How to prevent bass from doing "The jump"?

[TriStateBassin106]

If you fish for bass you've seen it happen a million times, you set the hook on a really nice fish and while it's fighting it does "the jump" and it's awesome to see what your fish looks like before you're able to land it, but my problem with this is trying to prevent the fish from jumping, it's rather annoying if your hook comes flying out the fishes mouth and you just lost one. 

 

When ever I set the hook I immediately make sure my rod is at a downward angle to prevent the bass from jumping, but sometimes it still happens, (lost two nice fish yesterday because of this) 

 

Anyway, how do I prevent bass from jumping? I seem to be doing the right thing but sometimes it still happens. Any ideas? 

[TnRiver46]

Never hook them in the first place! Sorry I couldn't resist . Putting your rod tip under water is all you can do. There is no sure fire way to "prevent" them from jumping, all you can do is keep the rod down and hope 

[frogflogger]

Hope for the best and/or enjoy the jump.

[riverbasser]

I lose more holding the rod down. I just keep constant pressure and hope for the best

[NYWayfarer]

Keeping the rod tip down is the best insurance against jumps. Moving it to the right or left while down helps sometimes  change the direction the Bass is swimming and prevents jumps.

 

Or you could do like the pros and YouTubers and horse them in to the point they are water skiing all the way to you.

[WRB]

Depends on the size of the bass and the species.

By putting the rod tip down or even under water youbarectrying to change the angle of pull between you and the bass. Changing the pull angle 10 to 15 degrees at 60' is a very small change and has zero attest on any size or specie of bass. If you held rod tip upwards you could possibly ski a small bass across the surface. The closer the bass gets to your location the effective changing angles are.

Smallmouth jump a lot more often and higher out of the water then largemouth or spotted bass, specie makes a difference. Your tackle makes a difference, stronger line using higher power rods gives you more control with the hooked bass.

Bottom line is bass sometimes jump and it's you who must kee the hooks set, sometimes the bass gets away.

Tom

 

[TriStateBassin106]

17 minutes ago, WRB said:

Depends on the size of the bass and the species.

By putting the rod tip down or even under water youbarectrying to change the angle of pull between you and the bass. Changing the pull angle 10 to 15 degrees at 60' is a very small change and has zero attest on any size or specie of bass. If you held rod tip upwards you could possibly ski a small bass across the surface. The closer the bass gets to your location the effective changing angles are.

Smallmouth jump a lot more often and higher out of the water then largemouth or spotted bass, specie makes a difference. Your tackle makes a difference, stronger line using higher power rods gives you more control with the hooked bass.

Bottom line is bass sometimes jump and it's you who must kee the hooks set, sometimes the bass gets away.

Tom

 

Thanks Tom, I'll keep this in mind the next time I hit the water!

[The Bassman]

My daily chorus: "There I got bit!......aannd now he bit me. About that time the ducks close by are quacking and it sounds like they're laughing at me.

[Sphynx]

Get about 10 lb of slop wrapped around him on the way in, that'll learn him not to jump! On a serious note I don't think it's possible to always prevent a fish jumping, just part of it and if nothing else it's quite a show.

[J Francho]

It's best to go easy on a fish that feels like a jumper.  Most of my biggest fish just dug down, and didn't try to jump at all.  It's the rats that go nuts.

[Todd2]

If you jump right when it jumps the two jumps should cancel out. Not sure it will work but your partner will get a laugh... ?

[Catt]

I've watched hundreds of hours of videos & apparently the Pros don't know how to do it either!

 

I don't think it's possible ?

[Team9nine]

Two options I’ve played with. One, give the fish immediate slack line when you know he’s heading up to jump. It’s the line pressure keeping his head pointed up as you fight him that is partly responsible. The other option is to pull on him hard just as he’s breaking to roll him over before he can jump. Each option has its pluses and minuses, and nothing works all the time, but both these have worked for me at times.

[A-Jay]

While I do subscribe to the 'stuff the rod in the water' method, (seems I can't help it) I've lost my fair share of air born ranger bass.  I will readily admit that when an over-sized green or brown bass is determined enough, there's really not a whole lot I can do to prevent her from reaching for the sky to gain her freedom; and that includes jumping over board with my gear in hand. (ok, I made that part up).

 Interestingly enough, I've lost far more bigger green bass from jumping than brown.  Most of those have been south of the border and one in particular haunts me nightly. 

 Perhaps it's more about preparation than performance.

If we have the right quality balanced gear and terminal tackle, we stand at least a fighting chance of coming out on the other side of it still pinned up.  Finally, looking back I think I've lost more fish jumping off on 'light' gear than medium or heavy gear - and it may be by a two to one margin. 

Here's two brown ones that tried the air born deal but still ended up in the frail . . . . .

 

A-Jay

 

 

 

 

[JustJames]

I’m in the same boat as changing direction when you feel the tension of bass coming up to water, not after. I mostly fight with rod tip up if I feel the bass coming up I’ll either lower rod tip to left or right and pull back. I always notice if I try to pull the fish up fast that fish trend to jump more and I love to see that. The one that you don’t want to jump, jumped and hurt you, been there many times.

[schplurg]

I can't tell when they are going to jump, I haven't fished long enough. I think it's a cool part of the fight when they jump sometimes, and ya I've lost 'em. 

 

It's just part of the challenge and I respect a fish that can get away from me once hooked. I'm not happy about it but hey, whaddyagonnado? Bring it on fish, let's see what ya got!!!

[Derek1]

27 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

While I do subscribe to the 'stuff the rod in the water' method, (seems I can't help it) I've lost my fair share of air born ranger bass.  I will readily admit that when an over-sized green or brown bass is determined enough, there's really not a whole lot I can do to prevent her from reaching for the sky to gain her freedom; and that includes jumping over board with my gear in hand. (ok, I made that part up).

 Interestingly enough, I've lost far more bigger green bass from jumping than brown.  Most of those have been south of the border and one in particular haunts me nightly. 

 Perhaps it's more about preparation than performance.

If we have the right quality balanced gear and terminal tackle, we stand at least a fighting chance of coming out on the other side of it still pinned up.  Finally, looking back I think I've lost more fish jumping off on 'light' gear that medium or heavy gear - and it may be by a two to one margin. 

Here's two brown ones that tried the air born deal but still ended up in the frail . . . . .

 

A-Jay

 

 

 

 

Great videos, I like your controlled excitement you can definitely hear it in your voice when you lay them on the deck. 

    By the way if you wake up tomorrow morning and see someone in the boat don’t worry it’s just me sitting in the passenger seat waiting patiently. 

[A-Jay]

1 hour ago, Derek1 said:

Great videos, I like your controlled excitement you can definitely hear it in your voice when you lay them on the deck. 

    By the way if you wake up tomorrow morning and see someone in the boat don’t worry it’s just me sitting in the passenger seat waiting patiently. 

Thank you - I'm just a very fortunate dude, who gets to fish some places that have some crazy fat smallies ! 

btw - wait until August - that's when the insanity starts again 

A-Jay

 

[RealtreeByGod]

3 hours ago, NYWayfarer said:

Keeping the rod tip down is the best insurance against jumps. Moving it to the right or left while down helps sometimes  change the direction the Bass is swimming and prevents jumps.

 

Or you could do like the pros and YouTubers and horse them in to the point they are water skiing all the way to you.

That always bugs me, watch a pro use a Heavy baitcaster and 50lb braid to waterski a little 2lb bass back to the boat. 

[TriStateBassin106]

46 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Thank you - I'm just a very fortunate dude, who gets to fish some places that has some insanely fat smallies ! 

btw - wait until August - that's when the insanity starts again 

A-Jay

 

How are the bigger smallmouth bass compared to the largies in terms of fighting? We catch smaller dink smallies here in NJ and it almost feels like catching catfish because they don't jump that much. 

1 hour ago, Team9nine said:

Two options I’ve played with. One, give the fish immediate slack line when you know he’s heading up to jump. It’s the line pressure keeping his head pointed up as you fight him that is partly responsible. The other option is to pull on him hard just as he’s breaking to roll him over before he can jump. Each option has its pluses and minuses, and nothing works all the time, but both these have worked for me at times.

The problem I have and I think Glenn made a video about this, is that I fish Texas rigs and don't give out slack line, in the video Glenn talked about the soft plastic coming close to the fishes mouth and it's not able to get a proper hookset, I believe this is my problem hahaha. 

 

It's a tick I really need to work on out on the water fishing. 

1 hour ago, Bass_Fishing_Socal said:

I’m in the same boat as changing direction when you feel the tension of bass coming up to water, not after. I mostly fight with rod tip up if I feel the bass coming up I’ll either lower rod tip to left or right and pull back. I always notice if I try to pull the fish up fast that fish trend to jump more and I love to see that. The one that you don’t want to jump, jumped and hurt you, been there many times.

Usually bass I'm able to catch are hooked good in the lip or barely hooked on the side, it's really weird though because you'd think that if the fish is hooked barely in the lip they would jump and the hook would come out, but I've caught some where they'd jump and once I landed the fish they would wiggle and the hook came out on it's own. 

 

Bass honestly are weird fish hahahaha I feel like sometimes the fish has more explaining to do than us lol.

[A-Jay]

30 minutes ago, pondhopperNJ said:

How are the bigger smallmouth bass compared to the largies in terms of fighting? We catch smaller dink smallies here in NJ and it almost feels like catching catfish because they don't jump that much. 

 

 With Green Bass & Brown bass - it's all about water temp.

Early season the fish are a little lethargic, but as the season progresses and the water warms up, the acrobatics do as well.  Big fish will almost always do whatever it takes to earn their freedom.  And that includes jumping to the moon . . .

It's awesome when they jump and stay pinned and not so good when they take to the sky and come unbuttoned . . 

A-Jay

[WRB]

You never know if a bass is going to jump or not until it jumps.

The thought only small bass jump is also a myth. The 2 biggest bass that I caught both jumped about 100' away from me and cleared the water instantly after hooking them in somewhere between 17' to 20' of water. Nothing anyone can do if a big bass decides to go airborne to shake out your lure, there is always some tension on it going through water fast. All anyone can do is hope the bass doesn't shake out the lure. Tarpon anglers like to bow to the fish giving less tension, I never have enough time or warning to react fast enough. Giant fish jumping is awesome to watch with your heart pounding, something to enjoy, it's part of bass fishing.

Tom 

[Bankbeater]

Sometimes you can see the angle of the line change. When I see that I keep pressure on and as the bass is coming out of the water I swing and reset the hook. Small bass come flying at you, and large bass usually fall over on their sides. Most of the time it works, but some still get away. 

[haggard]

Not sure what can be done to prevent the jump so I'd focus more on how to keep then from throwing the hook when they jump. Two best things I can think of are keep steady pressure on; lead them from left to right (all the way) as you bring them in (so they might think horizontal is a better direction to go than up); and use a long handled net (I often lose them at the boat without the net when they surface). Oh wait, that was three. Okay so three things.

 

Not that you asked, but I love the jump and enjoy the challenge of trying to keep them on, especially with barbless hooks. Sure it's disappointing when you lose them, but that makes it more rewarding when you land them.

 

[813basstard]

Longer the cast, lower probability of you keeping them from jumping. Rod tip down, constant pressure. 

High sticking (especially at the boat) has broken more hearts than first semester high school sweethearts at college.