Was watching MLF I had recorded. Ott hung a bait up under a dock and grabbed the line above the reel and let the whole rig slide down into the water and under the dock till the rod tip hit his lure and knocked in loose. He set the drag to allow the rig to gravity feed out to the lure. Crazy. The rig got about 6 ft out from his hand. I guess thats a way to skin a cat but my luck would not be that good.

Anyone ever do that?

Plenty of times but you should be prepared to replace rod tips if you do that.

Lots of pro’s do that, they don’t buy their rods, they are given to them. So it’s ok if they break one or two...

The classic that EE won on Grand he was throwing a spinner bait around submerged timber and every 3rd or 4th cast he would grab his line and let his rod run down to the bait. It looked very impressive. I would not be able to get away with that.

Again they don’t pay for them . I ain’t doing that .
J D

Been doing it for 40 years and no one pays for my rods. I don't do it with any tungsten on the end of the line, though.

I did that once and broke the tip. Now I do the bow trick. Set the rod down on the deck with the rod tip up and pull the line tight near the tip then snap the line with your other hand. Many times that will work but not always, but it is better than breaking rod tips or your rod.

Another thing that I do is to attach a swivel clip to a 1 oz torpedo lead weight, slip it over your line and send it down line to your bait. Now shake it and it will usually get the bait unhung but again not always but it is a cheap lure retriever if you loose it.

Works everytime on a spinnerbait don't set your drag tho that's a good way to lose a rod

This is right, the inserts more than breaking the tips of the rod.. Joey has replaced many of ours. It definitely works.