I've been humbled.....again

[FormerUser]

Welcome to my world.

I seem to ALWAYS lose the big fish of the year.My belief in that I'm cursed more than likely contributes to this.

Tonight could be a perfect example.Calm,raining...big fish conditions.

At least I finally have the time to fish.

[libassboy]

I droped my personal best last weekend. Live eels...rcoky area..got a glimpse, she flashed and took off, dropped her less than a minute later. She almost took the rod outa my hands when she hit, i didnt feed the eel to her well enuf im sure. I fished annother 15 mins and left, i just cudnt deal. been killing me all week, shuda seen the tail on this fish..OMG

[Skip N]

I battled a nice one on the fly rod last year that probably would have been my biggest fly caught fish. Suddenlly the lines goes flat and my fly floats to the surface. Nooooooooo!!

[numbskull]

I'll second what Mike P says. With big fish in current and rocks, you want a conventional rod (size 11-12 tip), a Newell 235, 30 lb mono, 4/0 or 5/0 hooks, 10 feet of 50lb shocker, and a Breakaway snap. Distance suffers, but the outfit weighs less and is less tiring to fish than a big spinner. The stretch of the mono is important to allow a heavy drag without ripping or straightening hooks, the main disadvantage of a big spinner with #50 braid.

[NIB]

I have landed some pretty good fish in current.
last friday a 35 lber in a 5 + kt moon tide.
This is what i do.first off i make my own jigs.
I use large premium hooks in my molds.
hooks like the 7/0 owner Jig hook,Gami makes a mean 7/0-8/0 o'shaunessy hook i incorporate with a sinker eylete.an oversized older mustads.I have some short shank 9/0's that they don't make anymore that are like a small gaff.these go into leadheads of 1-3 onces.U need to be able to trust ur hooks.then comes the gear.706 penns are the reel for me.in the ditch i use the big bird nautil's.I use a xra-132-2 to cast far an a 10' 542 harnell an a 1213m glass rod.all of em have the power to stop a frieght train.30 lb fireline an 40-80 lb leaders.the smaller diameter if I am fishing on the bottom with a chance of snagging I want to be able to break the leader not the mainline an leave a wad of briad in my jigholes.Trust ur knots learn the knot u tie well. I use palomars all around I tie my leaders in advance an I am sure all knots are good or I trash em.Bla bla bla.
Here is the scoop.Now when the fish hits never give her, her head.This the most important thing i can tell u.i don't neccesarily use a very tight drag maybe 8 lbs.i just hold the spool.I know this goes against everything u been told but big fish in current is a different animal.Its gonna pound some u will give some but never let her turn,never hold ur ground.This really wears em out as they strain more by not being able to turn down current an they poop out.Then its a drag em back upcurrent battle.U will pull the hooks on some fish but the way i see it if u don't have em hooked in the upper lip u basically have no chance anyways.If the fish get her head she will take off downtide like a frieght train.now u gotta drag her back up current even more.The longer she is in the water the bigger the hook hole gets an the greater the chance of something going wrong.it took me a long time to come up with this. fishing in the canal gave me alot of confidence with this technique that I now use in my own little canal at home.
To sum it up.
Big strong jig hooks,good line,10'+fishing poles that can lift 20 lb wieghts off the floor.an give em the steel.take no prisoners.it's the only way.trust me on this an u will get her.

[NIB]

The technique in my last post applys only to jig fishing in big current.

[fishaholic18]

From my experiance in the rocks, tight drag, set hook hard when she hits and turn her right away. Never give her her head like NIB said. Get her in your hands as fast as possible. If you let her take drag..She'll get in the rocks and break u off. I use a Lami 1213M with 50# PP and a 10' shock leader of at least 40#'s. I tie leader to braid via albrite knot and use Gami 7/0 circle hook snelled to leader. Good luck..