Hooked 0403_Hooked 0403- - Hooked Magazine
Hooked 0403_Hooked 0403- - Hooked Magazine
Hooked 0403_Hooked 0403- - Hooked Magazine
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One of the most overused terms<br />
in fishing today is “reaction<br />
strike.” It seems like every time<br />
you turn around, someone else is<br />
talking about a scenario where a fish<br />
has been magically stimulated to bite.<br />
The truth, of course, is that fish strike<br />
baits for one primary reason—to eat. As<br />
anglers, we’re in the persuasion business—<br />
doing things with presentation that allure<br />
fish to bite when they otherwise wouldn’t.<br />
It’s actually a pretty apt description for the<br />
role of a lively baitfish.<br />
I can make an awfully convincing case<br />
for the supreme reaction strike triggering<br />
power of a live minnow, such as a meaty<br />
golden shiner or a creek chub, for any fish<br />
species, including bass and trout. But for<br />
now, I’ve mainly got walleyes on the<br />
brain—a fish that’s so fond of eating live<br />
minnows that you sometimes wonder why<br />
anglers neglect to use them throughout the<br />
openwater season. We’re talking about a<br />
critter so delectable that it actually fishes<br />
itself. Get one swimming and darting in<br />
front of a big marble eyed titan and let the<br />
minnow take over from there.<br />
Live minnows exhibit two critical characteristics<br />
that make them totally inimitable<br />
among other baits or lures: organic<br />
random movement and instinctive flight<br />
response. In the presence of predators,<br />
live baitfish use a set of natural, random<br />
escape maneuvers. These moves represent<br />
the most effective strike triggers in existence.<br />
Often, walleyes (and other species)<br />
simply will not ingest a bait until they’ve<br />
examined it for extended periods. Without<br />
all the little shakes, twitches and retreat<br />
signals performed by a living and breathing<br />
baitfish, you simply will not get bit.<br />
Which brings us back to the currently<br />
hallowed “reaction strike.” Assume for a<br />
moment that a true reaction strike is one<br />
that occurs only because a fish has been<br />
stimulated or just plain provoked to swallow<br />
something it wouldn’t otherwise bite.<br />
You can do this at times with a<br />
crankbait—adding jolts of speed while<br />
trolling or when a Rapala crankbait caroms<br />
off a rock or stump. You can use other<br />
lures to entice strikes, too—jigging spoons<br />
>TONY ROACH<br />
PRO POINTERS<br />
The Ultimate<br />
Reaction Strike<br />
Meat is murder… on tape-measure, ‘get the camera’ walleyes. The author wiped the smile off this fish’s face with a gigantic live chub. Photo courtesy of www.lundboats.com<br />
Jumbo minnows plus precision boat control equals the ultimate<br />
reaction strike. Author Tony Roach keeps his minnows well-oxygenated<br />
and accessible in the roomy and whisper quiet, 6-gallon<br />
Frabill Aqua-Life® Bait Station. Photo courtesy of www.frabill.com<br />
Summer 2011 | HOOKED | 33
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