Car_Ramrod

This is me unfortunately. Everywhere I fish is highly pressured.

On these specific instances, I used medium power fast action rods. this. I was just starting up my new casting setup, and I had the drag set pretty much all the way up high. I tried horsing the bass in , instead of letting him run. Well he runs away from me and I reel in, with super tight drag…. Boom, my knot failed. Not sure how big he was, I saw just a glimpse of him in the water guess I’ll never know. When I first started fishing, I would do this often to pull the fish in. I have since gotten advice saying to never adjust the drag while fighting a fish, but have never gotten an explanation as to why. In the case of the bass I lost by the tree, my only choice would have been a tighter drag as he was too strong for the drag I had on originally… Does tightening the drag while fighting a fish, hurt the line? Is it just bad since it changes the tension mid fight and could lead to the line twisting??

To answer both of you guys, I’m using the Fluoro leader because I’ve been told that bigger bass are line shy and will be able to see the mono, so I should use a Fluoro leader if I want to catch bass toward 5 lbs or over. Is this just BS? Should I just stick to my mono? Is 15 lb mono too big and easy for the bass to see? im pretty sure I’ve used a leader on every single larger bass I’ve caught. if you guys aren’t worried about the bass seeing the line, maybe I’ll quit the leaders. I never or rarely ever use braid because I mess up the braid on my bait caster pretty quickly, and I get wind knots even on spinning; besides that my knots have slipped before on braid. I just don’t have much experience with it but if you guys recommend fishing with it, maybe I should start.

Mono as my main line, 15 lb. 10lb fluoroclear leader, about 18 inches.

When my knot on the jig failed yesterday, I was using 15 lb mono for my main line and 10lb flourclear as my leader (this was tied to my jig, with a trilene knot, I thought I had plenty of tag end). I’ve had knots fail in the past, but not all summer since I reworked my knot tying. So it was pretty upsetting yesterday not to mention the bass might be stuck with my jig, poor fish…

Continuing to lose bass this summer, usually anything two pounds or over I lose at some point during the fight. I’m wondering if I am not hooksetting properly, or if the way I am fighting the fish is the issue. For reference, I usually am using a 4/0 gamakatsu offset worm hook, or a 3/8 oz swim jig. Continuing to lose bass can be very discouraging. Last week I lost one that pulled a bunch of drag, so I let him run. Well he immediately ran toward the bank with tree cover, jumped right by the tree, spit my hook, and got my hook caught in the tree. This experience made me want to pull the fish in and not let it make runs, which is counter intuitive? Today, I tried my new casting setup (usually use spinning) suppose I had my drag set much higher, I tried horsing him in and not letting him run and I lost a good bass.. maybe 2-3 lbs, because my knot on the jig failed. Which got me thinking the drag was too high, and I felt stupid for leaving it on like that; since now I not only lost the jig but that poor fish has to go around trying to survive with that jig stuck in its mouth- (I hope it can spit the hook?) anyways, was just hoping for some general advice. It’s very discouraging when any bass I can actually land are under 1.5 lbs. I lost what would’ve been my PB a few weeks back and since then I just feel like it’s been a streak of bad luck, trying to change my attitude. Thanks