How To Avoid A Big Redfish Breaking Your Line At The Bail
- By: Tony Acevedo
- on
- Found In: Fishing Tips, Inshore Fishing, Redfish Fishing Tips
Pa-POW!
Nothing gets me going like winter time bull reds.
I was sight fishing the other morning when a big one hit my soft plastic and started pulling drag.
Right as I was going to anchor up (he was pulling my kayak like Rudolph pulls Santa’s sleigh), he broke me off.
Breakoffs can happen in several different places: at the bail, at the line to leader connection, at the line to hook/lure connection, or anywhere in between.
Gills, teeth or rocks are common causes of the “anywhere in between” scenario.
This particular breakoff happened at the bail, and in the video below I’ll go through three ways fish can break you off there.
Watch the video for some tips on how to save heartbreak and not get broken off as I did.
How Fish Break Your Line At The Bail Roller [VIDEO]
Hope you enjoyed the video!
It was quite a disappointing event, but at Salt Strong, we always say, “Fail forward!” This was a reminder for me of the importance of keeping the pressure on the line, and an opportunity for you to learn from my mistakes.
Have you ever been broken off?
Got any specific questions about maintaining the bail?
We’d love to hear your story or answer your questions, so let us know down in the comments!
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That has had happened to me up in antclote I have a hole that I get my lunch ate three times out of a kayak this year Iam going to catch that monster the last I was there broke off at the reel 10 lb braid that was a first thanks for the tips
I’ve got to give you credit. If that had been me, the profanities I would of spewed would still be heard echoing off the shorelines!
Haha I kept pretty calm considering. I was on a pretty bad slump for a few weeks before this not even hooking into a fish. I was glad I at least hooked into something!
I also fish with a Nasci reel. The 90 degree angle at the bail that your 10 pound braid goes through is the weakest point of your system. The braid can break there even if it’s on the bail roller. If I get a snag that has to be broken off I have to be careful because if I just put pure pressure on the system it will break at the bail costing me braid. Your line may have broken because it wasn’t on the rolling or it may have broken on the roller. Either way your tip to maintain the bail roller is spot on. After seeing your video I checked the roller on my ci4 and the screw was ready to fall out. Thanks for all your great work.
This is the first time Ive had that happen. Ive had close calls noticing the line to the side of the roller and scraping my line up but have been quick to fix and re-tie.
Good catch on that screw! I had one fall off of a Penn reel and took me forever to get and find a replacement.
Thank you for the great feedback Daniel!
Sad to lose a big one with the hook in it. Line breakage happens to all of at some time . Its easy to miss a fray some time further up the line on braid, it doesn’t take much. We tend to only check our leader for frays but it pays to keep an eye on mainline as well
Thanks for the info
No problem! Thank you for the great feedback!