Sometimes there's nothing you can do except pray. There are some times you can shade the odds in your favor.
Most important, use the right gear. Even from the beach. It get tiring using a heavy reel like a Penn 704, or a 8500. But having close to 300 yards of 20# mono shades the odds in your favor. It's nice to use a light, balanced outfit, but you run a bigger risk of getting spooled when you're running less than 200 yards of line. There's a huge strength difference between 15# mono and 20#. In most brands, it's at least .003" in diameter and up to 10 lbs in pure break strength. If you prefer braid, don't use anything lighter than 50#. And use a reel that holds close to 300 yards of it. Bigger reels also have more drag surface. Less likely to have your drag get chattery and sticky.
From the beach, where there's nothing to hang on, use your head. It's hard when you're pumping adrenaline like a fire hose. Use the beach--walk or run with the fish, keeping tension on her. Use the power curve of the rod. You put more pressure on a fish when you bring the butt section into the equation. Rods that bend into the butt section can put more pressure on a fish, and tire it more quickly, than a rod with a fast tip. Even when you use a rod that bends deep into the butt, there's a tremendous temptation to "high stick" and lean back into the fish. You're robbing yourself of the power in the butt when you're only fighting the fish with the top 1/3rd of the rod. Patience is the key.
It's basic, but we all forget when a big fish is right in the first wave---never ever tighten the drag and haul back, going for broke. I lost a fish in the high 40s over on MV by trying to wrestle her out of the first wave before she was ready. Pulled the hook right out. At a point in my life when I knew better. But buck fever can strike anyone. It happens. The only time I ever touch my drag is when a fish is right in the first wave, and it's only to loosen it. During the fight, the fish might have smoked it a little and loosening it is insurance against that last little surge they all seem to make right at the end.
At night, don't ever shine a light on a fish when you get them in close. Even on the darkest night, you'll know from the angle of the line where the fish is, and when she's high and dry, you'll know it.
Now, in the Canal, or other junkyards, sometimes there isn't a damn thing you can do except hold on and pray. But still, there are some things that can put a thumb on the scale for you. Everyone loves the light graphite rods that almost cast themselves, and everyone likes being able to reach breaking fish in the middle with 20# or 25# mono line. When I know big fish are in, I use different gear. My old S-glass rod or a heavy graphite like an Arra 126 1MH, and 30# mono. And a reel that holds as much 30# as I can get on it. Like a Newell 235 or even one of my Squidders. Maybe I won't be able to put a plug on a fish out in the middle, but I have a better shot at landing the ones I can reach. If you can scramble up the rocks and fight the fish from the road, so much the better. Now that the Corps has cut down a lot of the trees and brush, it's a lot easier to play a fish from upstairs. The more vertical angle of the line to the fish also helps. I've noticed a huge difference in playing fish from places like the double rip-rap at Aptuxet, where you're standing 10' above the water, than at places where your're standing on a mussel bed at water level. Do whatever you can to keep the fish from bottoming out and hanging you on a mussel bed.. Even if you have to high stick, using a glass rod gets more of the butt section involved than using a graphite. Change the angle of the fight if you can, strum the line or whack the rod butt with your fist. The old timers swear that it works to get a bass to change direction. If she does bottom out on you, don't force the issue. Climb to the road and walk downcurrent to change the angle of the line--it can work. Sometimes it's the line a few feet ahead of the plug that's wrapped on the bottom, not right at the lure itself. The same things that work to free a stuck jig also work when there's 40 lbs of bass attached to that jig
