How to keep a bass from jumping?

[NJfishinGuy]

almost every bass ive ive hooked into lately has been a jumper, and ive lost to many of them in mid air even tho i try to keep tension on the line at all times, so what technique do you guys use to keep the bass in the water?

[.ghoti.]

keep the rod tip as low as you can, pull off to one side to put some extra pressure in the fish to make it roll over, and, if that doesn't work, step on it's tail.

[Bassassasin12]

I like to get down low and reel while kneeling, as soon as I feel a fish coming up I get down and then you can still keep pressure on the fish while being low and also makes it easier to land them when they get up to the boat. But in general just keep your rod down and they won't jump too often on you, but every now and then you will get a fiesty guy that still insists on jumping, in that case just hope you got a good hookset on him.

[Rattlinrogue]

As was said,keep a low rod tip,amd when she comes up to jump stick your rod tip down into the water.Stick it as deep as necessary to keep her head down.You'll lose a lot less fish.

[Guest the_muddy_man]

What Rattlin said!!!!!!

But tell the truth everyonce in a while Dont you just luv it when the JUMP :

[basser89]

Yet another vote for the low rod tip!

If I'm bank fishing, I keep the rod tip no higher than my knees, lower if possible! As fluke and RR stated putting the rod tip down in the water works real well! I've had my 7'6" flippin stick down in the water all but to the reel. It's saved me several times on crankbaits and ratltraps too!

[roadwarrior]

the_muddy_man,

I'm with you, but I ALWAYS want them to jump!

[New Bass Man]

I find it extremely exciting when they jump!  I do keep the rod tip low but I still like to see em' jump.

[BD]

If I know I got in a good hook set, I let them jump too.

To keep them from jumping, stick your rod tip in the water and keep line tight.

[NJfishinGuy]

ok thanks guys ill give it a try next time. i do love seeing them launch out of the water but at the same time if im gonna loose alot of them id rather see them out of the water when my thumb is on there lip hehe

[Alpster]

How do you keep bass from jumping??

My daughter said to take away his jump rope   sorry I coudn't resist.

Ronnie

[Way2slow]

Thier jumping is why I fish for them.  I want them to jump and try to coax them to the surface as far out as I can to make them jump.  

Of cousre, if I loose one, no big deal, didn't cost me a thing in points or money so to answer your question, hold the rod down, even bury the tip in the water and crank like mad.  If he's small enough you don't need to net him, when you get to the boat with him and start working him to the surface, as he clears the surface to jump, just keep him coming right on over into the boat.   If you have a patner, have him have the net ready so as your swinging him in the boat, he has the net under him.  That's when ounces matter, the rest of the time, enjoy their aerobatics.

[Guest avid]

all the right advice was given.  But i'm with the crowd that loves the jumpers.  Another difference between the tournament angler and recreational.

[spotaholic]

Let me go against the tide. I don't think sticking the rod tip in the water works. Keeping it low yes but if you stick it in the water you loose what the rod tip is for. A  shock absorber. With the water it stiffens the rod tip and I think you are more likely to have a fish throw the hook especially with trebles when you want that play in the tip. Just my thoughts.

[Valascus]

I'm with BD on this one. If I know for a fact I got a good solid hookset, then I'll let 'em jump once or twice. But if it is a bigger fish or the hookset felt off or weak then that rod tip stays as low as I can get it. I would rather see the fish landed then jumping through the air.

[Rattlinrogue]

When I stick my rod tip into the water,their head never gets clear of the surface to throw the hooks.

[Tom Bass]

I love to see 'em jump. Even if they get loose, it's still a blast!

[NJfishinGuy]

yeah like i said the jumpings sorta cool but id rather land fish than see them jump and get loose, im not a tournament angler recreational for now, i may start with some small local tourneys buti just wanna catch when i go out not loose thats all

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

I agree, a jumping bass is cool, and it's a little hard to interrupt such a sight, but if you are counting on getting it in the boat, the fun had better be ended immediately. All that advice above is great for fixing a jumping bass, pulling it over on its side, but there's something to do to prevent the jumping most of the time. It's called setting the drag properly. I believe bass jump because they become more aggressive in response to more pressure. If they feel less pressure pulling up they often choose to swim deep. This has to be managed well considering what kind of cover/structure is available. I'd rather the bass jump than wind up in tree tops or scrape line against boulders. Sometimes it's necessary to horse a bass out of tangle territory by forcing it to stay shallow, but that doesn't give a bass the run it needs to surface dance as easily as when swimming up from 8 feet down. It's a lot easier to yank the bass over and back into the water when kept shallow. Between setting the drag to let a bass play out line, and letting the properly matched rod work, you should have fewer jumping bass and more kept bass.

Jim

[Guest the_muddy_man]

I think Avid hit the nail on the head.Some of us, me included fish for fun so every fish doesnt have to get to the boat. Me and the other 1/2 of 2 mooks in a boat have our own category we count FISH THAT GOT MOST OF THE WAY TO THE BOAT 8-)

[FreddoB]

Hey all -

 

I know this is VERY old post but to the point. I thought I was having hook setting issues. But this past Monday I had a monster LM jump and throw my bait. This EASILY was a PB for me (beating my 3-4 lb). I found that bass jumping and tossing my bait was a pattern and I'm new to targeting LM and this now makes more sense than so many bad hook sets. So it appears from my research that I'll be trying to keep the pigs from jumping until I weigh them and then release them! The smaller ones can JUMP all they want, I think it's fun too!

 

Thanks to all that shared here for us newbs to glean from!

 

Best - Freddo

[TOXIC]

Here's another angle that after reading the old thread no one touched on.....Why do you think the pro's "water ski" their fish across the surface?  There's a couple of reasons....They want the fish in the boat asap to minimize the risk of loosing it.  Too much "Bill Dance" (what we call it when you play a fish too long) will elongate the penetration point of the hook and if it gets large enough, the hook will be easier to throw.  Also, a fish that jumps gets leverage on the lure making it more apt to be thrown, so if you muscle them to the top and skate them along, they may splash but they won't get the leverage to go airborne and risk throwing the lure.  

[The Patriot]

You can tell when they're about to jump.  When they're about to jump, they're moving either straight up, toward you, or to the side a bit.  I've never seen a fish jump while pulling away from you.  So what I do, is when I see or feel them coming to the surface, I reel faster and pull the rod back with the tip low to keep enough pressure on them.  And I pull it back hard.  By doing this, if the fish still jumps, when hit it does rather than being able to flop around and throw the hook, it just gets pull toward me at the surface of the water.  Using a high speed reel helps in this because I really put some crank on it and get that line in and keep it tight.  If you're not keeping  up with the slack just by reeling, keep pulling.  Take a step back if you need to or turn in to the pull. This has greatly decreased the amount of fish I've lost from a spit out.  It still happens some times but I chalk it up to user error and a poor hook set.  I dont fish many treble hooks so this feedback comes from mostly buzzbait and single hook soft plastic use.  

 

I wish the pickerel would throw my hook my often.  I hate those things.  

[NHBull]

Another surfaces from the bowels of the forum........I like the little ones to go airborne, but if it might be a personal best I lay down on the deck to keep everything as low as possible.

I have been known to have my hands in the water. ?

[Brayberry]

Years ago in Bassmaster magazine, they were interviewing a pro, and this question came up.  His response was he always wore a hat while fishing and when he could feel the fish swimming up to jump, he'd toss his hat into the water where the fish was trying to surface.  This would scare the bass, and keep him from jumping, then after landing the bass he'd retrieve his floating hat and keep fishing.  I've done this trick many times and it's been 100% successful.