Interesting figure 8
When a fish follows the lure until the last moment without attacking, the mistake not to make is to stop animating and reduce the lure's retrieve speed. On the contrary, you need to accelerate the lure's speed, but since you've brought back all the line and can no longer use the reel, you need to use the rod, and that's when the figure-8 technique comes into play!
The advantage of this practice is that it allows the lure to move quickly in another direction, which often triggers a reflex in the predator and/or positions the lure appropriately for it to attack.
A good habit to get into is not only to perform a figure-8 when you see a fish following, but to do it often (not to say systematically). In fact, it often happens that the pike follows the lure from underneath, without you being able to distinguish it.
Execution
To make this 8 with the lure, in fact, you need to draw it with the rod tip below the surface of the water, so the lure will simply follow the same direction.
It's important to keep the exit line short, around 30 to 40 centimetres, so that the movement of the tip is directly followed by the lure. The 8 drawn should have a good amplitude.
Stretch your arm forward and bring your elbow diagonally towards your body, then stretch your arm forward again and bring your elbow diagonally towards yourself, but this time in the opposite direction. In this way, you draw the desired figure 8, which you can reproduce several times.
Decoys
This animation is not possible with all lures. You need a lure that offers no resistance, so bibbed lures, for example, are not suitable for this technique. Spinner-baits, glide-baits, hard and soft swimbaits are the most suitable lures for this manoeuvre, as they follow the rod tip without diving.
Shoeing
As the strike is sudden and can occur on sight, you must not strike in a hurry. You have to wait until you feel the fish at the end of the line and strike in the opposite direction to the one in which the fish is heading, which is not easy because everything happens in a fraction of a second.
This technique is effective on muskellunge, pike and even black bass, particularly in Japan, where it is widely used!