Getting fish out of cover

[JS Patterson]

Lately I have been fishing jigs in heavy cover and submerged structure such as blown down trees. While I am able to land a lot of fish, it is sometimes a struggle getting them out when they get really tangled up. What are the best strategies for extracting large fish that are tangled around submerged wood?

[Mike L]

There are no real strategies. 

Sometimes you just gotta go get em. 

 

Don't try to get right on top of them, just get within arms reach if they're shallow enough. 

If not try to bring the wood up if you can. 

If that don't work all you can do is maneuver around changing your angle and hope for the best. 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Bankbeater]

In deep water if you feel that you have a really good hook set, you might try giving the fish some slack and see if it runs back out.  The problem with this is you can never be sure if the fish is going to run out the same way it went in.

[dodgeguy]

Heavy extra fast action rod .heavy flouro or braid. Set that hook and pull. The more time you fart around the more they wrap around cover. 

[scaleface]

Bill Dance  preaches  to give the fish the same pressure it is giving . If its pulling hard , you pull hard , when it lets up , you let up . Never worked well for me . Thats why he is bill Dance and I am not .

[JS Patterson]

Thank you for taking the time to answer. I try to get them out immediately but unfortunately it’s the  big girls that have a tendency to stay put in the thick stuff. I think the first thing is to not panic when one gets stuck. I usually have the hook set well in the upper mouth. I will try to take a breath and find the best option and maybe giving them a little slack. I like the applying equal pressure idea. 

[dodgeguy]

I almost never get them out giving them slack.

[geo g]

Heavy braid, tight drag, stout rod, tough reel, upon setting the hook, get her head up as soon as possible, and don't play with her, keep the pressure on.   If your hopelessly tied up you have two choices, either go in after her, or give her some line and they often free themselves.  It has worked for me many times, and I have lost a few!

[Boomstick]

Glenn did a video of re-arranging a bunch of fallen branches to wench out a bass his wife caught. I'd link it if I could find it, but I don't remember the title and honestly don't even know which category it would be under. But in short, there's often no easy way to get them out when the cover gets really rough.

[Log Catcher]

I caught a bass one time that I thought I was going to need a chain saw to get it out. I kept pressure on it and it finally came out after several minutes.

[Jig Man]

When I fish brush piles they are usually 20-40 feet deep.  I set the hook and keep the line tight.  They almost always come out by themselves.  I can't hoss them out using only 10# mono.

[Darren.]

Welcome aboard, and good luck solving the riddle of getting the

big gals out of heavy cover  Some can do it with light line even,

just ask @earthworm77!

[JS Patterson]

Thanks for the help. After breaking 2 good ones off on braid with 17lb flouro leader, I switched to straight braid. A couple af casts later it happened again. Despite my best efforts to get her out immediately she got terribly tangled in a tree. After 10 minutes of manipulation I finally landed her, 5lb 5oz.  Not my biggest this spring, but definitely worth catching. I will be sticking with straight braid from now on. 

[Catt]

Sometimes ya get em out... sometimes ya don't ?

[EGbassing]

On 3/19/2019 at 8:49 PM, Darren. said:

Welcome aboard, and good luck solving the riddle of getting the

big gals out of heavy cover  Some can do it with light line even,

just ask @earthworm77!

I fish heavy cover with 6 pound line sometimes and never break fish off. The only reason that works is because every time I hook a fish in shallow cover in the pond I fish, it rockets for open water the second I set the hook. I don't understand it, but they never move towards cover when they're hooked in this pond.

[frogflogger]

Patience

[Darren.]

10 hours ago, EGbassing said:

I fish heavy cover with 6 pound line sometimes and never break fish off. The only reason that works is because every time I hook a fish in shallow cover in the pond I fish, it rockets for open water the second I set the hook. I don't understand it, but they never move towards cover when they're hooked in this pond.

I wish that were the case with me. Have had successes and

failures getting big bass out of the sticks. However, I do try

to run my fingers down the length of my leaders more often

to see if there are any nicks or abrasion spots. If so, I'll change

it out, or cut it back.

 

Lost a nice bass a few weeks back that I caught "near" a fallen

tree, it was strong enough to dive under said tree and get 

stuck. As I tried to work it loose, it kept pulling until the line

was sawed off by the tree.

[WRB]

If possible take a few minutes and pre plan your cast angle considering the fish will usually pull against your line pressure to escape, swimming out of the cover instead of into it.

Tom

[Catt]

My motto is, "hook em first... figure out how to land em next!"

 

Very seldom do I see em swim out of cover ?

[Tennessee Boy]

Heavy rod,  heavy line,  set the hook hard and be prepared to duck when the fish is not as big as you thought.

[928JLH]

20+ pound flouro, or 65+ pound braid. Heavy or extra heavy rod fast action. Rip them out with a good reel. I've had cheap reels with cheap frames cause issues. All mine now are aluminum or magnesium frame now. Keep the heat on em.

 

If you can't get her out with constant pressure give her slack and hopefully she comes out. Worked for me probably 80% of the time.