Lets face it, when you’re hooked into a big fish, no matter what species, all types of craziness can occur. And let us tell you, some of the things we’ve seen fish do in order to evade being landed never ceases to amaze us.
Things can happen fast while fighting fish. Really fast. But, while all of this craziness is going on we find it most helpful to focus on the fundamentals – the very basics that make a big difference while fighting a fish.
One of the most common ways we see fish lost during a fight is when a fish peeling line away from you turns completely 180 degrees, only to charge directly back in your direction. More often that not, the fish moves towards you far faster than you can reel, making stripping line the most effective means of keeping tension on the fish.
However, far too often we see anglers attempt to start stripping their line in without ever getting the line underneath their rod hand finger. Thus resulting in some quality flailing of the arm trying to grab the line from the first guide as more and more slack continues to form in the line. It might sound silly, but in the heat of the moment, basic fundamentals can be easily forgotten.
Therefore, we recommend that whenever a fish rushes back in your direction, revert back to the fundamentals, and focus only on getting the line under your rod hand finger first. From there, then you can adjust accordingly to the fish’s behavior.
It may seem trivial, and even a little slow, but these are the little things that make the difference between a tight line and a landed fish, and that moment of slack leading to a fish flipping you the tail..
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