Kayak jigging

Question
I'm really new with kayak fishing but have been fishing with boats for about 30 years. I would like to know what happens if you get hooked on the bottom while jigging. If I try unhooking my jig from the bottom, in the current, while drifting, can this make the kayak tip over? Is it safe to pull on it or should I cut the line?

Thank you

Answer
Here goes nothing,

Tipping over in a kayak is easy to do on purpose but hard to do on accident. It is just like riding a bike, and like riding a bike it is nearly impossible to explain. But I can tell you this. I can break 14lb test straight off the side of my kayak without much of a problem, and 20lb+ test in line with the bow, and my kayak is only 22.5 inches wide.

Pulling a lure free to the side of your yak does take a little looseness in the hips. If you pull with your body rigid or heaven forbid, lean the kayak, you will obviously go over. But your body instinctively knows this (weather learned or some function of the inner ear) and usually lets you know with that "unbalanced" feeling. The key is to have your body and especially your hips loose to absorb the sudden shock of a lure coming free.

For heavier test lines you can put the line (or rod tip) close to the center line of the kayak toward the bow. This lessens the torque around the center of the kayak. With this method, I have hauled up logs from 20ft down.

But current does provide a little more of a challenge. If you have a rudder you can still steer as you are fighting a snag. With out a rudder you may have to immediately loosen the drag and paddle up stream to line up with the snag.

Either way, be prepared to take a swim. Have your life jacket on, have a paddle float handy and know how to use it, and most of all, remember your life is not worth a rod and reel or the loose gear on the deck of your boat. I like to run a little thought through my head every time I get close to an accidental swim (I have not had an accidental swim in my kayak with fishing gear on it, yet). I to goes something like this, "if I loose this thing in the drink, I get to buy a better one anyway".