Hi Kirk,
When I know that I'm fishing on a bottom where I am going to hook a stick or two, I do a couple of things. And with the early season Largemouths feeding on my hellgramite immitations like crazy these days and the Hickory Shad run starting to get going here on the Potomac, I am fishing deep right now. OK. Two things. I tie my flies on a slightly finer hook. Just a lighter guage or two than I usually tie on. The other thing is to use a heavier tippet. I usually fish for bass with a six. Now I use and eight or a ten. This lets me pull straight back on the line and the lighter hook will straighten a tiny bit and release. It doesn't pull it completely straight. Just enough to free it. I have done this about twenty timres already this Spring and I just bend the hook into a curve with needle nose and it is fine. On the river I keep a small stone in my vest because the fly often hooks on rocks, so touching up the tip is a good idea. The only fly I have broken off this year was on an old dock post. I burried it deep and there was just no way. Another thing this lets me do is rid the pond I am fishing in of sticks. With the heavier leader you reel a lot of them in.
Bob Abrams
McLean, Virginia
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