Hardbody advice needed

[panger]

After using hardbodies a lot more than I used to I have a few questions troubling me. I was wondering if I can pick the brains of the hardbody veterans out there.

Drag setting
How heavy do you set your drag for flats fishing? I have been setting mine’s fairly light after a big bream bent the crap out of a treble. The only thing is yesterday I lost about 5 bream in a row after getting a hook up and the bream taking some line. I was using a mirashad with the middle treble removed.

Rod angle
What angle do you hold your rod at while retreiving? I lost a bream yesterday while pointing the rod directly at the lure. The rod didn’t load at all and the bream violently pulled drag then let go. I’m theorising if you hold the rod at an angle to the lure, the tip will load up when the bream takes, giving a little more slack for the bream to take the lure and allows more shock

[Bream Addict]

im not gonna touch drag setting caus i think it is really personal, however for rod angle i like somewhere between 30-55 degrees,it changes when i chnge my hb and/or retrieve,hth.

[Conehead]

IMO I wouldn't have it any tighter than 3 4's of the strain.
On the flat's you can let em' run for a bit as there isn't that much structure.

JMO. Good luck.

[CHUNQX]

Firstly, I'm by no means a HB expert nor a flats expert... What I've learnt so far from the 3 (yes THREE!) trips I've had so far with HBs is:

I have to change the trebles to a stronger one because of the weakness of the default trebles on the StrikePros.

After having lost 3 lures to 3 good fish around some rocky banks (which are not excessively hostile), I now raise the rod above my head when fighting the fish which saw me not lose either lure or fish since...

I also changed the leader from a 8 pound Vanish to a 7 pound Momois (or similar name) and never lost another lure. Must have gotten a bad batch of Vanish!

Raising the rod high above your head may raise alarm bells in regards to rods breaking due to high sticking but I don't think I'm going to experience that on bream...

[bubba]

HB fishing is very frustrating at times. Especially on the flats. Dropping fish is all part of it. I dont know why snag fish hit HB's harder but they just do. I fish a light drag no matter were I am but not rediculously light.
As for rod tips, I point the rod to the water as close to the boat as possible.

[deacon]

i have my drag pritty heavy on the flats and almost loked in the snags i just like fishing like that also i put my center treble back on when fishing the flats coz thers not much stuff to get snaged on. i second what bubba on the rod angle.

deacon

[troy-the-boy]

I fish with the rod tip almost pointing at the water working it the rod tip to the back of the boat ( 90 deg ). The drag setting is preferance thing with mine being the most possible. The rod"s action will also have bearing on the drag setting as well. Stiffer rod I will back the drag of a bit, with a softer rod I keep the drag as firm as possible. One thing I find to be an advantage is to really give it to the fish the moment it takes the lure. Like everything though use the ideas and see what works for U. As for trebles, if they come with 2 they stay that way. I have found the middle treble has been the one that stayed in the best 2 many times to take it off.
Troy

[CHUNQX]

When you guys mention flats, what kind of environment is it? What I mean is, the first thing that comes to my mind when I hear the word "flats" is, guided skiff in tropical Bahamas, 120 ft double-hauled cast to cruising bonefish, small crab flies or crazy charlies, large arbor reels screaming as the bonefish runs you way into the backing.. Then I try to picture bream there and it doesn't really go... (too much US SWF videos).

So what are the "flats" you refer to here like? I might well have fished it without knowing it because of my pre-perceived idea of flats as described above....

Boy, would I love to have been on one of them bonefish or permit trips..

[swoffa]

I like to keep close to a 90 degree angle between the rod and line, while using the angle of the rod to the water to control the depth of the lure.

For racks I point the rod closer to the line direction to remove most of the "shock absorbtion" from the equation.

[panger]

Swoffa, that's exactly what I'm doing. Use the horizontal angle to control the shock absorption and the vertical angle to control the depth. Think maybe I have to increase the horizontal angle to have more give of the initial take.

Chunqx, they're mud flats interspersed with rocks near the shore. Not too different to the Nong, but with much less of a drop off to the middle.

[CHUNQX]

In that case, I've been fishing the flats.... I didn't associate the nong with flats because there's no way I could see 1 (or 2) foot of water. Its that murky.. I recalled an article by Bushy about him flats fishing and he could see bream feeding on the bottom for worms.. No way I can see that in the nong..

[panger]

To me as long as there is a fairly wide area of shallow water its a flat.

[Shortlite]

A flat is any large expanse of fairly shallow water.

On the flats, a deep diving HB will dig into the bottom. Thus a high rod angle to the water would be needed. With shallower diving HB's, the rod can be closer to parallel to the water surface, or even tip down to get the lure deeper.

I like to fish HB's with the rod creating a 45 degree angle to the line, i.e. pointing out away from me at 45 degress either left or right. This allows the rod tip to "give" a little on the strike, and you to get a better hooksetting swing once the fish is on.