Freshwater Sportfishing

A portion of the book 'Freshwater Sportfishing' by David and Cheryl Young | June 2009

Hooking & Fighting Fish

Set

The hook must penetrate the oral cavity of the fish before it can be reeled in. The hook is set by tightening up on the fish--this means reeling in the slack line and smoothly but sharply sweeping the rod either upwards or sideways. Enough force must be generated to have the hook point penetrate into fish tissue. Many factors influence the hook set. First, the hook’s point must be inside the fish’s jaws. If the fish is nibbling at a piece of the bait outside the hook, setting the hook will pull the hook away from the fish.

This means you must wait until the hook is inside the fish’s mouth. With larger fish, this isn’t a problem, but the smaller fish seem to nibble around the bait’s loose ends. So wait until the line moves or until the fish swims off with the bait. Then tighten up and sweep the rod to cause enough pressure for the point to penetrate. When bait fishing with circle hooks, you don’t need to even set the hook. You simply wait for the fish to swim off and gradually increase tension by slowly reeling and then speeding up the retrieve. The hook will be pulled into the corner of the fish’s jaw. This is the ideal hooking place because the jaw bone tissue is strong and the hook is set into a secure place where you have the best chance of landing the fish. Also the hook does little or no damage there and the fish can be safely released. So circle hooks are the best ones to use when bait fishing. When using artificial lures, the lure will be rejected as soon as the fish discovers that it is a fake. Most fish suck in the lure and they can expel it nearly as easily. The vacuum action of the gills flaring draws in the lure and the water around it. When I’m fishing artificial bait, I set the hook immediately and firmly by sweeping the rod in an upward or sideward motion. The sweep is a smoothly accelerated motion and at its end I pull with increased tension.

Drag

Right now is the time to discuss proper drag tension. What I want is a flawlessly smooth drag on all my reels. I set it to about 25% of the breaking strength of the line. That is two pounds of pull on an eight pound test line, one pound of pull or less on a four pound line. The drag’s smooth release prevents any undue sudden stresses that may break a line or tear out the hook from the fish’s mouth. Always take the time to properly adjust the drag.

The sign of a quality drag is that the rod doesn’t jerk up and down as the fish takes out line.

Fighting

Once the fish is hooked, I allow smooth even pressure throughout the fight. Danger times are when the fish leaps and when it runs towards you, causing a slack line condition. I bow to the leaper and crank as fast as I can when they head towards me. Most of the time when I am fighting a fish, I hold my rod sideways with nearly a full flex of my rod; this sideways pressure constantly turns the fish’s head and it must always expend energy to stay upright. About the only time I pull the rod straight up is when the bottom is full of weeds or other structure and I don’t want the fish to plow into this structure. I pump the rod and reel in towards me, carefully reeling in the slack as I return the rod tip towards the fish. The key is to learn how to pump in the fish and reel in the slack line all in one fluid constant motion. You don’t want to make any sudden pressures. Never let the fish rest. Pull him so his head is constantly pulled towards you. One of my friends was a top wrestler. He told me he won his matches by wearing out his opponent. He constantly made them work. This work burns calories and tires one out. This same principle applies to fighting fish. Always pressure the fish. A hot fish may make a series of leaps and runs.

That’s what makes fishing fun. Try to smoothly stay with the fish. The fish is ready to be landed when you can safely beach him. Once he turns on his side, he is ready, although you can expect a few late runs away from the beach as you draw a large fish in. Again, make all of your pressure on the fishing line smooth and constant. Don’t give a fish any slack line because it may exert a sudden force when the slack is gone that can pull out the hook or break the line. I rarely use a landing net. Once the fish is on its side, pull it in so the fish’s tail has a little water to propel it again. With this method you will land fish in half the time it takes others. The fish can be released in a healthy condition without excessive build up of muscle lactic acid. Simply, you will land more fish.