This is where my leverage net is on the yak, locked and loaded. Its easy to reach handle is held snuggly by a Rotogrip paddle holder. I can also lock the net directly parallel over the gunnel to keep the fish submerged like a live well.

17 hours ago, Scott F said:

When using braided line, there’s no reason to “cross their eyes”. Massive hook sets are needed with nylon lines that stretch. Big bass are just very good at throwing the hook. It happens. Big smallmouth are very, very good at it. What happens after you land a fish? You measure it, take a photo and throw it back right? Do you really need more pictures of fish? Are you going home hungry without that fish? Are you fishing tournaments where prizes are involved? Does it really matter exactly how big a fish is? You had your fun getting bit and fighting the fish, weren’t you going to let it go anyway? A quick release is better for the fish. Less harm from handling and being out of the water longer than he’d like to be. We are used to being disappointed by the one that got away, but is that actually a bad thing? If it’s about bragging rights, let’s be honest. Very very few people (if any) care about how many or how big the fish you catch are. Be happy you are getting bites. If a big ones gets off too soon, shake it off and get your bait back out there and get another one.

I like this guy. I'm a pic taker, but it's as soon as they're landed. Pic, unhook, back in the water. Typically 30s or less.

Use a bigger frog. Bend those hooks out a bit so that you can see some daylight between the body and the hooks. Use a soft frog. I favor the standard size Booyah Pad Crasher and Popping Pad Crasher. My buddy has a Snag Proof Scum Frog that I believe is the softest frog on the market. My setup is a 7-3 XH/XF rod with a Lew's Tournament MB reel with 7:1 ratio, I believe. I would buy a faster reel if I had to replace it. I use 50# PowerPro braid. A lot of bass will miss a frog. If you hook them and don't turn them towards you, they will dig into the weeds and leverage the hooks out unless they are hooked deep. So set that hook hard and drag them to you or drag the kayak to them as quickly as possible. Set your drag very tight. Don't try to play these fish out. Time is not on your side. People in boats have a better rod angle to get the bass up and on top of the weeds. In a kayak, your rod is lower and you have less upward leverage.

I keep the rod tip high until I see a bite. I reel down and try to determine if the fish has the frog. If it does I swing away. This seems to be about the amount of time it takes either for a fish to take the bait or for me to know if it missed. I don't want to snatch it away if it missed. I can twitch it a couple times and maybe get it to bite again.

There are alternatives to a frog. A toad is better at getting open water bites and you can drop the rod and see if the fish is moving with it before you set the hook. If you drag it on the mat and they bite, it will sink and they can get a second shot at it without breaking the surface again. Many bass won't go to the surface twice. A Johnson Silver Minnow with a grub or chunk trailer will walk across the mat and sink when a fish misses on it. It will also get some bites when you swim it off the mat and get a few stray bites just swimming it in the submerged vegetation. You must sharpen the hook on these. They come dulled by the shiny plating.

Check your hooks for sharpness and sharpen if necessary. I keep a net handy, but it's mostly for big bass hooked with trebles. I have made it to 55 years old without ever getting a hook past the barb in my flesh. I want to keep the streak alive.

I’m with @king fisher I take my time playing fish in the yak, usually. Of course, if you are in cover, then you have to get them out to open water before you can play the fish. If I don’t tire them out, they show up boat side with a ton of energy, where I have less control. I do make liberal use of a net when I need it.

Had a heart breaking fish loss and I thought about this post. I wish I read all this good advice earlier.

I had braid and sadly about 8 ft of grass. I kept my rod tip down so the fish wouldn’t jump but as a result, the fish was able to get leverage by diving into the grass cover and I lost it. I wish I held the rod tip up high for leverage :(

On 6/21/2026 at 11:58 AM, Swamp Girl said:

Me too, Koz. I also lose my biggest bass when I reach for the net. There are two things, I do to reduce the number lost and they work:

Really load your rod with tension before reaching for the net. Put the maximum bend in it because some fish-pinning tension will be lost when you reach. This helps a lot.

When we see a big bass, the natural tendency is to reach for the net earlier than necessary. When you do, you're fighting the bass off-balance. So, talk yourself out of reaching too soon.

Two other tips:

Buy a big net.

If a bass is about to jump, anticipate where it's going to land and position the net there. Their power often lets them throw a hook on a boat-side jump, but I've netted several that freed themselves on their final jump when they jumped into the net I had waiting.

Absolutely this! Every time I lose a bass while reaching for my net or even just trying to click my power pole remote, is because I was distracted and lost tension on the fish.

A good size net in an easy to grab spot helps out a ton.

12 hours ago, the reel ess said:

Use a bigger frog. Bend those hooks out a bit so that you can see some daylight between the body and the hooks. Use a soft frog. I favor the standard size Booyah Pad Crasher and Popping Pad Crasher. My buddy has a Snag Proof Scum Frog that I believe is the softest frog on the market. My setup is a 7-3 XH/XF rod with a Lew's Tournament MB reel with 7:1 ratio, I believe. I would buy a faster reel if I had to replace it. I use 50# PowerPro braid. A lot of bass will miss a frog. If you hook them and don't turn them towards you, they will dig into the weeds and leverage the hooks out unless they are hooked deep. So set that hook hard and drag them to you or drag the kayak to them as quickly as possible. Set your drag very tight. Don't try to play these fish out. Time is not on your side. People in boats have a better rod angle to get the bass up and on top of the weeds. In a kayak, your rod is lower and you have less upward leverage.

I keep the rod tip high until I see a bite. I reel down and try to determine if the fish has the frog. If it does I swing away. This seems to be about the amount of time it takes either for a fish to take the bait or for me to know if it missed. I don't want to snatch it away if it missed. I can twitch it a couple times and maybe get it to bite again.

There are alternatives to a frog. A toad is better at getting open water bites and you can drop the rod and see if the fish is moving with it before you set the hook. If you drag it on the mat and they bite, it will sink and they can get a second shot at it without breaking the surface again. Many bass won't go to the surface twice. A Johnson Silver Minnow with a grub or chunk trailer will walk across the mat and sink when a fish misses on it. It will also get some bites when you swim it off the mat and get a few stray bites just swimming it in the submerged vegetation. You must sharpen the hook on these. They come dulled by the shiny plating.

Check your hooks for sharpness and sharpen if necessary. I keep a net handy, but it's mostly for big bass hooked with trebles. I have made it to 55 years old without ever getting a hook past the barb in my flesh. I want to keep the streak alive.

Yes, I bend the hooks. But you have to be really, really careful with the Spro frogs because those hooks are very easy to snap. I've broke a few trying to bend them.

Whether it's a regular frog or the big or small popper, I let the fish turn before setting the hook.

My biggest bass losses are all from a boat. Half from my friends zigging when I am zagging with the fish. Yup. Bad net jobs. The rest are simple hook pops out.

In my kayak I’m good. Really good. Yes, a bass will move my kayak, but it’s a simple slow rotation or something. I’m not getting towed. I’ve caught huge ocean fish and those don’t tow me around either. One day I will be towed. Hopefully a tuna or rooster fish. Or a huge GT.

I don’t find my hookset power absorbed by the kayak’s movements either. It’s floating my fatass, it can handle all my hooksets.

Keep your net in the same, easily to reach spot every time. I keep mine in the same, exact spot in my kayak every time and I can find it without even looking for it when I'm fighting a big fish. Staying calm and timing when to grab the net is important to reduce the amount of time you've only got one hand on the rod/reel. I get the fish worked to the boat and I don't touch my net until I'm going to pick it up and immediately net the fish. It basically ends up making it one, smooth motion from when I release a hand from the rod, grab the net, and scoop the fish. I see a lot of guys getting the fish to their kayak and then immediately grabbing the net while the fish still has a lot of fight left in it and then they're trying to control the fish with one hand and their net with the other and end up losing the fish.

I have an 18" section of 3/8ths chain on the front of my kayak for an anchor and drop it when I hookup a decent fish. It's easier for me to fight a fish from a stationary boat.

Like @Bluebasser86 I keep my net in the same spot all the time. Directly in front of me, accessible by my left hand. I’ll guide the fish to the port side, reel down and as I lift the rod up will grab the net and position it for the landing. Lifting the rod keeps tension on the fish while bringing it closer to the canoe. I don’t do this until I’ve got it close enough to net, not grabbing the net too early lets me concentrate on getting the fish to the boat.

I typically don’t lose a fish boat side but from weak hook sets and not taking up slack soon enough .

25 minutes ago, Motoboss said:

Like @Bluebasser86 I keep my net in the same spot all the time. Directly in front of me, accessible by my left hand. I’ll guide the fish to the port side, reel down and as I lift the rod up will grab the net and position it for the landing. Lifting the rod keeps tension on the fish while bringing it closer to the canoe. I don’t do this until I’ve got it close enough to net, not grabbing the net too early lets me concentrate on getting the fish to the boat.

I typically don’t lose a fish boat side but from weak hook sets and not taking up slack soon enough .

I've replayed some of my situations over and over in my head and there have been a few times I've grabbed for the net a little early and the bass had dived. So, even keeping my rod up, when the bass runs back to the surface and breaches that leaves a lot of slack in the line.

What I need to do in the future is not go for the net until I've taken in the slack with the bass near the surface. Then, if it does dive, the rod bends and when the fish comes close to the surface the rod straightens out but there still should be sufficient tension if I'm holding the rod tip high.

Of course, if I had remembered to turn on my Go Pro I would have been able to see some of this on video. I don't know what it is with me and my Go Pro. All I have to do is say, "Go Pro, start recording."