Help with losing lures

[Pkfish49]

Hi,

I “like” your Facebook page and have been having tons of fun watching your instructional videos.  I need help with a problem that I am having and am wondering if you can either answer with a video, or a reply.

I am not a dedicated Bass fisherman, but will probably be landing a bunch of Largemouth, Smallmouth, and Rock Bass, next summer.  I still consider myself a beginner fisherman, but I’ve been salt water shore casting for the last two years and went lake fishing earlier this fall.  I’m having the same problem lake fishing that I was having salt water fishing:  When I shore cast with a lure, (I hope I’m not violating any forum rules by mentioning brand names – I’m not associated with any of the companies) either a spoon, or a shiny Kastmaster, or a Rapala, or any kind of plug, often the hook gets stuck on the bottom as I am reeling in.  I can figure out how to free it, so I have cut off the line, losing the lure and some line in the process. 

You post videos where an underwater camera captures the caster deliberately scraping the bottom structures in order to “get a feel” for area.  The lures never get caught on the bottom and nothing in the video shows anybody worrying about this.  Is there some technique that I can use to avoid losing so many lures by getting caught on the bottom?  For my freshwater setup, I’m using a 6 foot pole with a spinning reel, spooled up with 8 LB mono.

 

Thanks

 

 

[roadwarrior]

The fact is that you are going to lose baits and lures fishing from shore. Your best bet is to fish soft plastic rigged weedless. You will still hang-up and occasionally lose a bait, but the cost is relatively low.

 

 

 

[Glenn]

 

[tholmes]

4 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

The fact is that you are going to lose baits and lures fishing from shore. Your best bet is to fish soft plastic rigged weedless. You will still hang-up and occasionally lose a bait, but the cost is relatively low.

 

 

 

^ This. The only way to stop losing lures is to stop fishing.

You can lessen hang-ups by replacing the treble hooks on your spoons with single hooks, but that won't eliminate them either.

It's a cost of fishing, especially if you, like me, fish exclusively from shore.

Tom

[Fried Lemons]

Some lures come through rocks and wood better than others. kastmasters are really prone to snagging. I wouldn't consider it a good lure to be crashing into cover. A square billed crankbait or a Texas rigged plastic will come through more easily.

As a bank angler your options are limited once you snag up. You may want to consider switching to a superline. Any braid below 30  will be thinner in diameter and strong enough to bend most stock trebles.

[JustJames]

It is the game. I lost so many lures and just lost two brand new LC jerkbait recently. That another reason I dont fish with hard plastic much. 

Another thing is to look in flea market where ppl sell their unwanted lures, that way it a lot cheaper than what you have to buy brand new.

[Pkfish49]

3 hours ago, Glenn said:

 

 

3 hours ago, Glenn said:

 

Thanks for the quick reply.  I'm not going fishing until March, when I'm sure to hit a snag or 2, or 3, and will try your techniques.  I'll reply to the thread and let you know how it worked out.

[Pkfish49]

3 hours ago, Fried Lemons said:

Some lures come through rocks and wood better than others. kastmasters are really prone to snagging. I wouldn't consider it a good lure to be crashing into cover. A square billed crankbait or a Texas rigged plastic will come through more easily.

As a bank angler your options are limited once you snag up. You may want to consider switching to a superline. Any braid below 30  will be thinner in diameter and strong enough to bend most stock trebles.

Thanks for all of the advice.  Eager to hit the lakes again next spring and summer, I've bought a ton of lures;a number of crankbaits amongst them and I can't wait to try them out.  Regarding the line, I'm sticking with mono for a while.  Taking the advice of a bait and tackle shop owner, I fished with 20 LB test braid last fall.  The line ripped a deep hole in my casting finger which hurt like hell when I casted and took months to heal. I did buy a few cast protectors, but I kept losing them or forgetting to bring them.  

[WRB]

Welcome to bass fishing and the BR site.

The type of lures you use and where you fish with them determines how often they will get snagged.

Fishing from shore means retreiving bottom contact lures up hill or casting to deeper water and bringing the lure towards shallower water near shore, getting snagged is going to happen.

Surface lure that stay on the surface don't usually snag. Your tackle is suited for finesse presentations like split shot / mojo rigs with soft plastic worms and that is my suggestion for you to start with.

Tom

[new2BC4bass]

As roadwarrior said, "fish soft plastic rigged weedless", or as Tom said fish a topwater lure, or use a favorite lure of mine....a spinnerbait.  A spinnebait seldom gets snagged and can be a very effective lure at times.  Just ask my brother-in-law.  

[Raul]

2 hours ago, new2BC4bass said:

As roadwarrior said, "fish soft plastic rigged weedless", or as Tom said fish a topwater lure, or use a favorite lure of mine....a spinnerbait.  A spinnebait seldom gets snagged and can be a very effective lure at times.  Just ask my brother-in-law.  

Unless there's a sudden change in the wind that sends your spinnerbait right into that danged brush you were casting to ( just gotta blame somthing for messing a cast )  and the dang thing even wrapps itself around a branch, yes, spinnerbaits are 99% weedless/snagless.

[Paul Roberts]

I'm not a fan of losing lures, and actually wouldn't be so flippant with the idea that losing lures is just a part of fishing. I guess my take on this is that you need to decide on the rate of lure loss you can tolerate. This is a pretty natural process. Lose a couple lures in quick succession in a given spot and you'll make adjustments. What adjustments to make?...

Over time you'll learn which lures are prone to snagging in which types of cover (veges, wood, rock...); It's amazing how lure design can thwart snags. You'll learn how to choose the proper lure weight, lure design, and line diameter for the depth you are fishing. You'll also learn how deep your lure is by learning to visualize its path underwater. Visualization also allows you to "map" the bottom in front of you, which will save you lures, and catch you fish. And you'll learn how to fish your way around and through various bottom/cover types by adjusting rod angle and control of tension. It's amazing how good you'll get at threading lures through "dangerous" spots.

This all takes some time and experience to get familiar enough with tackle, lures, water, and bottom type, to gain appropriate control. The two basic "controls" in fishing are depth and speed, and they not only pertain to lure loss, but are critical to catching fish. Control is the key, and it simply takes time to acquire.