Bobber fishing is useful for catching fish at various depths in the water column. This will be your first time bobber fishing, and while you’re excited to try, you’re also curious about how to determine how you’ll know when there’s a bite on your line. What are the signs?
To detect bites when bobber fishing, look no further than the bobber itself. It acts as a gauge to indicate if a fish has fallen for your bait, as does your fishing line. You may feel a pull on your line as well or notice that the surface brush is being actively disturbed.
This guide will explain how your bobber will become your second sense when gauging bites. We’ll also share some other tips for determining whether you might have a fish on your hook, so be sure to check it out!
How to Use Your Bobber to Detect Bites
Bobbers come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and styles. There’s the long and lean stick or cigar bobber, the floating bobber, the cylindrical bubble bobber, and the dense dink bobber.
Although each bobber functions differently from one another, they serve one common purpose. You can rely on the bobber to indicate whether a fish might have latched onto your hook.
All you have to do is watch the fishing line and your bobber in kind. If both move, even subtly, then it’s probably time to begin reeling it in.
Of course, the types of bites that you receive on your line are not always going to be the same. This is true whether bobber fishing, fly fishing, or surf fishing. Let’s discuss what kinds of bites you might encounter and how your bobber can be your gauge.
Slack Line
This scenario is like the one we described in the paragraphs above. You don’t feel the fish on your line per se, but if you know what to look for, you can see something happening.
Of course, this will require prior knowledge of the state of your fishing line and ideally your bobber too when a fish is pulling on them.
This knowledge will allow you to determine when the slackline is becoming less slack. If you have a floating bobber, it too will move in conjunction with the line.
That’s an added benefit considering it can be hard to track a fishing line’s movement alone when it’s on the surface of the water, especially when that water surface itself is moving. The bobber is additional visual confirmation.
Fast Reactions
In some instances, you get lucky and have a bite on your line right as you cast it.
Well, this can be lucky or unlucky depending on how fast you react. You have to assume that any time you cast your line, a bite could follow, and be ready to respond accordingly.
Having experience with quick bites will better prepare you for what they feel like. Even when using traditional lures, anglers say that these types of reactionary bites are hard to pinpoint. They just feel different compared to how your line usually is.
Bobber fishing doesn’t have an additional benefit in tracking these fast reactions, as they happen too quickly for you to notice changes in the bobber’s movement.
Rod Sensations
In some instances, it’s not so much your fishing line and your bobber that you should be paying attention to when you think you have a bite, but your fishing rod. Nearer the bottom of your rod, you might begin to feel vibrations.
The vibrations will travel up the fishing rod to the tip. Then your fishing line and bobber might react in kind, giving you further verification that yes, something is biting on the hook!
Heavy Bites
A heavy bite might seem like a big fish is on the horizon, but that’s not necessarily the case.
It’s usually that you’re encountering a fish at a sideways angle or that the fish is approaching your bobber from a side opposite of what you were expecting.
In most cases, a heavy bite will feel quite tense, and your bobber might begin to sink (provided it was floating in the first place).
Other Signs That You’re Getting a Bite on Your Line
If the above indications that you’re getting a bite when bobber fishing isn’t enough, there are a few more signs you can add to your arsenal to be sure. Feel free to use these techniques in addition to the ones above so you can detect bites with more accuracy.
Visible Cover Movement
If your bobber sinks and your fishing line becomes invisible once it hits the water, you might wonder how on earth you’re going to confirm that yes, you do indeed have a fish on the line.
Well, if you’re near any cover, you can look at that as a sign that what you felt on the line wasn’t in your head. The cover, if visible enough, will move if the fish is near it.
However, this will require you to fine-tune your understanding of what the cover usually looks like when it’s simply bobbing in the water. Remember, the faster or more active the current, the more the cover such as brush or vegetation will move and float.
It’s for that reason that we’d recommend using cover movement as an option more in still waters.
Feeling Water Changes with Your Finger
Here’s a technique that’s common for professional anglers. You might have even seen a YouTube video or fishing special where the angler did this. They lean over their boats and gently graze a finger in the water.
Maybe it’s only one finger or perhaps it’s two, but they put their fingers in the water near the surface, suspend them there, and then wait.
You might wonder what these pro anglers are doing, and we’re here to tell you. They’re tracking fish activity!
Yes, that’s right, some of the top anglers can detect if a fish is going to bite by sensing the movement just under the water’s surface.
If this is something you want to learn to do too, the key is to keep your hand still once your fingers are in the water. Use your digits to feel out the situation under the surface.
As soon as you feel like you have a good reading on what the fish is doing, swiftly but quietly pull your hand out and grab your reel. You could have a fish to pull in momentarily!
That Gut Feeling
For bobber fishing and other forms of fishing, anglers with time will develop senses that help them almost predict when a fish is biting. Think of these like the Spidey Senses that Spider-Man has.
Of course, Spider-Man is a fictional comic book character with superpowers whereas what these anglers have is real. It’s not a gift except for maybe some anglers. For many of them, they work at it.
The more bobber fishing experience you have, or the more fishing experience in general, the more attuned you’ll feel to your gut.
Your intuition isn’t magic. You’re using your knowledge on brush cover as well as what the water and the fish in this lake or river are like and then making assumptions based on that information.
It’s more of an educated guess rather than blindly guessing. You won’t have a 100 percent accuracy rate, but eventually, you’ll find that your gut steers you right more often than it does wrong!
Is It Harder to Feel a Bite on a Bobber Compared to Other Lures and Baits?
Many bobbers are made of materials such as plastic or foam. These aren’t the most sensitive of materials, especially compared to fishing with live bait. In that situation, there’s very little between the fishing hook and your line.
Are you going to have a more difficult time sensing a nibble on a bobber? Not if you know what to look out for, you won’t.
When a fish bites on a plastic lure such as a bobber or a jig, you might feel what seems like a tap. In some cases, especially with harder plastics, it’s a firm thump. These are both signs that the fish is nearing your line.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make when bobber fishing is reeling in your line too quickly because you assume you have a bite. The quick action will scare away any fish that might have been in the vicinity.
We recommend waiting it out for a few moments. You might even try closing your eyes to fine-tune your other senses. Some anglers swear by this technique!
Final Thoughts
Detecting a bite on your line when bobber fishing entails watching the line itself as well as your bobber as it floats on the water. If the ground cover moves as well, then you more than likely have a bite and should begin reeling in.
It’s okay if you struggle at first with gauging when a fish is biting. Be patient with yourself and give it time. This is one of those areas where practice truly does make perfect, as your increased experience will give you a better internal gauge as to when the fish are active!