If you make enough casts, you’re inevitably going to hang your bait up. It’s just part of it. But as long as you keep your cool, all isn’t necessarily lost. There are several ways to get your bait unhung. From using your line to pop it undone, to sticking your rod tip down into the water to poke it undone all the way to wading in and retrieving in by hand if you need to. They’re not all glamorous, but there are options.  

If you’re fishing from a boat or a kayak, there’s another great little gadget you can keep on hand called a plug knocker. This little device consists of a heavy weight that can be attached to your line. If you drop this weight and let it slide down your line to your bait, the force of the falling plug knocker can actually knock your plug (or lure) undone.  

A few companies make plug knockers, but you can make your own as well. They’re easy to make and cheap to build yourself, which is important as you’ll end up losing one every now and then to a particularly reluctant hangup. Here’s how to build your own.

Find a weight, add a clip

The options when it comes to the weight you use are pretty limitless. The main thing you’re looking for is something that’s fairly heavy, small and want scuff you line up on the fall. You’ll add a clip to this object in the next step, and the clip is what will actually attach to your line. But you still want to make sure that the object you use doesn’t have an abrasive surface that could damage your line.  

And you can really trim down the cost of making a plug knocker if you can find something suitable to use that’s just lying around. I’ve seen people use anything from a catfish weight to a spark plug here. I personally like to spend a little money on some heavy lead weights, which make pretty high quality and effective plug knockers.  

Once you have selected your weight, preferably something 2- to 4- ounces, you’ll want to add a clip. The clip will allow you to attach the weight to your line. You can find good options for this in the catfish section of your local tackle store as well.  

The clips I like to use have a small end and a larger end. The larger end is the one that’s designed to be opened and closed repeatedly. The smaller end is often attached to some sort of swivel. I’ll open the smaller end with a pair of needle nose pliers, remove the swivel and then attach the clip to the ring on the catfish weight. And then close the clip.

How to use

Learning how to use a plug knocker is about as easy as learning how to build it. Just keep it in the boat with you, and then the next time you hang a bait up on the bottom, you can attach the plug knocker to your line and drop it down to hopefully dislodge your bait.  

A word of advice here though. It’s best to exhaust all other efforts first. You can often times either reposition your boat on the other side of the obstruction your hung on in order to free your bait, poke it loose with your rod tip if the water is shallow or pop your bait undone using your fishing line. But if none of these work, then it’s time to give the plug knocker a shot.  

Position your boat directly over the hung lure. With your line tight, open the large end of the clip of your plug knocker, put it around your line and then close the clip. Drop your plug knocker straight down the tight line. As soon as you feel the plug knocker make contact with your bait, drop your rod tip and allow a foot or so of slack to form in your line.  

This is often all it takes to knock your bait free. However, if you pick back up on the bait and find that it’s still hung, try bobbing your rod tip up and down a foot or so to give the weight repetitive opportunities to dislodge the lure.

Final thoughts

If you have to resort to a plug knocker, around 90% of the time you can successfully retrieve a hung lure. But there is the rare occasion that you can’t, and you’re then forced to break off both your lure and the plug knocker. Still, considering 100% of these more stubborn hang-ups would result in the loss of a bait anyway, getting 9 out 10 back is a pretty good average.  

Remember it’s best to try other methods of retrieving your bait first. But if necessary, you’ll be glad that you have a plug knocker in the boat.