bite id?????

hello all. Im wondering if anyone could help me out...... 2 of us were fishing a wexford beach last night.We didnt land any fish.We were fishing mainly pulley rigs with crab and mac baits. On at least 5 occasions, 4 on crab and 1 on mac, we both witnessed the rods bending to a good strong take, not just a pull or a gentle knock, but a proper bang, then....................nothing. We reeled into the bites immediately at the start only to find no fish or bait left on the rigs and then i tried leaving the rod alone after the initial take...just in case the fish would come back for a second look but after another 10 mins there was still nothing.Nothing worked!!! We have all missed bites but this was strange not to have at least one hook up on the exact same rigs whick we have caught on before and baits that were presented properly and tied on pretty well also. My buddy mentioned something about spider crabs stripping the baits but at 7.30am after blanking for the night I wasnt convinced.Has anyone encountered this type of action around Wexford or is it just "one of those things" Any advice would be greatly appreciated to put my poor sleep deprived brain at rest lol
Cheers

Ive heard of spider crabs stripping bait before and there are some big ones out there!! Could have been a Smoothy I think!!

bass also do this one bang and gone .when fish are biting like this i would suggest holding your rod .iv seen big smoothies take rod and reels out to sea just while guys are taking a leak

Could have been a crab knocking but generally it's said that if there are crab stripping bait/being caught, the fish are gone and the crab are feeding in relative safety.

Most likely smoothies running with your bait. Did you have your reel in free spool?? They might have felt the resisitance & dropped after the initial run. Also, what size hooks were you using??

Sounds like classic smoothie bites alright. Plenty caught down that way over the weekend, some taken on mackeral too.

We were trying for smoothies alright.Hooks up to 3o were used and the reels were set with very little resistance....thought we might hook into at least one of them though.It just seemed a bit strange....ah well there's always next time
Thanks all for your opinions.

As the lads say, most likely smoothies.

Whilst terminal tackle is a very divided affair regarding what works for some and not for others, when fishing for bass or smoothies I would tend to fish a pennel rig, in my case this seems to help my hook up rate.

sounds like either smoothhounds or bass, use loads of elastic crabs can mask the point.

ive fished for smoothies quite a bit this summer and to be fair it was my first time fishing for them,i found once they went for it they were on. on 3 ocassions i was over at a mates rod when mine went and when i got over to it he was already polaxed on it nearly every hound bite there was a fish to show for it,the bass on the other hand have gave me the trouble you talk about and it can get frustrating

sounds like your hook point was masked by the bait? common enough with big crab baits? It does sound like a smoothie, try slightly smaller baits making sure the hookpoint is completly visible and hooks are sharp.
Have the drag set so that the fish can take line but not so light that there is hardly and resistance, the resistance helps set the hook. Also, grip leads can help with it. Either way, hope this helps, good luck!

cheers lads.
Giving it another go tomorrow night........................hopefully better luck this time