fighting a striper, how? and a bit of a fishing report...

ok got out late last night in the rain. yet another thing i need to get, a dry top. the raintcoat did ok but not enough. we decided to go drown and snap off some lures last night. we hit one spot near where we live. a bit of close lightning cut the stop off short.

we decided to move a bit further south. phone weather radar showed it to be a bit clearer further south. so we moved in hopes of getting even a little bit of lure washing in. well we went to a new favorite spot of ours. lots of rocks and lots of large waves and white wash, well last night that is.

being the i'm going to try anything fishing guy that i am. i tie on a fresh white right out of the package slug-o with a teaser which was the vision 5" eel both i recently had purchased. i know, i have never read of using a teaser with a slug-o or anything like that. but i did it anyway. figured it works for fluke with gulp why not a slug-o? my brother ties on a large blurple needle and teaser. there's just something about teasers.

a few casts in my line just takes off to my right. line is stripping off my too tight drag. a few seconds later the fish (or what i think is a fish) heads back left and is just to my right. that's when things went bad. at this point i feel as i got the fish near to the rocks i can see. that's when a thought dawns on me, how will i get this fish to me? but that thought went right out as i realized now that it seems my line is snagged in the rocks. i make a few tugs and wait to see if the crashing waves may knock my line loose but a snap and me almost falling on my ass cut that idea short. at the time i actually thought to myself that i may have been snagged in the rocks the whole time and my imagination got the best of me.

ok sorry about all the drivel, on to the question part of the story. this was my first fight (of what i presumed to be a striper) on a lure so to speak. and my first fight of a fish in a very rocky enviroment. so what is it that i should know about fighting and landing a fish in this type of enviroment?

First KEEP IT AWAY FROM THE ROCKS!!!!!!!

Second you said your drag was tight but the fish stripped line??What reel are you usin???If it was tight and still spoolin It was either really large bass or the reel can't handle the power of a good bass.You wanna try to turn a fish away from rocks,and any other structure which could break you off.This is a good place to start this conversation.Let us know the answers to these questions and weather or not you think your tackle could've turned that fish.


FC

i have a 10' airwave and a yellow nautil 6500 spooled with i believe it was 30lb red power pro. i've never worried or knew how to tighten or loosen the bail. but even with it cranked down on this reel the spool still spins although with some effort.

I always carry a 9 foot bamboo gaff with me when I am jetty fishing. You also want to use a heavier top shot of line when you are fishing fron the rocks for handling the fish for leadering if necessary.

If your reel is loosing line with the drag locked down you need to make sure the drag system is clean, some reel lube, WD 40 or something could have gotten it there in be causing you problems with slippage.

Great info guy's!!!!!!!!!! Let's look at this from the enviroment your fishing.Rocks and any hazzard you can hang on is bad.Good for the fish bad for the line.Driftwood said he carries a 9 ft bamboo gaff while jetty fishing.When on a jetty I carry one too!!!Their great!!!But it sounds to me like you where on a rocky beach maybe something similar to the area in and around Belmar N a little no????There it's different you real;ly need to look at an area like that in the daylight.See where you can fight and land a fish and be prepared when your out at night to remember where those good areas are!!!

Like both Drift and Red said your drag has issues.Clean it first if that makes no difference get some new guts for it.Check woth Greg At Bogans Basin he has a long list of reel parts.You might wanna call Val also I'm not sure what she has but it can't hurt to call her.


FC

I like fishing on jetties, but always release my fish...so I don't use a gaff. In this case I need to find a good rock near the water where I can land the bass. This is where a strong leader of 30-50 lb fluro comes in handy. You want to be able to grab the leader if need be. Don't want to be grabbing the braid though. Also I will make sure that in the event of hooking a monster, I can safely walk the bass back to the beach and land him in the jetty pocket. No use fishing rocks or jetty if there is no way to land them.

The tricky part is when they run right at you, or into a boulder field. This can, has and will happen. You always need to keep pressure and leverage on the fish. If he is coming at you that means reeling up the slack as fast as possible to get pressure back on him. Sometimes he will get wrapped up on the rocks. (They don't get to be 50# by being dumb). Either you need to work him loose, or wait for another wave and hope that he swims out of it himself.

after reading what everyone is saying. i think i know what my problem is, i was too high up on the rocks to effectively fight the fish. i was up on the flatter rocks that are concreted together. between the high rough water from the storms and having no dry tops we stuck to the high ground.

i think i'm going to have to keep from a lot of the rocky areas we've seen and been to. at least until we get drytops.

thanks all for the tips and advice. i'll be reading this page several times just to get it stuck to memory.

holymackeral wrote:after reading what everyone is saying. i think i know what my problem is, i was too high up on the rocks to effectively fight the fish. i was up on the flatter rocks that are concreted together. between the high rough water from the storms and having no dry tops we stuck to the high ground.

i think i'm going to have to keep from a lot of the rocky areas we've seen and been to. at least until we get drytops.

thanks all for the tips and advice. i'll be reading this page several times just to get it stuck to memory.

Do you have KORKERS??????If not there more important than a dry top!!!!!!!One slip on rocks could mean your life!!!!The water will only kill you if your unconscience in it!!!!


FC

holymackeral wrote: i was too high up on the rocks to effectively fight the fish.

Fighting the fish from a high platform isn't in itself a problem. This gives you the ability to get your line out of the water and above breaking waves. This is essentially like fishing from a boat. The problem comes in when there is too many rocks and rip rap between you and the water's edge. For instance, if you wanted to fish a jetty tip, you would not want to be 10-20 yds closer to the beach and casting over all that rock. If you were fishing a jetty pocket and hooked into a fish, now you have negotiate down the rocks to land the fish. Sometimes though you will have to deal with these hazards and you will learn as you go and be able to adapt to each situation.

fishincrazy wrote:
Do you have KORKERS??????If not there more important than a dry top!!!!!!!One slip on rocks could mean your life!!!!The water will only kill you if your unconscience in it!!!!


FC

Definitely get Korkers. They are a must for any jetty fishing.

Might be possible to hook up with someone with some Rock experience and fish one night this fall.I know I'll be hittin some rocks specially my favorites at the end of the Squan.This will probablly be your best bet to decrease your learning curve.


FC

Some great info in this thread guys keep it going ...........

got the korkers didn't step on the wet rocks till we both had them. now i do have to get us dry tops. i would prefer to be at water level anyway. just so we don't have to climb down while trying to hold onto a fish if i ever catch one.

any suggestions for dry tops. everything i've seen are just crazy priced. nothing i have seen was under $200. all of course was aquaskins which i know are good but just not that affordable. i would also like something with some room so i can layer underneath. i don't take the cold too well.

I believe Simms makes some for around 200 and reddington makes some cheaper then that, but if your going to want something to last forever, go with the aquaskinz

problem mainly is i got to get 2 of everything. and it's harder with clothing items cause of the size of my brother. i was actually hoping to find a decent used for myself and a not too crazy expensive one for my bro. maybe over the winter i'll try and pick up at least one of them.

First, let me just say that I have the AS Raptor and love it. Keeps me very warm and dry with little layering underneath. I also have a Grundens top which is not completely dry (no neck gasket) but I like this top when its raining and I know I'm not going to be taking any waves.

Now on to the other tops. I don't have any first hand knowledge of these tops, but this should put you in the right direction.

Bomber tops - I believe these are kayaking jackets, but the surf guys use them. The owner never knew surf guys were using it, but now might be paying more attention to us. He got alot of positive feedback and purchases awhile back. I think RebelMusic led the way on that one. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Lamiglass - Semi dry. I looked at it and chose the Raptor instead

NRS - I believe they have drytops

Guy cotten

Any other kayaking jacket.

so i'll have to look toward kayaking also. i just thought i would be looking at just the specialty stuff. like the aquaskins. i have not problem with them except the prices on a lot of the stuff they make. i don't want to skimp on quality but i also don't want to have to take out a loan just to get a few fishing items.

maybe i'll just save up over the winter and get them for next year. i'll just have to avoid the waves this fall.