1 hour ago, WRB-2.0 said:

Bass are not that strong or fast but you still loose control if big bass gets an angle on you.

 

That's a good perspective to keep in mind. LMB and SMBs aren't all that powerful in the grand scheme of fish. They're not going to out fight you, unless you're a younger kid or have some mobility issues, but they might out maneuver you.

 

15 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

should have titled this "What am I doing wrong?" for some of you instead of inviting you to share what you do right. 

 

In that case I think your answer is in your first post, and in a couple of the suggestions here. My original comment was "tip up", but it's not me keeping it vertically straight very often. It's mostly up and to the side. I'm not consciously making choices on rod direction, but instead feeling naturally where my rod needs to be to keep hook pressure. 

 

I feel like I'm steering the bass like a canoe or kayak a bit. 

Watch your line.  If it looks like the bass is coming to the surface to jump, wait until it is about half way out of the water and then set the hook again.  You're just wanting to pull hard enough to tip the bass over and break the jump.

12 hours ago, Lottabass said:

If Katie loses 10% of the fish she hooks that is a big number! 

 

It's a rare fishing trip when I only lose 10%. 

 

5 hours ago, king fisher said:

Bass fishing in heavy cover with power techniques in my opinion is best done with baitcasting gear.

 

You've made a good case for it, King. I am most persuaded by lighter drag with the option of mashing my thumb when I need more drag. I'm also persuaded by the enormity of your experience fishing all manner of gear for all manner of fish. You're a pro and I heed expertise. 

 

5 hours ago, king fisher said:

 Bass fishing is all about having fun.  You land far more bass than I do, know you lakes, and the bass in them far better than I ever could, and have fun fishing for them your way.  Why would you want to change?   

 

I'm glad that you understand this. I do have some baitcasting outfits in my basement. I kept meaning to use one or two this past year, but I'll make a point of it going forward because it's fun to try something new and because you've made a great case for using one. I'll never, however, have the advantages of anglers who can stand on their boats and thus use all the muscles in their bodies and even anglers like you who can backpedal from cover with your pedals. Then there are anglers who are advantaged by youth, who are strong and nimble. My fellow silver-haired anglers understand this better than any young person can.

 

My simple boats, of course, render me advantages too. 

 

6 hours ago, the reel ess said:

Fish will bury in weeds quickly and use them to leverage the hook out.

 

Oh, yeah. Been there and had that done to me. It's amazing how quickly they free themselves. However, this past year, I wasn't catching six, seven, and eight-pounders because I was rarely fishing the bogs. I did catch scores of four-pounders in the two ponds and I think I only lost one. I remember her because she jumped and threw the hook. I didn't realize until she jumped that she was big.

 

Speaking of jumping, I applied the tactic of seeing a jump coming and jabbing my rod into the water to drive them down again and that worked and worked. 

Two things that have helped me over the last year, when I remember to do them:

1) If I feel a fish start moving up like they want to jump, I stop reeling and go from heavy pressure to medium pressure. Rod still stays very loaded, but I'm trying to give them some feedback to stop running up. Usually this all goes down in three seconds or so - pressure backs off a little, they chill out. It works more than half the time (probably most times) - they will stop coming up and stay at their depth. 

2) When a fish does get in the air I have to stop horsing it with the rod and just reel as fast as I can. I think I'm opening up the hole from the hook because I'm overdoing it trying to keep them pinned... lost too many shortly after touchdown. Just reeling really fast seems to keep them pinned and doesn't yank a big hole. 

 

On 11/30/2025 at 7:51 PM, herder said:

Ha!! I broke my glasses on Friday, I read the title as fishing tips, not fighting tips 

Well, I guess you have to hook em before ya fight em,,,,,,,,,, 

You weren’t the only one who misread the title, lol. I also thought it was fishing tips, lol. 
 

To the topic:

This applies for any rod I am using. 
1) Paramount - maintain tension in the line at ALL times. 
2) Strive to maintain a 45 degree angle in the rod with respect to the fish. The plane your rod is in is irrelevant. Maintain this angle. This is where you rod is most powerful. It is all too easy to get up to 90 degrees. This position:

a) sucks.

b) is just about weakest position for the rod to be in during the battle. The next time you battle a big one and you feel like you can’t control the fight, I’d be willing to bet a floating rapala minnow that your rod is probably at 90 degrees. 

c) did I say weak, tick poor position? Heck, regardless of the plane your rod is in, if you’re are at 90 degrees, you’re practically guilty of high sticking. 

If they still pull when you’re at 45 degrees, they earned the right to pull your drag assuming it’s properly set. As already mentioned, this is where the bc reel comes in handy because the thumb can help out especially if they can dig into cover. 

 

I could write a long verbose post about this but @king fisher summed everything I was gonna say up pretty much perfectly.

 

You need the right tool(s) for the job(s) that you find yourself encountering in a day on the water!  
 

Since I basically have nothing to add I will leave you with a fathers anecdote of his sons stubbornness at times.

 

Jake is a mostly normal 13 year old kid and throughout his boyhood - he was also mostly normal - what do I mean by that in this context?  I mean he didn’t like to carry a lot of things back and forth for most of that time period.  
 

Oftentimes that meant a polite reminder before departure to “get all the rods you might need for the boat today - we probably fishing pads and wood” followed by a few hours, a solid thump, a brief fight, a giant bass jumping a couple times and either snapping Jake off or pulling off followed by big ole tears and sadness….why?  He decided a couple spinning rods would do it.

 

 Whoops.  And I’m talking he’s lost some that make my PBs look like henchmen for big mama.  
 

I think @A-Jay has said more than a few times that *preparation* is 90% of catching big bass and it wasn’t til I saw Jake forego being properly prepared a few good times that I really understood what he meant - you don’t bring a knife to a gunfight!

13 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

Speaking of jumping, I applied the tactic of seeing a jump coming and jabbing my rod into the water to drive them down again and that worked and worked. 

Yes! I like to apply pressure sideways, against whichever direction the fish is going. A cool thing about the kayak and I guess the canoe is that a big bass can't get under it if you play it right. If it tries, it just turns the kayak. The only times I get in a bind are when I'm in the cover. If you get hung up you can easily drag yourself to the cover and reach it. It's a major advantage over a bigger boat. It's also a lot easier to land a fish when your hand is at the the water level.

Boy, did this thread ever go sideways. It was an invitation to share your bass fighting tips and somehow, some of you decided to make this about my spinning outfits. What you don't seemingly recall, even though I've shared this data more than once, is that I'm accurate with my spinning rods. I paddle along shorelines and hit notch after notch and I tuck my lures under overhanging branches, again and again and again. Please film yourselves casting into heavy cover for hours and not missing a single opening with your baitcasting outfits. I'd really like to see that because I have mornings when I do exactly that with my spinning outfits...and I'm not casting to the easy openings. I'm casting into deep cover where an errant cast will mean I'd have to leave my canoe and slog through the swamp to retrieve my lure. 

 

I note that I'm not the only one who prefers spinning outfits, but I'm the only one who is pushed to switch to baitcasting outfits.

 

FWIW, I've read your positions and stated that I'll be carrying a baitcasting outfit or two through the woods come spring.

 

They'll be old reels, just like my spinning reels. I'm not buying new ones. I'd rather hire the men to work my land than buy new reels, but I can catch bass with my old gear.

 

Remember that I'm Nouveau Thoreau, a New Englander on a quiet pond marching to the beat of my own drummer, however measured or far away. 

I shared my best landing tip above already, but I'll share one more that I don't recall if it was noted above.

 

Sharpen your hooks.  You can't land them if you don't get a good hook in them.  I've been okay about it in the past but also have gotten burnt by it.  I'm making a more conscious effort the past couple years and it pays off.  Those hooksets when it first hits the water and you don't have all the slack out yet or when they hit it so hard that they knock slack into the line.  Those are the ones where the sharpest hooks make the difference. @Swamp Girl- if you're losing more than 10% most days I would check this for sure.  You probably do, but you also catch so many bigger fish with hard jaws that I bet your hooks dull down by the hour.  

I am going to tread lightly here.

 

Clearly @Swamp Girl technique is not the primary issue.  If she can be accurate and land a relatively high percentage of fish that are hooked, then the strategy, presentation, and execution with the gear being used is effective - to a certain degree.

 

However, with better tools, the effectiveness would clearly go up.  I think that's all we're saying here.  Everyone knows there is more power and control over the line when using a BC combo.  To deny that would be to deny the laws of physics.  My advice is to take advantage of that and land more fish.  You often state you lose fish in cover.  Part of that is because you're fishing in a canoe, not a bass boat, so your leverage sitting down is not great.  What you can do is gain an advantage over the opponent here, even if a little bit, by using a better tool for the job given the environment.

25 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

Boy, did this thread ever go sideways. It was an invitation to share your bass fighting tips and somehow, some of you decided to make this about my spinning outfits.

It must be winter Swamp Girl  

I actually love the hook sharpener advice - practical advice that definitely will increase your hook to land ratio!  I don’t think anyone was necessarily saying spinning rods are bad at all.

 

have you tried using a “heavy power” spinning outfit in lieu of a bait caster?  Maybe a 7’ or longer with a lot of backbone and a small range of motion near the top of the rod?

 

that plus a deeper spool and heavier braid and sharpened hooks would probably suffice if you were dead serious about only fishing spinning rods!

 

Wasn’t trying to be redundant with my reply earlier - just trying to offer friendly practical advice BUT maybe there’s a workaround hidden in there somewhere - I’m guessing you’ve considered all options though - you are generally speaking wildly successful!  😎

50 minutes ago, gim said:

 

However, with better tools, the effectiveness would clearly go up.  

 

I don't doubt this. What I do doubt is my ability to elevate my baitcasting accuracy so that it's equal to my spinning outfit accuracy in short order. I figure I have ten years of fishing remaining and by ten years, I mean having the vigor, strength, and balance to rise at three a.m., walk through the dark woods, and cast into the black. I am an expert at casting my spinning rods. How long will it take me to become an expert at casting baitcasting outfits? If the learning curve is long, that could be a year or two of fishing where I'm missing the openings I can hit with spinning gear. A year or two is a lot when I'm down to my final ten years.

 

Still, I'll start using them in 2026, as I've said more than once. I'm persuaded. I'll march to the beat of the baitcasting drummer. I'm just hoping that my years of using baitcasting outfits to catch muskies will shorten my learning a little. 

 

 

I think you could pick it up in short time given the overall casting/fishing ability you already have, and experience using muskie tackle.

 

Bear in mind that no one on this planet has picked one up and mastered it their first time.  If they say they have, they are lying.

5 minutes ago, gim said:

Bear in mind that no one on this planet has picked one up and mastered it their first time.  If they say they have, they are lying.

 

That's what worries me. 

 

5 minutes ago, gim said:

I think you could pick it up in short time given the overall casting/fishing ability you already have, and experience using muskie tackle

 

I hope so. Fingers crossed.

My son was 4 or 5 when I taught him how to baitcast. I taught him on a cheap Zebco 33 spincast and 1/4 oz bullet sinker.

 

I put 4 plastic rings in the back yard and told him to cast to each marker. I told him when he thought he was getting close to the ring marker, apply pressure to the thumb bar and let the sinker drop and follow his rod tip down with the falling sinker. 

 

He learned how to thumb feather the thumb bar when his cast was too strong. 

 

It was an economical way of learning b4 investing a ton on $$ but he got really good at baitcasting.

@Swamp Girl  I hope you didn’t think my post was on suggesting using casting gear. I just pointed out one little thing a casting rig allows an angler to do. I am in the camp of using both types of set ups. Incidentally, most of my salmon caught this year was caught on spinning gear and these buggers pull harder than most bass. 😎

I dont over think a fish fight.  I just kinda react and do the opposite of what the fish wants me to do.

 

I am not mucking that up by thinking about it.

You have landed thousands of bass.  You catch more in one year than I do in 10 years.  You already know how to fight large bass and other fish.  There is probably nothing you do wrong as far as technique goes.  That leaves equipment as the only advice I would be able to give.  Standing up fishing out of a boat would help the most with landing bass, but you would not be able to fish where you do, and would not be hooking the bass you want to land.  That leaves changes to fishing gear, as the only advice I could give to help your hook up to land ratio.  I'm sure your casting accuracy is far better than mine, with any type of gear, and that is by far the most important factor in landing large bass, which is to get them to bite in the first place.

 

All things being equal, baitcasting gear will you give you a slight edge on landing larger bass in thick cover.  If switching will harm you accuracy, or change your ability to work the lures properly, than there is no advantage and will actually cause you to land fewer bass.

 

You are a highly skilled angler.  Switching gear will come naturally.   If you already know how to fish, than learning new techniques is not difficult.  You already know how to cast a baitcaster, so a little fine tuning is all you will need.  Don't leave your spinning gear behind, just bring a baitcaster along to play with now and then.  If you don't like it, than leave the bc at home. 

 

I recommend giving the Baitcaster a try, but don't blame me if the Monkey ends up firmly attached to your back and you end up with more new baitcasting outfits than a Bass Pro shops store.  Making that perfect bomb cast with next to zero brakes, right on the edge of a backlash, can become addictive and there is always a new real out, that might get you an extra foot or two.     

 

 

6 minutes ago, king fisher said:

That leaves equipment as the only advice I would be able to give.  Standing up fishing out of a boat would help the most with landing bass, but you would not be able to fish where you do, and would not be hooking the bass you want to land.  That leaves changes to fishing gear, as the only advice I could give to help your hook up to land ratio.  I'm sure your casting accuracy is far better than mine, with any type of gear, and that is by far the most important factor in landing large bass, which is to get them to bite in the first place.

 

Gosh, you are persuasive. You're the one who convinced me. 

 

I do wish I could stand, but I'm not willing to give up the sneaky-creeping advantages of my canoes and kayaks. 

 

I have caught bass in some of the gnarliest places, places with more wood and weeds than water. There's so little water that the fight happens mostly in the air. 

 

Anyway, thanks, King! I know what baitcasting reel I'm going to use. It's one suggested by Kent @road warrior that I bought from Japan, a Shimano. I think I'll put it on a MH rod first and when I develop some confidence, I'll switch it to a H rod that Tim @T-Billy sent me and go big bass hunting in the bogs. I hooked some bass in there that I could not land. Maybe the new rig will finally let me hold some of those beasts. 

7 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

Maybe the new rig will finally let me hold some of those beasts. 

Reel down, set the hook as hard as you can, then just winch on 'em. You want to keep as much steady pressure on them as you can muster. 

2 hours ago, T-Billy said:

Reel down, set the hook as hard as you can, then just winch on 'em. You want to keep as much steady pressure on them as you can muster. 

 

I just wish I had your fur hat. There's Marvel-grade superpower in that. 

1 hour ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

I just wish I had your fur hat. There's Marvel-grade superpower in that. 

Lol. If nothing else, it keeps my head and ears super warm out there in the gales of November.

9 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

note that I'm not the only one who prefers spinning outfits, but I'm the only one who is pushed to switch to baitcasting outfit

 

We can be happy spinning reel zealots together. I'm like you, I'm darn accurate with my spinning gear and pop lures into gnarly spots. I hope you don't feel pressured by the forum or the Internet to do anything. 

 

I also have some classic spinning reels I adore and work on. 

 

I think baitcaster essentialism is a deep cultural thing in bass world. Other parts of fishing have their "thing" too. Outer Banks surf fishing is mono essentialist. If you show up spooled with braid at a hot spot the locals will probably give you a hard time. 

 

I keep thinking about putting a thread up about how I use my thumb on the spinning reel to control it -- really not that unlike the baitcaster crowd. There was a really good video out of Australia that put me on that technique. 

8 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

How long will it take me to become an expert at casting baitcasting outfits?

Not long at all, especially if you're just using them for your heavy cover work. You'll get good at pitching and making short accurate casts in no time. 😉 That 6 power rod and the added winching power a baitcaster provides will really help with moving those big fish out of the jungle.