Do you try to keep it from jumping ? I always do especially with crankbaits, what about tx rigs and jigs ? I lost a couple nice fish recently on shakey head, I had rod down trying to keep them from jumping, they came out of water and hook came loose, bad luck or am I doing something wrong ?

You actually get to go fishing?

I always try to keep them from jumping...it looks great on a fishing show or in a picture, but doesn't impress me too much when a lunker spits that bait back in my direction- "ptewy"!

Really just depends on the situation for me. I will say there is one thing I have definitely learned watching the MLF guys. They really take their time with just about every fish. I think most weekend guys like us rush fish most of the time especially in a tournament. I've really slowed down on reeling them to the boat in the last year and it's made a big difference in not losing fish. Of course if I have a net man, I don't worry about taking it too slow.

Controlling the head of the bass at all times is key. This starts with a good hook set, even with treble hooks
*with finesse gear, small single hooks, using drag to tire out the fish is key on larger bass, but always some pressure on the head
With larger single hook presentations and heavy gear, you can just waterski most bass under 6lbs
With treble hooks, rod tip low and keep pressure on the bass

Bass over 5lbs, get them in the boat ASAP. The more time they have, the more likely you’ll get wrapped up (in stumpy or grassy lakes) or make a mistake

The smartest ones will swim straight at you as fast as they can; and if they can, go under the boat and jump on the other side

This spring I had a monster ( my guesstimate 13+) jump and spit my buzz frog back at me. I was bank fishing so not much I could. But yes I try to keep them from jumping. My opinion is to keep line tight and don't get in a rush unless you need too. Most people get to excited and make unnecessary mistakes.

I use heavy line. I am not going to risk breaking off a big fish when it dives deep into cover. I have used the this method my whole life to slide the fish to the boat and that includes Big Bass. When the fish surfaces I never let it get back down. There are lots of variables involved here; so start practicing this method with your smaller fish and just work your way up. Like all techniques it takes some practice. One of the most important variables is being ready to land the fish and of course that is much easier when you have a partner on the net.

Those that use lighter lines, have no choice but to play out a fish, allowing it to jump and run. In my opinion this doubles the chances of it getting off the hook.

My experience tells me that there are times when you cannot keep a fish from jumping. I hooked a big fish I would estimate between 10-11 pounds at Fork on Memorial weekend on a 1 oz jig at the end of a LONG cast in 20' of water. That fish immediately came up and jumped and then jumped again twice more. The last time she jumped the hooked pulled out.

You may be able to control a fish 10 yards away to some degree but not fifty! You simply don't have much leverage on a fish that far away from the boat. The angle of the line to the fish is too flat at that distance.

I lost two big fish in tournaments this year by trying to be a little to easy getting them to the boat. I think moving forward I will rely on getting them to the boat a little hot and having a great net man to scoop them up.

The two big fish I lost were on 12 pound line and a shaky head, I did not feel like I could try and hurry them in. If I am fishing heavier line I will get a lot more aggressive with them.

I try my best to keep them from jumping. Sometimes that means burring your rod to the reel in the water. Even that may not be enough in some cases. One thing for sure, unless I'm fairy wand fishing with ultra light line, I do not mess around getting them to the net. The longer they are on the line the higher the probability something goes wrong.

What kind of shaky head are you throwing? I have used almost all of them and found the owner ultra head stays buttoned up better than most . Also throwing on 12 lb seaguar and a 7 ft rod.

I like to get them to jump. Its cool to watch.

If he throws it so what? If you caught one big fish you can catch another one!

Rod tip buried as soon as I know I have a big one on. Only variance is if I'm fishing reeds as they go down and snag the exposed hook on the roots. In that case, I'll not just reel but start to walk towards the other side of the boat and keep the rod tip high to get them from diving and get them out of the reeds and to open water as fast as possible. Still I'd say I loose 25% of them in heavy reed cover. It's worse than stumps.

I spend the majority of my time targeting large fish with large swimbaits, 50-65 pound braid and 20-25 leaders. When I connect, my only thoughts are to get a quality hookset, control their head and grind them to the boat as quickly as I can. Every fight is different but the last thing I'm going to willingly allow to happen is having a large fish jump. When I fish conventional presentations I'm fine with them jumping even if it means losing a portion of them. But then again, I'm not doing it for money.