dealing with Weed on fish landing

BoarHunter

Hi guys I'm posting this as i found myself in the position of catching a great trout on the Shannon but finally ended up gutted. Was fishing the evening on the river, little Action but finally got a subtle take that transformed into an epic battle. The fish started with an hectic run. He gave me several jumps so i realised that it was a huge fish. I was fishing with a 2lb leader point so was allowing him to take some distance but was able to contain his desperate attempts to take me into the rapid current. After a little while he gave me a hard pull to reach some Weeds and i didn't manage to keep him away. It rapidly felt obvious that line and fish were stuck in the. I reeled in to find myself with the fish at my feet. A good 5-6 lbs trout was lying on the flank there in front of me . I couldn't address the net properly in the weed and the line was clearly stuck in there. I then decided to try and grab the fish by hand. It resulted into the fish breaking free with my fly..... and myself Heart Brocken ! I'm sure some of you guys have found yourself in this situation. How do you deal with the weeds ? I thought after maybe i could have cut the weeds a bit ahead of the fish.

con___manx1

i think a 2lb leader was too light. you may have landed the fish only for that.you definitely would have had more control to keep him away from the weeds.
i lost a big sea trout before close to 5 pound. he got caught on a submerged tree. i never fished the river before and didn't no the tree was there in the dark.i couldnt find the fish wth the torch either.went home disgusted lol

dodderangler

2lb leader on Shannon is definately too small. I would've went with at least 4lb and tighten the drag up slightly aswell
Keep rod high and try keep it on your hand as long as possible
If its a big fish slowly move him onto the reel ( I always feel in more control using my hand on the line than the reel)
If it heads into the reeds I always found if I put the rod underwater and pointed towards the fish a few quick little pulls on the line and they would come free or get off one or the other.
Pike do the same and will often turn back on same path and release themselves

BoarHunter

Ok guys So next outing I will definitely be on a 4lbs tail. It means I need to redo the all of the leader for balance sake. I guess it's called learning the hard way ! Great fishing these days actually. Not easy to find them but the fish are out.