Help please- Inventor w/ a product research question regarding landing a fish.... 2025
morecowbell001 reply :
Hi guys- I'm an independant inventor doing some product research and I'm wondering if you might be able to answer a few stupid questions for me.
My questions for you....
1. When you've hooked a fish (Bass or otherwise semi-large fish), are there times you've lost it directly because you took your hands off of your reel momentarily?
- if so, how often has that happened?
2. If you do take your hands off while trying to land a fish, are there any reasons other than netting the fish yourself that you do this?
3. Any other thoughts on this topic that might be helpful for me to know? When it's o.k., when not, why shouldn't I care, what type of feature you'd like someone to invent, etc...
I'm asking because I came across a few challenging situations and thouht I might be able to improve upon it.
Thanks,
Kevin
Darren. reply :
Welcome aboard, Kevin.
1) By taking hands off reel, you mean the handle, right?
We've probably all lost a fish because of a lapse in reeling,
the fish was coming toward us and we didn't reel fast enough.
2) I've always got my hand on the rod/reel when netting a
fish. Spinning or casting. Obviously not the reel handle.
3) Not really sure it's a problem in need of a solution, at least
none that I can think of.
A-Jay reply :
Hello Kevin and Welcome to Bass Resource ~
Are you an experienced angler yourself or more of a novice ?
Perhaps you've never been fishing and would like to learn ?
How long did it take to invent independence ?
Could you please be a little more vague ?
A-Jay
morecowbell001 reply :
Thanks Darren- yes, I should have been more specific. I did mean the reel handle. This question may not apply so much for Bass fishing, as I'm thinking about it more.
Kevin
morecowbell001 reply :
Hi A-Jay-
My apologies for being so vague. That was somewhat on purpose to allow an open ended respond, but I'm likely too vague.
I've been fishing most of my life, but would still consider myself a novice. I usually fish for walleye, crappie, northern, and panfish here in MN. I've only fished with a spinning reel. Adjusting the drag was one of the things that caused me to take my hands off the reel long enough in some cases where I lost tension on the line... ultimately loosing the fish.
Since I'm no where near as familiar with bass fishing, I'm asking to learn whether taking your hands off of the reel handle for any reason (drag or other) are a problem when you're landing a fish, or if you typically don't need to or can overcome any issue that comes up if you do take your hands off the reel. I hope that is less murky.
Thx for your time,
Kevin
puddlepuncher reply :
I'm trying to think of a time I've ever landed a fish and took my hands off the rod/reel.
LCG reply :
Don't forget that the rod and reel act together to fight and ultimately land a fish. There should be enough bend in the rod to take your free hand and land the fish. If not, then there is no tension on the line hence loosing the fish. I generally use a net but I don't recall loosing too many fish due to having my hand off the reel.
Don't take this wrong, but you may have room for improvements regarding technique or you have a solution looking for a problem.
If you are loosing line tension due to adjusting your drag then something is off. Maybe you turned the drag too low or maybe the fish turned towards you, allowing slack in the line. Keep the bend in the rod, use the drag of the reel to tire the fish out and protect the line from breaking, and reel the handle to keep the line tight.
TOXIC reply :
I am not a fan of adjusting the drag on any reel while fighting a fish nor do I back reel. I set my drag to match my line not the fish. I very rarely break off especially with today's modern drag systems on both baitcasters and spinning reels. I also do not like using a net or flipping fish into the boat. I prefer to lip them, excluding toothy fish obviously. I also never put the rod down while getting a fish in the boat so I never lose contact but I do move my hand from the reel to the foregrip.
68camaro reply :
Last night I got a nice blowup on top water by bank, I swept rod to right and rear to drag fish closer but as I was reeling I noticed line not coming in, I haven't used topwater rod in a while and never checked drag before going out to pond. While keeping fish pinned he pulled under water, big fish, as I was just going to adjust drag...and you guessed it, he popped off. My mistake for not checking drag but it does happen......
LAO162 reply :
The combination of anti-reverse and drag should maintain enough tension on the line for your reeling hand to lip or net the fish.
BassWhole! reply :
Not sure what you have in mind, but "landing" a fish can mean a bunch of different things depending on the angler, the fish and the location. But to answer your question, taking a hand off the reel (or rod for that matter) isn't the cause of not landing fish in any significant way.
J Francho reply :
On 3/1/2018 at 9:55 PM, reason said:But to answer your question, taking a hand off the reel (or rod for that matter) isn't the cause of not landing fish in any significant way.
I agree. Seems like the OP is trying to solve a problem that could just be a technique issue. I hand land fish all the time, not just bass either, and that always means taking a hand off the reel. Even when I net, I do not trust others to do it, so I do that myself as well. No way to net by yourself without taking your hand off the reel.
roadwarrior reply :
"I am not a fan of adjusting the drag on any reel while fighting a fish nor do I back reel.
I set my drag to match my line not the fish. I very rarely break off especially with today's
modern drag systems on both baitcasters and spinning reels."
Good advice!
J Francho reply :
Drags....Set it and forget it!
morecowbell001 reply :
Thanks for all of the great, constructive feedback guys. I'm learning a lot. I am definitely trying to figure out if I'm coming up with a solution to a problem that doesn't really exist (so as not to waste a lot of time and money).... so no offense taken.
My terminology may not be clear/correct regarding "landing" a fish. The time range I'm trying to explore is from the time you set the hook to the time you net the fish (basically when it is fighting you). In that time- must you keep your hands on your reel, do you take it off, and if so, is that ok?
Adjusting drag was just one example that I've experienced myself, and I think I've learned from above that I shouldn't have to even do that. I'm actually trying to address other reasons to take hands off of the reel, but I don't want to "lead the witness" so to say. That said, it sounds like so far that as long as you're able to keep tension on the line, it seems fine to take your hand off the reel momentarily, as long as the fish doesn't turn towards you. In my experience it's tough to predict when the fish might turn and leave slack, so I was nervous to take my hands off of the reel at all.
Tim Kelly reply :
It's hard to understand what the problem is you're trying to solve. Literally taking your hand off the reel is irrelevant as it's no problem to do that, if you want to, as long as you maintain tension and momentum on the fish, so the question is a little odd. What do you imagine would be different if you never took your hand off the reel?
morecowbell001 reply :
Great feedback. Maybe a better way to ask a followup question is-
So when a fish is "on" how long are you typically able to take your hand off the reel before you might expect slack to occur? I realize that this could be very specific to the situation, but I'm asking about the most typical case for catching bass.
Thx,
Kevin
Ratherbfishing reply :
Most reels have an anti-reverse feature which keeps the line from feeding back out freely. Assuming the drag is set appropriately and the aforementioned feature is functioning, it's rarely a problem when landing a fish.
The time when ones hand should be ON the reel handle and, especially, the rod is immediately after one casts. This, however, is precisely WHEN many people are changing hands (if they cast with their right hand and hold with their left-or vice versa). Many people (who have been taught incorrectly) still insist upon changing hands and will take issue with my contention however to them I can only reply "Neener neener." 
mattkenzer reply :
On 3/2/2018 at 1:04 AM, Ratherbfishing said:Many people (who have been taught incorrectly)
My feelings are hurt ..... 
Choporoz reply :
Being close to someone else on the path between "A-Ha!" and 'in stores', I can empathize with you and those frustrated by your questions.
I'm guessing that if a problem does need solving, it may not be huge among bass fishermen. At least not yet. Most of the stuff we buy, we didn't know we needed it until someone told us we do.
Good luck, Kevin.
A-Jay reply :
On 3/1/2018 at 11:35 AM, morecowbell001 said:Hi A-Jay-
My apologies for being so vague. That was somewhat on purpose to allow an open ended respond, but I'm likely too vague.
I've been fishing most of my life, but would still consider myself a novice. I usually fish for walleye, crappie, northern, and panfish here in MN. I've only fished with a spinning reel. Adjusting the drag was one of the things that caused me to take my hands off the reel long enough in some cases where I lost tension on the line... ultimately loosing the fish.
Since I'm no where near as familiar with bass fishing, I'm asking to learn whether taking your hands off of the reel handle for any reason (drag or other) are a problem when you're landing a fish, or if you typically don't need to or can overcome any issue that comes up if you do take your hands off the reel. I hope that is less murky.
Thx for your time,
Kevin
On 3/2/2018 at 12:29 AM, morecowbell001 said:Thanks for all of the great, constructive feedback guys. I'm learning a lot. I am definitely trying to figure out if I'm coming up with a solution to a problem that doesn't really exist (so as not to waste a lot of time and money).... so no offense taken.
My terminology may not be clear/correct regarding "landing" a fish. The time range I'm trying to explore is from the time you set the hook to the time you net the fish (basically when it is fighting you). In that time- must you keep your hands on your reel, do you take it off, and if so, is that ok?
Adjusting drag was just one example that I've experienced myself, and I think I've learned from above that I shouldn't have to even do that. I'm actually trying to address other reasons to take hands off of the reel, but I don't want to "lead the witness" so to say. That said, it sounds like so far that as long as you're able to keep tension on the line, it seems fine to take your hand off the reel momentarily, as long as the fish doesn't turn towards you. In my experience it's tough to predict when the fish might turn and leave slack, so I was nervous to take my hands off of the reel at all.
Thanks for response Kevin ~
Seems you may be ignoring / disregarding a couple of parts of the equation.
The bend in the rod and unless one's using braided line, the stretch in the line.
Both can play a particularly important role in the fish landing process, regardless of species.
I fish quite a bit from a canoe. Depending on the situation I'll have only one hand on the rod quite a bit of the fight, especially in the beginning and the very end. Maneuvering the hand operated trolling motor & netting the fish demands it. The whole 'act' is sort of a finely tuned dance that one prefects one the years. At this point I'm not ever even thinking about it - it just happens. The linked thread below includes a video where the one handed dance is employed a couple of times.
A-Jay
morecowbell001 reply :
Choporaz-Thanks for the words of encouragement - I think you're likely right about maybe not being a big issue... I'm still trying to figure out if that may be specific to the type of fishing or not (although it really clearly isn't screaming at me that it is an inconvenience or results in lots of lost fish).
A-Jay- Thanks as well. That's an impressive video. Thank your for sharing. In cases like that, I can see why my question seems idiotic. You barely touched the reel.
I do think that anchored or trolling fishing that I've done a lot of may actually require more attention to the reel, as you usually have either a lot of line out (and hence a good opportunity for lots of slack), or you're stationary (and can't move the boat to keep tension), or both. Lots of good insights here for me.
A-Jay reply :
On 3/2/2018 at 1:25 AM, morecowbell001 said:
A-Jay- Thanks as well. That's an impressive video. Thank your for sharing. In cases like that, I can see why my question seems idiotic. You barely touched the reel.
I do think that anchored or trolling fishing that I've done a lot of may actually require more attention to the reel, as you usually have either a lot of line out (and hence a good opportunity for lots of slack), or you're stationary (and can't move the boat to keep tension), or both. Lots of good insights here for me.
The other factor that Must be addressed when fighting a fish from most any small craft (insert, canoe, kayak, or car topper) is that while a fish is trying to pull away from the angler, and the angler is trying to pull the fish towards the boat, the vessel is almost always being pulled towards the fish. This causes immediate slack in the line and if not recovered quickly can often earn the fish it's freedom in short order.
A-Jay
J Francho reply :
On 3/2/2018 at 1:04 AM, Ratherbfishing said:Many people (who have been taught incorrectly) still insist upon changing hands and will take issue with my contention however to them I can only reply "Neener neener."
This has to be one of the most ignorant statements that gets posted over and over. You don't know what you're talking about at all. I use both lefty and righty reels. I always use a two handed cast, except when flipping and pitching. My hand is on the reel handles before the bait touches down. Watch someone cast, like KVD. Learn what's going on before you insult other anglers. Because really, it's you that hasn't been taught correctly. Both how to cast, and manners. I'm sure you're only kidding, but seriously. What you're spewing is nonsense when it comes to switching hands, and most anglers do the cast correctly, avoiding the pitfall you describe.
On 3/2/2018 at 1:08 AM, mattkenzer said:My feelings are hurt .....
Mine aren't, but I feel the need to course correct.
mattkenzer reply :
On 3/2/2018 at 1:57 AM, J Francho said:This has to be one of the most ignorant statements that gets posted over and over. You don't know what you're talking about at all. I use both lefty and righty reels. I always use a two handed cast, except when flipping and pitching. My hand is on the reel handles before the bait touches down. Watch someone cast, like KVD. Learn what's going on before you insult other anglers. Because really, it's you that hasn't been taught correctly. Both how to cast, and manners. I'm sure you're only kidding, but seriously. What you're spewing is nonsense when it comes to switching hands, and most anglers do the cast correctly, avoiding the pitfall you describe.
Mine aren't, but I feel the need to course correct.
Yep. I have always reeled my spinning gear left handed and my casting gear right handed ....
And yes, I cast using both hands. As J Francho has stated, I am at the ready before my lure hits the water.
My spinning bail is closed before my lure hits the water as well .... unless i decide not too.
Turtle135 reply :
I prefer to refer to those situations as "long range releases". 
I do take my hand off the reel handle to land a bass. I do not regularly carry a net, I lip grab (or belly lift) largemouth and smallmouth. I do have the occasional escapee. Most of the time it is due to my allowing slack in the line and the bass shakes free.
LAO162 reply :
Judging from the above comments, while there is an occasional use your proposed invention, there does not seem to be much need or demand for one.
What I'd like to see is a lightweight reel/rod combo (< 2 lbs.) that can be cast and reeled with one hand. Such a device would allow a lot more people to enjoy fishing.
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