05-19-2021, 06:54 PM
I finally had a few minutes to read today and saw your post. As I read, the first flag for me was also the bobber. I have seen lots of times where a fish hit aggressively and then took off and spit the bait. Sometimes even going air born and all before I could get the line tight to to set the hook. My second guess would be what I call bad luck, but probably is more related to tentative feeding behavior.
I call it bad luck because almost all trips have a few hits that make you think "Oh goody, a big one!" The rod starts to load and sometimes the drag even starts to sing and then the line goes slack. I assume that means the cat bit down hard on the bait but missed getting the point, lucky kitty.
Some trips though the stars all seem to line up right (for the cats) and I will get 8 or 10 of those in a row. Sometimes I get so frustrated I start changing out my hooks or using smaller baits or whatever I can think of only to find that, in the end, the streak ends all by itself and things go back to normal. I could call is sort of a statistical aberration, but the term "bad luck" suits me better.
Whatever it is I hope it goes away or you get it fixed soon so you can get back to the fun part!
I call it bad luck because almost all trips have a few hits that make you think "Oh goody, a big one!" The rod starts to load and sometimes the drag even starts to sing and then the line goes slack. I assume that means the cat bit down hard on the bait but missed getting the point, lucky kitty.
Some trips though the stars all seem to line up right (for the cats) and I will get 8 or 10 of those in a row. Sometimes I get so frustrated I start changing out my hooks or using smaller baits or whatever I can think of only to find that, in the end, the streak ends all by itself and things go back to normal. I could call is sort of a statistical aberration, but the term "bad luck" suits me better.
Whatever it is I hope it goes away or you get it fixed soon so you can get back to the fun part!