How To Play And Land Your Fish (Part Six - The Rod)

Of course, your rod plays a big part when it comes to playing and landing a fish. Once the fish is hooked, let your rod do the work. A rod works at it's best flexing forward under pressure, recovering when the pressure weakens, when it is held nearly vertical.

You should never point your rod at a fish to play him, but keep your rod tip high during most of the fight. This is particularly important when playing a strong, fast fish in shallow water with obstructions. Holding your rod high helps to raise the line and keep it free of snags. A fish should not be given anything solid to pull against. When your rod is nearly vertical it will flex under the pull, and take most of the strain. But if you reel a fish too close to your rod tip, he'll get a more direct pull and could break away.

Whenever possible, stop a fish from taking out too much line. The shorter the line, the more you will feel the pressure, and that pressure will be more easily controlled. However, the trade off is there is less cushioning of the sudden shocks, which a longer line will take up because of it's elasticity.

When the fish is fresh and wild, play him at a little distance, and use the cushioning effect of a moderate length of line. After he has lost that first edge, keep him as close as possible. Of course, when you hook a big northern pike, or muskie, there's not a lot you can do about the amount of line you pay out. Some big 'uns take the fight out of your hands, and all you can do is hang on and hope.

If you are playing a fish in a stream, or river, try to keep him fighting upstream as much as you can. If he's battling the current as well as the rod he'll tire that much quicker. If the current is strong however, get him out of it quickly. Lead him into an eddy or the quieter waters of a large pool.

Sometimes you'll be faced with the decision of whether to stop a fish at the risk of breaking your line or leader, or let him swim into a tangle of snags, or rapids. You are the only one who can make the decision. You can chose to stop the fish and lose a leader, or you can stop them and bring them in. No-one can really know what's going to happen. You just make your choice and then do the best you can.

A fish that's hooked properly won't necessarily escape when given a little slack in the line, but it's usually better to keep it taut. Having said that, slack would be given when a fish jumps, to avoid him breaking the line. Lower the rod qickly to an almost horizontal position. This will give the leaping fish less chance to snap your line by falling on it. As soon as the fish is back in the water, take up the slack by raising your rod tip to it's high position.

That pretty much covers the very basics of rod work. Of course there's a lot more to it than that, but working with those pointers in mind, time and experience will develop your own individual rod style that works for you.