I am pretty damn lost at this point.

The problem is my 25lb line keeps breaking and its costing me fish and expensive lures. So far I've lost a Lunker Punker and a R2S Rover that I bought as a temporary replacement for the Punker.

The series of events that has me confused goes something like this.

I was throwing the Punker and got slammed by a striper upon setting the hook the line snapped about 1.5 inches from the snap. Luckily the fish didn't get hooked and the got the Punker back as it was 8 feet from shore. This was the VERY first cast of the day and I had just stripped off 5 feet of line and retied when this happened. So i stripped off another 5 or 6 feet of line and tied on another snap and went to casting. This is when a 10.3lb striper hit as I was pulling it on shore my line snapped AGAIN. I jumped on and straddled the striper and got my Punker back before releasing the fish. Maybe a half hour later after retying I got another hit on the Punker and within 10 seconds of having the fish on my line snapped this time the fish took it as a souvenir

At this point I stopped using the reel and took all the line off it right then and there. Using my other rod that day with the same brand, lb test, hell off the same larger spool I managed to get 5 more stripers from 10-16.1lbs in the next few hours with NO problems.

When I got home paranoid as all hell I stripped all 3 swimbait reels and spooled with fresh 25 lb test. Yes the same brand that had the breakage issues but also the same that caught me the other 5 stripers and many more over the last year.

So I went out a few days later and didnt get anything. Two days after that maybe 10 casts into the morning I get annihilated on the R2S Rover and within 10 seconds the damn line broke again. Fresh 25 lb test and bye bye lure. So I grab the other rod that hasn't had line breakage issues and was able to pull a 10 lb striper and a 7.2 lb largemouth with no issues.

I don't know what to do I am paranoid about throwing my favorite combo. The line has basically broke the last 4 times I have had a fish on. Yet basically the line from the same filler spool on a different combo hasn't had one single issue. The rod and reel look fine no noticeable crack or chips on the guides.... I am at a complete loss for why this is happening.

Sorry for the novel... any suggestions??? The obvious one I guess is use a different line. This is however the first time I ever had problems with it though....

________________________________

Pretending to be a swimbait fisherman since 2001.

What type line are you using? And how old is the line you are spooling up with? You may have got a bad spool, it happens. I use 20 and 25Lb big game and never have my line break! Unless I neglect retying occassionally. Also check your knot after so many casts with such large lures to reduce the chance of line breakage due to knot stress. Hope this helps.

I had a similar experience this summer. I've been throwing 25 lb Big Game pretty much forever and had never broken off a swimbait fish before, with the exception of a couple that sawed me off in heavy cover. I also probably retie my swimbaits more than anyone (Rob can attest to this by the amount of line clippings that pile up in his boat :)). Anyway, a couple months ago I broke off two fish on this line about an hour apart, both for no apparent reason. The first time the line broke about 10 seconds into the fight, the second time the line broke on the hookset.

Earlier in the day I'd got my bait snagged hopelessly down in some tree branches and had to break it off, and it took everything I have to pull hard enough for the line to break. (for those counting... 3 brand new hudds lost so far). There was definitely nothing wrong with the line at that point, and I wonder if stretching the line like that may have been the cause?

For now I've thrown away that spool of line and am chalking it up as a freak accident.

Nico

First of all, that sucks. I know you use TF, and obviously what you are describing shouldn't be happening.

Some basic considerations...

Are you casting with only a foot of line off the tip of the rod?

How often are you retying?

Consider a fluoro leader of 4-6 feet. The fluoro takes casting abuse better (and striper teeth).

How tight of a drag are you fishing?

Well I've gotten some good suggestiong from here and TT. So lets give a little more info.

The Rod having the problems is the Okuma 7' 11" XH that I won from here matched with a Calcutta 400TE

I can concede that the line might have been old and needed replacing the first day. However in my mind there shouldn't have been problems after I respooled with fresh line from a different spool then the first.

The casts usually have 2-3 feet of line out. Retying fairly often. Kinda had to when the line keeps breaking. Once I started catching the stripers the drag went off lockdown and I loosened it up a bit.

I had chalked it up to just older line needing replacing but even with a fresh spool the very first fish broke the line...

Ok I feel like im just bagging on the line so let me give some examples of what happened when I caught 5 more on the other rod combo ( custom wrapped Rainshadow, calcutta 400b) Was throwing the Slammer X-2 and had a 12 lb striper eat the bait head first with the back half sticking out the mouth. This means that the line was being sawed between the teeth and the wood bait during the fight. Caught the fish no problem when I got the bait out and checked the line it was knicked and crimped but held up. Retied and the VERY NEXT cast caught a twin of the first but this time the fish managed to wrap the line around the body maybe 2 times and the line held then to. I went on to catch 3 more fish that day no problem.

________________________________

Pretending to be a swimbait fisherman since 2001.

The 7'11" XH is a very stiff rod for topwaters and wood. JMO.

Stripers do a have a razor sharp section on their gill plate. I've heard of line breaking on that if your line gets wrapped around the fish's head. It's a small possibility but it is possible.

One difficulty in determining what swimbait tackle to use and how to use it, is that you don't get a ton of bites typically. Since you are on a bite where you're getting good numbers of bites, you have the luxury of being able to experiment. I'd try a different brand of line next time, or a different rod. Or whatever variable you think is the most likely culprit.

I'm pissed at 25 big game. I'll never buy another spool of that for the rest of my life. I snapped off an 11 lber and a couple 8 lbers with a brand new spool of that shizz.

http://www.calfishing.com/gallery/v/members/bigreenjobass/

I recently learned that by casting over hand - like at 12 or 1 o'clock angle, it puts stress on the line. I've lost lures just casting this way... So, I imagine that it can also stress the line enough to cause it to break later on. I now cast 3/4 or side arm most of the time...

Don't know if that will help... but that's my two cents.

Rob, I was thinking of buying a okuma 7'11" XH for huds since my heartland seems a little light for them. Sorry to take you off the subject but it sounds like you wouldn't recommend that rod for hudds?
Would the 7'6" XH be a better choice?

I had the same thing happen last year. Berkely Big Game... Not good stuff... I don't know if its the line in your case, but it was the problem in mine.

Check your line when its broken. Does it look like a clean cut? Probably the line itself snapping. Mono gets stretched out slinging those big baits, and eventually weakens and breaks.

Is it all jagged with little nicks above it? Probably got sawed off. Get a heavier trace leader like a foot of 30 pound so the teeth don't slice it as easily.

Is it kind kinded and swirly? Probably the knot slipped.

Line is weird stuff. Try playing a round with some brands and seeing what works. I use 20 lb Sunline Shooter and love the stuff!
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Go big or go home!

You could have a small hairline crack in one of your guides that is fraying your line. take a q tip and rub it around the inside of all your guides. If there is crack the q tip will find it.

www.mattlures.com

Hey goletafishin
I have broke one fish off in over two years (20 lb test). My falt, the bass hit right at the boat and I set Way.....to hard LOL!! Anyway I have used the 7'6" and 7'11" XH for everything the past two years. I think they are Great! I like feeling like I have some power over the fish with these rods. I want the fish in the boat and they do.
Best of luck !

Don.

http://calfishing.com/gallery/v/members/bassindon69/basspics/

Nothing like fishing!

goletafishin - If you are buying a rod just for Hudd, I would get the 7'6" H. If you really want a 7'11" rod, get the XH.

There is a big difference in what you want for fishing wood and topwaters vs. rubber swimbaits. Big big difference.

I have talked about this year before so apologies if I am boring some, but with a hardbait like the Lunker Punker that Erik is talking about - when a fish comes up and eats it, the hooks are forced against the hard body of the lure and it does not take much force to get the fish hooked.

If I had a big one eat a top water, I would just reel fast and sweep the rod back to the side, then get strong pressure on the fish. There is no need to swing hard on the fish.

With a hudd or a rubber trout, the trailer hooks are going to move and give in to the body of the lure as the fish hits. The top hook is pretty solid but the fish may clamp on to the lure, catching it's teeth in the plastic. Because of that you need to set the hook with rubber baits. With a ROF12 or 16 hudd, I swing hard and just about straight up to hook the fish. With a ROF5 hudd I swing hard and to the side, to roll the bait and catch the hooks in the corner of the bass' mouth.

Whatever ROF you are using, a stiff rod is needed to begin driving the hook the instant the fish grabs the lure. A soft rod will flex down to a point on the initial strike and the really big ones will simply let go of your lure by the time you get any real pressure on them. If you haven't had it happen, you will have it happen at some point. Then you will remember this conversation.

Also, if you aren't thinking about how you set for each individual lure, you need to start thinking about it. I see people make all kinds of mistakes and wonder why they aren't hooking and landing the bass. There is no 'one hookset fits all' in swimbait fishing, or bass fishing in general. There is also no 'one rod fits all' in swimbait rods. Just like a great crankbait fisherman will have a half dozen actions to match his crankbaits, a great swimbait fisherman will have a half dozen rod actions to match his swimbaits.

How serious you want to get depends on how much money you want to spend. It takes a long time to build an arsenal of good rods, but once you have it - you have the advantage. You're not the guy at the end of the tournament moaning about the monster you lost. I saw it every tournament I fished in the mother lode. Guys with the wrong tackle and probably the wrong approach wondering what the heck happened. There's some luck in fishing, but a lot less than most people realize.

Well I stripped the line off completely from the Calcutta 400TE and in doing so noticed something weird. For whatever reason the levelwind and where the line was coming off the spool were the exact opposite. The line would be coming off the spool from the left while the levelwind was all the way to the right and vice versa. Not sure how that happened, Any ideas?

I checked the guides twice with a Q-tip and once with a cotton ball and noticed nothing. Reel looked good too.

About the rod. Using the 711 XH Okuma with the topwaters wouldn't be causing the line breaks though, would it? I know it is not the ideal rod to be using for the Punker or Rover but it does allow me to toss the things a mile and out of the rods I own it seems like the best candidate for those types of lures.

My plan right now is to respool with some fresh line that should be here in a day or two and instead of tossing a more expensive swimbait I'll throw a pencil popper and can hopefully get a hit or two on that so I won't be so damn paranoid about losing another $30 lure.

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Pretending to be a swimbait fisherman since 2001.

>Well I stripped the line off completely from the Calcutta
>400TE and in doing so noticed something weird. For whatever
>reason the levelwind and where the line was coming off the
>spool were the exact opposite. The line would be coming off
>the spool from the left while the levelwind was all the way to
>the right and vice versa. Not sure how that happened, Any
>ideas?

This will happen if you do not leave the line tied to your lure. The 400TE uses a non disengaging level wind. You must make sure the line is matched up with the line guide so you do not have excessive angle in the line coming off of the spool.

If you cut your lures off before storing the rod then tie a loop and leave it attached to something like the first eyelet of the cast control knob. This will ensure that the line and line guide are matched up.

Its amazing what you learn everyday. Ive never known why the line and line guide get on opposite sides, and I never put much thought into it, but I know it always bothered me.

Now, how do I fix the "problem" in the event I get me line and line guide on opposite sides again?

Well you can remove the spool and turn the handle until the line guide matches the line wrap on the spool. You can also continue turning the handle and try to get the line guide to match up. It's a PITA sometimes trying to get it perfect. I learned the hard way too...

If you need to respool the reel then this might be the best way to approach it. Just strip the line and start over.

I AM AN IDIOT!!! thanks for the explanation mag about why the line was like that... more than likely i was just spinning the handle nad when I got around to threading the line back through the line guide it was on the exact opposite side where it should have been.

________________________________

Pretending to be a swimbait fisherman since 2001.

ALSO, It might not hurt to buy a totally different line, and give that a try. I use 20 and 25 lb P-Line CXX green and could pull a truck with it. Also, if you haven't heard the chant yet... re-tie re-tie re-tie re-tie......12inches of line vs. $40-$80 lures that are hard to replace...anywhoooo, BEST OF LUCK, 'cause about now I be seeing what the INSIDE of that rod looked like ,IF ya follow my meaning! LOL!!

I much prefer it when a woman leaves me, for then I know the mistake is hers. - Charles Bukowski

No problem Carrot Top! It's a common mistake that is often overlooked.

Some times rods tip or slide over and hit the ground. I had one eye that was chipped on one rod and a tip on another occasion. This will shred or rough up the line causing break offs also. Watch for this guys. Don't even use a rod if a tip or eye is chipped.

Don.

http://calfishing.com/gallery/v/members/bassindon69/basspics/

Nothing like fishing!