Crankbait bite

[Skeeter ZX190]

I took a friend fishing a while back and we were mainly using rock crawlers and wigglewarts.  He was new to fishing.  He was setting the hook mistaking rocks for bites.  How would you describe what a bite feels like when fishing that type of bait?  My hands just know it, but I can't really describe it.

[SplitG2]

Rooting the rocks feels like rocks. The bite feels like mush.  Mainly because the tension you feel on the retrieve is lessened as the fish takes the bait and swimming toward you.  Tell him to only set the hook when the line seems to go "slack". And then it's really just loading the rod. Not a violent hook set. 

[dtrs5kprs]

Make sure he has some crazy sharp hooks, and a soft enough rod to let the fish load up. Should feel kind of a dead weight, maybe a head shake or pull if it turns with the bait.

[abkeenan]

When the rocks start pulling back, you've got one. But seriously only time on the water will really get someone keyed in on what is a bite vs crashing into cover/rocks. I remember the first time I went "bass fishing" with my grandpa who threw nothing but Texas rigged  worms and grubs. It was quite the learning curve on what was a bite vs hitting rocks on the bottom.

[Quillback]

It's a hard one to describe, even now when I'm grinding the bills off cranks on rocks, sometimes I'll get a bite and I'll ask myself "is that a bite?", and my mind will scream back "YEAH IT"S A BITE, SET THE HOOK!".  Fortunately, as mentioned above, if you have a relatively soft tipped rod, it's a bit forgiving and gives the slow folks such as myself a chance to catch that fish. 

I always like it when they knock slack in the line, you are cranking away and it feels like someone cut your line - weightless - seems those bites are usually good fish too.

[Royal Blue]

I always describe it as feeling like you've hooked a big leaf.  The action disappears.  Having said that, I set the hook on rocks quite a bit too!

[Sore Thumbs]

This is where having a flimsy rod comes in handy. He won't have to set the hook. They bite the bait and the rod does the work. I would let him use the WW instead of the RK. The WW doesn't get hung up near as much. The RK digs harder causing more hang ups. Til he gets the hang of how it feels then he will know when he hits a rock to let line go slack long enough for bait to come loose then start reeling again. 

[Champ188]

I would want him fishing with whatever got him the most bites. The more bites he gets and fish he catches, the sooner he'll learn what a bite feels like. A good hound dog-style retriever will get your bait back nearly every time as long as he stops pulling on it the minute he realizes it's hung.

I second the motion of having him use a soft-action rod, as should everyone when throwing crank baits. A Wart or Rock Crawler works wonderfully on a 7-0 medium power, fast action rod. You have SOME feel so you have an idea what's going on with your lure but the rod isn't so stiff that you yank the bait away from a fish when it bites. My suggestion is once you realize you're reeling on a fish, give the rod a couple of medium force sideways pulls to bury the hooks and then play the fish like you would on any other lure.