Just a tip...after watching your videos and mcfly's video...
You horse the fish too much too fast. By horsing the fish to the surface, you get the head up and out of the water too often. The fish is forced to the surface...it's not trying to jump or thrash.
You hear it from bass pros all the time...keep the fish deep...keep the head down...the more a fish jump, the more chances there are in losing the fish.
You should use the rod more...but a good bend into it, but keep the fish fighting deep. Instead of horsing a fish to shore, don't drag it and don't fight it so close to the surface. Use the rod and guide the fish, swing it to your side into the shallows. Yes...the fish will attempt to run off again. It is fine. The more the fish runs, the more it tires and the easier (cooperative) it gets when you land it. A more tired fish prevents it from flopping all over on shallow rocks and thus risk smashing its head, eye or mess up its fins (and less chance it will struggle when you pick it up for a picture). Despite everything said about overplaying a fish, you are not playing it until it goes belly up...but enough to get it to cooperate when you need to lead the fish to shore.
Thanks for the feedback MB.
I lost a lot of steelheads due to inexperience and having poor fighting techniques.
I just gotta take what I learned and use it towards the next fish.
Another thing I noticed after watching the video...
I know there is a shallow, rocky "beach" in front of you...and hence you have the fish up near the surface toward the end of the video...so you can bring the fish in over the rocks. But the fish is still very fresh (energetic) at the point you try to bring it shallow (notice how many times and how high it jumped!).
Instead of bringing a fresh fish so shallow so quickly, especially with species that likes to jump, fight them out in deeper water first. Don't be in a hurry to land them, but let them fight it out. If the fish are in deeper water, the tendency is to dive deeper and get out in the current. Having the fish in current make them expend energy rather than sitting in calmer water where they can recover. If the fish is in shallow too early, the fish will thrash a lot with its head up. There is basically nowhere for the fish to run except side to side or to jump...both are more risky for losing fish (hook pulling out) rather than a fish trying to run deep (deep run allows you to keep much more pressure on the fish, keeping a tighter line and prevent the hook from coming out).
(10-30-2013 10:36 PM)MuskieBait Wrote: [ -> ]You hear it from bass pros all the time...keep the fish deep...keep the head down...the more a fish jump, the more chances there are in losing the fish.
How is that accomplished though? What you're saying otherwise makes perfect sense but it's this part here that i just don't know technically what must happen from my end to ensure the fish stays deep and head down.
(10-30-2013 10:36 PM)MuskieBait Wrote: [ -> ]You hear it from bass pros all the time...keep the fish deep...keep the head down...the more a fish jump, the more chances there are in losing the fish.
How is that accomplished though? What you're saying otherwise makes perfect sense but it's this part here that i just don't know technically what must happen from my end to ensure the fish stays deep and head down.
If you watch any bass tournament on TV, you'll see the the anglers dip the rod lower in the water to let the fish fight out deeper in the water. When you watch them do it, they don't drop the rod quickly all of a sudden, which cause you to lose tension. You have to gauge the bass reaction during a fight. If a bass wish to jump, you could try lessening the pressure a little to discourage a jump (when the bass doesn't feel a strong upward pressure anymore, it thinks it got away free and will dive back to the bottom again...thus preventing a jump). After a jump, the fish usually tries to dive deep. That's where you can start dipping the rod lower (while maintaining a bent rod) to keep the fish fighting deeper. If you pay attention, some guys actually dip their rod tips into the water close to the boat to keep the fish as deep as possible; since the fish is close to the boat, you have a very short amount of line where it is easier for a fish to shake a hook; or for you to put too much pressure and pull a hook. Don't bring a fish upward toward the net until the fish is sufficiently tired out.
You can do that with a 5' rod...or you can do that with a 13' rod. You can do it for small bass...and I've done it with salmon, tarpon and sturgeon. Jumps are cool to see...but if you want to land a fish, try to minimize the number of jumps you FORCE a fish to make. There are jumps you can do nothing about...but there are lots of jumps and thrashing you can personally eliminate.
As always, BE PATIENT and let the fish tire out. Rushing to land a fish will force you to pull the fish upwards too fast too quickly and cause a lot of heartbreak.
