About 10 years ago, my dad was first showing me how to mooch for blackmouth. He told me how the bite is pretty subtle and you have to have patience and feed some line and wait for it and feed a little more line and when it feels solid, set the hook. I caught two blackmouth that day (early March) a 17 pounder and a 10 pounder and both of them almost ripped the rod out of my hands on the initial impact.