Gamefishing - Tackle rigging and techniques |
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All around the world, captains, crews and anglers have their particular preferences regarding tackle, rigging and techniques.
Some of these preferences might seem bizarre, while others may appear stupid or even illogical, but when they work and make a boat successful, they’re worth looking at a bit more closely. Even though I cannot claim to be the most successful of fishermen (almost all my ideas are bizarre), here are a few of mine that some people have found sufficiently interesting to take to other parts of the world.
Rigger loops
When trolling lures or baits from outriggers, it is necessary to attach them to the halyards with a release mechanism. Long-established methods, such as the wooden spring-loaded pegs, have given way in recent times to a plethora of modern mechanisms offered by a number of manufacturers such as AFTCO, Rupps and Blacks.
On the material front, not a lot has changed since the introduction of rubber to the equation, with many hundreds of boats worldwide using number 32 and 64 rubber-bands as breakaway links.
The most recent innovation is the Dacron ‘slide,’ a length of Dacron with an eye-splice through which the fishing line is spliced. This provides an attachment point on the fishing line for a rubber band, which in turn can be slid to wherever it needs to be on the line.
My preference is for a combination of both a mechanical and a material release, thus offering my anglers double insurance against failure of one or other, and ensuring a clean release of the line from the ‘rigger.
My choice of mechanical clip is the AFTCO Roller Troller, and I use an elastic line called Power Gum for my release loop. The Power Gum Loop (or PGL) stays permanently on the line until removed deliberately or when re-spooling the reel.
The PGL is made by attaching a 9-inch (230mm) length of Power Gum to the fishing line using two Uni knots. The two knots are then pushed together to form the loop, which is then inserted into the clip, which obviously has been pre-adjusted to suit the drag of your lure behind the boat.
The advantages of this system are manifold. If there is a hang-up in the rigger, your PGL will break before your mainline. You can move your PGL up and down the line simply by moistening your main line and using your fingernails to move it along. Personally I prefer to have a PGL for each position I might use, rather than move a single one. And when it comes time to re-set a spread, just let the lure roll back in the wake till the PGL is out of the rod-tip, put it in the rigger and free-spool it up. Easy peasy.
A PGL is also the ideal answer to the downrigger release, and it works a treat on a fixed kite, too.
Power Gum is available in 10lb (4.5kg) – best for lines up to 50lb (24kg) – as well as 22lb (10kg) spools for 37kg and 60kg line. In New Zealand you can get it from Hooked on Fishing in Whangaparaoa (09 424 2358) or Marine Surprises in Auckland (021 688 891).
Hooks
I have long argued that hooks should be stainless when it comes to gamefishing – mainly for the simple reason that if a hook is left in a fish it should be non-corrosive.
An experiment some years ago by the University of Georgia on a tank-full of striped bass proved conclusively that fish hooked with stainless material had a much higher rate of survival than those hooked with other metals. An added bonus of using stainless material is that the point of a hook stays sharper for far longer and the noticeable absence of rust is much appreciated. In fact, the spontaneous electrolytic action that often occurs between dissimilar metals (and which is sometimes un-noticed under shrink-wrap or tape) can lead to fatigue in hook-rigs that is only noticed after an ‘unfortunate event’; stainless hooks and appropriate crimps and cable can greatly reduce this effect.
However, stainless does have its detractors, many of whom claim to have broken stainless hooks on their fish of a lifetime. I have only ever broken the tip of one stainless hook during a fight with a fish, although I have straightened several on the leader.
In contrast, I have lost count of the number of rolled tips I have seen on other hooks, and I have personally been responsible for – and been witness to – many, many ‘straightenings’ of hooks made from other metals on fish.
I remember with clarity one night in the mid-Atlantic when a very well-known captain rounded on me during a discussion of hooks with a group of other marlin enthusiasts, demandingto know why I continued to bother with stainless hooks when he had personally lost at least four fish in his lifetime because of them.
“Four fish too many!” was his cry. I countered quickly (and, for me, quite intelligently) with the retort, “Why do you bother still using rods then? I know you’ve broken two of those in the last month alone!”
Which he had. Indeed the good captain’s reputation for breaking equipment was only matched by his reputation for beating his crewmen when they turned up late for work.
Needless to say, he marched off into the night to a chorus of laughter. It’s not often I get even, but that was one of the few occasions I’ve managed to do so with merit.
In early August, I received an email from the South Pacific island of Vanuatu, announcing that the island’s second grander blue marlin had been caught by the boat Blue Dog captained by Dean Butler. The angler, Tom Evans, reeled in the huge fish after it inhaled a live yellowfin rigged on a 9/0 Hays Hook. At 1142lb (517.3kg), this fish is possibly the largest landed to date on our hooks, but it does prove that if you want to try a stainless hook, you won’t go too far wrong with one of ours when it comes to strength. Visit our website to find out more: www.legendlures.com.
Other gems
Other wrinkles of interest, some commonly known, others less so, include the following:
To this day, I take electrical tape and wrap it over the two reel-seat nuts after tightening everything into place. I find it stops those annoying little scenarios halfway through a big fish battle when the angler finds a nut close to the bottom of the winch fitting and the other loose. I also wrap the entire butt under the reel seat to stop the two metals contacting.
Snooters:
A jolly useful tool for holding onto big blue marlin by the boat while taking the hooks out with another tool, such as a spanner on a broom-stick, then keeping them in the water with their mouths and gills underwater and away from the anti-fouling while they slowly revive. There is a very good short bit of video on-line that demonstrates a snooter being used to great effect at: http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1119257555/
Although probably not of much use on a sprightly 100kg stripie, a snooter is still a tool well worth making up for blues and large blacks. In fact, I generally have more than one ready in case the first gets shaken off.
My logs:
For many years my logs have been recorded at sea on mini-recorders up on the flybridge. Transcribed late at night, they have provided me with accurate information and vivid memories for many years. Sometimes I can even smell the smoke! Recently though, with the advent of the digital age, I have found that a mini digital recorder hung on a neck lanyard is a much more effective tool. Small enough to wear all day and record any sort of information, from coordinates to engine hours to ‘to-do’ lists, the SD cards that many store their contents on are compatible with software that will transcribe your words onto a file directly after the speech recognition procedures have been followed. No more typing – simply pour a decent glass of grog and sit back while the computer does all the work.
Safety knives:
Since I first went to Madeira until the present day, I have always worn – and made my crew wear – a Zak Fish ‘n’ Deer knife around their necks. This gaudy orange knife conceals a very sharp blade inside a curved armature. Available from Melton Tackle, it can be worn around the neck on a light length of mono or power gum and provides an additional item of security for cutting mono leaders in an emergency. Although it looks like a child’s toy, it is very effective and can cut through mono of 800lb (380kg). It costs around $5, which is especially cheap if it saves someone from death.
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