What am I doing wrong? Too many missed bites.

This was actually my first time fishing for panfish. I usually only fish for whitefish and walleyes but I went last week and for every 1 fish I caught, I would miss about 5 plus. I put on a spring bobber to help me and saw it bend and would kind of feel the bites, but every time I tried to set the hook, there would be nothing on the other end. It got to my head at one point and I was setting the hook on imaginary fish. Going back out later this week after this nasty weather goes through and the wait is killing me lol.