To strike or not????

Good question.
I don't strike.
Be interested to hear what the experts think.

Ian, are you using grip leads?

Theory is if the grip lead holds and your line is taught it does the setting of the hook for you, but I'm not sure that fish read theories.

Striking when you feel the fish tugging does help you to believe that you played a part in catching the blighter though.
If you watch Mehmet, if he detects a knock (rather than a good take) he holds the rod until he feels the fish tug and then strikes

If you have a tail of bait hanging below the hook then reacting too quick can mean that a flattie say could still be working its way along to the hook point, there again leaving it too long could mean a deep hooked fish
- - -difficult to judge innit?

I read an interesting theory on one forum that bass sometimes swipe their prey with their sharp fin edge (the bit that always cuts me when I handle them!) before grabbing it, which would account for the sometimes double hit, but I dunno if there is any truth in this.



Then there are those Cod that have read the books that say they run at you when they take the bait -be afraid.

Ive always found that winding down into the fish and continuing a steady retrieve works better than striking in most circumstances.

If you are fishing at distance, the strike is likely to have little effect due to the stretch of the line.

The fish will usually hook itself against the weight of the lead, especially if using a grip lead.

One thing to mention is hook size. As long as the hook is the correct size for the likely species, the fish should hook themselves, although i have had Corkwings and small Dabs on 3/0 hooks and have seen Thornies and 15 - 20 lb Conger on size 2s so its not impossible to hook up using the wrong size. However, i thinks it is a lot more likely if the hook matches the target species.

The only time i do strike is if i am fishing from a height, either Wrassing off the rocks, or down a wall or pier. The stretch is far less of a problem, and i think lifting vertically is more likely to hook a fish than pulling the bait away from it along the sea bed when fishing at distance.

Some interesting points there gentlemen.

I've only in the last twelve months started sea fishing and mainly off the pier in Llandudno with Mike and paul, but what headwyn said when fishing from a height, I tend to wind down till the tip has a very slight bend, then on the next tap i just lift into the fish, and upto now i've had great success with this method.

Thanks again for all the information that i've read.

Spaceman
( Steve ).

only things i strike for is black bream on the boat because you have to hook them quick and anything on the float. everything else i just wind, especially on the beach or uptiding because striking won't matter whatsoever. of course as its been mentioned already it depends what you're fishing for.
couple of examples, if you strike fishing for conger you then have to start winding straight away because it'll dive back into rocks/wreck and once its there you've lost it so you're best just winding without striking.
tope (this is how i find best anyway) let them run and when they stop tighten your spool and wait for them to run again and just hold on, they hook themselves and you know the hook should be in its mouth at that point, whereas striking straight away the hook could be anywhere and as soon as the fish feels any resistance it lets go of the bait.
float fishing for anything you need to strike because theres no other way to set the hook

Some good advice there Simon.

Many thanks..