losing fish when they jump out of water

[claytonforrest]

I recently lost a big bass due to him jumping out of the water and into the air. I set the hook but still he just threw the thing right of his mouth. any help on preventing this from happening again?
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[wiperhunter2]

Although it is cool watching those bass jump out of the water on the hook set, it is a good way to lose almost any fish. It gives the fish an advantage because of the momentary slack in the line. I'm not sure if you have ever noticed this but tournament bass fisherman try not to horse their fish in, they reel them in as fast as possible. This is hard to do with big fish but the way I do it is keep my rod tip down, close to the water and reel at a steady retrieve speed. When I see the fish coming to the surface, I slow the retrieve down and sometimes even put the rod tip in the water. Of course this will not work every time but it seems to help, imo.
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[claytonforrest]

thanks w h I never really thought about that! ill try it out, im fishing every day this week!
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[MannyChee]

Absolutely agree with WH on this! I throw swimbaits a lot and with that leverage against you the last thing you want is a fish jumping. We sweep set and immediately put that rod tip down. Or when you get that feeling that the fish is coming up to jump, which is typical of big fish, you instantly throw the tip in the water and reel down to keep her from jumping. Another danger zone is at the boat when netting the fish, sweep them into the net without lifting the rod tip up in the air!
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[fishhound1]

Losing fish is no fun that is for sure! What kind of bait were you using when you lost it? Thats the biggest thing for me I think. Crankbaits, swimbaits, and heavy jigs are pretty bad culprits for losing fish because they get a lot of leverage like some of the guys talked about. About all you can do is to make sure you keep good tension on the fish, have sharp hooks, and hope for a little luck. Putting your rod in the waiter can certainly discourage a fish from jumping but this only works when they get closer to the boat and you can actually put enough pressure on them to get their head down.
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