Reading the Bite Correctly Can Be Tricky

No one knows that better than bass pro David Walker, who was fishing an Elite Series event on Toledo Bend several years ago when he had a firsthand acquaintance with a one-that-got-away story, which he hates with a passion. Seems he was hopping a big worm one minute, when suddenly, he lost all feeling with the bottom.

"I knew a fish had the worm in its mouth because the line was moving," he said. "When I set the hook, it stopped, then just started stripping line"...something that doesn't usually happen when he's using 20-pound-test fluorocarbon. "I intentionally crank the drag down to the point where no bass can strip line."

The fish was pulling so hard Walker thought it might be a big drum. Then it started running to the surface, and he thought it could be a bass that was getting ready to jump. Rather than leap, though, this fish started high-tailing it directly toward him.

"I could see the fish coming like a torpedo," said Walker. "I knew I had to move to the back of the boat and get my rod under the motor."

Unfortunately, it all happened faster than he could react, and the fish somehow managed to take Walker's line under the narrow slot between the gas cap and the boat transom. And just like that, the fight was over.

"It just snapped," he said. "I might as well have put scissors to it."

Walker wasn't right the rest of the day.

"Mentally, I was done," he explained. "I just sat down. I was like, 'Man, what a tragedy just happened here.' To go from that extreme high to that extreme low in such a quick amount of time just shell-shocked me."

He wouldn't speculate how big the bass might have been but finally admitted,"Obviously, with the length, it could have been in the 10-pound class."

It would seem the days of drawing a "tap-tap" or light "tic" in the line with a worm are history. The modern trend is to feel nothing but watch your line move off, or just feel pressure...and these modern trends don't only apply to worms, either. I've had occasions already this year when I had the same thing happen while fishing a jerkbait or crankbait.

Just this past Wednesday, I felt the bass hit my crankbait, but it happened so quickly I didn't have a chance to set the hook, so I just kept reeling slowly. It wasn't until I saw the line moving sideways that I realized the fish had hooked itself.