“If you aren’t losing some gear to snags, you aren’t fishing the right place.”
One of the most miserable occurrences in fishing is getting your tackle snagged on the bottom. It’s frustrating because, in addition to losing tackle, also losing valuable fishing time. Be that as it may, it’s all part of the hobby and one would be naïve to think it won’t happen. In fact, ocean fluke and tautog fishermen are the first to say, “If you aren’t losing some gear to snags, you likely aren’t fishing the right place.” So what does one do when they snag?
There are certainly some methods that might pull your terminal tackle from sticky bottom. For drift fishing in backwaters, where the bottom is primarily mud or sand with intermittent rough patches, the odds of pulling off a snag are very reasonable. First and foremost, anglers should not panic as the line slowly parts from the reel. Provided there’s enough line on the reel this is perfectly fine. But all too often novice fishermen get nervous when they realize they are stuck. Some even think they have a trophy fish on the line when a drifting vessel causes the spool to dump. Never cut the line! That’s wasted money! Furthermore, there is potential for discarded line to get caught in someone’s lower unit. If an angler is sure it’s clean bottom, free of any structure, they can point the rod at the snag and hold the spool down with their hand. With clumpy mud, the snag will usually pop free. If it’s a stubborn snag, the line will always break in front of the leader, but the angler will retain all their line. In the event a fisherman thinks the bottom they are fishing will not give up the bucktail, jig or sinker, they are best to motor back above and past the snag creating angle to pull the snag out from the other side. This is the most effective way to shake lose any snag whether on bare bottom or structure.
Fishing the ocean wrecks, reefs and rocks is where most terminal tackle gets lost so what can one do to minimize the financial hardship of losing five to 10 expensive bucktails in a day? Anglers that think they are stuck on the structure should gently lift the rod tip first to see if it’s firmly buckled to the piece. The worst action an angler can take is to set the hook on the structure. Usually this drives the hook into the piece or scissors the line completely. To be fair, everyone sets the hook mistakenly on their target structure from time to time. The boat rocking combined with the presentation holding to the structure can mimic a bite. No one should feel badly about this.
When a snag is identified immediately, anglers should attempt to “finesse” it out of the wreckage or rocks by using a gentle jigging action that coils and uncoils at the leader. The hook will rise and fall and hopefully shake free. If it’s the sinker in a hole or crevasse, it will lightly bounce as if searching for freedom. This technique of trying to deftly jiggle a presentation off the structure works often and deserves many attempts. If at anchor for tautog, sea bass, cod or other species, time is no concern because the boat isn’t moving away with the current. Drifting boats don’t have long and have to motor over the snag eventually in order to continue the procedure. If that doesn’t work, captains have to sail upstream and create the aforementioned angle to free the tackle. If that doesn’t work, the next and final shot is to point the rod, thumb the spool and pull, a last ditch effort to muscle the rig free.
Casters are prone to snags too. Those fishing for striped bass on the sods sometimes hang the plug. Marsh banks don’t hurt vessels, and as long as the water is deep enough, captains can put the nose of the boat right up against the sod where they can reach down and remove the lure from the mud and reeds.
The offshore boats regularly troll around pots that draw forage and fish. When a captain hangs a pot, the hook is usually wrapped around the pot line. If captains can go off the troll and pull in their spread, they have the opportunity to ride up to the pot and hopefully free the lure by hand. Finally, after any snag is successfully retrieved, it’s imperative that the hook and leader are examined in order to see if they should be changed out. Hook points can become dull or get bent and leaders frayed when working snags loose. Anglers should also examine their mainline for nicks and frays. Any weak spot in the line could result in the loss of a trophy fish.
