to strike or not!

Joined: Jan 07, 2006 Posts: 2

New to Sea fishing, getting lots of small knoks, have tried striking, lifting the rod, just reeling in! whats the correct thing to do, i am an ex carp angler so striking seems the logical thing to do.

Thanks,
Jaba

Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 7:35 pm

sorry to hear your having problems mate!
what size hooks and bait are you using and where are you fishing?
i use size 2s aberdeen pattern petty much a standard size among match anglers and alike, maybe your hooks are too big, if so scale down to size 4s and see if that helps at all. i normally give the rod a hard pull before reeling in to dislodge the lead unless im scratching about then i will give it a little strike.

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 1:49 pm

If I can add my two-pennorth here: some swear by striking into a fish, but my view is that this does very little (if anything at all) when pulling on more than 70 yards of mono as the stretch absorbs the pull easily. Instead I lift the rod and reel in fairly quickly to take up the slack and get some tension, only lifting sharply if the lead is stuck.

Each to their own though...

Tight lines
Tim

Occasional Joined: Dec 02, 2005 Posts: 144

this is a question that has many answers.

i would have said that as you've tried striking and not then it would be more down to the business end. you need to match your hook/ bait sizes to the antisipated species of fish. also the bait must not mask the hook point (a small thumbnail size piece of squid or fish often stops the worms bunching around the hook point). also if your using lug worm try and pinch the tails of and don't leave any of the worm hanging from the hook, this is often grabbed and sucked of, especially by flatties.

hope this helps and that you conect with fish soon.

Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 9:58 pm

you could always reel the slack line in then hold your rod and wait for another bite/fish pulling away.Then strike and reel in

Guest

Tim wrote:

If I can add my two-pennorth here: some swear by striking into a fish, but my view is that this does very little (if anything at all) when pulling on more than 70 yards of mono as the stretch absorbs the pull easily. Instead I lift the rod and reel in fairly quickly to take up the slack and get some tension, only lifting sharply if the lead is stuck.

Each to their own though...

Tight lines
Tim

I would go with tim myself, no need to strike most of the time, just be firm when you pick up rod!
And use smaller hooks!