How do you break off on purpose?

[Tackleholic]

Let's say your jig is hopelessly snagged 20 feet deep, using 15# fluorocarbon line.  You have to break off, not wanting to cut the line and leave 20 feet of line in the water.  How do you break that line at or near the jig?

[HaydenS]

Reel as tight as you can, and pull backwards.  That always works for me. 

You might have to cut it if you are using heavy braid, without a leader. 

[jbsoonerfan]

2 minutes ago, HaydenS said:

Reel as tight as you can, and pull backwards.  That always works for me. 

You might have to cut it if you are using heavy braid, without a leader. 

That's a good way to ruin a reel. I have a buddy who does it that way and he can't for the life of him figure out why his drag slips.

 

OP, I usually pull out some extra line and lay my rod and reel to the side. Then I find something to wrap the line around (90% of the time I use the handle of my net) and I pull till it breaks. I use braid a lot so I will usually straighten a hook before I break the braid.

[TnRiver46]

15# floro isn’t hard to break at the knot. 50# braid is 

[Cigarguy]

Jbsoonerfan's method is how I do it.  Don't need to make it worse by breaking either reel or rod.

 

Most of my reel is braid to leader setup with the leader being significantly weaker than the braid.  So it always break at somewhere in the leader.

[LrgmouthShad]

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

15# floro isn’t hard to break at the knot. 50# braid is 

Heck I've broke off limbs before with 15# big game before the knots fail. That's mono though :).

[TnRiver46]

1 minute ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Heck I've broke off limbs before with 15# big game before the knots fail. That's mono though :).

I think you can just set the hook and break floro from what I’ve heard and seen 

[Steveo-1969]

Agree with the above. For 15# fluorocarbon I point the rod at the snag, reel the line tight, and pull straight back.

 

 For heavy braid wrap the line around something and pull the snag out with your hands instead of the rod.

[Dens228]

I get as close as I can to the water entry point then with some slack in the line I wrap the line around something, usually my pliers handle, and give a yank. 

[Happybeerbuzz]

10 minutes ago, jbsoonerfan said:

That's a good way to ruin a reel. I have a buddy who does it that way and he can't for the life of him figure out why his drag slips.

 

OP, I usually pull out some extra line and lay my rod and reel to the side. Then I find something to wrap the line around (90% of the time I use the handle of my net) and I pull till it breaks. I use braid a lot so I will usually straighten a hook before I break the braid.

I keep a length of thick dowel in the boat strictly for the purpose of breaking off braid.  Breaking off is also one of my motives for using leader in general.  Even 30# braid is a hassle to break off. 

[galyonj]

23 minutes ago, Happybeerbuzz said:

Breaking off is also one of my motives for using leader in general.  Even 30# braid is a hassle to break off. 

 

I think @TnRiver46 and I've talked about this before, but one of the reasons I use a leader is because I like fishing braid, but I also acknowledge that, the way I fish and where I fish, I'm gonna get hung and I'm gonna have to break something off once in a while.

 

So the leader, for me, is as much to create a designed failure point as it is for any other reason.

 

The same logic applies here as it does for...I dunno, say building a drag car. Something's gonna break, and you're better off if you can choose what breaks when it does. It's a whole lot easier (and cheaper) to replace an axle than to rebuild a differential, for example. I'd rather break off a length of leader than chance an entire spool get stretched and buggered up, or chance breaking a rod tip trying to muscle braid loose.

[JustJames]

15lb FC is not difficult to break at all. I don’t pull till it break but a quick yank a couple time should do the trick. Be prepared to duck if lure snagged very close believe me with steady pull the lure can fly right at your face even 15’ away.

[HookInMouth]

3 minutes ago, Bass_Fishing_Socal said:

15lb FC is not difficult to break at all. I don’t pull till it break but a quick yank a couple time should do the trick. Be prepared to duck if lure snagged very close believe me with steady pull the lure can fly right at your face even 15’ away.

I just tagged myself in the twig n' berries this past weekend straightening a hook on a snag. Might have preferred it coming for my face if I'm honest...

 

-------------------

 

I always use a tool (pliers or something) and wrap the line around it and pull. 50lb braid / 12lb mono leader. Usually. 

[galyonj]

1 minute ago, Bass_Fishing_Socal said:

Be prepared to duck if lure snagged very close believe me with steady pull the lure can fly right at your face even 15’ away.

 

This reminded me of the first time that She Who Must Be Obeyed and I went fishing together. We were on opposite corners of a big dock, fishing out opposite each other, and my back was turned the entire time for this.

 

As best I can recall, she had tried to catch a fish way up in the top of a tree with this little plug she had tied on, and, finding no fish, the plug caught the tree instead.

 

I heard her cussing it, and the next two things I heard were THWACK followed by louder cussing.

 

Apparently the plug came loose and rocketed back to whack her in the shin. She had a squarebill-shaped welt on her leg for a few days.

[Jaderose]

Someone above mentioned a piece of dowel rod.  That is the correct answer.  You WILL eventually destroy your reel or break a rod if you use it to break off or leverage off a snag.  You could get a plug knocker to undo the snag, as well

[TnRiver46]

6 minutes ago, HookInMouth said:

I just tagged myself in the twig n' berries this past weekend straightening a hook on a snag. Might have preferred it coming for my face if I'm honest...

 

-------------------

 

I always use a tool (pliers or something) and wrap the line around it and pull. 50lb braid / 12lb mono leader. Usually. 

No matter how many times a lure comes flying out of a tree and hits me or someone else I can’t help but laugh. It’s kind of like flatulence, it just never gets old 

[Deleted account]

47 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I think you can just set the hook and break floro from what I’ve heard and seen 

Or sneeze near it...

 

[HaydenS]

1 hour ago, jbsoonerfan said:

That's a good way to ruin a reel. I have a buddy who does it that way and he can't for the life of him figure out why his drag slips.

Thanks for telling me this!  I'll be sure to stop, before I break my reels.

[kayaking_kev]

11 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

No matter how many times a lure comes flying out of a tree and hits me or someone else I can’t help but laugh. It’s kind of like flatulence, it just never gets old 

 

Last season I was yanking on a stuck 1/2 oz. football jig that seemed pretty stuck, then all of a sudden it came flying back at my head and hit my GoPro 5 that was attached to the bill of my hat and knocked it to the bottom of the lake. It wasn't too funny at the time, but it's funny now and gave me an excuse to get a GoPro 8 and this time I got the Floaty for it.

 

And, a few times last year I had a whopper plopper come flying back at me barely missing my head after a smallmouth jumped and threw it.

[jbsoonerfan]

2 minutes ago, HaydenS said:

Thanks for telling me this!  I'll be sure to stop, before I break my reels.

You won't break your reel, it's just not good for it. It's especially not great on light weight spools.

[TnRiver46]

8 minutes ago, kayaking_kev said:

 

Last season I was yanking on a stuck 1/2 oz. football jig that seemed pretty stuck, then all of a sudden it came flying back at my head and hit my GoPro 5 that was attached to the bill of my hat and knocked it to the bottom of the lake. It wasn't too funny at the time, but it's funny now and gave me an excuse to get a GoPro 8 and this time I got the Floaty for it.

 

And, a few times last year I had a whopper plopper come flying back at me barely missing my head after a smallmouth jumped and threw it.

That’s “America’s funniest home video” level stuff right there 

[kayaking_kev]

I started out trying to pull the line with my hands, but of course you know how that went.

And, then I did the holding of the spool with my thumb and just backing up.

Then, I went to using a rock, but it would usually cut the line where I used the rock.

So, now I use a stick, but I been wanting to starting carry a piece of a rod dowel with me.

I bought a lure retriever last year, but I've never used it, maybe I should, lol.

[TnRiver46]

2 minutes ago, kayaking_kev said:

I started out trying to pull the line with my hands, but of course you know how that went.

And, then I did the holding of the spool with my thumb and just backing up.

Then, I went to using a rock, but it would usually cut the line where I used the rock.

So, now I use a stick, but I been wanting to starting carry a piece of a rod dowel with me.

I bought a lure retriever last year, but I've never used it, maybe I should, lol.

Haha, maybe quit using your plow line for fishing 

[kayaking_kev]

3 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Haha, maybe quit using your plow line for fishing 

I only usually have problems when bank fishing and I only use max 12 lb. Mono or 30 lb. Braid. But, I've bent a few hooks with the braid.

[WRB]

If you are in a boat try several different angles by lightly shaking the jig to loosen it, usually works. If it is hopelessly snagged position your self the opposite direction you were retrieving if possible, point the rod tip directly at the snag so it doesn’t bend the rod, clamp your thumb down on the spooled line and pull straight back fast without loading the rod. 15 lb FC will break at the knot, the weakest point, less then 12 lbs. Sometimes the extra force breaks off the snag. Cut off about 3’ of line before re tying and check for any line damage. 

FC is subject permanent line stretch weakness.

Tom    

PS, try a lure knocker before breaking off.