By Derick Willson
As anglers, we’ve all spent a lot of time thinking, talking, and preparing for the moment when we hook a big one. Like other defining moments in our lives, we recognize them right away and the excitement sometimes causes a melee of fatal snap decisions. There are few things more soul crushing than hooking a trophy fish only to have it get away.
Experienced anglers find a way to slow down in the midst of this excitement in order to make the right decisions necessary to land big fish on a consistent basis. For those with a little less experience, mental preparation is key.
I have had my share of big fish and in the beginning I had a hard time landing them as excitement got in the way. My line would break because the drag was set too high or the hook would pull due to a lapse in tension on the line. During the fight, I would try to adjust the drag on the reel as many inexperienced anglers do, and the fish would be gone. Over time I learned not to adjust the drag and I began to land more fish. The only problem was if the drag was too loose there would be times Control the fish by turning it, to prevent getting into the rocks. I learned to fix this too through a technique called thumbing the line.
There are two simple ways to do this depending on whether you have a conventional or a spinning reel. With a conventional reel, put your thumb over the spool and apply slight pressure when the fish is running. With a spinning reel, lightly cup the spool applying the slightest pressure with one hand while gripping the rod in the other. Pay attention to what the fish is doing, you are not trying to stop the fish but rather control it and direct it back in your direction.
So with all that said, here is this month’s Angler 2 Angler tip: “When hooked into a big fish, thumbing the line can increase pressure without having to adjust the drag and risk losing the fish.” Good luck!
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