What did I do wrong???

[moby bass]

Had a very nice fish on yesterday, then I lost him.  

Here's the set up.  Small cove off the main lake.  Rod was an Avid, 6'6' Med/Fast.  Lure was an Erie Dearie with a Gulp Minnow.  This thing will

cast a mile which is good because alot of the cove has such a steep bank you can't fish it so you pretty much have to throw from one spot.  I cast the bait and I'm just starting to wind in the slack when a fish grabs it and jumps.  He starts pulling, so I start winding.  Rod about 2 o'clock, drag isn't slipping but its close to.  I'm keeping pressure on him all the time and as it gets closer to me the fish goes right and deep, then comes back up, shakes his head and I'm standing there with an empty Dearie wondering what the heck happened.

I may not have gotten a good hookset, since he came out of the water right away and I didn't want to double set it.  Besides, he was pulling hard all the way back so I figured he was hooked.  Where should my rod have been when he turned and went deep?  I still had it at about 2 o'clock trying to turn him and get his head up. Did the configuration of the Erie Dearie make it easier for him to throw it, since it has a weight forward design?  I like the E.D. since I can reach alot of inaccessible water.  I don't often hook into fish that powerful so maybe I didn't fight him right, or maybe it was just one of those things.  :-/

 

[Newman12Fan]

In your description of the event, you never mentioned a hook set.  Therefore I would say the hook was not set.  I personally would have tried to hook set him after he had jumped the first time to make sure.  I caught a nice one 2 nights ago on a frog.  A similar thing happened to me, she hit it and ran, I did not set the hook.  I had her on for a while and figured the hook was set, until she changed directions and the line went limp

[Sam]

Any idea where the hook was in the fish's mouth? Front, middle, up, down, side or just hanging on?  You may not have had a good hookset in the fish's mouth and it just tore loose.

Keeping the rod tip high when the fish goes deep is a natural reaction that we all do. You are pulling agaist the fish to keep him from getting tangled in structure, grass, pads or cutting your line on submerged objects.

We don't think about it.  Usually the rod is in the air as the fish tries to go deep with us putting pressure on the rod to keep the fish from diving.

Some of my friends point the rod tip at the fish as it goes deep so they can have better leverage in pulling the fish towards the surface.  I don't as I am afraid I will break the rod. So I keep the rod tip up when they try to go deep.

To keep fish from jumping put rod tip in the water.

Sometimes the fish throw your bait and sometimes they don't.

It is a part of fishing.

You probably did nothing wrong. The fish just lucked out.

Now go back and get him, again.  

[Gatorbassman]

You had a few things going against you. One thing is you didn't set the hook. But before that you were casting a long distance with a Med action rod. So for a good hookset you would have had to swing that rod into the next state to get it in the fish. You would have to compensate for the stretch in all that line and the massive bend in the rod. That rod just doesn't have the backbone for that most of the time.

[32251]

Bill Murphy says never try to "turn" the fish unless it is going toward cover that you can see.  The fish usually gets off if you do. If he is headed towards cover, he is going to wrap you up anyway, so you might as well try.

You also said your drag was on the verge of being loose. Where was it when the fish struck?

I also vote for the hookset as being the reason.

[Castamasta]

had a 8+ on a jig the other day that i believed that i had a good hook set in so i was workin her and all of the sudden she jumps straight at the boat, and i lose all line tension and she shakes the jig >. i was so mad because i had never had a bass jump straight at the boat and so close to the boat :-? my hookset could have been better i guess

[moby bass]

If I had realized he wasn't hooked good, I had other opportunities to set the hook when he was closer to me and I didn't have so much line out.

Sam, I really don't know where the hook was in his mouth. The drag was not loose when he hit, I simply felt resistance on the line but before I could react, he was out of the water.  I certainly didn't want to try to set the hook then. I brought him in quite a ways, keeping pressure on him the whole time.  I thought the rod handled him quite well. I wouldn't say that I was deliberately trying to turn him when he got close, just trying to get him in.  He just went down, doubled back quickly and came out of the water and he was gone.  I don't know that playing him more was a good idea as the longer he was in the water, the more opportunity he had to throw the hook. Oh well, it was fun,

and the fish won, this time.

[Big-O]

Moby, While testing baits and scents etc., I have had hundreds of bass that would fight like there was no tomorrow without ever setting the hook on them, only to reel them all the way to the boat and start lifting before they open their mouths and release the bait. Your info tells me the same as others have mentioned....Fish never had the hook in'em or definitely not the past the barb. But thats ok man, Now you're pumped for next time...

Big O

[skillet]

I was fishing from the bank on a small inlet. Had cast across to other bank, overhanging bank with small willow tree. I was fishing with a jig and pork trailer. The bait couldn't have sank more than 6". The fish pulled drag right after setting the hook. Just then she rolled on the top (nice fish) shook her head, opened her mouth and the jig came slingshoting back at me. The fish pulled drag just by holding onto the bait ! This was when I had just got back into fishing. Worried about it for a long time trying to figure what I did wrong. Finally decided it was just a case of Fish 1 and skillet 0 :-[...

                                As Ever,

                                 skillet

[JShrock07]

To keep fish from jumping put rod tip in the water.

X2!!!!

That is why it is called fishing and not catching... When I hook a fish and I'm not 100% sure that the fish is really hooked I will set the hook all over again so I can reassure myself that the fish will stay hooked. Every once and a while the fish will shake the the hook. Yea it sucks but that is how it is!! 8-) 8-)

[George Welcome]

Sometimes the fish throw your bait and sometimes they don't.

It is a part of fishing.

You probably did nothing wrong. The fish just lucked out.

Now go back and get him, again.

And that's the truth and more likely the reality.

[avid]

when it comes to fishing under pressure, few would argue that KVD is a master.  He lost the Lake Wheeler elite event by less than a pound.  He had 5 fish hooked and lost on the last day.  Chit hoppen mon.