Ok Friends.. Help

[RHuff]

 

Been on a real good flipping bite lately. I’ve been finding good fish anywhere there is a stump, laydown, or beaver hut inside a lilly pad field. My set up is a Heavy/Fast flipping rod with a 8.3:1 Lew’s SuperDuty on 65lb braid with a Trokar 4/0 Flipping Hook snelled. Equipment isn’t the problem. The fisherman is the problem. Every time I flip into or at the edge of the wood I feel the classic “tick, tick, thump” bite. I set the hook and feel the fish pull then BAM. I’m log jammed on the wood and it’s game over. I can reel the boat to the hook and the hook is usually stuck on a limb or wrapped around the log with the fish nowhere to be found. 

 

How do you guys go about getting these fish in? I’m not brave enough to give them any slack in this situation. Is that where my mistake is being made?

[Mike L]

If you know you're hooked up, change the angle of your retrieve by moving the boat around. Most times by pulling straight up with just a little light pressure after pulling the opposite way she'll get herself out. 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

 

[Sam]

Don't be afraid to give the fish some line to swim away.

 

If you are hung up and will lose the bass anyway, what do you have to lose?

 

Will not be successful every time but I do believe you will have more catches then by fighting the snag.

 

I did this on the upper Historic James River two weeks ago when the bass was behind a stump and the line was snagged. By giving slack to the line he swam away from the stump and the line came lose.

[BigAngus752]

Are you saying that you aren't getting the fish hooked?  You feel the bite and when you set the hook it turns into a snag?  I fish only man-made lakes and I have this happen occasionally when I'm pulling the trigger too fast.  The fish is deep under a log or brush and I jump too quick, pulling the hook out of the fish's mouth and straight into a snag.  I think when the bass is under heavy wood you can pull too hard/fast and wedge the fish against the wood resulting in pulling the hook out of the mouth instead of a good hookset.   Just be a tad more patient and when you set the hook don't give in to the tendency to try to rip the fish out.  Set it and then keep some tension but try to swim the fish out rather than rip it out.  You can rip a fish out of lily pads on a frog with a double hook on 65lb braid but in thick wood you have to work with the fish to negotiate it's release.  

[frogflogger]

One of the reasons I like a more parabolic rod when fishing braid.

[Troy85]

You can give the fish a little line to swim without giving it completely slack line, just lower your rod tip slowly and see if the fish will swim down from the branch or log that its pinned up against.  

[Hower08]

What size bait are you using. I've had failed hook ups before only to downsize one size in hooks and start hooking every fish

[scaleface]

That happens a lot . Sometimes the fish comes out ,sometimes the fish comes off and sometimes I have to go in after it  . Bill Dance says to give the fish pressure when its pulling hard and let up when it lets up . That never worked for me .

[RHuff]

I am getting a good hookset. It’s when I try to muscle them out of the cover. I typically flip with a Rage Bug or D-Bomb..

[dodgeguy]

On 8/7/2019 at 7:20 AM, BigAngus752 said:

Are you saying that you aren't getting the fish hooked?  You feel the bite and when you set the hook it turns into a snag?  I fish only man-made lakes and I have this happen occasionally when I'm pulling the trigger too fast.  The fish is deep under a log or brush and I jump too quick, pulling the hook out of the fish's mouth and straight into a snag.  I think when the bass is under heavy wood you can pull too hard/fast and wedge the fish against the wood resulting in pulling the hook out of the mouth instead of a good hookset.   Just be a tad more patient and when you set the hook don't give in to the tendency to try to rip the fish out.  Set it and then keep some tension but try to swim the fish out rather than rip it out.  You can rip a fish out of lily pads on a frog with a double hook on 65lb braid but in thick wood you have to work with the fish to negotiate it's release.  

Totally agree this is what happens.Wait until you feel weight.

[BigAngus752]

On 8/9/2019 at 7:56 PM, RHuff said:

It’s when I try to muscle them out of the cover.

Yup, it's definitely not an arm wrestling contest.  Like @scaleface suggested, there's no perfect answer.  You have to try to keep them tight enough not to get further in or worse, swim a circle around something, but you have to leave them enough give to swim them out.  And unless you fish really clear water you probably aren't going to be able to see what you have to weave them through.  My suggestion is, if you have been "ripping" or "muscling" them out then let way up.  You may lose them that way too but you'll get more of them out as you find the happy medium.  I know I have lost more by pulling too hard than I have by letting up.  As soon as I see they are tangled hard I will hit the TM and hang off the front of the boat to try to get them by hand.  Rarely works when they have looped around something.