basslover12345 Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 Ok, This year I lost some bass that would of made a huge difference in how I placed in tournaments. In August I hooked a bass that was at least 4 1/2 pounds in an opening in a grass field on a stand up jighead with a rage lobster with a small reel amd light line and when I got it right in front of me in the water at the end of the dock we were fishing I was holding the rod and meanwhile my dad was trying to land the bass and the bass snaped the line and slowly swam back into the grass, that bass would of gotten big bass for the tournament and would of gotten me $300. In another tournament in 2010 I hooked a bass with light tackle by a grass bed and the bass ended up running into the grass and burying itself with my lure in its mouth in its grass and eased itself off the hook while my boater was running the trolling motor over to get the bass and when we got to where the fish buried itself and my line went slack, the bass was gone. Any suggestions how I can fix this problem. I'm still working on my hook setting skills, i usually just let the bass run 1 to 2 seconds and then set the hook. I'm big enough to set the hook hard, but I usually don't Quote
Bryce C Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 Heavier tackle for heavier cover would be my suggestion. Quote
Super User senile1 Posted January 28, 2011 Super User Posted January 28, 2011 In both examples you state you were using light line. If you are fishing thick grass you need to make sure you are using the right line and equipment for that purpose so that you can horse the fish out of the vegetation without worrying about breaking your line or the fish getting off the hook. I would also check the quality of my knots, check my rod guides for nicks, and check to make sure my drag was set properly if I were breaking off fish. Quote
Uncle Leo Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 1) How light of line and what power rod? Also consider what type or brand of line. Not all line is created equal. Rod and line in light tackle require a certain amount of forgiveness. Otherwise too much strain on the line. Might be the case. 2) Light tackle is not the best choice to fish near a weed line. You need some power to keep the bass out of the weeds. Without knowing your exact set up this is only speculation on your problem. 12 lb quality line and a Med Hvy Power rod should be your choice which is not really light tackle. In summary use the right gear for the situation you are working. Moderate to Heavy cover, heavier tackle. Light tackle open water suitation. Match line to gear. Match line rods and lures together and to cover. Quote
Super User Grey Wolf Posted January 28, 2011 Super User Posted January 28, 2011 Heavier tackle for heavier cover would be my suggestion. X 2 !!!!!!!!! Quote
7mm-08 Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 Well I love, love, love to catch fish on light and ultralight tackle and have found Fireline (fused) to work very well. I have caught countless 2.5 - 4.5 lb bass (and many channel cats up to 5 or 6 lbs) using an Abu Cardinal 100 and 6/14 lb Fireline. I've only had two fish to break me off on that setup and that was due to my stupidity/laziness for not retying after catching many fish and snagging many trees and rocks. Now if $$ was on the line I'm not sure I would go that route but then again I probably would. Until I got into frog fishing 5 or 6 years ago, I used UL tackle probably 75% of the time or more. Believe me I tried like heck to make the UL stuff work for frogs but you just hafta to have a bit more backbone for hooksets unfortunately. :-[ Quote
Super User BASSclary Posted January 28, 2011 Super User Posted January 28, 2011 Heavier tackle for heavier cover would be my suggestion. X 2 !!!!!!!!! x3 Quote
Super User WRB Posted January 28, 2011 Super User Posted January 28, 2011 Discribe your tackle by make and model #; rod, reel, line, knots, hook size & types. What is light tackle to one angler is heavy to another and there isn't any standards for rods, each mfr has there own set of numbers. In General; bass don't have hands, if your line moves or you detect a strike...set the hook instantly. The exceptions; large soft plastics, smallmouth and spotted bass sometimes need a little time to get the lure in it's mouth. Some top water lures it's good to let the bass turn before setting. Keep the bass coming towards you, they instinctively head for safety. Learn to control the bass at all times and keep the bass in front of you and follow it around the boat if necessary. At the end of the day some bass win the battle. Tom Quote
basslover12345 Posted January 28, 2011 Author Posted January 28, 2011 I was using a Shakespeare Microspin reel with 8 pound copolymer Quote
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