Landing bass that are wrapped up

[king fisher]

I lost two very large bass this year wrapped on flooded barbed wire fences.  Barbed wire is murderous to fishing line, and the bass know it.  

 

First bass I talked softly,  wile begging the bass to to untangle itself.

The second bass I swore like a sailor.

Both methods didn't work and they broke off taking the hot lure for the day with them.

I plan on praying the next time it happens.  Maybe a higher power will intervene with more fishing skill than I have.  I will post if this method is successful. 

[fin]

16 hours ago, WRB said:

If you are familiar with the lake and know where the trees are plan ahead before casting. All game fish tend run away from the line pressure after being hooked. With this fact in mind position yourself so the bass runs out of the cover (tree) when fighting it. The bass doesn't know to wrap your line it’s fighting against the force pulling on it. 

When you stop putting pressure on the bass it usually swims away instead deeper into the tree. The problem is the bass usually shakes out your lure if the line is too lose.

Tom

 

This may be true fishing in trees, but I don't buy the theory that they always run away from the line pressure. I fish standing on top of a culvert sometimes, and if you hook a good size largemouth from there, even if they are hooked way out from the shore, they will run for that culvert almost every single time, swimming directly at me. They don't know that the edge of the culvert will cut your line, but they may have learned that if they run in there they get free. I think the more likely explanation is that they are running for the cover of darkness, and I would expect them to follow the same pattern with trees, but I bow to your experience there.

[Mobasser]

With weeds and moss, I've been able to ease up pressure on fish and have them swim out of this stuff.           Wood cover is another thing. Even a small fish can wrap you up and wear down line in the fight.                                 Docks with post and cables can be tough also.               Both Charlie Brewer and Guido Hibdon  talked about " leading" bass from cover to land them, on lighter line.                  I'm still working on it...

[WRB]

I try to use words like tend or usually when describing bass behavior because they are individuals and behave accordingly.

Bigger bass tend to run towards their sanctuary area where they are safe. At times you set the hook and the bass run straight at you for a reason it’s heading for a safe place.

My PB 19.3 lb bass was hooked around a 40 yard cast. When reeling fast and rod sweeping to set the hook this bass jumped completely a full body length out of water, then ran straight at e under the boat and out the other wise another 20 yards or so and jumped again before I could catch up with this bass. The fact it stayed hook was a miracle. This is very rare behavior  because the bass wasn’t in shallow water heading for deeper water, it stayed about 15’ deep during it’s 60 yard long fast run. If a tree was there this bass would have ran through it.

Tom

[scaleface]

Cedar is the worse bass habitat . Had to break another one off yesterday . Hit her hard and quick , held the rod high to pull her up and out  and immediately got wrapped up . There are just too many limbs . The fish are almost impossible to get out , once they get wrapped up  .

[T-Billy]

 Heavy power rods, reels with plenty of drag pressure, and 40# braid at a minimum are the only way to fly when fishing in heavy vegetation and wood tangles IMO. Gotta bring their head up toward ya on the hookset and don't give an inch until they're clear of the cover.

 I get hung up in cover with small fish more than big ones because the flippin hooks point often comes out through the top of their head or gill plate and buries into the wood. If a fish does get me wrapped, giving them a bit of slack works maybe 50% of the time.

[gim]

22 hours ago, king fisher said:

I lost two very large bass this year wrapped on flooded barbed wire fences. 

Barbed wire?!  You definitely don't want to go in after that bass with barbed wire in the water!

[Mobasser]

It's a deal getting fish in. WRB has a good point here. Each bass is different and acts different.You might hook one in wood that will swim right out into open water, and make it easy to land him.                                              The next one can go straight into more wood, and wrap you up.                                     If all the fish did the same thing, we'd get tired of it quickly. That's what makes it all so fun, the unpredictable behavior of the bass.

[scaleface]

12 hours ago, Mobasser said:

Each bass is different and acts different.You might hook one in wood that will swim right out into open water, and make it easy to land him.                                              The next one can go straight into more wood, and wrap you up.                           

There is not much swimming out unless I'm working the outside . Once I get in the thick of it there is no swimming out , I have to bring them up ..  A lot of them get caught but once they get stuck , they stay stuck  . 

[Mobasser]

21 minutes ago, scaleface said:

There is not much swimming out unless I'm working the outside . Once I get in the thick of it there is no swimming out , I have to bring them up ..  A lot of them get caught but once they get stuck , they stay stuck  . 

Yes. If you hook one in thick wood, he might not have any place to go but into more thick  wood. Thick moss is the same for me. You can get them out, but sometimes bring 70 lbs of moss in also.

[jbmaine]

Don't really have a sure fire method to offer, but you're post reminded me of one particular time.

There is a section of shoreline my wife and I used to fish. A shallow cove with trees, bushes right to the water. We have found that ( beyond any reason I can think of), on a hot summer afternoon, when the shade starts coming out into the water, the bass stack up along the shoreline, like cordwood, in a foot of water, or less. If you can get a T-rigged Senko in close enough it will get bit. We have actually got a dozen bass in a hundred yard stretch.

  On one cast my wifes senko went over a tree branch, thru a bush, and into the water. She pulled, but it was stuck. as I'm working the boat into the shore, we see a big bass swimming out. When we got close enough I start working the line free. As I'm freeing the line it starts pulling back. I ended up pulling in hand over hand a 4 lb LM. The 8 lb test mono was all worn and abraded, Don't know how, but it didn't break.

 Sorry I can't be more help, but thanks for triggering a good memory.