I have lost several larger fish this summer and have finally decided that when they reach a certain size (around 36" or so), they begin to behave and fight differently. I guess the price of the learning curve on these bigger fish is loosing some along the way. What are peoples thought and observations on fighting bass as they get to be Large?

Aside from not touching your drag, keeping pressure on the fish and not horsing it, prayer helps a lot

Patience

Since I'm relatively new at this I'm learning, painfully sometimes, that when it wants to run you have to let it. Don't try and force it in.

I'm also finding out how important it is to set the drag properly. All those years of fresh water fishing spoiled me, I never thought twice about setting, and re-checking, the drag when I went fishing. Learned that one the hard way too

Yeah, Let em run, don't touch your drag. Sometimes a heavier fish will sound and just hang on the bottom after that first run. This is when you might be tempted to start horsing them in. Keep tension and be patient, wait till she's ready to come in.

Saltheart is right - patience is key. All of the large fish that I have caught or fought have headed to the bottom and at some point stopped moving. These fish would not budge and I had to wait them out while applying pressure. There really is a lot skill required to catch large fish in rocky areas.

Let's start with drag on a spinning reel. What's the proper way to set it up?
I suspect I have mine set to high....

When I feel the bulk of a heavy fish (say 30 +) on, ie. it feels like moving a log through the water as opposed to pulling a limb through the water , I let the fish run and then just hold him there for a bit.Get some line back if you can but I just hold him and let him strain against the pressure,all this is tiring him out. I have confidence in my hook,and line...no need to rush...savor the moment as they don't come too often.Sure the old striper may make a good run but you probably still have plenty of line , stay calm and enjoy it! : Oh yeah.. :eek: AND DON'T LOSE HIM!

Aside from not touching your drag, keeping pressure on the fish and not horsing it, prayer helps a lot

I think piemma hit the nail on the head.If you feel that you have a large fish on just play her in you have all day,remember you're not the one w/ the hook in the mouth :) if you need more pressure try cupping the spool.

5/0

Try setting your drag with a scale along with what has already been mentioned. Once you go with a setting do your best not to f. with it while youre out. Dont high stick!!!! But def. keeping pressure is key.

When you hook into a decent fish (20# +), just hold on for the first run and then try to gain some line, don't horse the fish but try to gain some line. When this fish feels you gaining line, that is when the second run will come. After the second run, the fish is really tired because you forced the two runs in a very short period of time. Now, and only now, can you really try to bring it in, don't force it but the fish should move. :rocketem:

When you sight the fish :laugha: and it is close to shore, their will be a point when a fish can feel the bottom or know that he is in the breakers. They will always, always, make a dying effort to spit the hook. :crying: The trick here is when the fish enters the breakers is to loosen up the drag slightly as to avoiding the fish from creating slack. :heybaby: Most big fish are lost in the breakers!!! If the fish makes a run, its OK keep the pressure on and don't let the fish go to far :wall:

Remember if you are catching and releasing, the longer the fight the less the survival rate. This may be different on rocky bottoms where fish lay down in holes (RI). I fish NJ (IBSP) and LI (Moriches, Shinnecock and Montauk). This method was taught to me by a very successful surfcaster after I lost a very decent fish about 15 years ago (you never forget those lessons as a young boy :crying: ). I have many 30's and a few 40's, I think I may have hooked a 50 a couple of years back, I am still waiting for the first run to stop, In about two weeks it should hit Portugal.

I tend to think most nice fish are lost because of unmaintained hooks, weakly tied knots and frayed line, rather than fighting the fish.

I have witnessed some people beach a cow of 52# in the surf in about 15 minutes, with this method, so if you can't bring them in in 15 minutes you will know that you are doing something wrong or you definetly have a 50# fish or better and it is a battle where you will need some luck to bring the fish to the scales.

Anyone have success with this method in RI, or is it different with the rocky drop off bottoms.

whenever a question like this pop's up no one ever say's what kind of turf their fishing on.....if it's rock's like the ditch has...what drag?....if it's the beach...lite drag//walk down the beach with the fish till it poop's itself out.....in the boat...med to lite drag...once the fish is hooked you both drift together till she comes along side...now being anchored up is a different story..tight drag/pull slowly.//////every location will dictate a different drag setting.

I have had quite a few big fish (say over 30 pounds) that have come right back at me after taking an initial long run, causing the line to almost go slack and me question whether it was still on. My PB of 44 pound did that.

Maybe I missed a response to the "setting my drag" question. But I follow the following rule of thumb.

For mono, 1/3rd the lb. test rating; for superbraids/Fireline, etc., 1/4 the lb. test rating.

So when I use 35# Berkley Fireline I set my drag to around 8 lbs. I'll attach a simple fish scale to the ground, hook my rigged line via a snap to the scale, then lean back on the loaded rod until my assistant at floor level tells me the scale is bouncing around 8 - 9 lbs. Same for mono which is more forgiving of the sudden strike so you can go a little tighter on the drag. I set my 20# Cajun mono rigged to my 9'4" St. Croix popping rod with my Penn 704 to about 7 lbs. 7 lbs. of pull on the scale for 20# test is 1/3rd the test rating. Obviusly 8 to 9 lbs. pull on my 35# test Fireline is 1/4th the line's test rating.

The right equipment helps also. Last year I mainly fished with a Lami 1084 9 footer and had some issues pulling bigger fish out of the rocks when they would run. This year, I stepped up to a 10 footer and the stopping power is much different and the extra foot helps when dancing around rocks.

capesams,

Exactly. :btu:

You're right CS. I'm fishing in a very rocky area from shore. A shoal that goes out 400 yards or so. Current and waves come from both sides. On the left there is a very deep hole with a stony bottom. At low tide, the is just uner water. At high its about 12 to 14 feet under, with the usual larger boulders and gullies in between. I'm not too sure about the right of the shoal, as it'sd tough so steep and rocky that I'm afraid to even walk out there. I suspect that when I look at a chart, it drops there too. This place gets huge surf and swells.

Keep the Pressure on and most Important give the Fish no Slack Line

While i did just land a big bass, i really dont get alot of them, but when I am out I will always keep my drag almost locked down. This will help me really set the hook. Then after setting i will reach down right away and loosen the star drag a bit- Because of this style that i fish, i am considering switching to the avet lever drag, but i digress. I keep the drag tight, set the hook, loosen a tad and let the bass run. when its running I am standing still waiting for the bass to slow. As soon as it stops i start winching after i feel that i have turned its head. I try to get them in quick so I can release them..

oh, an if your drag is too tight after you set the hook, the bass will start head shaking. before i started loosening my drag after setting the hook, i lost a lot of bass... my guess is that with the braid, the bass simply rips out the hook. keep it loose and let them think they can get away... :D

I think you can get away with a locked drag the whole time with mono.. but with braid you have to have a loose enough so you dont rip lips.

my 10 ¢

I've lost more fish with Braid and locked drag than any other way. The ones than did come in sported enlarged holes where the hooks were. Loose drag for me on the beach now.

I lost several large fish this year on Mambos.In the end it was the hooks.I changed them to VMCs and started landing fish.I caught quite a few fish between 10-20lbs in the spring on one of Salty's bottle poppers and of course it had decent hooks.

I never overlook the hooks anymore.

Water temp, current, fish size and the fishes mood determine how hard it will fight. I've had big fish come in like nothing, and had small fish 20-25#s fight like hell. This spring for example when the water was cold, the fish were tired from a long migration they came in like dead weight. One or two small runs and it was over (fish to mid 30#s). A couple weeks ago I had 12-15 pound fish that just wouldnt quit. This could be due to water temp, and that they were well fed and rested.

When I fight fish from the rock (exclude b-ways or inlets) I set on the fish with a fairly hard drag. From there I will loosen it quite a bit. If you keep a tight drag in this condition the hook could rip or tackle will break. Everyone always talks about "you gotta turn the fish, thats your only chance" or "I had to keep him outta the rocks. The problem is that when you fish braid it cuts like nothing under tight tension. So the fish goes in an area where the line touches a rock or barnacle and snap... fish off. With a loose drag the fish will have a hard time breaking you off.

The second issue is that if the drag is tight the fish cant pull line so it goes straight to the bottom where the odds of breaking off are even better. If it can take line they will run parallel to the bottom and you have good chances of landing it.

Rizzo, we think alike :D read my post above :)

i did read it :wavey: nice fish once again!

I'm going to loosen my drag and change out my Bomber hooks to VMC and see what happens :-) I'm going to land one of these guys yet!!! I've done it on a fly rod like you all described. Two long runs and it came in like a little puppy. Got to remember that!!!!

and change out my Bomber hooks to VMC and see what happens :-)

That was the differance for me!

I don't hook any big ones.They just see me on the rocks an give up an beach themselves.

The one night this year that I caught my biggest ever, I knew INSTANTLY this wasnt the same class fish I was catching

After I saw one hook bent (uncles cheap normal eelhook)
One hook snapped ( #7 gammy)

Then we adjusted and got some in... The fish we caught werent all that much bigger than what weve been catching (4-5" and 4-5lbs) but man did they fight bigger.

One thing that I have found helps alot when using plugs with small hooks, like bombers, is letting larger fish fight the rod as much as possible. What I do is after the first run, let them pull against the rod as much as possible and not try to turn them or reel them in until I feel that I have to in order to keep enough tension in the line. Doing this, in my opinion, often wears on the fish more that simply pulling it in and with less force since you are not moving the fish. It makes the fish work just to hold its ground and tires it out with minimal tension. It also lets you use less force when you do start gaining line on the fish making the small hooks less likely to pull or bend. Obviously not all fish will fight in a way that allows this but most seem to.

Also, it is important not to bring a larger fish into the surf zone until it is spent because they will panic and can use the undertow against you. Hopefully this helps. I know it has worked for me on the larger fish that I've caught, not that thats alot or anything.

Relax, let the drag do its job, dont panic. It takes losing a few good ones to know how to land good ones. IMHO the 36in to 41in fish fight the hardest and longest. The big ones, sometimes a few long steady runs, sometimes think its a schoolie.

I also learned of a way to turn a fish that works suprisingly well. When a fish makes a run toward a rock and pulls line steadily it has its balance or "has its head". Most when fighting a fish, pump the rod in one long pull and then reel to try to get the fish in. I feel in a situation like this that if you make a series of short pumps and quick reels in between, you constantly knock the fish off balance and you can easily turn the fish even with lighter tackle. Its hard to describe, but it does work.

E:
Braid;
Locked Drag
Single Hook Bucktail worked well at you know where for me last year...
That spot is due for a look SOON

With plugs I'm a moderate drag kinda guy, unless you REALLY need to turn a fish...

While i did just land a big bass, i really dont get alot of them, but when I am out I will always keep my drag almost locked down. This will help me really set the hook. Then after setting i will reach down right away and loosen the star drag a bit- Because of this style that i fish, i am considering switching to the avet lever drag, but i digress. I keep the drag tight, set the hook, loosen a tad and let the bass run. when its running I am standing still waiting for the bass to slow. As soon as it stops i start winching after i feel that i have turned its head. I try to get them in quick so I can release them..

oh, an if your drag is too tight after you set the hook, the bass will start head shaking. before i started loosening my drag after setting the hook, i lost a lot of bass... my guess is that with the braid, the bass simply rips out the hook. keep it loose and let them think they can get away... :D

I think you can get away with a locked drag the whole time with mono.. but with braid you have to have a loose enough so you dont rip lips.

my 10 ¢
I like this technique Eben. I fish braid so I'm going to try it out. I usually keep my drag loose but will try tightening it for the hookset and then loosening it up.

I go with the mental aspect, if i hook up large i just tell myself that i got this fish beat. Usually works. When i need to move it around a rock or something i usually just thumb the spool on my Abu. Also when using topwaters some times i will thumb the spool real quick on the set just to get a good set then let the drag do the trick. One thing ive noticed that throws off the fight on a large fish. If its gut hooked the fish seems to fight like dead weight, not too lively of a fight. It happened a few weeks ago in the canal, a 38" fish felt like a schoolie, i was sure it was under 24 inches and when i finally saw her i was shocked. Good knots, hooks and undamaged line is the biggest key.

Thanks for this thread and to all who contributed. Last night I loosened my drag and decided I'd take my time if it felt like a good fish. Landed a 40" =/- fish in Maine, pretty sure it was 40 or over but it has to be over up there. Measured it quick in the dark by myself with a led light and it was almost high tide and a steep beach with large waves so I did'nt have time to mess around if the fish was going to make it back in.
I've lost a number of fish that felt like that one with my drag tight, trying to horse them.
Only minus was it was'nt on my own wood but a sure strike bottle plug.
Thanks again
Pete