites with slower moving lures.

 Above: A bite is still a bite, and you will learn to feel for them.
 
  Advice for feeling bites is great, but after teaching many kids on the Buddy Program to bass fish, I realized that the best teacher is experience. After you detect bites, and catch fish, you will know what is a bite, and what is your worm, jig, etc, going over some debris on the bottom. Here's a method to quickly and surely learn to detect bites:

  First, you round up your tackle. Get a spinning reel and rod, some light braid or fluorocarbon line, some split shots, a size 1 or 1/0 worm hook, and a 4 inch worm. Then, do a split shot rig. There are plenty of articles on this online. Go to an unprepared pond, cast, and fish on. With this finesse presentation, you will catch fish, both big and small, and feel many, many bites, some from sunfish, others from bass. Experience is the best teacher, and learning to bass fish isn't just watching videos or reading articles. Get on the water!

Tight lines,

​Ian