Quote Originally Posted by papadave View Post

Also, if you're fishing your weight above the bait, especially with minnows, they may just be holding on to it and not really hooked .
That makes sense. A number of the fish that I lost on minnows seemed to just be holding on to the minnows. You're right it will take a little practice to develop that "muscle memory" to remove the rod from holder without letting it dip and then snapping the hook set. I'm certainly willing t practice! One thing I did observe is it seems like you have more time to get the rod out of holder/set the hook than you might think when spider rigging. Casting with a slip bobber you usually have to be on it pretty quick, but I observed yesterday while pushing you often have several seconds to get to the fish. I would guess that might change as the water heats up and they are less aggressive.