Breaking Off?

[Quarry Man]

Starting to practice flipping this year. On a random cast to the middle, I snagged a log. wasn't able to break the 65lb braid and had to cut a chunk of line off. What do y'all do when you get snagged and can't free the lure or break off?

[12poundbass]

This came up on another site and someone mentioned tying your line around one of your cleats. Either the line will break, you’ll pull a wall hanger of a log up, or your jig will break. Either way I’m going to give it a try next time. 

[Smokinal]

9 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

This came up on another site and someone mentioned tying your line around one of your cleats. Either the line will break, you’ll pull a wall hanger of a log up, or your jig will break. Either way I’m going to give it a try next time. 

I would probably try this too, but in all seriousness, I'd duck down and keep a low profile....

[Logan S]

Wrap your line around a pair of pliers or anything else that's sturdy and you can hold in your hand to pull on....Use that pull on your line instead of the rod or bare hands.  Something will break or come loose and then you don't leave line in the lake.  I always use pliers because I have them handy and close by.

 

With braid the line should be OK, with Flouro the excess stretching will ruin everything from the pull point to the bait....Flouro doesn't like being overstretched.

[scaleface]

15 lb Big Game is difficult to break . 65 lb braid would suck . Glad I dont use the stuff .

[Bird]

The heaviest I use is 50# braid on a heavy action frog rod.

Use same outfit when throwing 1oz Jigs.

 

It does suck to hang but if it's REALLY hung , use scissors. 

[browne762]

What I do: Get upset and probably swear. Then wrap the line around my fingers and pull really hard resulting in a deep cut. Then swear some more and think "You idiot! You knew that would happen again!"

 

What I should do: Wrap the line around my pliers, pull and hope it comes out or breaks at the knot. If I cant pull hard enough by hand then I pull with the trolling motor. If that doesn't work then I get as close as I can and cut the line. 

 

Most the time the line breaks at or near the lure. 

 

I should try the cleat option.

[Mike L]

If I can, I change pull angle a few times. You’d be surprised how many lure and hooks can be saved by just moving around. 
 

If that don’t work I’ll cut as low as I can and move on. 
 

 

 

Mike

[Quarry Man]

1 minute ago, Mike L said:

If I can, I change pull angle a few times. You’d be surprised how many lure and hooks can be saved by just moving around. 
 

If that don’t work I’ll cut as low as I can and move on. 

this is what I did. I am usually pretty good at freeing lures, simply because I spend a lot of time snagging them. I was worried the 1/2 oz tungsten would kill me when flying back.

[WRB]

65 lbs is a lot of pressure to apply using a wooden dowl, I done that and managed to pull the boat over the snagged jig. At that point you did what should have done, cut the line. Pull the snag using the boat cleat and OB may break it loose or pull the snag loose but the hook usually is bent and you risk being hit by the jig. Cut it off was the right decision.

Tom

[Sam]

...cut a chunk of line off...

[roadwarrior]

The reason I use a fluorocarbon leader...always.

 

[MassYak85]

Ideally the line to lure connection is always gonna be the weakest link, even if you're using a leader. So if you're using 65lb braid you're gonna need something really string to wrap the line around and pull. It's one reason I like leaders for anything other than frogs or punching. Much easier to break off 15lb line than the braid. 

[N Florida Mike]

Cut the line?...

Is this a trick question?

[WRB]

3 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

The reason I use a fluorocarbon leader...always.

 

Flipping maybe 10' of line, how long is the leader?

[MassYak85]

4 minutes ago, WRB said:

Flipping maybe 10' of line, how long is the leader?

I feel like the distinction between actual "flipping" and "pitching" is getting lost. I'm guessing OP meant pitching if he was getting his lure far enough away to worry about lost line. 

[Lead Head]

Usually if I can't get it loose its deep enough I'm not worried about it hitting me. Wrap line around the boat paddle and pull. On the rare occasion that this happens, I regret always getting "grid iron" jigs from Siebert. I tell myself the next order will be lighter wire hooks... but it never is. It's usually not the hook that's hung up anyway. 

[LonnieP]

That's why I only use braid for frogs. Tried it on my texas rig setup last year. Got hung up fishing in some flooded timber, couldn't get my boat very close to it and had to cut 1/4 spool of line off.

[DitchPanda]

This is why I only use braid for frogs... I was jig fishing one time a few years ago with my frog setup and got hung up on rock...wrapped my braid around a stick to pull and to say it was hard to break is an understatement.

 

[JediAmoeba]

I wrap the line around my oar or paddle or something I have and yank it as hard as possible.  I have never had a problem getting it free - the key is getting that shock.  I can break 80# free this way.  It usually breaks at the hook or the hook bends out really bad and you get it all back.

[the reel ess]

On 4/7/2020 at 3:26 PM, scaleface said:

15 lb Big Game is difficult to break . 65 lb braid would suck . Glad I dont use the stuff .

You can use a main line of braid and a short leader of 15# Big Game if you want the breakoff ability off the mono with the zero stretch of the braid. I've done that and I have also used straight braid. Just depends on the situation. I keep the spool of Big Game in my bag.

 

To the OP: Don't cast it to the middle. ? Most of the time I'm flipping/pitching to targets in an area that's shallow enough to get to if I hang up. If I decided to use that combo for deeper water, I'd put a short leader of mono on. Lots of people would use fluoro instead, but I don't really want to carry three lines with me and the water is almost always stained around here. A Guide in FL showed me you can break the stuff. Wrap it a few times around a dowel or a stick if your bankbound. Also, I use 50# even on my frog rod. But I haven't had to break it. So far, I haven't needed the added advantage of 15# test on top of 50# just to get a bass out of weeds.

[Glenn]

 

[plawren53202]

Interesting discussion...if I'm wrapping 65# braid around a boat cleat and backing the boat up with the trolling or outboard motor, you can bet I'm also laying in the floor of the boat ? I'm also praying the cleat doesn't rip off or the boat tip over lol.

[MN Fisher]

Advantage to the canoe - I just paddle over to where the snag is and only cut off if it's too deep to reach.

[fishwizzard]

Carry a 4” chunk of broom handle in your tackle kit. Even heavy braid is easily breakable if you can give it a hard pop. 
 

People leaving tons of line in the water is my biggest fishing pet peeve, if you can’t figure out how to break it then don’t fish it.