buddha162
Moderator
One thing about freshwater bass fishing that stymied me early on was keeping fish pinned while they go airborne. Nothing I target in saltwater break surface during a fight, save bluefish and I've never shed a tear over losing a blue. Well losing 4/5lb+ smallies and largemouths result in a LOT of tears and sleepless nights, reliving that awful moment when your jig comes flying back at you...this is compounded by the fact that most of my fishing involves pretty light tackle stuff: 5lb fluoro leaders and small tungsten jigs/hooks, small jerkbaits and spybaits etc. The fights are not short, giving these acrobats plenty of time to shake the hook.
Fishing from a kayak in a seated position present its own challenges too, as you don't have the freedom of movement of a bass boat deck to play the fish. In any case, after dedicating myself almost fully to figuring out freshwater patterns this year...I've identified some mechanics and fundamentals that helped me raise my landing % by a significant factor. These are general rules of thumb, since no 2 fish will behave the same way...but anticipating jumps, managing rod angles/line tension, and boat control during the fight will undoubtedly put more bass in your net (and hopefully back to their merry underwater world after a quick photo or two!)
Fishing from a kayak in a seated position present its own challenges too, as you don't have the freedom of movement of a bass boat deck to play the fish. In any case, after dedicating myself almost fully to figuring out freshwater patterns this year...I've identified some mechanics and fundamentals that helped me raise my landing % by a significant factor. These are general rules of thumb, since no 2 fish will behave the same way...but anticipating jumps, managing rod angles/line tension, and boat control during the fight will undoubtedly put more bass in your net (and hopefully back to their merry underwater world after a quick photo or two!)
