En route to catching two bass on worms day before yesterday, I got an education of sorts--one I hope I'll remember for future reference. At day's end, I felt like I had learned that it's entirely possible to agitate a bass enough to elicit a stronger-than-normal reaction to the bait being in his face.
During my first encounter with a fish yesterday on the worm, I felt the fish as soon as he picked up the bait, and I then saw the line slowly moving sideways. I resisted setting the hook immediately, and as a result, I kept feeling a little shake of the head (or so it seemed) each time I advanced the reel handle only a fraction. Eventually, the fish simply snatched the bait and took off running sideways at full bore, leaving no doubt that it was time to set the hook.
On my second encounter while fishing a worm, I was having a friendly conversation with a fella in another boat after making a cast to the shoreline. I was looking over my shoulder, talking to my friend, while retrieving the worm when I started feeling pressure. I turned around to see that the line nearly was vertical to the side of the boat, so began just gently bouncing the bait. I subsequently felt two fairly solid thumps, followed by one in which he really hammered it. At that point, I set the hook and flipped the fish over the side.
I felt fortunate in that on many other occasions, when I've waited so long to react to a strike, the fish ended up swallowing the hook to his belly button. Both fish day before yesterday, however, were hooked cleanly in the mouth and were released with no problems whatsoever.
Worm fishing likely never will be my preferred method for catching fish, but I'll continue using it when the choice boils down to doing that or accepting a skunk at the end of the day. Maybe some fellas have difficulty living with the world's loneliest number--1--but I'm a member of the crowd that would much rather have one than none.
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