A Missed Hit

Subsurface

A fish may hit your lure with its mouth closed and to taste with the taste buds on the outside of its lip. This gives you a good reason to coat your bait with scent. Choose the correct scent for muskie or pike. Another possible reason for a missed hit is simply that, a missed hit. In both of these cases, it is best to stop your lure dead directly after the contact for a second. This gives your bait the look as if it were stunned. Usually the muskie will come back and hit in this waiting period. If the muskie still doesn't hit during the rest of your retrieve cast one or maybe two more times. If there is no sign of the fish and it is during the night, change your lure to a bright, slow moving, loud and well-scented lure such as a large rattling Rapala minnow (retrieve with constant and slow retrieve). If the missed hit is during the light hours of the day, change your lure to a large rubber lure, such as the Banjo Minnow. If you have two rods, one should always be rigged up with a lure that you would use to follow up a missed hit.

 

Surface

If a fish misses your surface lure, a possible reason is that the fish hit it with its mouth closed and to taste with the taste buds on the outside of its lip. This gives you a good reason to coat your bait with scent. Choose the correct scent for muskie or pike. The most likely reason for a missed hit is simply that, a missed hit. In both of these cases, it is best to stop your lure dead directly after the contact. This gives your bait the look as if it were stunned. Usually the muskie will come back and hit in this waiting period. If the fish doesn't return after five seconds or so, give it a slight twitch. If the muskie still doesn't return, cast one or maybe two more times. If there is no sign of the muskie and it is during the night, change your lure to a bright, slow moving, loud and well-scented lure such as a large rattling Rapala minnow, bucktail, or spinnerbait (retrieve with constant and slow retrieve). If the missed hit is during the day, change your lure to soft plastic baits that are well scented and realistic looking such as a Banjo Minnow.

 

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