Line watching vs rod watching

When fishing panfish, do you detect bites by watching your line or watching your rod? Growing up I was taught to watch my line and have been very successful at catching fish by tightlining with hi-vis line. This year I am going to try to do more fishing with a noodle type rod to become more well rounded. What do you guys prefer and why?

Both. Like driving. Do you only pay attention to the car in front of you or do you look past and all around you?

Don’t forget to add feel in there too.

I watch my flasher until a mark gets close to my bait, then I kill my jig and focus on my rod tip. I have a TUCR Bullwhip with the Hi-Viz yellow tip, so it’s very easy to see. I use very light line for panfish. It would be a lot harder for me to see the line moving.

I’m a big believer in high VI’s line btw. You can never have too many advantages.

I do both. I do pretty much the same as Dan. Once I mark a fish I focus on the rod tip and the line. I prefer to detect bites using the rod tip cause its easier to look at than the line but sometimes the line is the only way to tell

biggill wrote:

Both. Like driving. Do you only pay attention to the car in front of you or do you look past and all around you?

Don’t forget to add feel in there too.

Great anaology. Doing just one or the other is leaving a lot out of the equation. Those flashers will miss a lot that feel doesn’t too.

Rod tip and feel for ice fishing, line and feel for pitching jigs in the summer. I like Hi-viz line, but I can’t bring myself to using it in the winter when presentations slow down. The slow and vertical nature of ice fishing allows the angler an easier opportunity to detect bites via light rod tips and sensitive rods. I have not seen very many instances where hi-viz line would be a benefit on the ice.

I’m probably 80% tip watching, 15% feel, and 5% line watching. Noodle rods with bright tips don’t hurt either.

Never tried hi vis line but maybe I need to start. Might be some skill building in store for this season.

I do like the hi-viz braid on my walleye sticks. But I always have a swivel with clear Fluro for the last 18-24 inches. I like the hi-viz especially for being able to see the line on the ice, and for tying knots. I agree with Merican about the value of line watching in the summer. I’ve caught a lot of bass that I never felt, but saw the line jump or swim away.

I use a Thorne bros power noodle with a fiskas tungsten. It takes a bit of practice, but the “up bite” is where it’s at. The tungsten holds the tip bent down a bit. When the fish picks up the jig the tip goes straight. That is the hit. When the bite is non existent or super light, the noodle keeps icing fish.

There are some bites where all you see is the line uptick just a bit, that’s when I’m line watching. Otherwise it’s just the tip for the pannies. Eyes are feel.

I just wanted to say thank you for posting something related to fish behavior or technique. Seems like 98% of the posts in the ice fishing forum are gear/tech related. Thanks for the refreshment.

With a light rod I feel you’ll see the top move before you feel it with a stiff rod you’ll feel it first

For panfish I use a low budget ultra lite rod and it bends good without the fish knowing set hook reel and repeat

I have a baitcasting reel setup so line watching is very noticeable.

Just the tip, and only for a minute.

There is a technique I learned from a fisherman I really respect. He ties a slip bobber knot on his line with out trimming the end. He them floats the line with knot a couple inches below the water surface.

You can watch the knot wings move ever so little while your crappie minnow move around. A slight deviation in pattern is a bite.

Try you will be surprised how well it works.

djshannon wrote:

There is a technique I learned from a fisherman I really respect. He ties a slip bobber knot on his line with out trimming the end. He them floats the line with knot a couple inches below the water surface.

You can watch the knot wings move ever so little while your crappie minnow move around. A slight deviation in pattern is a bite.

Try you will be surprised how well it works.

I use to do that too. A cut piece of floating foam also works well and can be better than the slip bobber strings. The setup is simply have the foam pinch your line so that it will fall off the moment it touches the rod tip. There will never be a time where those slip bobber strings gets caught or freezes on something. Just pick up your foam (strike indicator) and reset.