I’ve been having some trouble getting bass to completely put their mouth around my hook & plastic worm. I consistently get little taps or “nibbles” whenever I just stop and deadstick it to see if they eat it, but I end up setting the hook and not catch them.

The main way I fish the Texas rig is by casting (usually around cover), and letting it sink. I catch fish mostly when the worm is sinking like this cause I know it is probably a bite. If there is no bite, I slowly drag the bait along the bottom, reel in the slack, and repeat. The only other technique I use is hopping it a little off the bottom.

Could these nibbles be smaller fish that can’t completely eat the hook & bait?

Great question and answers, thank you all

How do you know when to set the hook after feeling these little thumps? I’ve tried watching my line and rod tip but I guess I haven’t gotten the hang of it yet.

Any tips are greatly appreciated. Texas rigged worms are my most successful bait and the bait I use most often.

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by M_DOME

I saw a pheasant shooting club that smoked people's pheasants for them, for a fee, to expedite they simply gave you already smoked pheasants when you brought in legally shot pheasants, butchers process people's game as well.

Friends of mine go to a Reservoir that has a daily limit of 25 Kokanee per person, these are big nice Kokanee from 2 to 5 pounds, easy limits, boats in by 10am.

So I'm thinking wow, go up there with a commercial smoker, and do a number where fish are brined and smoked as they come in for people's fish. You drop off 10 fish you get 10 smoked...technically speaking you are smoking people's fish for them.

I think that's a brilliant idea. I agree with the safe food handling input, in fact I would make the part of the brand
I'm thinking it would keep a seriously well thought out process at capacity. Use food grade buckets or bins that can brine 25/50 fish, maybe two or three "flavors" or styles, moist, medium, and dryer, set up a big smoker with pull out racks. I think there would be a whole lot of fish on the smoker...

What do you do with 25 fish limits? That's a hundred fish for a couple in two days.

My kids are 10 and 6, we live by the sea, but I never learnt to fish. I am happy to help them untangling their lines (all the time), but i really feel bad for the fish on the hooks. They swallow them whole, or have them point out of their eyes or sides. Obviously, the hooks are barbed, so they don’t go out how they got in without ripping half the fish apart. Then we throw them back in because they are too small.

I also would hate to stun the fish, let alone drive a knive or screwdriver in their brain. Maybe it’s stupid to ask, but how can you learn to handle this better? I watched some youtube videos and it always looks so easy. I never had a fish who wouldn’t puke or crap on me while holding them, wiggling, also they have spikes and then try to get this hook out? No thanks.

How do others deal with that?

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by irrelevantAF