Light Tackle Handling Techniques - IGFA

[MikeH]

I was wondering what the general thoughts were on handling the leader when you've finally hooked up the ever allusive bill fish ?

We hooked up a fairly large sailfish (6ft-8ft in length we think) on 6kg.. I think we were running 80 pound leader... twice we got the leader with in reach.... but none of my deckies were prepared to "wire the fish" ... probably because they were chicken... and secondly this was a big fish and didn't want to run the risk of busting it off or pulling the hooks.. (it was on a lure..)

We'd get close to her but she would just look at us for a bit... we'd look at her for a bit... I'd try to outmaneuver her ... then she'd decide to clear off for a while.. and off we'd go again. In hindsight I now think we should have grabbed that leader and perhaps assisted the angler to get her within shot .. it is only 80 pound so I'm not sure if we take a couple of wraps on the leader or not .. comment ???

I guess my question is... can we handle the leader if we can reach it.. or do we need to have a wrap onto the reel before we can handle under IGFA rules.???

And secondly should we get aggressive and pulling her in a quick via the leader to try and get that tag in ?

Has anyone got some techniques on training your crew on the whole tagging process... apart from getting out there with the real thing ? I've already thought about throwing one of them over the side and then seeing if we can get a tag into him .

I guess we could always throw a bucket over. the side.. tied to the line ... might even do that when they fall alseep on watch.

[Smithy]

Yes another person can handle the leader other than the angler once it is in reach and if you have to dump it you can handle it again. In some parts of the world it is considered a capture if the leader comes to hand. In Australia, if you are a member of a GFAA club it is not officially recorded as captured unless it is weighed or tagged. Are you a member of a club? If ANSA it would be a 100 point capture once you grabbed the leader for a masters. If you measured it boatside and got the short length, (bottom of its mouth to the fork of the tail) you are entitled to use length to weight charts and then write down its weight as that and claim more points. GFAA/QGFA/NSWGFA unfortunately your great fish doesn't count unless you had tagged it.

Might be worth getting hold of the Peter Pakula CD "Between the Lines". That goes into training on tagging. It also has a lot about using more drag on your fish once hooked up and boat driving techniques to speed up the fight. That said Sails and Blues are the biggest buggas for being stubborn. Get yourself a longer tag pole as well. 12 foot is the most common size here locally. You are allowed up to 15 foot but some guys just use 8 footers for manouvrability. We have an unwritten rule on most boats I fish on that you tag off the rod tip i.e. don't go leadering till after the tag is in. We mostly use wind on leaders or if you use long leaders make sure they are shorter than your tag pole, i.e. with the 12' pole I would run 10' leaders. If old mates swivel hits the rod tip on a 10' leader you know the fish is well and truly in range, especially those straight up and down scenarios at the end. Don't rush your shots either. Wait for the right opportunity. Also try and tag the fish in the right part of the shoulder. If anyone is getting up you for not tagging the fish and an opportunity hasn't presented itself, turn around and say "you f#*ken well do it yourself then!". That shuts em up every time!

I would not wrap on 80lb. I have snapped a Mahi Mahi off quite quickly on 100lb before on a single wrap. I would only do gung ho double wrapping on 200lb and up. Better off just pinching them up on the light stuff and be prepared to dump. Watch some of the Cairns deckies in action and depending on the angle of the fish, what it is doing and its size they do a lot of pinching up rather than gung ho double wrapping stand and deliver type stuff. The best ones still have to dump every now and again, it is part of the fight. Under pressure if a leader goes off, be wearing sunglasses. Do a bit of leadering and everyone will have stories of swivels and stuff coming back at them at a million miles an hour and hitting them and leaving bruises. You wouldn't to get hit in the eye. Even the leader itself will hurt.

[MikeH]

Thanks Smithy for the reply... I went and got a copy of that Pakula CD - Between the lines.... It is very good and I'll try to remember some of those techniques in amoungst the chaos.

Yes.. fishing on the light tackle we'll try and get the fish within Tagging range off the rod tip and get the angler to thumb the reel a little more once we get some double or leader on the spool.

Regards,

Mike