Lost One Last Night.. Regretting It

[Kawabuggy]

I only had 1 hour to fish last night.. I got to the pond @ 8P, and the park closes at 9P. I was in a big hurry to put my lure in the water. I cast 3 or 4 times in one area, but there were people close by feeding the ducks and they were making a racket so I moved.

I walked out onto a point that basically was sticking out into the water. Fallen tree in the water right at the waters edge. 1st cast (4" watermellon w/red fleck baby Tiki-rigged texas style) I let it settle to the bottom, waited about 30 seconds and gave it a couple twitches, BOOM-he was on!

I waited a couple seconds before setting the hook, then with a sweeping motion to the right I set the hook and the fight was on...!! It lasted all of about 10 seconds as I noticed that the line was no longer moving in the water, and the resistance on my pole was solid. Like a hang up. Well, I thought I had simply gotten hung up on the tree, but when I dropped the tip of my pole in disgust, and a little embarrassment, I noticed that my line immediately started taking off!!!! I again started reeling in the line, and again it stops dead once I reach a certain point.

It was obvious, I had a fish on, and he wrapped me up around a branch. I did not want the fish to die, so with nothing else to do, I cut the line and watched it disappear into the water.

What would you guys have done in this situation?

[BigBassin144]

Wow, I don't know what i would have done. Maybe swim out and catch him in yer teeth!!! anyways, that does suck, in the 10 seconds he was fighting, was it a good fight?

[Kawabuggy]

I don't know which is worse, only catching small fish all day, or hooking into a fish and never seeing it to know what size it was.. I think the not-knowing is what bothers me most.

[bassfisher02]

I woulod have fought it out of the brush. I doubt it woulda died, they arent little fragile glass dolls, they are bass. You should never cut the line, because now it has a lot of line hanging from the lure as he swims around, it can tangle other fish or that bass. Best to fight it until it breaks your line or you pull it out. You can save yourself from this situation next time by not waiting to set the hook. You dont need to wait when fishing a stikbait, set the hook right when you feel the slightest tick. That way you can pull him out before he has a chance to get into the brush. Also, use braid if you arent, it would have probably pulled the whole tree out of the water and to you, in which you could untangle the bass, ahah.

[Kawabuggy]

Believe me, I fought him for a while trying to get him out. He was just simply stuck solid to that branch. I though that pulling him to the branch and then holding him there would maybe make him swim back around the branch and un-hook himself.. But no luck.

[bassfisher02]

Are you positive there was a fish on there? It could have been the branch coming up and down making the line move. Or smaller fish could have been messing with it inside the brush. If there was a fish on, simply letting slack in the line till you feel no tension, and leaving it that way for a long while will usually get the fish free, or allow him to spit the hook.

[FlyRod]

"Cut the line"...wouild have been better to pull until the line broke. Why, well, now you have a fish trailing line behind him that may become wrapped elsewhere, tethering the fish until he dies, of starvation or is attacked by predators.
The line would most likely have broken at the knot or at the point of entanglement. Now, there exists the posssibility that the line that was under tension when wrapped dug in so that the fish was unable to free it.

FR

[bassfisher02]

Flyrod, are you trying to say he should have cut the line, or pulled until the line broke? I'm alittle confused on your post there.

[wargoth]

Flyrod is advocating pulling till it broke. What he means is that if the line was dug into the tree acting as an anchor, and he cut it, then the line would still be dug into the tree, with the fish unable to free itself from said tree.

[Kawabuggy]

I tried pulling on the line to break it, but my pole was bent in half and I thought it was going to break. When I straightened out the pole and started pulling, the drag was just releasing line..

I know the fish is not tethered to the branch as when I cut the line, it fell to the ground and I watched it move off into the water and disappear. Hopefully he will eventually throw the hook, or it will rust away..

I thought about jumping in to go after him, but it was a public park with "NO SWIMMING" signs everywhere.. And "BEWARE OF ALLIGATOR" signs next to the other signs.. Even if he gets eaten by a predator (alligator?) it won't be the first or last bass to become a meal for something higher up the food chain. It was a lose/lose situation for both the fish & I..

[3dkicker]

Sounds line you hooked a snappin' turtle instead of a bass.....

[Rebbasser]

KB, when you need to break off don't use the rod. Grab the spool so it doesn't have line pulling off due to the drag, point the rod straight at where you are hung and start backing away. That will break you off with no risk to the rod.

[texasbasser]

I would have tried to pull him out of the tree, if that didnt work give him some slack and wait about 2 minutes to see if he swam out. Also, If you want to break your line then point your rod at the place of entanglement, hold the spool with your hand, and pull back.

[lizardsrule]

I can't tell you how many times I've hooked fish, and they get into wood. I lost tons of fish from this but they are always there in the wood. So I keep fishing the wood. One trick I learned, that "SOMETIMES" will work is let off the pressure somewhat on the fish. Still keep some tension, but allow the fish to swim around and hopefully away from the snag. Sometimes, they will unwrap themselves, or if not, you can try to slowly pull them while fighting through it. Like I said it doesn't always work, but many a bass I have got to the boat/shore using this instead of just pulling and pulling. I also usually fish from a boat, so I go get the fish. Bassintom can tell you about 2 fish I caught at Stickmarsh that wrapped me up, and I got over to them and unwrapped them to get them into the boat. Man was that a fun time fishing with him. Anyways kepp working them, and as already stated, pull straight back if needed to break the line, leaves less line for them to get entanlged with on other cover/structure or themselves.

Lizards