Advice To strike or not to strike.

[spiderfur]

I usually fish at night and use a gripper.
I have always thought that by using a gripper and your hooks are sharp a fish will hook itself with no real need to strike. Also I wondered if by striking at a knock you pull the bait away from the fish or spook it.
Would be grateful for any advice on this. Cheers

 

[richtic]

If fishing mono I strike but fish braid mainly now and just lift the rod, not sure if I'm doing the right thing but seems to work ?

 

[spiderfur]

If fishing mono I strike but fish braid mainly now and just lift the rod, not sure if I'm doing the right thing but seems to work ?

Ta. I should have mentioned perhaps that I fish from the shore.

 

[richtic]

Ta. I should have mentioned perhaps that I fish from the shore.

All my shore fishing is with braid now aswell ?

 

[Cfish]

Running rigs,let a few feet.of line off when you see a bite, when the fish takes up the slack wind down!!!

 

[John Mitchell]

I use braid I find a fish normally hook their self’s when using gripper on the bottom so I don’t strike , sometimes I might have a bit of a pull to make sure the hook is set . I think it depends on what fish you are after

 

[spiderfur]

Running rigs,let a few feet.of line off when you see a bite, when the fish takes up the slack wind down!!!

Cheers, yeah that sounds right ?

 

[J Richards]

I never strike, just wind in (usually with a dog) i don’t bother watching my rods, just wait for the ratchet to go. Lol.
I’m a lazy angler most of the time.

 

[Mr Fish]

Depends on the fish.
Ray or flatfish never ever strike, just leave it to hook itself.

Hounds, bass, cod, eels, whiting, pouting, dogs, bream, I’d be striking on a decent take.

That’s with mono, don’t use braid off the shore, don’t like the stuff for shore fishing

 

[jackjock]

don’t use braid off the shore, don’t like the stuff for shore fishing

Brilliant stuff . you don,t know what your missing

 

[flappy]

Never seen a bite.. just wound them in after an hour or so.

 

[Mr Fish]

Brilliant stuff . you don,t know what your missing

I wouldn’t like to use it with multis lol.

I have used it a bit with FS but I hate the ‘nodding dog’ syndrome where every bit of wave makes the rod tips bounce away.

Tried it in surf once and it drove me spare.

Plus I’ve spent a lot of years learning what bites look like on mono ?

 

[Warby72]

No need to strike if you use circle hooks.

 

[Mr Fish]

No need to strike if you use circle hooks.

Crappy hooks for bait presentation though…

 

[Wolf]

I strike only if it's a big'ish bite ,if a gentle one I leave it for a couple of mins,then wind in a bit ,then leave it again for another couple of mins ,then reel in for a bait change,I've found that if I move the bait slightly after a gentle bite they tend to grab it ,hope this helps mate

 

[ouchthathurt]

Fishing with grippers, I tend to leave an initial rattle to develop for a minute or two before lifting into it and reeling in. If I get a slack liner, I walk backwards while reeling in until I feel the weight of the fish then lift into it to set the hook. I use mono off the shore of 15lb to tapered shock leaders, usually 5oz leads unless situations dictate otherwise.

 

[jackjock]

I have used it a bit with FS but I hate the ‘nodding dog’ syndrome where every bit of wave makes the rod tips bounce away.

Your using the wrong rod then carbon tiped rods can have that effect with braid.?

 

[flappy]

My rods just bounce in the surf..up.. down etc..get slack liners but it's just the leads rolling in the waves... never actually seen a bite..the flatties because that's all I ever get.. just sit there.

 

[Trampster]

My rods just bounce in the surf..up.. down etc..get slack liners but it's just the leads rolling in the waves... never actually seen a bite..the flatties because that's all I ever get.. just sit there.

If the OP is using gripper leads, they shouldn't be rolling around in the waves. Last couple of times I've been out, there has been so much surf, the rod tips are continually moving quite violently, so I usually just let things develop until the rod goes right over or the line goes slack. Last week when out with John, the rod had been moving a lot for quite a while, and suddenly the Rod & Tripod all went over, and I thought I'd possibly hooked something big, but no - just a huge clump of bleddy weed. Twas time to go home.

 

[Mr Fish]

Your using the wrong rod then carbon tiped rods can have that effect with braid.?

I’m using the right rod for mono ??‍

Tbh I’ve got loads of beachcasters and I couldn’t tell you which have glass tips and which don’t .

In any case, I don’t want braid anywhere near my multis except on the boat