Unbuttoned Bass

[flippindrew]

I've found that I loose far less fish when letting the fish fight, rather than fighting the fish. Yes, hold your rod down, keep slight pressure, but don't fight the fish, let your rod do the work and just let the fish wear themselves out.

[CTFSHWHISKER]

flippindrew hit the nail on the head i think.I feel i loose more fish trying to make them do something instead of just figting the fish.my uncle and i discussed this awhile back when we go prefishing and want to loose them or just hold tight line to get them to drop the bait or let go it seems we can land just as many.we had them on a good jig bite one day at nolin prefishing deep and when they bit we just kept reeling and never even set the hook and landed most every fish that bit.

[slowjerk]

i don't mean to burst any bubbles but i been smallie fishin for over 40 years and have lived on dale hollow for over 20 years and i can tell you that any smallie over 2 lbs is going to jump if he has a mind to and they ain't nobody, pro or not going to stop him. the only reason u get him in or not is according to which way god is pointing your hook when it happens.

[Red Shad]

Slowjerk you speak the truth. Many good fish are lost reguardless of our efforts to keep it hooked!

[kc]

I agree on not overfighting the fish and try to force them into to doing things. I think I loose more fish at the boat than jumping out away from the boat. To that end I find if one gets impatient to get the fish close to the boat then that is where you end up with energetic jumps which will can be trouble. It happens away from the boat but not as much close.

Since I don't fish for money I don't mind letting them jump. It is part of the excitement of the battle and if I lose them -- so what. Like elnutsmalljaws I have only had a few through time that I really hated losing. I stuck a huge largemouth about 15 years ago on Barkley that I lost at the boat - she bounced off the end of the net but she was a double-digit mama. I really would have liked to held her - at least for a few minutes.

Any more I don't even net fish which is why I lose so many at the boat. If they are under 4 I usually try to swing them in and I end up bouncing some of them off the side of the boat. I really should not be so lazy and hand land more of them but we can't all be perfect.

[Fishin_4_Fun]

yep what flippindrew said.

the only time you need to fight the fish is if you hook it in heavy cover, and you need to quickly bring it out of the cover to keep from him wrapping your line around something. Once out of the cover apply no more pressure than needed just to keep your line tight.

Now if it doesn't matter whether you lose it or not, fight the fish hard and watch him go!