Fishing Forum

I have a Medium Duty Cablea's Magtouch rod. I've been fishing with it for probably a month and a half. I really like it, however I lose a couple of fish here and there. As I was thinking about those 15-18" trout that got away from me on the trip over the weekend, I thought it might have something to do with the flex of my rod and it being too heavy to keep the proper tension on the line without allowing the fish to pull the hook.

Over the few trips with this rod, it seems like the bigger fish have got away. It has no problem pulling in the smaller under 14" trout though.

My question is, do you think my rod is too heavy and do you think I would benefit from a lighter rod when fishing for these medium size trout?

Or do you think it is just my inexperience as an angler that is allowing these fish to get away? If so, what would you suggest when reeling in fish in the 15"+ range? Reel them in as quick as possible? Keep the rod tip high/low? Set the Hook hard/light?

Any advice is much appreciated.

edit:
I generally like to fish with Jakes Lures and Tasmanian Devils. Don't know if these lures make any difference in getting a good hook set.
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A med weight rod should be all you need for trout. If it's a med heavy then it might be too stiff for you. I use a med, med rod for all my fishing useing lures with a treble hook. It won't pull out the treble with a soft tip [ fast]. If you seem to be looseing only the big ones, you maybe trying to horse the fish in too fast. Slow down and enjoy the fight, but keep tension at all times on the line.
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I've fished with the Tasmanian Devils before and like the lure. I did lose a fish once in a while although I was fishing mainly for Smallmouths. One think you might be doing is failing to ease off on your drag just a bit as you get a big fish closer to you. A lot of the time they have one good run left and if you've left the drag too tight they get more leverage the closer they are to you. This makes it easier for them to pull off.

Another thing you can do is make sure your hooks are sharp. A lot of the time new hooks on lures need a little touching up with a hook sharpener. When you lightly drag it across your thumbnail you want the hook to snag on the nail.

I hope this helps you lose fewer fish. Tightlines.

Hunt
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It could have more to do with the length of your rod. A few years ago I was privy to a monster trout hole in the mountains behind Big Bear lake. I purchased a fine new rod that was seven feet long and rated 2 to 6 pound with an extra fast action. It was a fantastic rod, one of the lightest and highest quality I've ever puchased. Couldn't land a big fish on it for the life of me. I had plenty of chances too. Rainbow and Brown trout, mean ones. Licking my wounds I went back to the tackle shop and picked up a good quality Steelhead rod. Rated for 6 to 15 pound it was 8 and 1/2 feet long and had my favorite fast action. I fished this rod matched with a Shimano Stradic 1000 size reel loaded with Stren 4 pound Magna-thin. Wacked those big trout. I keep whacking them to this day. Catch and release, mostly at night, Browns, Rainbows, and a Koke now and again. The longer rod doesn't wimp out when a big fish jumps and I have a lot more control leading them to shore or a net.Bonus is casting distance is also increased. My other rod is now my bait rod for catching Shiners and Bluegill we use for Flatheads on the Colorado river.

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I'm with bendo here. I think long spinning rods are the way to go. The lower down the rod that bend profile is (closer to the reel), the easier it is to load and keep line tension during the retreive.

For trout, I use a 7' medium light/moderate fast.
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