| When
you fish in or near kelp, the fish you hook will often entangle
themselves in it. Yellowtail and calico bass, in particular, are
notorious for burrowing into the kelp fronds when hooked. After it's
happened a few times, you learn to recognize the feel of your line
rubbing against the kelp. The intuitive response is to simply pull harder, and sometimes, with relatively small fish, that works. If it doesn't, try something counter-intuitive: take your reel out of gear for 10 or 15 seconds. Often, when you take the pressure off the fish, it will swim free of the kelp. When you put the pressure back on, put it on as hard as your equipment can handle. If the fish has indeed swum free, you want to move it as far out of the kelp as you can as quickly as you can. If it hasn't, try free-spooling again. Occasionally, fish wrap themselves in the kelp so badly that you have no choice but to break the line, but more often than not you can "finesse" them out with a little patience. |