Jumping Fish

[loudcherokee]

I've lost more fish this year on the jump than any other way. Either the hook shakes loose while theyre in the air, or within seconds after they re-enter the water.

I've read several different methods, ie point the tip at the fish, keep the tip down, etc. What do they mean by this? Wouldnt moving the tip down from an up position or pointing the tip at the fish introduce slack into the line, which is a bad thing with fish on?

Its not the hooks, as ive lost them on jigs, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits.

How do you guys fight jumping fish without losing them?

LC

[BassinLou]

Jumping fish can be tricky sometimes. For example, when I am in my boat and I have nice bass that decides to jump, I actually shove my rod into the water. The bass will attempt to jump, but I take the slack out, and it just becomes a slow headshake. On the bank however depending on the type of cover you are dealing with your technique must change. For example, little to no cover I keep the rod pointing down to minimize the jumping as best as possible. If you are fishing around moderate to heavy cover, I actually exaggerate and raise my rod up to where the my reel is at shoulder level, so that I may pull the bass over the cover quickly. If you give the fish the upperhand in this situation, it will dig into the vegetation and you might lose it.

[SirSnookalot]

It's quite easy, keep the rod low or even into the water and your line tight.  Nothing else you need to know.  As easy as it is, your still going to lose your fair share, the first jump is the critical one.

[slonezp]

It's quite easy, keep the rod low or even into the water and your line tight.  Nothing else you need to know.  As easy as it is, your still going to lose your fair share, the first jump is the critical one.

X2

[Montanaro]

low rod means they cant jump well. high rod equals large jump and headshake and bye bye hook.

[Tony L.]

The pointing the tip toward the fish (also known as bowing to the fish) is something often used in fly fishing. With fly fishing, the problem is not necessarily shaking the hook so much as it is snapping the incredibly light tippet that it is tied to, so you want to take your chances and give some slack to an airborne fish. With conventional gear, there's not as much worry of line breakage so you can keep it tight to ensure the hook stays put. I usually fight my fish with the rod high to keep all slack out (also because I fish around a lot of submerged timber that I would like to keep them out of), but as soon as I hook one that takes to the skies, I plunge that sucker down to try and keep the fish pinned underwater. At least, I do that when I remember to..... Even after 20+ years of fishing, setting into one still gets my heart pounding and good form goes right out the window sometimes.

[WRB]

Did you watch the Falcon lake tournament vedio posted in the Okeechobee vs Falcon ? The pro bass anglers could not keep some bass from jumping. If a bass wants to jump it will and it makes bass fishing exiting, enjoy it.

The key is getting good hook sets, so explain how you set hooks and tackle being used.

Tom

[loudcherokee]

Did you watch the Falcon lake tournament vedio posted in the Okeechobee vs Falcon ? The pro bass anglers could not keep some bass from jumping. If a bass wants to jump it will and it makes bass fishing exiting, enjoy it.

The key is getting good hook sets, so explain how you set hooks and tackle being used.

Tom

Tackle this year has mostly been a Lews Tournament MG with 30 pound braid on a 7' MH Berkley Lightning Rod Shock. I would say the tip on this rod is about medium - moderate.

My hook setting differs. Sometimes i set over the shoulder, sometimes to the side while reeling, and sometimes I get a little excited and just snap the tip of the rod up about 12 inches and start cranking.

LC

[bigbill]

I try to keep my rod below my belt level and keep my line as tight as possible. I just landed a nice bass on my 4# test 5' trout rod. I kept the rod tip down and wanted a very short fight so the bass didn't lose to much energy he had stored up

for the winter. It was fun on a trout ultra lite but I was nervous the whole time about losing it. I did land it and release it. We have to keep that line tight.

I also need to set the hook a tad harder too.

I was just thinking about sharpening all my hooks on all my lures over the winter.

[WRB]

I am not a fan of glass/ composite rods that try to be 2 rods in 1, ends being a compromise that does nothing well. Treble hook lures the rod helps braid from tearing out hooks during the hook set and fight, single hook lures you lose hook setting power. My guess is you need to recover more line during the hook set to overcome the rod tip bending. Reel faster and swing harder during your hook set. I believe a standard med/hvy fast action rod with 30 lb braid would work good by adjusting the drag to about 3 pounds pull force.

Sharp hooks are essential.

Tom

[loudcherokee]

I am not a fan of glass/ composite rods that try to be 2 rods in 1, ends being a compromise that does nothing well. Treble hook lures the rod helps braid from tearing out hooks during the hook set and fight, single hook lures you lose hook setting power. My guess is you need to recover more line during the hook set to overcome the rod tip bending. Reel faster and swing harder during your hook set. I believe a standard med/hvy fast action rod with 30 lb braid would work good by adjusting the drag to about 3 pounds pull force.

Sharp hooks are essential.

Tom

I just got two new rods, a 7'1" *** *** Black in MH for baitcasting, and a 7'1" *** *** Black in M for finesse spinning. Only fished them once so far. We'll see if the problems keep up with the new equipment.

LC

[tomustang]

I'm going to say that your system is too stiff, you have braid and a MH rod, you drag might be tighter than it should be too, try ditching the braid and see if you hook jump rate lowers

[einscodek]

I dont even bother with rod tip high low to the side or wherever.. just angled enuf so that the rod is fighting the fish a bit with tight lines

whenever that fish hits and jumps I'm taking in slack the fastest way I can keeping the line tight and comin in.  

If I cant reel it fast enough, I'll load my rod in whichever direction just enough to keep the line tight and let my reel catch up.

[SirSnookalot]

Keep the rod low and tight line, that's all that's needed to do, anything else just over complicates the issue.  True what WRB says, when a fish wants to jump it will and not much you can do about it and you will never land them all.   The "perfect" rod is not that important, just set the darn hook and be done with it, it's matter of perfecting your own technique.  You are dealing with a fish that on average weighs less than 5#, makes but a few jumps, tires and gets landed within 60 seconds.  You are not catching a 50#+ fish with a jaw made of pure bone that jumps 8-10 times or more pulling out in excess of 50-100 yds of line.  

A seasoned fisherman does not think about landing a fish, it's all a natural reaction and never panics or gets excited with a fish on, that excitement is what loses fish.

[Swampstud]

Ive had one jump of early this fall that probly woulda been my best for the year. That was caused by slacked line because he swam at me too fast. Otherwise if you watch your line and with a lil feel for the leap up n out of water ill actually pull harder and drag there head over. Alot of times I get too excited and they come skippin across the surface at me.

[SirSnookalot]

Ive had one jump of early this fall that probly woulda been my best for the year. That was caused by slacked line because he swam at me too fast. Otherwise if you watch your line and with a lil feel for the leap up n out of water ill actually pull harder and drag there head over. Alot of times I get too excited and they come skippin across the surface at me.

It is the nature of many bass to swim at you instead of away, maybe it's their way of taking the pressure off them from the hook, I really don't know.  IMO it does help to keep a bass at closer range making it easier to maintain a tight line, and a tight line is the key to landing any fish.  The excitement factor can create panic and panic loses fish.  In many activities our game is elevated when playing with players better than us, fishing isn't any different. Practicing with more formidable fish will definitely raise your own game and eliminate the excitement factor, making one a better bass fisherman.

[Khong]

I've lost more fish this year on the jump than any other way. Either the hook shakes loose while theyre in the air, or within seconds after they re-enter the water.

I've read several different methods, ie point the tip at the fish, keep the tip down, etc. What do they mean by this? Wouldnt moving the tip down from an up position or pointing the tip at the fish introduce slack into the line, which is a bad thing with fish on?

Its not the hooks, as ive lost them on jigs, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits.

How do you guys fight jumping fish without losing them?

LC

 

Yeah, you just can't stop them from jumping.  The only thing you need to do is like some of the guys on here say, "Hope your hook set was good enough to hold him until he gets on board."  That's why we always say, "Tight line, Tight lines, hold him tight!"  As for treble hook, hope you have a forgiving line and rod so that it flex as he jumps.  Otherwise you can kiss him "Good Bye!" 

[BuckMaxx]

Rod low to water and just keep crankin em. It is like halter breaking a steer. If you keep his he coming his body will follow.

[AK-Jax86]

People can offer a bunch of tips/techniques but at the end of the day it's how well the fish is hooked pretty simple and you can't control HOW it's hooked all you can do is hook em.

[bassguytom]

All of the above tips are good for baitcaster reels. If you are using a spinning reel the best way to stop a fish from jumping is to flip the switch and back reel. I learned this while drop shotting for smallmouth and have not lost a fish yet while using this technique.

[webertime]

Get the tip low and keep cranking!

Watch some tarpon fishing videos, they will submerge the entire rod sometimes to keep them down.

[J Francho]

Catching is the best practice.  Look at this way....you're hooking them.  Side pressure, leading their heads, burying the tip in the water - these are all ways to keep a fish from jumping.  Some fish will just jump no matter what.  Often, smallmouth from deep water will rocket straight up to the boat. A high speed reel helps, but often, I'm just catching up to the fish when it launches.  I've taken to "leading them" into the reentry, loading the rod up, and almost swatting them into the water.  This way, I've turned their head in the air, not the water, where there is more resistance.  From there, it's usually a few figure-8s next to the boat, and into the net.

 

But not all make it to the net....

[loudcherokee]

With as much power as your working with you should really just crank hard and ski them in. The fish would have some pretty good shoulders to be able to overpower you with braid and a MH rod.

lol, i do that with the dinks. The bigger fish i like to let them fight a little bit to tire them out so they're not so fidgety when they're out of the water. I always feel bad if one wriggles and gets loose on land.

LC

[SirSnookalot]

Today I had frenzy, 5# ladyfish for about 45 minutes, a fish a cast. Ladies are like catching tarpon, aka poormans tarpon, non stop jumping until landed. Handle this fish and you're ready for anything that jumps.  As with any facet of fishing technique will land more fish than rods and reels.  A jumping fish should be welcomed, that's the excitement.

[Sam]

Remember, treble hook baits will fly into the air when the bass jump due to the physics of a treble hookset.

 

Use a trailer hook on all spinnerbaits, buzzbaits and Chatterbaits to minimize losing the jumpers.

 

Jigs do come out of a bass' mouth depending on where the hook is located in the flesh. Many jigs "turn around" when you set the hook allowing the jig to be thrown by a jumping bass.

 

What you have experienced happens to everyone so there may be nothing you are doing wrong. Consider using mono for all treble hook baits to have some spring in the line for a stronger hookset; keep rod tip up when setting the spinnerbait, buzzbait and Chatterbait; and always look inside the  bass' mouth to note where you are setting the jig and pig to make sure you are getting straight hooksets and not ones on the "side."

 

As stated above, as soon as that bass jumps the rod tip hits the water.

 

Good luck and let us know if your hook up ratios increase.