How Do You Fight & Land a Fish?

Warren, It really depends on the situation. If I am by myself, I may play
a little. But let there be another angler beside me and that competitive
spirit comes out. Which we all know by now, I simply want to catch more
than my partner. But contrary to popular belief, with me it is more of:
"Hey man, I'm no slacker. I can pull my own weight, and in fact I can do
the loin's share" vs. "Look at me, see how good I am." Definitely more
information than you wanted - just felt I needed to justify the reason why I
ski the majority of my fish to boat. If it was just you and I talking -
"Yep!"

--
Craig Baugher
Living in The United States, and Loving It!
Practicing My Freedom of Speech, and Enjoying It!
Knowing how to Thank those that paid for it, by Honoring It!
God Bless America, and Those That Serve It!

Good answer Harry.

I tend to enjoy the fish and fishing though regardless if I'm in a
tournament or not. There's no huge payouts in any of our tournaments so the
real thrill of fishing them is the actual fishing. I'll use the net anytime
I think there's a chance that the fish will come loose, and occasionally
even get the net for Joe. However, most of my fish come into the boat via
the old, "sling em over the rail" method. LOL


"Thundercat" wrote in message
et...
"Craig" wrote in message
news
After the spawn post, I have to ask:
How Do You Fight & Land a Fish (Bass in particular)?
snip
Look forward to your replies.

--
Craig Baugher
Living in The United States, and Loving It!
Practicing My Freedom of Speech, and Enjoying It!
Knowing how to Thank those that paid for it, by Honoring It!
God Bless America, and Those That Serve It!

Several factors come in to play when it comes to how quickly or slowly I
(attempt to) land a fish. Some of those factors include, but are not
limited
to: type of fishing (casual, tournament or pre-fishing), tackle I am
using,
and available nasty cover (or lack there of).

In a tournament situation, my emphasis is on getting the fish to the boat
as
quickly as possible. If the tackle I am using is stout enough from the
line
and hooks to the rod, I will attempt to get its head up, "skate" the fish
to
the boat and swing it in. However, if light lining in a tournament (drop
shot / finesse) I will play give and take with the fish until I have it
under control enough to get it in the net at boat side. If I notice a fish
is lightly hooked or hooked in a bad spot with a notoriously throwable
bait
(like a spinnerbait or topwater) I will attempt to control the fish with
it'
s head down and net it as quickly as possible.

When I am pre-fishing for a tournament I tend to give the fish every
chance
to just let go of the bait. I may stick one here and there, but I really
just want to get a look at it before it swims away. At times, I am
satisfied
with a follow-up. This lets me know that they are there and that they have
an eye on what I am tossing.

When I am fun fishing, all of that tournament mumbo jumbo goes out the
window unless I am fishing thick nasties. In the nasties, I still want
that
fish out of there as quickly as possible. Most other times I will play a
fish to the boat or the bank, unhook it as quickly as possible and send it
on its merry way. I never play it to the point of exhaustion, but I do
take
the time to enjoy the fight. I usually will not net a fun fishing fish
unless it is closing in on a 4 to 5 pound class of fish or better. Photo
opportunities with that size of bass are rare for me. And yes, Craig, I
know
I need to get out to St. Claire or Erie to drag some tubes to solve that
problem for me... ;-)

Take what you will from the above, but remember that I am on of the
rookies
here.


--
Harry J. aka Thundercat
Bass fishing is NOT a hobby...
It is an ADDICTION!
Brooklyn Bill's Specialty Tackle Fishing Team
http://geocities.com/brooklynbill2003/

My philosophy for fighting and landing a fish is basicly this: no retreat, no
surrender. Once I have a fish hooked, I apply as much pressure as my tackel
will allow and keep it on. I constantly change the position at which I hold
the rod to change the angle at which the pressure is applied to the fish. I
think this confuses the fish and they seem to give up more easily. I also
refuse to give line unless absolutly neccessary. My drags are set so tight
most of you guys would cringe. But I have lost far, far more fish to slack in
the line and then throwing the hook than to break-offs (probably because most
of my lures have barbless hooks). I will never, ever backreel a fish.
Most of my fishing is done w/ ultra-light spinning gear, but I also have a
medium spinning rig and a med-hvy baitcast rig. I fight fish pretty much the
same way with all of them. ( and all of my best small mouths have been on
ultra-light gear.

-Zimmy

Zimmy, back reeling keeps more pressure on a fish than any drag system can
apply. I would also like to address the changing angle thing. Dan Warme
(one of our California Pros) will point out you should keep a 90° (line &
rod equalling a 90° angle) for maximum leverage. I personally, lower my rod
almost level to the water (with only a slight elevation), which basically
puts me in a 70° to 90° angle anyways, so that the fish is fighting the
whole length of my rod. Lift the rod too high up and break the 90° and the
fish is just fighting the rod tip - which is its weakest section. Point the
rod towards the fish or the water and you basically eliminate the rod all
together, and the fish is just fighting the line and reel. Just food for
though so that you can keep your fighting angle between 60° to 90° - not
that you are ever going to measure it, but you can eye it and guess.

Yeah, anal, I know . . . .

--
Craig Baugher

Living in The United States, and Loving It!
Practicing My Freedom of Speech, and Enjoying It!
Knowing how to Thank those that paid for it, by Honoring It!

"Craig" wrote in message
om...
Zimmy, back reeling keeps more pressure on a fish than any drag system can
apply. I would also like to address the changing angle thing. Dan Warme
(one of our California Pros) will point out you should keep a 90° (line &
rod equalling a 90° angle) for maximum leverage. I personally, lower my
rod
almost level to the water (with only a slight elevation), which basically
puts me in a 70° to 90° angle anyways, so that the fish is fighting the
whole length of my rod. Lift the rod too high up and break the 90° and
the
fish is just fighting the rod tip - which is its weakest section. Point
the
rod towards the fish or the water and you basically eliminate the rod all
together, and the fish is just fighting the line and reel. Just food for
though so that you can keep your fighting angle between 60° to 90° - not
that you are ever going to measure it, but you can eye it and guess.

Yeah, anal, I know . . . .

--
Craig Baugher

Living in The United States, and Loving It!
Practicing My Freedom of Speech, and Enjoying It!
Knowing how to Thank those that paid for it, by Honoring It!



Change the angle to the fish. If the fish is going to the front of the
boat, try to turn him to the back. or at least 90 degrees to where he wants
to go. You can still keep the 90 degrees of the line to the rod. I also
fish sal****er fish, yellowtail and tuna besides salmon and other salties.
Tuna kick rig much more than any LMB or smallie. And you have to fight them
with angles. Can not horse them. I have had a 35# bluefin tuna rip off 165
yards of 17# line in 20 seconds while diving at a 70 degree angle. This is
with 5# of drag. Other than my flippn' stick in the Sac Delta, I fish light
line for bass all the time. Lots of drop shot with 6-8# line at Oroville.
Rarely lose a fish. May not hook him, but rarely lose him afterwards. Just
always keep the line at an angle to the fishes body.
Bill

Craig,
I have found that almost without exception, everytime I try to backreel a
fish, line comes off too fast. This is especially true on high grear ratio
reels. If the fish makes a quick change of direction, thats it, he's off. In
my expierence, the less line I give the fish, the less likely it get the slack
that lets it come unhooked. In my entire life I think I may have had 3 or 4
fish actually break off so its really not much of a concern for me.
Also, I actually do try to keep my rod perpendicular to the fish, but I
keep changing from side to side. It like I try to pull the fish to the right
for a few seconds, and then switch and try to pull it to my left, etc. It
always seems that the fish pull very hard at first but soon "give up". My
theory is that their instinct is to resist from being pulled directly, but
since the dircetion they are being pulled in is constantly changeing, they cant
tell which way to resist, so they just settle and and save their strength. The
flop around like hell when I go to grab them, but they have plenty of energy
when I release them. I like releaseing a fish thats still got plenty of fight
left n him so it can return to its territory and defend/feed/escape as
neccessary.

-Zimmy

G. wrote:
I have found that almost without exception, everytime I try to backreel a
fish, line comes off too fast.

You aren't doing it even close to right then. Read the backreeling article
at the URL below.

RichZ©
www.richz.com/fishing/fishtips/backreel.html