I've been kayak fishing for a couple of years and feel like I have a good experience level with most fish. Yesterday, I had my eyes opened.

I'm fishing a shoreline with lots of fall downs in the water. I hit a nice fish with a new rod and reel outfit, set the hook and nothing seems to be working when I look down and the drag is just ripping out line. I tighten down the drag system and the fish is puling me and the boat right into the bank with overhanging branches. My paddle is across my lap and I get a repositioning one handed stroke or two in before the boat pivots and the fish is behind me.

In a regular bass boat you just turn the chair and fight the fish or you are standing and you just face the fish and continue the fight. In my kayak I raise the rod tip, the fish goes behind my back and comes out on the other side of the boat. I have my net staged on the bow, so the net came to my hand nicely and I netted the fish.

It's funny how you remember these intense few seconds. I remember saying to myself that if I had a new pedal kayak, I could back up into deeper water and fight the fish there away from the overhangs. There were so many things that could have went wrong. Much of it was luck, and the pieces fell into place in the middle of craziness. I just keep replaying the few seconds in my mind and wonder what I could have done differently.

Bottom line the fish came to hand, BUT it wasn't smooth or pretty and it was a little bit of terror and pandemonium. Maybe these completely out of control moments are the reason that I continue to fish???

Looking for your thoughts on fighting bigger fish close to falldowns and boat positioning.

I�ve always wondered what it�s going to be like when I hook a big�un and now I have a better idea. But, the question I was asking myself while reading the post.....what kind of fish and did you get a picture!?

Can't figure out how to post a picture here. Can I do an upload here or do I have to use a third party hoisting site?

Did some research and while I have a photo and did post on another board, I dont have a third party hoisting site.

While I could pm you the other website, I wouldn't post a link to another forum on this site. I think that would be in bad form.

You have to reel similar to if you were fishing in heavy weeds or grass, trying to get the fishes head up and headed toward the boat.
Not always possible with a kayak as you get pulled around, but keep the rod tip facing more toward the bow of the boat and try to not fight the fish straight out from the port or starboard sides.
If the line suddenly breaks, or the fish throws the hook, you may go over and end up in the water.
Keep that in mind if the fish is big enough to pull you around.

Without reverse it�s going to get very busy and chaotic at times and you�ll probably get pulled into the pucker brush now and then. The good news is a lot of times big fish will head to deeper water.

Jimbo, thanks for the technique ideas. While I can't post a picture it wasn't a monster by TX standards, it was a 22" largemouth on the fall bite here in Wis. Nice fish for me and my location, not like catching tuna out of a kayak.

It was a pretty sheer wall going into the lake with fall downs into the water. The water was very clear and the fish came from the deep end of the lake and hit the bait and went toward shore and the fall downs. At first my drag was set too light and I had no control after the initial hook set. Once the drag was set better, The fish towed me and my little 12' boat with my rod tip straight off of the bow. That's when I came so close to the shore and the fall downs that I had to reposition with the paddle and try to fight the fish.

When the fish went behind me and I couldn't face the fish to fight it, that's when all fish fighting skill sets went to blazes and I felt totally out of control.

I really do like the idea of keeping the bigger fish off of the bow of the boat with the rod tip vs fighting them off of the side of the boat. Some smaller boats with very large fish could just tip you in if you didn't have a wide platform for stability. I have been watching guys fight tuna out of a kayak this morning on YouTube and like you said, the rod is off of the bow as these monsters pull the angler and the boats around off shore. I could also see this useful for fighting large catfish out of a kayak. Thanks again for the tip.

Pelican, the deeper water comment is what happened. After the fish went behind the boat it did not get into the brush, but came around the boat and headed toward deeper water - thankfully. I just didn't feel like I controlled that situation, I just got lucky that the fish didn't want in the brush and headed toward deeper water.

Things that help from a kayak because you have much less leverage
�use stronger powered rods than you would fishing from shore or a boat
�braid mainline to leader or straight braid
�when possible, position yourself down current/down wind
�reverse is nice
�minimize anchoring; if you have to and can; use a clamp above the water instead of a pole or line in the water

For me, it depends on what I'm using. If I hook up using heavy rod, 20 lb test and strong hooks I'm going to try and use rod tip to get kayak perpendicular to fish (creating more drag) and never stop reeling until it either comes to the surface and coming my way or it wraps me in which case I'll use rod to get bow pointed directly at fish to reel myself to it as quickly as possible. Using lighter gear I want to reduce kayaks drag so I'm going to immediately get bow and kayak headed straight to fish in hopes it doesn't pop me off on wood. Creating drag with kayak fishing salt water for tarpon helps a lot. Once fought a 100+ lb tarpon for over three hours and was dragged 6 miles on 15 lb test and 30 lb leader with bass rod.

Good stuff.

I'd only differ a bit on strongly powered rod usage. I agree with the Tactical Bassin boys that one generally needs a step lower in power, at least in most cases. The argument generally goes that since it takes so little for a nice sized fish to actually move a kayak (less anchored in a place), that if your rod is too stiff, it won't flex enough to "pin" a fish well . . . as the kayak moves to the fish. Few things are worse for landing bass than having a rod straighten out. I like a really good bend in my rods.

Too, not all of your bass will be that large so a heavier rod is not going to load up well for these.

But, if you have reverse and can back pedal away from the pull, it certainly means standard powers work just fine.

Brad

This ^^^

If you want to see what a big fish feels like, go offshore in a kayak. Always fun trolling for Kingfish and one sails out of the water about 20 feet in the air with your bait in it's mouth. You just have to hang on and take a ride for a while.

It�s easier fighting big fish in a kayak. Because they can pull you around easily and you don�t snap your line as much . But I have had a big bass try to pull me into an underwater cave and the line snapped. That�s when I wish I had a pedal kayak so I could back up with my hands free.

Bruh a bass tried to pull you into an underwater cave?

Yeah Bruh . Well he tried. I just crashed into the cliff wall .

This is easy. Just start targeting smaller fish like bluegill. Problem solved. lol jk

I usually anchor up cause I'm a catfisherman so I don't ever have this problem. I'm just bored at work with 40 minutes to go.

Carry on.

It�s sort of case by case for me, but in general I try to steer them away from trouble before trouble happens and if the fish does get into a bind, I go to them. I try to anticipate a situation and then be ready to respond, Once, I was fishing near a pier and thought �if I get a good fish here, the fish will likely head under the dock�. Before making the cast, I got as close as I dared and set up the craft in a way that I could quickly get to the dock (bow pointing to pier, slight momentum towards pier). Sure enough, a nice bass, turned out to be 6.5 pounds, went directly under the dock, but I was able to react quickly and get it out before it got too wrapped up.

So the main thing is to try to reason out what might occur and have a plan. Assess what the potential trouble spots are and then try to predict what a fish might do. Sometimes, a little extra pressure on a big fish at the right moment can turn its head just enough to make the difference between losing it or bringing it to hand.

But in a kayak, it�s inevitable that a fish will dive under the kayak or go around the craft. I really like a fiberglass rod in these situations as they will bend almost in a circle without breaking. You might need a graphite rod for sensitivity, but if you don�t, glass is really nice on bigger, rod busting type of fish. I�ve seen plenty of videos of graphite rods snapping when the fish dives under the kayak and goes out the other side.

Seems like every big fish I�ve brought to hand in the kayak have had some hairy and oh s#*t moments. There�s almost always Oyster shell, fall downs, rip rap, piers or something to contend with. I think it�s part of the fun being in cluttered water and trying to pull out the big one with danger at every turn. I�ve never enjoyed fishing open water, featureless water nearly as much fishing around difficult structure.