landing the big one?

[JasonB]

So I just had a couple of fantastic days of fishing, and 3 days in a row managed to hook up with a much larger sized fish than I ever had in the past. As you might have guessed, even without the title, I got to play with them but not land them. I've been thinking a lot about what it might have taken to actually bring them to hand and get to take a photo or two of them before gently letting them swim away out of my hands.

I'm curious to hear some variety of opinions on the do's and don'ts of playing, and landing bigger trout. I think I'm doing an ok job of playing them, certainly an educational experience to hook into a big one so I'm sure I could do better with some more experience. Certainly some strategy would help a bit, especially the "end game" bit about when and how to actually land them. Specifically I'm wondering about a healthy catch and release option for bigger trout (let's say over 2' for example).
JB

[tallguy]

By far, the most important factor in landing a big fish is to insure that you leave your camera at home.

I no longer bring a camera with me, and I seem to land nearly ALL the big ones once hooked.

[jbird]

What I do at the end of the battle is make sure my entire system (including my body) is a shock absorber. The closer the fish is, the less shock absorbtion you have. I keep my hand, wrist, elbow and shoulder very soft and responsive. If the fish surges, let the cussion begin in your rod and follow clear up your arm. So you extend the rod and your arm and even follow with your body if you have to. Most times you can do this without giving him any line. Let him surge, but gently make him work for it. Watch how hes moving and at the first opportunity, get his head out of the water and skate him in. Without his head underwater, he has much less leverage. Be prepared to do this whole thing more than once (sometimes several times) in the coarse of landing one fish.

Hope this helps

[JasonB]

What I do at the end of the battle is make sure my entire system (including my body) is a shock absorber. The closer the fish is, the less shock absorbtion you have. I keep my hand, wrist, elbow and shoulder very soft and responsive. If the fish surges, let the cussion begin in your rod and follow clear up your arm. So you extend the rod and your arm and even follow with your body if you have to. Most times you can do this without giving him any line. Let him surge, but gently make him work for it. Watch how hes moving and at the first opportunity, get his head out of the water and skate him in. Without his head underwater, he has much less leverage. Be prepared to do this whole thing more than once (sometimes several times) in the coarse of landing one fish.

Hope this helps

Actually yes, that does help! That all makes a lot of sense, particularly the part about using my body much more for absorbing those last head shakes or twists. As for needing to make several attempts, that's about where I got thus far. The biggest one I hooked came closest to hand several times, and I even got him part way in my net 3 times! Clearly a bigger net would have helped, but even there I had a hard time handling all that leader/tippet distance by myself.
thanks, JB

[Dan LeCount]

Try to angle your rod towards the direction the fish is swimming and gradually turn his head until hes pointing back towards you. His shape is made for swimming forward, instead of pulling against him, use his energy against him and constantly redirect him to swimming back towards you. If you cant see the river bottom and the possible snags that can be there, keep your rod high to decrease your chances of getting caught on unknown rocks and snags. Fighting low works great in open water, but if your line is closer to horizontal in water with structure, it increases your chances of being wrapped around the various junk the fish will try to swim around or hide under.

[jcsesica]

Landing them hasn't always been difficult. The hardest part for me is walking the fine line between playing them delicately enough to land them without playing them so long that I know that they can't survive the release. Often times a good fight and LDR is a victory for me, knowing that most big fish could be landed if cared to fight them slowly enough and had no regard for their healthy release.

[Dan LeCount]

Anytime their head is pulled out of the water, the fight will be shortened. its like us running a race and then dunking our head under water real quick. Also occasionally when they roll you can land them early if theyre close. They seem to disorient themself, you just have to be careful cause sometimes theyll snap out of it and burst off again.

[JasonB]

Landing them hasn't always been difficult. The hardest part for me is walking the fine line between playing them delicately enough to land them without playing them so long that I know that they can't survive the release. Often times a good fight and LDR is a victory for me, knowing that most big fish could be landed if cared to fight them slowly enough and had no regard for their healthy release.

Totally agreed there. Specifically:

Specifically I'm wondering about a healthy catch and release option for bigger trout (let's say over 2' for example).
JB

I'm sure that I could have played at least one of the 3 piggies to the point of exhaustion and landed it, but that wasn't an option for me personally (no photo, or trophy would be worth that to me). The other 2... well I didn't even have that option: one broke me off while I was trying to curtail a major escape run, the other took me straight into the bushes he had been hanging out in (it was a pretty far fetched long shot of a fish to begin with, but I had to try).

I should say that I'm totally happy with just getting to play with those biggies a bit, each one was extremely satisfying for different reasons. I just wouldn't have minded a chance to get a pic or two to share. Still I'm pretty happy that at least I got to get a really good look at the biggest of them, a pretty good look at one of them, and got to hook and loose one that I was watching surface feeding in a VERY tough spot to present to.
JB

[JasonB]

Anytime their head is pulled out of the water, the fight will be shortened. its like us running a race and then dunking our head under water real quick. Also occasionally when they roll you can land them early if theyre close. They seem to disorient themself, you just have to be careful cause sometimes theyll snap out of it and burst off again.

Another good idea, thanks for the tip. And I owe you another thanks as well: for the fly! You gave Jim (bigfly) a really sweet looking streamer of some sort that he in turn gave me to try (I think it's a big sculpin of some sort, but it also floats and looks very mousy if twitched and wiggled around a bit in an eddy). It worked out well... till I watched it taken to the bushes in Walters mouth
I need to see about getting another one...
cheers, JB

[Ralph]

The biggest one I hooked came closest to hand several times, and I even got him part way in my net 3 times! Clearly a bigger net would have helped, but even there I had a hard time handling all that leader/tippet distance by myself.
thanks, JB

It sounds like you had your rod tip in the air. Remember that whatever is attached to your rod (dead or alive) will always wind up directly down current of the tip. When it gets close, kneel down, put your net in the water then swing your rod tip directly upstream. The fish will almost swim into your net.