When to strike for blacktail and other baitfish

CardoB

New member
Hi guys I fish a lot at ansteys and wanted to know when the majority of you strike is it on the first nibble or do you wait for a few hits then strike, I catch my fair share but I miss probably 7 out of 10 fish
 
Differ on the day and conditions from my experience. Sometimes fish will nibble, bite and release or bite aggressively. You need to establish what is working on the specific day. At times you will have to draw them in that you have to slowly drag your bait in order to create the chase. So many different things consider but experience will be the best learning curve
 

DocPhil

Senior Member
It takes practice and skill to strike at the right moment and even experienced anglers get it wrong. Always wait for the "pull" rather than the "nibble", sometimes the pull is strong and unmistakable and other times it is very subtle and hard to discern from the pull of the water.
Circle hooks do make it a bit easier, and using tougher baits like calamari can help. Other than that it's practice practice practice..
 
go to a rock pool with fish in it...even small ones.

then give them a piece of squid to eat.

you will see that they tend to grab the squid and swim away and the other will follow.

if it is small enough then the competition will not get any to eat.

this also applies in the real world of fishing.

so basically, bait needs to be small enough to allow fish to get bait and hook inside its mouth.

so in essence they should be hooking them selves.

what it also tells me... "your missing 7 of 10" is that smaller fish could also be present or bait, hook size is too big.

circles, does not work for me. sorry the target specie is too small.

because you need bait dangling from circle hook.
thus fish needs to swallow bait and hook to get a hook up.

but each to their own, I guess.
 
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