advice on sliding please

saber

Senior Member
Howzit guys...

im just looking for a bit of advice with regard to bites when the shark picks up your bait and instead of running off it comes towards the beach...i Have lost abput 4 or 5 fish recently because of this. What i usualy do is reel in the line slowly hoping for the hooks to catch. But most of the time the bait is just dropped.

I suppose striking would be the answer but you run the risks of a burnoff....what do you do when that happens t you??
 

Enigma

Moderator
If it's a size fish and not a small one playing with your bait it should hook itself anyways.

When I get slack line on a slide I take it as a run just shoreward instead of to the deep blue yonder and crank the line as fast as possible taking in all the slack and preventing the slide from being dragged up the line.

If the fish isn't vas by then and the line is tight I'll wait for a while to see if it comes back to pick up the bait.

I suppose though every bite is different just as every fight is different.

All I know is that if the fish pulls me flat or gives serious slack line it get's my adrenalin pumping just as hard and the anxiety for what could be about to happen is just awesome
 

saber

Senior Member
Thanks man! on that note, when a fish takes off do you strike at all?? if so how hard?? what i usually do is wind in the line intitialy before u start using the rod to put pressure to make sure the slide is at the bottom. But generally i dont strike after that. But it has happened to me a few times that say after 200m of the fish taking line that it just drops the bait. Makes me wonder sometimes if i shouldnt have struck to make sure the hooks are set properly.
 

Enigma

Moderator
I do bounce the rod against the fish when the pressure is on.

With circles I don't strike and keep the pressure at max for a short while in the early part of the run and it will set the hook proper.

When the Raggies are on the bite I do strike hard and quite a few times because the wire is often in the teeth or for some reason only the tip of the hook sets. I've landed 2 raggies where they weren't even hooked, the line was just warpped in the teeth. Since I've taken to striking them, haven't had a repeat.

A Bronzie or any of the other speed merchants sets the hook itself with the speed they are travelling when hitting the stop ring and pulling the Grapnel out of the sand, bouncing the rod under pressure will just help sink the hoot till it is VAS in the Bend
 
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