landing a big fish...

[bassballer]

when you get to your spot, before you even take a cast you should be looking around and making sure there is a way to land a fish. What is the point of casting from a rock that you cant land a fish on? Always have a plan of attack if/when you hook up.

[GonnaCatchABig1]

Originally Posted by bassballer

when you get to your spot, before you even take a cast you should be looking around and making sure there is a way to land a fish. What is the point of casting from a rock that you cant land a fish on? Always have a plan of attack if/when you hook up.

well i can land it.. i always check to make sure it's possible. at this spot its not like its a drop off. i rarely fish (theres one spot where its very iffy but doable) where there is no way to get to the water. it just i dont know how to get a hold of a large fish properly. lets just say i have no practice doing so. cause i don't.

how ever droning over it in my head i'm starting to realize the gill plate is probably the only option as far ways to hoist it up. i could in theory drag it up in most cases. but if my line snapped at my feet, i'd have a conniption.

[nightprowler]

either grab it by the gill plate or get your hand in its mouth and grab the lower jaw. I typically fish eels and grab the leader, slide my hand down towards the head then grab the lip.
If using plugs you can do something similar, but watch out for the trebles.
always make sure where you grab will be hook free.

Originally Posted by GonnaCatchABig1

well i can land it.. i always check to make sure it's possible. at this spot its not like its a drop off. i rarely fish (theres one spot where its very iffy but doable) where there is no way to get to the water. it just i dont know how to get a hold of a large fish properly. lets just say i have no practice doing so. cause i don't.

how ever droning over it in my head i'm starting to realize the gill plate is probably the only option as far ways to hoist it up. i could in theory drag it up in most cases. but if my line snapped at my feet, i'd have a conniption.

[GonnaCatchABig1]

Originally Posted by nightprowler

either grab it by the gill plate or get your hand in its mouth and grab the lower jaw. I typically fish eels and grab the leader, slide my hand down towards the head then grab the lip.
If using plugs you can do something similar, but watch out for the trebles.
always make sure where you grab will be hook free.

i'd definitely prefer lipping it. but is that feasible on a large fish on the rocks? i could see some swimming accompanying that. if not at the very least, alot of botched attempts. and a couple lost fish due to not be able to properly fight off the run after a missed grab.

add on - i'm really tall so its a long bend down to my feet. which is awkward with a rod in hand.

[Clogston29]

First off, use heavy enough tackle that you have some control. Second, try to let the fish tire itself out before bringing it in close. Time when you bring it within reach with the waves / conditions. Grab the leader and guide the fish to where you want it, and lip it or slide your hand under the gill plate. If using plugs, I usually grab the plug, then the fish, but it depends how its hooked / where the hooks are relative to where i want to grab it (you can't just lip a fish if there are 5/0 trebles all over the place). Often you can use a wave to put a fish on the rocks too.

At some places where its particularly difficult to land fish, i'll stick with eels, riggies, or soft plastics with a single hook to make landing fish easier. otherwise, i just crush the barbs and hope for the best.

[numbskull]

Keep 'em a rod's length away from you, swing 'em by you, and walk/guide them to shore ahead of you, then walk up to them keeping tension on the rod , grab the leader and get a gill plate.

[GonnaCatchABig1]

Originally Posted by numbskull

Keep 'em a rod's length away from you, swing 'em by you, and walk/guide them to shore ahead of you, then walk up to them keeping tension on the rod , grab the leader and get a gill plate.

any advice on the gill plate grab. last one like i said it was goin home any way.. so i just shoved my hand in there with out a care. what sort of approach should i be goin for? i'm thinkin i should be aiming for the bottom of the plate. correct?

i'll just stick to smaller fish (on purpose ) alot easier to lip

[Clogston29]

on bigger fish, don't "thumb" them, grab them with an overhand grip on the jaw, with four fingers in the mouth and the thumb below the jaw. If reqired, put your rod under your arm pit and use two hands to drag them up the rocks. Like mike's grabbing this one.

[Grapenuts]

years ago we had a jetty that was atleast 10' above the water at low and maybe 6 at high..no way were you going to walk anything around or down this one, just to bloody long...so I hit the hardware store and picked up fiberglass extention handle[paint roller kind] that would telle out to 10', close up to 5'...cut the end off and put in a gaff hook that I put into a wood plug that fit inside the pole and put hose clamps around the pole to hold everything in....no lost fish even with large waves wacking the rocks.