Hi, I'm new to the board and this one seems the best of the ones that are out there by far. Here's my question:

I fish at night almost exclusivly and am tired of losing fish that I know are very big. The areas I'm fishin in are all rocks and heavy structure. I've done my homework and have looked into different lines and setups. Right now I use 50 pound power pro with 100 lb hard mono leader. The reel I have is a 7500ss. What do you use to land the big girls in the rocks? or should I just learn to deal with losing a whole lot of fish to saw-offs? The only solution I have is to goto a conventional reel and use something like a 50 foot hard mono leader instead of the 4 foot one I use now. Any help would be appreciated...

Try read one of Joe Lyons' article on Iron Mike. Read it until you find the part where Iron Mike tells Joe how to fight a big fish.

Something I will do is let the bass tire out till its near exhaustion.. Lets say I set the hook, I'll let it take out some line, then just hold it there for a while and let it stuggle and struggle... When I feel that it's tired out I begin reeling it in.... this way its not trashing around in the shallow rocks. I still lose some, but I believe the more tired the bass is, the less its going to try to wrap around the rocks.

I agree with Eben. Good to see some more people from Western MA on the board. Did you fish the river in the Spring this year? I lost a few to the rocks down there this year. But what a run!!

Yea I fished almost every night in the month of May in the Holyoke area near the dam in the CT river. I didnt fish the Enfield Dam at all but probably should have because there were two 50 pounders caught there this year. Next yeat I'll be spendin a lot of time there. Its hard to beat the Ct river in the spring

Yeah, I was down there like every morning before work this MAY. There was only a few of us at that spot you mentioned. I must have seen you down there. I caught some lunkers there in the Spring.

Might help to switch to Fluorocarbon leader.

Fluoro is more abrasion-resistant than straight mono.

-WW

CT was much better than MA this year on the river! that stupid bladder system on the holyoke dam has screwed it all up. :af:

I agree, CT was better from what I heard, and always seems to be better. It seems like the real big ones dont like to go much further than the rapids above enfield. When you could use herring legally it was fairly common to get 40+ pounders in that area if you had a jet drive. MA on the other hand just doesnt seem to have as many fish that are big like that.

the big ones do get up to ma. i have taken several 40#+ by the holyoke dam from shore, and a friend of mine took a 51# last year. they come up, but most guys here don't have a clue how to pick the big girls out! CT is a bit harder to learn spots in. there is much more water to cover, as they are not all coralled at the dam like in holyoke. once you learn CT, however, it is more productive. it took me about three seasons to truly learn the CT waters from shore, but i am always learning something new. like the spot i found this past spring that was LOADED with bass. every cast resulted in fish over 30".:D

Rocky areas call for you to break out the elephant gun. My rocky area set-up is a 10-5' Lami S-glass, trimmed a foot from the tip, a Calcutta 700 TE with 80# Power Pro and a 100# mono leader.

Rocky areas aren't noted for clear water----you have a lot of foam from waves breaking over the rocks, lots of kelp and loose vegetation, so you can go heavy on the line and leader without sacrificing hook-ups.

Rod length--if you have a longer rod and use it to try to keep your line clear of the rocks out where the fish is, that helps. Some of the locals who fish Squibnocket regularly bring their 13' rods out there. Elevation helps---in a place like Watch Hill where you're standing elevated, 9' rods do fine. If you're standing knee-deep, a longer rod works. You could also try wading out a bit and climbing onto a relatively flat rock, like many guys do at Montauk. Bring Korkers ;)

One other little trick---old timers, especially those at the Canal, swear you can get a bass to change direction away from trouble by either giving the rod butt a couple of whacks or twanging the line like a git-tar string. They claim the vibrations make the bass change direction to get away from it. I'm not vouvhing for its effectiveness, but it wouldn't hurt to try.

I guess I have to go a little heavier for my setup. The 50# power pro snaps when it rubs against a rock under tension. Thanks for the advice.

When fighting the fish don't lower the rod tip very much. If you fight the fish around rocks like they do on the ESPN fish shows, every time reel down before pumping up that fish is getting a chance to rub a rock.
Get a high perch and reel the fish in by lowering the tip in small increments.

Mike it does work!:D So does that make me and oldtimer?

I think we both qualify now, being equally grey :D