Fishing Lines 1: A Critical Link in Getting Fish to Bite.

[Music] hey folks Paul Roberts here back again with another video I know it's been a few weeks so I'm spending the majority of my time into the documentary filming I've collected a bunch of really awesome footage for my next documentary which is on the development of a largemouth bass essentially from egg to super predator I've also been collecting footage to add to the spawn documentary you've probably seen I put up pretty much as a trial balloon so my videos are not going to be coming out on a daily basis I'd like to shoot for a weekly basis but that's tough to do I've got a lot on my plate inside and outside of my video production efforts and I'm aiming for quality over quantity in this channel so I hope that works for all of us okay up next here I want to talk about something important something really important and that is fishing line it spins it's something that I've been wanting to get to for some time now for quite a while now I can scarcely talk about fishing and presentation stuff without first covering fishing line it's that important now this subject could cover some serious Real Estate's so what I want to do in this video is focus on how line contributes to what I consider the most challenging and interesting part of our fishing presentation that is getting fish to bite oh ho you taste it it was fun oh yeah that's a good fish i long ago came to the conclusion that fishing line is the most important piece of tackle we own in terms of presentation before I do a video or videos on presentation which I'm dying to do I need to address fishing line because it really is critical to actually inseparable from effective presentations some could argue that lures or hooks or rods are the critical piece and it's true all are important but the fact is that awesome lure we've been dying to try not to mention that awesome top of the line rod we save for our destined to be chained to a long leash line is an inseparable part of the lure like it or not they come together we're not presenting a lure but a lure inline combination and it's here in the line that a good chunk of our presentation challenges actually lie between that awesome rod and that awesome lure lies a truly formidable barrier to inciting fish to bite water water is a thick viscous even gelatinous substance that our lines must negotiate i've long argued that the greatest breakthrough in angling will come when we can do away with that pesky line altogether that long string of molecules that lies between us and that lure if you've got any ideas I'm all ears whatever it is it'll roughly revolutionize angling in the meantime let's look at this most critical link in the chain between us and and those fish contrary to and what a lot of people seem to believe how our line affects our presentations has little to do with how well fish can see fishing lines research has shown that bass can physically see lines of all diameters when trained by a food reward to do so assuredly untrained bass can see lines too they just don't know what lines represent it's an out of mind out of sight sort of thing yeah fish can perceive our lines and may be put off or even spooked by them but it's not because it's a fishing line okay there are plenty of line shaped objects out there in the wild instead the issue lies in whether our lure is perceived as we would hope as food okay or even what we often must settle for and that's a prey sized object that moves in a tantalizing manner close enough to a fish that's in an appropriate mood okay this last sentence actually says quite a lot things we've actually been exploring and will continue to explore in greater depth in in this nature of fishing channel presentation is about trying to fool fish into thinking our lure as a food item seems simple enough and fish want to eat so what's the problem the problem is the fish brain has a lot to say in this matter and that pea-sized brain that people like to describe fish brains as is really quite a bit more sophisticated than many of us probably realize a fish brain its central processing center deciphers incoming sensory stimuli and either gives a fish that go-ahead to strike or cautions it to slam on the brakes what fish perceive and identify as food is a much larger subject and that's one will address in my future documentary couple down the road here on hunting and feeding behavior of adult bass for our purposes here I'll say this that fish exhibit two primary most basic responses to outside stimuli let's say a splash or a movement nearby one response is a positive investigative one the flip side is a negative or inhibitory one every angler figures this out for themselves with experience over time essentially everybody coins this same phrase spoo command the games over you know all our expensive high-tech gear instantly becomes moot at that point talk about spitting into the wind what many anglers may not realize is how deeply wired and easily trip to the negative inhibitory side of this equation is compared with that positive investigative one there are more reasons to say no than go when it comes to chasing prey for one thing chasing prey is enormous ly costly energetically speaking um and the attentional focus and physical motion required in the pursuit of prey puts that predator at risk of drawing the attention of even larger predators to itself so pursuing prey has a dangerous flipside exposing the hunter to being hunted itself then this is an age-old problem it's why it's so deeply wired it works this way unidentified objects especially those deemed large enough to be potentially dangerous trigger that deeply wired negative response there are sections of the brain that are actually dedicated to the perception in subsequent response to what are called looming objects objects that might potentially eat you that response has become over time an automatic one especially in robustly wired in bolt first and ask ask questions later type of response delay and you're not likely to pass on your genes the result for our purposes here is that fish have two main responses to an object in close proximity in their environment is it something to eat or is it something that might eat me both our default expectations both being so critically important to survival okay we're two fishing lines enter in fishing lines become significant to fish when they trigger that negative response in the positive response the one that suggests to the fish that the lure is indeed food the line isn't even in the picture again out of mind out of sight they don't know what line is or associate it with that apparent prey item however the thicker the line is the greater its diameter the larger the object you're putting in the water near your fish that line landing on the water during the cast cutting and moving water as you retrieve even merely twitching that line when you bring it under tension for strike detection or to start your retrieve can make fish suddenly aware that there is an large unidentified object in the immediate area their response is very along an axis like so many things biological and these are tied to who's doing the viewing the type of fish and the conditions and circumstances present at that moment conditions and circumstances scene C is something that's going to be a broken record on this channel they make or break the fishes day and therefore your day different fish species respond in different ways depending on their sensory strengths catfish carp and other minnows are highly auditory and years ago I came to believe that carp could hear a line what I called sing in the water they alarming two line movements beyond their sight line cutting the water sent something that they could pick up and really spoke them from a distance bass are primarily visual responders and I've never seen them appear to respond to a line singing in the same way although a loud sound nearby can certainly alarm them sky and water conditions play a big role in how fish respond accordingly under bright sunny skies and clear calm water surface conditions of high visibility for the fish and for their predators those fish are often on the very edge of high alert under such conditions an assumption of danger becomes the default response to any almost any nearby disturbance but on the flip side under darker reduced visibility conditions the same stimulus is more apt to elicit the investigative response it's it's one of the reasons bass and many other predators are crepuscular or low-light hunters on the heaven manages they're actually in fact under dark reduced visibility conditions I've found that bass are apt to rush over to investigate the lures splashdown instead of spooking they may strike a lure right at splashdown even chase the lure as its you know flying through the air on the cast and that's one of the reasons it's the primary reason why the old advice of when you're fishing a topwater lure is to cast out when it lands weight and they say let the ring subside well you can weight different months of time but what's happening is that splash can be attractive and it takes a little bit time for a fish to get there depending on the conditions to contrast that under bright high visibility conditions the very same water body even the lure flying through the air the lime flashing in the Sun and the lure or even the line landing on the water can turn those fish inside out the result on such high visibility days is that each cast can be a fish spooker the the action of the casting and retrieving can put every fish down between me and splashdown this is one of the main reasons behind why experienced anglers often suggest and under bright Bluebird conditions we fish heavy cover or we fish deeper or we go to and often along with fishing deep or fish finesse tackle with small lures and light lines we're trying to minimize the the spooking that that happens under those conditions this also explains the fly fishers nemesis the trout fly fishers in particular but but blue gills - believe it or not and it's called drag when the leader puts tension often even very slight tension on the fly especially noticeable on the surface which causes the fish to reject even the most carefully chosen fly most fly fishers unable to put a finger on exactly why we'll say well drag makes the fly look unnatural what that unnatural look is and why it will either cause a rejection put the fish down make them sulk or scare them outright is because they suddenly have become aware that something unexpectedly much larger is looming in close proximity and and that's the line it could even be three inches of leader on very flat water in and high visibility conditions in the case of that the carefully chosen fly meant to mimic exactly what the trout have been eating the lure in line suddenly meld together and appear to be too large an object the fish then rejects the lure as not food and may even just bolt for cover a fish previous experience with predators and anglers plays a role in how a given fish will respond to your attempts at feeding them a fish recently spooked is more likely to react negatively and fish with experience with angling in general are known to be more discerning the naive fish lastly some individual fish are inherently in fact genetically it's been found more susceptible to being alarmed than our other individuals some are bolder some are shyer it's an it's a called up a personality trait the take-home here is that a major problem with using too coarse or too thick a line is that that length of line can more easily register with the fish it could either be sensed separate from or as part of the lure either way the fish becomes aware of an unidentified large object that's just too close for comfort and they respond accordingly a line immersed in water again a thick gelatinous substance is acted upon across its entire length the important factor here is the total surface area exposed that that gelatin the thicker the line and the more of the line you have out the more surface area of line is affected by the water these effects counteract the weight buoyancy in action of the lure again we're talking depth and speed control and lure action not to mention the effects hook setting and fish fighting effectiveness you should realize though that lines being sold in in terms of brake strength can lead you astray because line brake ratings are marketing categories essentially and may not match the line diameters across different line formulas in the next video on choosing fishing lines we'll look into this in some depth it's a very important thing to be aware of I buy my lines based on diameter not brake strength okay let's get a little specific here and talk about matching a line diameter to to our lures although all lures are affected in similar ways we're going to use a jig in our illustrations here jigs consists of a simple weight and buoyant body that well illustrate the basic effects of line on our presentations because of this they also may be the single best way to learn those fundamental controls in lure presentation depth speed and lure manipulation for for triggering if you don't fish jigs yacht - first we need to match the line diameter to the lure the active factors here are the lures density its weight and its buoyancy or resistance to the water these counteract the negative effects water has on the line so as an example say a buddy's just been killing them on an eighth ounce jig and you can't get a bite the first question that should go right along with the what lure question and what do you use and is what diameter line he's using match his and you are in the ballpark or or at least in the ball game suddenly achieving the same potential to match his depth and speed it's a darn good start it's a huge start he may just be fishing a foot deeper or shallower a tad faster or slower achieving better action or detecting takes better than you were and and line can account for a huge chunk of this often it's thinner line diameters that offer a few more advantages thinner lines more easily slice the water column giving us more direct control more precision in manipulating the lures action and in detecting takes the action is at the lure both manipulations by you and bites from the fish are more directly telegraphed to your rod simply because thinner lines cut through water better however one can achieve similar depth and speed by matching the lure weight to the line diameter you're using I found over time that that I could achieve similar depth and speed with say either a 1/16 ounce jig four pound line or with a going up to a 3/32 outs jig one amusing six pound line the same depth and speed are also likely to be achieved with a 1/8 ounce jig if your spooled up with 8 pound line catch results are likely to be favorable with all three set ups although as you go up in line diameter the other factors we listed earlier can rear up and possibly begin chipping away at your at your bite rate of course you don't want to go to to light a line for a given lure weight I often find and retrieve lures I find hung in trees that have to light a line hanging off of them you want to have a chance at retrieving hung lures and many an angler has snapped off a lure on the cast if that happens to you go up in line diameter for that lower size lastly match your line diameter or break strength with your hook specifically the hooks wire diameter if you find you're not getting the hooks into your fish or fish are coming on pin prematurely make sure your line and hook wire thickness are well matched and check your hook point regularly and carry a hook own for reference I'll offer this table here for matching lines with common hook gap sizes I'm using standard wire that's a standard wire hook hooks also come in light and heavy wire gauges for each gap size so you'll want to adjust accordingly okay that's some of the background behind why fishing lines can be so critical in getting fish to bite or not our next tackle know-how piece will break down the major types of fishing lines the properties manufacturers can build into their different line formulas and then we'll look at the marketing speak that manufacturers use to describe their offerings and at the same time catch your attention a great line doesn't do any of us any good if we don't ever hear about it alright get out there and get some fishing in and out of the kitchen [Music]

Channel: The Nature of Fishing

Views: 174,390

Rating: 4.8360491 out of 5

Keywords: bass fishing, largemouth, fishing line, line, fishing, dry fly, drag, fly fishing, flyfishing, selective trout, selective fish, underwater, biology, bass biology, fish biology, conditions, jig, jigging, bass, bass jig

Id: kGuD_7knC1w

Length: 20min 40sec (1240 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 03 2018