How to work a plug

[JohnnySaxatilis]

What should you do to entice the second strike the fish is delivering to your plug?

often times i'll get a wack, a boil, and continue my retrieve in hopes of the fish coming back but thinking about it probably less than half do. Ive always been told to just keep doing what your doing, wait for the weight of the fish, then set the hook. Should you stop the plug to imitate a stunned fish and just wait for the second attack? twitch the bait to imitate panic? it probably depends on the plug, but missing fish pisses me off

[fishbones]

Originally Posted by JohnnySaxatilis

What should you do to entice the second strike the fish is delivering to your plug?

often times i'll get a wack, a boil, and continue my retrieve in hopes of the fish coming back but thinking about it probably less than half do. Ive always been told to just keep doing what your doing, wait for the weight of the fish, then set the hook. Should you stop the plug to imitate a stunned fish and just wait for the second attack? twitch the bait to imitate panic? it probably depends on the plug, but missing fish pisses me off

If a fish whacks a topwater plug with it's tail, I'll let the plug sit for a bit before re-starting the retrieve. I can't count how many fish I've caught by doing this. I was told a long time ago that bass will slap the bait with their tail to stun it and then come back to swallow it. This seems to be the case in my limited experience.

Sometimes with swimming plugs, I'll just jerk the plug a bit or speed up the retrieve for a couple of cranks if a fish short-hits it. I've also just let the plug sit for a few seconds with swimmers, but it seems like they get more agressive if the "bait" tries to flee after being hit.