Bad Day with new tackle (funny but sad).

[SouthMiamiBassMan]

Hey everyone, here's my latest story. I 've been fishing my lake using live night crawlers for the past couple of months with much success. At first the bass were loving it and I was catching nice size fish for a while. But either they moved away or know better then to go for it. So I decided it was time step up my game and buy some real lures. I went to Sports Authority and they had a big box of assorted lures on sale so bought (I am new to this so forgive me if I don't know the correct names) a rattle top water popper, and 6 inch Jerk bait. It was night time by the time I got home but took them down to lake to practice my casting and retrieval, first with the popper then the jerk bait. I didn't have any leaders so I was tying them directly to the 12 lbs line with no problem and casting them out to the middle of the lake.

The next morning I was excited to spend the day trying them out, so I go down first thing in the morning with the jerk bait attached. I whipped my rod back for a long cast into the center of the lake and watched as my lure went up, up and away . It wasn't until the lure hit the water that I realized that the reel didn't give out any line! :-/! I looked and the line had snapped! it must have worn thin from me casting it out into the middle of the lake the night before. It had a floating head and I could see that the wind was going to push it to shore so I left it to get it later.

I went into my box and pulled out the topwater popper and stupidly tied it with the line that had just broke. I tied it up wrapping the line through hole twice and tied with a double fisherman knot thinking it would hold. I casted it out and right away I see a huge bass follow it in. I recast and stopped it right over his head. He looked at it, inhaled it, and bam I hooked it. I yelled out "YES" as he jumped out of the water and snapped his head back and forth and then SNAP! The line broke again! > I watched as he swam back to reeds with my shinny new lure attached to his lip. I stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds in disbelief that in the span of five minutes I lost both lures :'(.

I picked up my stuff and went searching for the Jerkbait on the other side of the lake and even went in about knee deep to look in some reeds to see if it had floated into them. I stepped into some soft mud and my sandal got stuck. I fell face first into the drink! ;D

So here I am drenched in stinky muck and totally soaked and I figure GOD is trying to tell me something here. I picked up my stuff and as I was walking back I decided to stop and scan the lake surface one more time to see if the jerkbait was still floating on the lake and right were I stopped at the shore there it was! So I guess GOD was telling me something and that something was "keep on fishing"! I tied that sucker up and kept on fishing. I didn't catch anything else that day, but I'm gonna buy some more top waters and some leaders ASAP and try again.

[alhuff]

Sounds like one crazy outing......

The topwater bite can and is very addicting...... ;D

How old is the line that you have?  You want to keep the line new.  The problems with your line breaking could have been from it being old, old to me is last season.

The fishermans knot is ok but I would try to tie the Palomar knot, it is very strong and once you get used to tying it, very easy and quick to tie....follow the link below to see the knot.....

http://www.netknots.com/html/fishing_knots.html

hit me up if you have any questions....

Hope this helps,

Alfred

[VABasser]

What Alhuff said, fresh, quality line is a must.  I will change out line a few times a year on each outfit.  Better safe than sorry.  Also when tieing on a lure, first run the last few feet of line through your fingers and feel for any frayed or weakened line.   Cut the line up to that point if you do, sure it seems a little wasteful but that could be the difference of breaking off a nice fish or lipping him.

[FatBoy]

Try the palomar knot like Alhuff said or I like the improved clinch or trilene knots.  I only use palomars on plain hooks.

[SouthMiamiBassMan]

The fishermans knot is ok but I would try to tie the Palomar knot, it is very strong and once you get used to tying it, very easy and quick to tie....follow the link below to see the knot.....

Thanks for the link Al, I'll give it a try.

[BucketmouthAngler13]

I never use a leader for bass and havn't had my line snapped in ages. The key is to have a good knot, good line, and a well set drag. If you have these three right you can land 20lb fish on 6lb test line. Leaders are not needed unless you are fishing for pickerel too.

I use a double loop clinch knot (with 7 twists) for mono line and it has never, never failed me. For braid I use a double loop Uni knot. For mono I use 8 or 10lb Trilene XL and I highly recomend it. So far this year it hasn't snapped at all, not even once. For braid I use 20lb PowerPro. Set your drag to 1/3 of your lines pound test, keep your line in good condition, and your lure flying days will be over!

Tight lines

Matt

[Guest avid]

Learning the palomer knot and using fresh line are all good advice, but it sounds to me, that you had line line dug into the spool and/or an improperly set drag.

get into the habit of quickly running your fingers up the line.

Starting at the lure nose just put the line between your thumb and forefinger and slide up a few feet.  If you feel anything except smooth line.  Retie.

Whenever you are casting and the lure goes flying with no line attached (they really sail don't they  ;D)

you should always clear the spool.  by this I mean start stripping line off the spool to check that there are no knots or bits of weed interfereing with the line's ability to roll off of the spool.

Setting the drag - I don't know what the "best" way is, but I just sorta pull line out sharply untill I'm comfortable with the amount of "pull" it takes before the line pulls against the drag.

[SouthMiamiBassMan]

Thanks to everyone for your advice. I bought another topwater popper by matizuru (i think) and used the Palomar knot this weekend and it did hold true. I need to work on my retrival though as I cought more with nightcrawlers. I gotta keep practicing.

[TheBeast]

Sounds like old line to me as well, I use 6-10 pound vanish flourocarbon with a palomar knot regularly and never have any breakage or knot failure.

As far as using the topwaters when you first cast it let it set on the water and don't move it till all the water circles from it landing have gone then twitch it once and let it set for about 15-30 seconds again before you start working it. Works for me.

[Guest avid]

This is a great opportunity to learn another knot all bassmeisters should know.

The Rapala knot, or any good loop knot  is essential to get the best action from minnow baits and walkers.

Of course a split ring or snap serves the purpose, but sometimes the less hardware the better.