How "hardcore" is your fishing? 2025
Movarus reply :
Over the past few days, due to some wildfires east of here, there has been a haze of smoke in the area. When it first moved in, everyone around here freaked out a little and decided to keep their kids indoors and limit outdoor activities.
I had a day of fishing planned at a new pond I came across. This little event almost ruined that day. I thought about it off and on during work and came to the conclusion that I made plans for fishing and this darn smoke wouldn't keep me from it.
I decided to still head out to the pond, even though the smoke was thick enough to keep visibility down to 1/4 mile. Turns out, over the few hours I was there, the smoke either seemed to thin out a bit or I was getting used to it. I ended up catching 3 bass around 2-3 lbs and a pretty large bluegill. All in all a fun evening fishing.
So my question for you guys... what have you done or dealt with while fishing that other people would have looked at you and gone, "Why the heck would you want to go fishing now?" 
roadwarrior reply :
My fishing partner and some buddies were setting up for striper fishing on the Tennessee River one Tuesday, several years ago. Out of nowhere two TWRA boats spead up to them and ordered them off the river and away from the dam. State Highway Patrol officers sealed the access to the dam and the entire area was swarming with cops of various jurisdictions.
My friends are like, "wassup?"
True story, 9/11/01.
8-)
BadKarma42 reply :
We had a warm winter a couple years back, so waters had not iced over yet.
An ice/snow storm came in a work was shut down early. The roads weren't too bad so I went fishing.
My biggest concern was a snow plaow burrying my little S-10 on the side of the road.
Bankbeater reply :
Last year we went when the high temp was 35 degrees. It was also raining with an occasional shower of sleet.
hawghunter1744 reply :
A buddy and I were on our way to the boat ramp in his truck and boat a few years back. While driving, we heard a loud thud and felt our truck shake. We looked behind us to find that his ball and hitch had broken off and our boat was sitting in the middle of the road, with tackle, poles, life vests, drinks, and everything else strown everywhere... We laughed, figured a way to rig it back up to the truck, and went fishin anyways..
smallfry reply :
I break ice pretty much every year to get to the open water, but every so often we even have to do "donuts" to open up the water over a rock pile....
Even that is usually a pretty nice day. One of the worst weather days I went out was about 29 degree air temps, water temps in the mid 30s and a 20 mph wind with gusts up to 25. The fish weren't shallow either, so getting out of the wind was no option. It was cold, but catching fish kept me warm...
And then there was the time in florida when a storm popped up and we were dodging water spouts on the way in...
And then a few times where we waited a little too long and the thunderstorms got a little too close. But that's stupidity, not "hardcore"....
Movarus reply :
Noticed that my post was moved, didn't realize this forum existed. Must have just missed it. Sorry about posting in the wrong place and thanks for opening up another good sub-forum.
Back on subject. I've been fishing really close to a storm once. I was fishing a river in Northern MN when I was younger. A storm rolled in but stayed clear of the area we were fishing. As a matter of fact, we didn't see one drop where we were sitting. Never even saw lightning, though we did hear thunder in the distance. The fishing ended up being great.
Come to find out a tornado had touched down a little over a mile NE of us if I remember correctly. 
I was fishing with a friend at the time and his parents were less than thrilled that we didn't get out of the "storm" and find shelter. It was more of us being naive and less of stupidity at that point. I honestly would never fish in a thunderstorm now days. First flash of light and sound of thunder sends me packing.
=Matt 5.0= reply :
That's ice....and no, it's not the first time. :
Low_Budget_Hooker reply :
If I'm not mistaken, the above pic was taken on my boat,lol.
Fishing in the snow is the norm in New England, as long as the lake isn't solid. Even if it's 1/2 solid, we will go if the boat will cut through it.
The worse the weather, the more we want to be out there. (winds over 25 mph being the exception)
thetr20one reply :
If there is no ice I an am fishin. PERIOD!!!
flippin4it. reply :
Ice and lightning are the only things that stop me.
Daniel My Brother reply :
My fishing buddies think I'm hardcore, but compared to the rest of the Bass Resource faithful, I would say I fall right in line with the norm.
Here's my favorite story:
My friend was fishing in a small cove, when a storm blew in. He could
literally feel the change in air pressure. The fish went crazy and he was catching 'em as fast as he could get his bait in the water. At one point he caught 3 four pounders on consecutive casts. He didn't want to leave, but knew he'd better head in quick.
At this point his wife calls from the cabin and says "there's a tornado warning, get back here now!"
He says "Where exactly is this tornado? If it's north or east of here, I should be ok"
His wife responds with a more emphatic "NOW!"
JigNBig reply :
What is this ice stuff yall speak of?
Snow here is a miracle from heaven it seems like.
fishfordollars reply :
I use to be young and dumb. Would not come off the water for any reason. Until I watched lightening strike a tree in the water less than 50 yds from me. I now come off the water when a storm is coming.
brgbassmaster reply :
me and my buddy are hardcore back when i lived in michigan the worst of the hardcore times is when we got out to the lake it was october in michigan so it wasnt warm it was 35 degrees when we got out there. well we started fishing saw some clouds come rolling in and sure enough its like a blizzard. we end up start catching 2-4lb bass all along this shore line in about 2 ft of really clear water. you could see the bass pushing bluegills right up against the bank. so we just kept chunking senkos with long casts infront of us and smashed them. thats the best fishing trip i have ever had. probably caught over 50 bass nothing under 2lbs. we ended up stopping at the other marina jumping out eating somthing warm and getting trash bags to cover ourselves up with so we wouldnt be as wet seeing we were just wearing sweatshirts. theres many stories like that. but not with as many fish.
FishinDaddy reply :
Josh and I fished a tourney last year in tropical storm Bob. Winds only gusting to 40 mph and 3" of rain. We managed to catch 7 lbs before we spent several hours hiding in a small cove and under covered boat docks when the squals would blow through. We were still fishing out of a 17' aluminum triton at the time.
flippincrazy reply :
Extreme cold and bad weather stink, but big water like Erie can be staight scary. :'( I have said many prayers while on Erie asking God to let us get ashore safely.
The Rooster reply :
Went fishing in the evening once during winter months when it gets dark before 6:00 PM, so it was dark on us. It was very very cold, snow flurries blowing, but we wanted to go so we went. Didn't catch any fish though. I finally said we should leave when I snagged a spinnerbait and put my hand in the water to retrieve it and it felt like it was burning instead of freezing, it was soooo cold.
Recently I was fishing and fell along the bank, twisting my ankle badly. This was about a month ago. I thought it might have been broken cause it hurt so much and I was unable to stand on it for about 10 minutes without excruciating pain. Finally I was able to stand, but very weakly and shakey legged. I thought it might only be sprained instead.......so I stayed and kept fishing. Hopped around mostly on one foot. Occasionally still today it will hurt just a bit but it's nearly well now.
Rain doesn't bother me at all now, I've learned to carry an emergency poncho in my tackle so if rain shows up I just put it on and keep fishing. Years ago though, I didn't do this, but still wouldn't quit. I'd just get soaked to the underwear but I'd still keep fishing. Many of my best days have come when the rain was steadily falling. If I see lightning though, I will quit. I notice myself looking when I enter a cove to see if there is a place where I might get out of the boat on the bank and take shelter under a cliff if there's not time to get back to the ramp. Even if there's not a cloud in the sky.
Also, I will fish if the temperature is cold enough you need a hat and gloves, or hot enough you risk heat stroke to be out in the sun. 90+ degree temps don't phase me much, I'll fish on. I work outside though year round so that helps a lot, I'm used to it. Sunblock and an occasional 5 minute break under an umbrella and it's back to fishing again.
Once I got to the launch ramp and discovered that there was a pretty large bolt stuck in the front tire on my truck. It wasn't leaking air at the moment but it looked as if it might come out any time and I'd have a flat. I thought I should probably go somewhere to get it fixed instead of staying to fish, cause I didn't have a spare tire with me, but I'd already put the boat in the water. I decided to take a chance and go fishing for several hours anyway. On the way home that bolt flew out of the tire and luckily I was only 1/4 mile away from a service station along a 50 mile stretch of highway where there is virtually nothing else anywhere. I heard it fly out and hit the wheel well on the truck and I knew immediately what it was. Inside that quarter mile I was already having to steer the truck as if turning very sharply left in order to stay straight on the road, while towing the boat. The air in the tire came out very quickly and soon I was on just the rim doing 60 miles an hour. Luckily it wasn't a blowout or I could have lost it and wrecked. I barely made it to the station, used the phone and called for help. 2 hours later I was on the way home again. I should have known better than to drive that fast once I found out the bolt was in there, but on the way up I didn't know it and was doing 70 MPH and it held. So I figured it might hold so I could get home. Oh well, live and learn.
There is a place along the Ohio river below the Greenup Kentucky dam on the Ohio side where they dump broken up concrete and rebar from demo'd buildings. I'm talking very very large, car sized, chunks of concrete and rock. There is rebar as much as 2 inches thick and several feet long sticking up out of these in many places. Then the bank is very steep as well and about 70 feet or more down to the water, in a nearly vertical decent. But if you can manage to climb down this to the water's edge, the whitebass fishing is pretty good. You end up jumping from rock to rock in order to climb down, and once you commit to the jump there is no turning back. Hope the rock isn't loose or you're going for a ride. I've been there many times and done really well fishing. It's a really treacherous climb though and if you fall you will most likely be killed. You could be impaled on the rebar, crush your head against a rock or concrete, break your neck, break your leg and be unable to climb back out and not be found for several days (slow death), any number of gruesome injuries can happen. It's a big risk, but it's worth the climb if you are able. The fishing is great. When I go, I carry a duffle bag with my Plano tackle storage trays inside, strapped to my back with the shoulder strap, and about 2 or 3 rods in one hand, carefully balancing them while I jump down the rocks.
By some standards these may not be hardcore fishing stories. To me though, sometimes these defy logic and common sense.
Paul Roberts reply :
Oh man...many times! Don't get me started...
I used to steelhead fish regardless of weather; Steelhead will do that to you. More than once I had to take a frozen reel unscrew it and pop it under my armpit to thaw it. I'd regularly pop frozen egg-sacks into my mouth to thaw them enough to fish with. Single digits and anchor ice make things challenging. But the steelies were often willing, especially when there ain't no one else out there. We had a dynamite spot below a power station that required a wade, sometimes at literally the very brim of my Xtra-Long waders in 31F water and single digit air. Sometimes I did it alone. That is not smart.
I used to (before I had a family) fish sun-up to sun-down, and the Earth always turned too fast. When a buddy joined me, after we'd pulled on the neoprenes at 5AM I'd quip, "Catheter's in! Let's git on 'em." You should've seen our waders more Goop and Duct tape than neoprene.
I sometimes spent Christmas or New Year's night laying on my back listening to the Lake Ontario surf while waiting for a steelhead to celebrate with. My buddy, Manny, used to say "Fish on -Good Day." That's about all he ever said that made any sense anyway.
I once hooked an early king salmon at midnight, on a 5-foot glass light-action spinning rod and 300 yards of 8lb. (I was fishing for trout). I had no control like fighting from a foot-long section of broomstick! I saw the knot at the bottom of the spool several times that night. I was not going to lose that fish. When you see the knot you stop pulling and pray they next run is back at you.
I discovered that night, that after you fight a salmonid for a long time they, unlike warmwater fish, can deflate their swim bladders. Then you are fighting weight, as well as body depth and fins. He would then sit on the bottom and both he and I would rest (silly of me, but I was very tired after consecutive nights of nighttime trout fishing, and working during the day). But I was not going to lose that fish Who knows how big it is! In the end I finally had to set the rod down, wrap the line around my hand and pull him off bottom, and basically hand-lined him to the net at 5:20AM. It only weighed 24lbs. My friends were not happy with me. My reel, a Mitchell 300, was toast. Believe it or not, I even back-reeled to Chinooks! I'd vowed never to use drag, and still haven't with spinning gear.
I went to work that day and was literally delirious from lack of sleep. You know, if you do something very important very intensively for some time you begin to react to ghosts. This would happen from goose hunting For weeks afterwards, any remotely goose-like sound would make my heart skip a beat music in a car next to me, children's voices on a playground,... . I was at work (security guard at a public museum) after catching that salmon and every time someone walked by and rattled change in their pocket I would leap to my feet! (We used coins to pin the line on the spool of our reels, and act as an alarm Hear the coins jingle and you've got trout from 3 to 18 lbs, or salmon from 15 to 40.) At one point a women walked in front me (slumped at my post) and all I could make out was someone walking in front of my fishing rods in moonlight! I leapt up and shouted, Lady! Your in my lines! You IN my lines!!! My boss sent me home. Neat guy we had an understanding.
OK, I'm started...
I fished out in the big lake too, mating on big boats, and in little, even tiny, boats too. Little boats and frigid Great Lakes are a bad risk. But, we'd fish thermal bars so far out you couldn't see shore in an open 16-footer. We once found a non-import Molsen bottle floating by! We wondered then if we were too far out. Nah!!!!
One April morning my friend Tim (a leathered biker who looked like a real bad ***, but was sweet as can be) showed up at my door with a cheap 9-foot inflatable raft, and a little Sears 3hp motor. As we left the ramp, other anglers just stared. One guy shouted, Are you stupid?! We waved.
Luckily it was too early for offshore thermal bars and we started finding fat football browns about a ¼ mile out. Those browns could tow that little airbag until it threw a wake! We did wonder what might happen if we hooked a King. (Since then, telemetry has shown salmon to cross the lake (40-some miles) on a direct bee-line.)
But a salmon wasn't needed. There was a strong south wind, and we planned to stay inside the lee of the lake's south shoreline. But, the browns moved out, and then, the motor didn't start, and we began to skate like a cork out to sea (This was not the first time a little Sears motor had tried to kill me; The first was the only time I was picked up by the Coast Guard. I was 12).
Tim pulled and pulled, more and more frantically, on that cord, and land got farther and farther away. It was the first time I'd thought about the 42F water all around us no PFDs of course. Tim put a foot up to kneel into it, and he gouged a big biker boot onto a valve, and air started to hiss at an alarming rate. FIND THAT VALVE!!, I yelled. And Tim found it. But the boat sagged and the motor was tilting over on its mount. Tim then began to babble and then giggle in a weird sort of way. I said, Tim, pull it together, grab that paddle and don't stop. Don't think, just paddle. We dug and dug and dug and it seemed as though we were not able to beat the wind. Those cheap flimsy plastic paddles would curl away from our work and we'd have to flip them over every now and again, but eventually we started making ground, got into the lee again, and then were lying flat on the beach feeling like we could just kiss Mother Earth. I think we actually may have; I have a recollection that sand never tasted so good on my lips and tongue. The next morning, when I woke, my arms were so sore I couldn't raise them more than a foot or so.
One more story, this one was not me. I worked in a large tackle shop and often fished before I came in to work. One morning I was double-hauling to pods of rainbows and little coho's from the rocks when a guy in a very small flat-bottomed jonboat left the little harbor. He had an electric trolling motor. I almost shouted, Are you stupid! But I knew I was equally stupid and knew he planned to hug the shore for a couple hours till the trout and salmon moved off with the rising sun.
The following day I heard the story in the shop. A guy in 10-foot jonboat and electric motor got line tangled in his prop and was located from a Coast Guard helicopter 15miles out at 1AM. That one still gives me chills.
BASS fisherman reply :
Wow, lots a great terrible stories. I can't top most of them but here are a few pics of me fishing in 2006 on the Allegheny river.
This is on a small pond about 12 miles from my house.
Last winter I was fishing the Allegheny river with air temps in the single digits and water temps in the high 20's. Ya I know.........20 degrees, ice.......it was a river. Where the water is constantly moving so the water has to be much colder to freeze.
I had to walk down a steep bank covered with ice to the river that had gone down a bit over night and left 2-4 inches of ice on every rock, stick, and pebble on the rivers edge. I walked out onto this little point and fished for a bit and had a conservation officer come down to check my license. After that we talked for a bit and I asked him if he catches a lot of people this time of year fishing illegally. He told me I was the only fisherman he has seen in weeks! No one else around is either crazy enough or stupid enough to be out in weather like that. Even though I didn't catch anything that day, I still got to be outside and throw a few casts into some water.
The Rooster reply :
OK Paul Roberts, with the possible exception of my rock leaping for whitebass, those stories you told top anything I can ever come up with. That's just plain death defying stuff you're doing there. I always think to myself that one day I'm gonna slip on one of those rocks, maybe twist my ankle in some way like last month, and then fall and they'll find my body a day or so later impaled on one of those giant rebars sticking up.
The thoughts of some of the stuff you typed there, or the impalement along the Ohio river, makes be queasy. They're all a certain death, but most of them would be a slow death where you have time to think and regret what you did just so you could fish.
Redlinerobert reply :
Malaria pills? check.
yellow fever shots? check.
Hep A shots? double check.
24 hours to get to our destination? By plane, another plane, smaller plane, then boat? checkity check check.
Only 3 people have died in the last 16 years fishing here? hmm, I can live with those odds.
Do I qualify for hardcore?
GatorBK reply :
I used to bass fish a lot in all types of weather now I have a job of fishing for nuisance gators . It is what I call hardcore fishing hooking into the tail of a 350 lb 10 ft gator . And they have legs to bull down in the mud with . I use an ambassaduer reel and wear them down or they wear me down . I often am just exhausted after fighting a large gator especially when its 90+ degrees.
Here are a few I caughy and loaded myself the other mprning . 2 of these gators were stalking people walking their dogs in a local park. I suggest non hunters not view they are kinda graphic . The smallest was 7 ft largest 11 with ambassaduer 9000 reel
I was even wearing my bass fishing T shirt that morning ;D
http://i25.tinypic.com/51aa69.jpg
http://i29.tinypic.com/2nuofwj.jpg
Paul Roberts reply :
Roostertails, I never thought of those things then like I would now. I have a little boy now and I guess things sink in a little deeper now. In fact, I have dreams about my little one (6 now) getting hurt or worse at least once a week. Maybe it's a payback, or readying me for things to come :-/.
Speaking of rocks reminds me of doing pirouettes on diatom-slick river bottoms. They are like wet ice. I can't ski or ice-skate very well, but put a nice drift in river center and I'd get there. And the most amazing thing was how I could chase a big one downstream, slipping and sliding, doing some fancy ballet, and not take a dunking. I never fell. I even carried an SLR camera around my neck and thought nothing of it.
Then, one day, after a dozen years of this supernatural footwork I stumbled on a boulder in mid-stream chasing a spicy buck 'bow and dunked my camera -ruined it. It was like waking from a 12 year stupor -how stupid of me to carry an expensive camera in the middle of a freakin' steelhead river! I guess I grew up just then because I never carried another camera into the big rivers again. And I got married shortly thereafter.
Risking one's life for steelhead somehow seems to make some sense. But for bass? Maybe smallmouth. Oooooo -here's one that really scares me, to this day.
My friend Craig and I hit the Genesee River for smallmouths. Our plan was to float a stretch in a canoe. As I remember, we put in at a town called Portageville, and floated on down stopping and casting to anything that might hold a bass. If the spot wasn't so interested we'd just cast as we drifted past. Now, I have a habit of not being able to pass up anything even remotely fishy. At one point we came into a flat wide and shallow riffle and I spotted a small log sticking into the water on the left bank.
I told Craig I was going to stop and cast. We beached the canoe and I waded over. I realized the log was too shallow and then noticed the unusual make-up of the bottom. It was flat slate, like a billiards giant table. Instead of continuing the drift, intrigued Craig and I waded downstream a little ways and the riffle ahead just seemed to vanish. We continued on, and came to the very lip of one of the big falls of Letchworth Gorge! The current was fast but shallow and smooth and we were able to look over the edge. I remember there were tourists down below and they looked like ants. If I hadn't stopped to check out that log, the would have seen a red canoe and two idiots (who never bothered to look at a map) go over the edge. I still shudder when I think of that. (If anyone is from that area, I'd like to know how high that falls is).
You know what, I wasn't die hard, I was just plain stupid. And there's more, but I think I ought to shut up now while I still have some semblance of respect around here.
Paul Roberts reply :
GatorBK, Wow. DO you use bait or snag them. I would think you'd have to hook them up front, in the snout , to get any control. Do you wear a harness?
nashkcn reply :
Quote. I thought about it off and on during work and came to the conclusion that I made plans for fishing and this darn smoke wouldn't keep me from it.
Not yet but when the time come about im going!!!!!
WTRDOG reply :
November in Maine,air temp was in the low 30's...The smallies didn't mind the snow.
Paul Roberts reply :
I used to love saltwater fly-fishing, pitching streamers n such to striped bass, blues, and false albacore on the Atlantic coast. Still love it, but she's long distance affair, and just memories now.
One time I and some friends (a fishing/environmental education program I co-lead) were guests of a fly-tyer of some re-known off the coast of RI Little Naraganset. We were ferried out to an expansive sand flat off a small sandy island (Sand Island) in the bay. As the boat approached the little island (really just a spit of sand and grass) I stood up on the foredeck and saw groups of gunmetal schoolie stripers scattering ahead over the pale sand in gin clear water. Oh man, I can smell that salt air right now.
The fishing was just wonderful: Stripers from 4 to 6 lbs all around us. We could blind cast, sight fish, (some tailer's), and catch em. In that warm shallow water they were very speedy. Basically, we followed them out with the ebbing tide, where they piled up at the first drop-off, intercepting sand eels that were sucked off the flat with the tide. Terns told us where the concentrations were. It was great!
Then, well before our appointed pick-up time, a HUGE black cloud appeared to the south. We kept out eyes on it and it soon became apparent it was bearing down on us. It was truly a scary sight: huge, towering very high above us, and absolutely black. The wind picked up (we had to pocket our caps) and lightning began to show in it, big thick jagged bolts, and soon they seemed almost constant. As we realized it was going to engulf us I had everyone stack the rods at the highest point of the island, (really just a mound of sand and grass) and then get flat down in depressions away from our makeshift lightning rod. I quickly tallied the rods and noticed one was missing. I set off around the island looking for the missing boy. I made full circle and when I returned the boat was there, everyone was in it and Paige was waving me on frantically. I walked, a bit too leisurely for Paige, and when I boarded she seemed really ticked at me for my nonchalance. On the run back it rained so hard it hurt. Paige was a minister and prayed all the way in. By that time I wasn't nonchalant about storms. I guess I felt so relieved the boat was there, and everyone was accounted for, and the speed of the storm, that I was comfortable with our run time.
Back at John's tackle shop (Cove's Edge), we all sat around sipping coffee and hot cocoa and listening to Paige tell the story of the hurricane of '33 the very one that severed Sandy Point, leaving Sandy Island orphaned in its wake, and 600 dead. She had everyone's attention, and we all felt a very real connection to it.
Sometimes very intense storm cells, often the worst of them, have very calm conditions around them. And lightning can discharge well ahead. I remember watching a huge black mass to my east while I fished in sunshine, and I later heard that storm took a life. A man was watering his garden, in calm conditions, when he was struck by lightning, and I as I heard it, the bolt blew his arm off as he held the hose. His wife called the EMTs. Gosh I felt for her.
Oh yeah, one more not me this time. Some guys came into the tackle shop one day and told me what happened out in the lake. They were in a fiberglass boat and saw an approaching storm. As they fished they said they could hear ticking sounds coming from their graphite rods. They said the clicks seemed to rise up the musical scale. Then, when they looked at each other, they saw each others' hair was standing on end! They got off the water. They said that an engineer friend told them he thought that they, being in a glass boat and holding graphite rods and the approach of that big electrical storm, had become a giant electrical capacitor, and that they were lucky. I don't know electricity very well to verify if this could be so. But if I ever my graphite rods ticking I'll be outta' there if I can. I have enormous respect for lightning, and it scares me, I suppose because I really know so little about it.
MattStrykul reply :
Last march or april my brother and I were fishing a tournament here in NOVA and it was thundering and lightening all day....just pretended we couldn't hear it ;D. Only managed 2 or 3 keepers that day, but caught like 30 fish!!!!
LCpointerKILLA reply :
red tide.
Jake P reply :
Im so hardcore i ONLY fish when winds are at a maximum of 5 mph and its 85 an sunny. These weather conditions are not for everyone so be careful.
BassinSoldier reply :
Wading with 10ft + gators in Florida when I was in my late teens. I did however keep a sidearm just in case. I never had any problems out of any of them. It was almost like they knew I was looking at THEM like THEY were food (which I was). I would have hated to have had to bust one of them outta "self defense". ;D
Movarus reply :
QuoteIm so hardcore i ONLY fish when winds are at a maximum of 5 mph and its 85 an sunny. These weather conditions are not for everyone so be careful.
I braved almost these exact conditions yesterday! The only difference is that it was cloudy, so I wasn't as far into an extreme. 
Turned out to be one of the best fishing days in forever. It feels good to be so extreme.
It was cool to hear so many stories. ;D
GatorBK reply :
QuoteGatorBK, Wow. DO you use bait or snag them. I would think you'd have to hook them up front, in the snout , to get any control. Do you wear a harness?
I snag some . Its hard to get a hook to stick anywhere most of the time the hook just falls off them when you get them in. I tail hook a lot of them . Its tough to hold the rod in one hand and reach their head with the other when they are tail hooked . Its hard to explain the process of catching them but I sometimes have to wade in to get to the head of a tail hooked gator. If I hook a 10 footer 2 feet up his tail his head will still be 8 ft off the bank
There is nothing like the power of a 10 plus ft gator. They also have legs so the big ones just bull down to the bottom and face you while you pull them in. The one advantage I have is If I get wore down I just hold pressure try to rest and the gator has to come up to breathe eventually. I have seen them hold their breath for up to 3 hours.
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