Does the figure-8 really work, and what is the mechanism?
It works, and boat-side conversions are a documented, meaningful share of muskie catches — guides on pressured water put it at a quarter or more of their fish. Two mechanisms fire at once: a sudden change of direction and speed reads as prey that has detected the predator and is bolting, converting a leisurely evaluation into a now-or-never chase decision; and the turns keep the bait in the strike zone for extra seconds instead of ending the presentation at the boat. Make the turns wide and deep — a 110–120 cm (43–47 in) fish cannot pivot inside a tight loop — bury the rod tip half a meter (2 ft) down, and accelerate on the straights.
The full story
This answer is one piece of a longer lesson — setups, diagrams and the reasoning behind it.
More questions about Vision
Same topic, other species
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