When to strike

[woody guthrie]

As a relative newbie to the art of shore fishing I need some advice on when to strike a bite. I am torn between striking as soon as I have seen a bite register or waiting for another pull and strike that one. I think I'm missing a lot of fish by either waiting to long for a second bite or not striking that first knock.

I have done quite a bit of boat fishing at sea holding onto the rod waiting for a knock and spend most of the summer evenings fishing for trout on the fly so when to strike there is lot more obvious.

I believe from what I read on here that different species of fish take baits in different ways, so maybe I need to know the different knocks and pulls they are likely to give, if anyone could give me some hints I would most appreciate it.

I have had a few codling the last few trips out on the beaches at Courtmacsherry but seemed to miss a lot of takes, is this usual when shore fishing ?

I suppose there is always going to be some delay in striking when you take into account the length of line out and time it takes to lift the rod to tighten into the fish. Hope that the more experienced anglers out there can give me some tips.

[jimmymellis]

As a relative newbie to the art of shore fishing I need some advice on when to strike a bite. I am torn between striking as soon as I have seen a bite register or waiting for another pull and strike that one. I think I'm missing a lot of fish by either waiting to long for a second bite or not striking that first knock.

I have done quite a bit of boat fishing at sea holding onto the rod waiting for a knock and spend most of the summer evenings fishing for trout on the fly so when to strike there is lot more obvious.

I believe from what I read on here that different species of fish take baits in different ways, so maybe I need to know the different knocks and pulls they are likely to give, if anyone could give me some hints I would most appreciate it.

I have had a few codling the last few trips out on the beaches at Courtmacsherry but seemed to miss a lot of takes, is this usual when shore fishing ?

I suppose there is always going to be some delay in striking when you take into account the length of line out and time it takes to lift the rod to tighten into the fish. Hope that the more experienced anglers out there can give me some tips.

bro i use the 3 bite rule let him have a taste and get into your bait first on the 3rd bite it should be stronger as he wants the bait and if its competing for it then the second bite its usually hooks its self so it dont matter plus it matters on the species your targeting if you use smaller hooks they tend to hook there selfs

[mitch]

hi wg i find 95 % of fish hook themselves and the rest ie codling /bass/smoothhound once
they go over 1 to 2 lb they tend to give either a slight knock or a realy good bite then
they run towards you giving you a slackliner when this happens its a bit of a race to retrieve
you line before they throw your hook, when this happens reel as fast as you can, when i start to feel contact with the fish i dont stike i apply
a lot of pressure and find this works , hope this helps

[eric]

perhaps your iron isnt hot enough?