Why does my line go slack instead of thumping when a crappie bites?
Because the fish attacked from below and kept rising. A crappie tips up, sips the jig, and continues upward with it — which lifts the weight off your line. The float pops higher or lies flat instead of plunging; the tight-lined jig suddenly feels weightless; a counted fall stops a count early. This "up-bite" is the signature crappie strike, and the anglers who catch the most fish are the ones who set the hook at anything different — slack, sideways drift, a hair of extra weight — instead of waiting for a pull that is never coming.
The full story
This answer is one piece of a longer lesson — setups, diagrams and the reasoning behind it.
More questions about How it strikes
- Why a sweep set instead of a bass-style hookset?
- Why do I keep missing fish when I lift the jig?
- Why does a slow-falling jig out-fish a fast one?
- When should I fish a float, and when tight-line?
- What does a crappie do once hooked, and why do so many come off near the boat?
- If a crappie misses my jig, will it come back — and do they ever hit at the surface or under the hole?
Same topic, other species
- Why do largemouth sometimes just "hold" the bait instead of running with it? — Largemouth Bass
- How do I convert follows into strikes? — Muskellunge (Muskie)
- I feel tap-tap-tap and miss every time. What am I doing wrong? — Yellow Perch
- What is the S-strike, and why should it change how I retrieve? — Northern Pike
- Why do smallmouth slash at my moving bait and miss? — Smallmouth Bass
- What is the difference between a sipping rise and a slashing rise? — Trout (Rainbow · Brook · Lake)
- What does a walleye bite actually feel like? — Walleye