I have seen alot of fish pick up a soft plastic worm and not get the hook in their mouth on the first try then will open their mouth again and suck it in all the way. I have also seen fish take the bait all the way in and then spit it out quickly. There is no right or wrong answer here it varies on a bite by bite basis. I think you just need to adjust to what the fish are doing that day. If you are waiting and missing on the hookset set it quicker that day. If you are setting quickly and missing wait alittle longer that day. You must be able to adjust from day to day fish act differently every day.

Only wait long enough to make sure there is a fish there. If you think fish are going to spit out soft plastics, try never setting the hook and see how long they hold on to it. You will be surprised how long most fish will actually hold on to your worm.

I wait only long enough to be sure there is no slack in my line. It drives me crazy to be in the boat with someone and hear him say, "there's a fish"...and then watch him sitting there like a bird dog on point. I'm thinking to myself "then why aren't you setting the hook?"

I'm a line watcher, and I very rarely "feel" the hit. When the line tics hit 'em.

they will spit out a soft plastic I have witnessed it many times seeing the fish actually pick it up then spit it back out. However at times they will eat them all the way down it just depends on the day and the ones you catch if you wait long enough for them to swallow it obviously are the ones that didn't spit it out or you would not have caught them.

I usually just weight to see the line swim off and move off when fishing baits like senkos, but usually Its just a semi hard to hard thump or tick with baits like senkos

reeltexan,what lake is in the pic.

depends, on whether or not they are holding the bait long. after the first few bites, you should be able to tell. If they will hold it, i wait a few seconds. if they are spitting it quick, I will try to hit them as quick as I can and hope for a good hookset.

Tap bang it's instant reflex for me.

Tap bang it's instant reflex for me.

Three more and you've got your limit.

LOL.

It depends for me on a carolina rig.If it is a tapping sometimes I"ll move the lure to get a pickup.if it is a hard hit or a walkoff bite it"s immediate hammer time.Texas rig I"ll be ripping lips off.

have you ever tried to shake a fish off of a plastic whille prefishing? ive had them hold onto it for 15+ seconds and not spit it even though im pulling on them until thier head comes out of the water. but i like to wait for the weight just to make sure they arent nipping at it.

The question was directed at finesse fishing, but I fish this way finesse or anything that I am pitching. (trig, jig, shaky)

I feel the hit, lower the tip while reeling the slack and rare back on the rod. the "pause" is about a half second and is just the time it takes to position the hookset. Any more time and your giving the fish the advantage of spitting it out or you will deep hook it.

I would never pause "a few seconds" that is a long time. Anything more than 1 second is too much and should literally be just you positioning yourself for the proper hookset.

I can't claim to wait "seconds". Everytime I really think about how long I'm waiting on something fishing I'm suprised at how long a second takes.

When I say I wait, it's a few moments, not anything like 5 seconds.