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FISHING: Try Setting Your Hook On 'Short Strikes'

AFTERNOON BITE GONE BY THURSDAY

Contributed photo

Dave Douglass holds a typical summertime catch of a four- to five-pound bass out of hydrilla in six feet of depth in Istokpoga. It’s the norm to hook into three-to-five of this size bass during one trip this time of year.

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Dave Douglass

Published: June 24, 2008

The last quarter moon occurs Thursday at 12:10 p.m. and causes an excellent early-morning feeding migration which starts at 5:30 a.m. and ends approximately four hours later from 9:30 to 10 a.m.
For me, this is the best summertime daytime feeding migration period of the month.

Bass seem to be in a more predicable and standard migration pattern while the water temperatures are in the lower 80s. Once the temperatures reach upper 80s in the afternoon, the majority of bass weighing more than four pounds have eaten so much plentiful food that tricking them to strike artificial bait becomes increasingly more difficult.

Now factor in the typical Florida summer afternoons accompanied by intense thunderstorms and lightning, and the Florida angler welcomes the exceptional early morning bite — the "Best Big Bass Bite of the Month".

The afternoon bite diminishes greatly each day and deteriorates completely by Thursday.

There is always a remote chance of hooking into a good-sized bass in the deeper sections of the lake, which have short routes to shallow structured areas. However, you'll need to have perfected the right bait action and be ready to set the hook at the slightest change or difference in the feel of the retrieve action.

Focus and reflex must be keen and quick to properly set the hook on a summertime bite designed to kill the prey without eating it as a meal. The "short strike" is the most difficult bass bite to perfect a hook set on; it happens in less than a half-second — most anglers have no idea when it happens, or if it happens at all.

Try setting the hook on anything different in the bait action, you'll be surprised when you end up battling an eight-pound bass back to the boat. You'll realize many bass have caused an almost non-existent but real "action change" you used to think was the bait brushing something in the water.

Fishing Facts
Bass can swim at the speed of their prey's movement through the water column, engulf the food source, crush it, and blow it out in less than 0.5 seconds.

I've seen underwater film footage showing a five-pound Florida largemouth suck in a half-ounce spinner bait to deliver a crushing death sentence on it, then release it by blowing out, without the angler knowing a thing. He keeps on with the steady retrieve without the slightest idea he had been successful by choosing that bait, style and method of retrieval action, and area of the lake.

Many anglers place a finger on the side of the line as they retrieve so they have a greater sensitivity to the feel of a "change" in line feel.

Monofilament and Fluorocarbon lines tend to mask short strike characteristics, while braided lines accentuate many times over, every change which occurs during the retrieval process. The angler needs time to become accustomed to the type of line he selects.

A more invisible line can provide advantages in attracting fish to the bait that are not in the feeding mode, however a disadvantage comes with this choice. Feeling the subtle short strike is very difficult.
A highly visible line causes the non-feeding bass to move away from the disturbance caused by the presence of the line, but if bass start feeding or strike the bait with a short strike, it is immediately noticed and therefore becomes a huge advantage for the bass angler.

Fishing News
Lake Istokpoga's level is at 38.1 feet above sea level.

The water is very cloudy all throughout the lake due to the constant changing winds moving decaying chemically treated plant matter in all directions. This will continue to happen more as the rainy season causes the lake to rise, which in turn suspends more decaying plant matter which is presently in less than a foot of water.

Fish will be below the water column cloud of suspended matter or in areas where the wind has driven suspended matter in one direction for several days, out of that area.

Just because the water looks very "dirty" to you, doesn't mean it is not clear four to seven feet down. The less wind there is, the more the turbidity is near the water surface and thin — maybe two feet thick. Once the wind is more than 15 miles per hour, water depths of four or five feet are completely affected, causing the majority of the fish to move deeper for better oxygen levels.

Lake Okeechobee's level is currently at 9.4 feet above sea level. Rainfall has kept up with the permitted water user's cutback allowances and raised the lake's level in the process. Hopefully this will continue to happen — it's long overdue.

Fishing Tournaments
The Wednesday Morning Black Bass Fishing Tournament is open to the public. Next Event is from 7:30 a.m. to noon today on Lake Josephine.

The tournament will be held on Lake June next week.

Pay at ramp — entry fee is $30 per boat. One person may fish alone if you do not have a partner. For information, contact Paul Tardiff at 863-385-8007 (home), 863-446-1310 (cell) or e-mail bassbutchie60@aol.com. You can also contact Dwight Ameling at 863-471-3305.

Dave Douglass is a bass fishing guide and teacher, bass tournament fisherman and CEO of SOS-Florida Lakes, Inc. You can reach him at 863-381-8474, e-mail davedouglass@sos-floridalakes.org or visit reds-bass-fishing-guides.com and sos-floridalakes.org.

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