:) Yep Chris thumb on the spool is a easy way to control line pressure no doubt.
The delivery tool is just one way to setup your fishing platform, like cricket bats everyone has their own likes and dislikes. Some need heavy long bats with big grips, if they try and batt with a short bat & small grip that doesn't suit their body and style they will suffer e.g. thier results will suffer.
1. Confidence Factor: They won't feel confident, with this poorer mental outlook all things start to go downhill from there, mental approach and confidence is at the forefront of most people that are good in any trade.
2. Individual Setups: They won't be able to to exactly and precisely what they want with a poorer ergonimical setup e.g. the rod and reel setup just doesn't feel good and it doesnt deliver what they are trying to do, this might just be teething problems if not very experienced with a new setup (cricket bat or spin gear), so it may take a few thousand deliveries or casts to feel more confident to do late cut shots or put finesse movements on a soft plastic like some of the Awoonga guides or winning tournament anglers i know do.:) I have some rods that just won't allow me to do what i want to do with them, trial and error
Myself and a few others think that at times the rod range in OZ is a limitation in this area.
If we got rods built by wheezer i reckon we would be getting closer to having a taylor made outfit, like the best batters in the country do, made to fit the individual. To the ounce (cricket bat).
3. Old Ausfish Advice: As listed on here years ago, some jump the barra then get the head facing them which gets them away from some situations where they are heading for structure. Once jumped we just have to do a Trev (walk the puppy to the boat) just keep the rod tip down wind slowly and the fish is boatside in less than 30 seconds.:)
4. A Few Ways To Skin A Cat: This one depends on fishing experience and setup. Say guys with a few thousand barra salt and impoundment under their belt will fight a fish better than most of us me included. A friend of mine hammers impoundment fish who as he says "Lack endurance fitness", in comparison the salt fishing he does which is brutal on tackle compared to lake cousins.
If casting at timber is 50lb the option, to secure every fish for a tournament?
Can one fish lost be afforded when our opposition is the Taylors, McCnamarra, Coleman, Wilhelm, Burgess, McCauley, Dobe and so on? I reckon not, so the rules of the game on the day (if casting at timber) dicatate your approach, make your own minds up on what you would do (100 diff answers).:D But if fish are being lost and too many, the answer is wrong and another solution needs to be found. This stuff would want to be sorted out before being picked to fish on TV against good opposition, prevention better than cure etc.;)
Fish In Control, or Us in Control of the Situation
Back to my mate that hammers lake barra, his settings on his setup stops fish in their tracks, so in my opinion they (fish) would have a lot more trouble getting to that structure in the first place, added to this skilled rod work (maybe head positioning or jumping) and trouble could be avoided most of the time, as he knows what's possible having caught a lot of fish and having been through this experience a lot in life.
*Some fish in some situations just wont' be stopped, but just because we didn't stop it doesn't mean a better angler than us couldn't have stopped it.
Depends on Skill Level: Thumb on the spool control is good, but i've also seen guides quickly adjust client drag in a flash without even telling the client, and hundreds of those fish are landed. Drag control up or down on spin, done in a flash, no worries, just another way to skin a cat.
There are a few options straight up without thinking too hard about the topic.
If the fish are there (lots of timber) you just have to workout what will put them on the boat, this then decides the setup you will use, some use 200lb braid for leaders and have had fish burried for 5 mins that they have dug out of timber, lots of options hey.:)
But in the whole scheme of things how many fish are really lost to timber?
And are there fish in other areas to be caught, that are much easier to land?
Which is the best strategy to win tournaments which is what you are aiming for Chris.
Trev being the captain of the boat will be making that call which is awesome as you don't have to concentrate on finding fish, you can delete that side (50%) of the equation and concentrate 100% on catching them, a pretty good focused approach to have, just differ your fishing slightly and you have a great chance to land more fish with bream tactics or bass ones etc.
Cheers Lyndon:)