The Art of Catching Fish

THE ART OF CATCHING FISH

On arriving at any spot, before I make my first cast, I recheck my drags. There is nothing worse than a drag too tight. Once the hook is set, if a drag is too tight, something will break, including rods, lines and fish mouths.

On my conventionals my drags are set about two and a half to three and a half pounds at the swivel. I can always add a couple more pounds by shoving my thumb down on the spool.

I heard a rumor about fifty years ago that if you hooked a large fish you should let them make their first run with about half the drag tension that it would take to stop a bigger fish on a dead run.

I tried it and its been working ever since. When you hook a big fish, just let it run.

If there’s anybody else around you, they should take their lines in, and take in any other lines you might have out there as well so when you get the fish in closer it doesn’t get all tangled up in the other lines.

Once a fish takes a bait on a substantial run of twenty to thirty feet I point the rod straight at it, winding in any slack until the lines comes tight and slam the hook in. My right hand is on the star drag. I add a little tension, feel the weight of the fish, and if it’s of the smaller variety, a few minutes and its over.

If it feels like a heavyweight, I back off the drag and let it run some more. It usually will. The trick here is more line out, more line to stretch. I’m not in any hurry. I tighten the drag a little, I stop the fish. Slowly I pump the fish towards me. When I figure the fish is about forty or fifty yards away I back off the drag again. To encourage another run I’ll stop it again. By this time said fish is pretty well exausted. I loosen the drag again using only a bare minimum to lead the fish back. If the fish comes up and stays us, the fight is almost over.

If it goes down again, I’ll give it another run.

I don’t bring any fish into gaffing range unless its on its side. If I’m going to release the fish I rarely touch it. If the hook is deep, I’ll cut the leader at the mouth. If the hook is easy to remove, I’ll do it quickly with a hook remover.

I hate landing nets, I love gaffs, espcailly since I prefer to fish by myself. The waving of a landing net is a sign to everybody in sight that I’ve just caught something and I hate crowds.

Many a big weakfish fall prey to this practice. That the fish were hooked in the front of the mouth, and many of those hooks fell out of the fish as soon as the fish hit the bottom of the boat.

1) Don’t get tangled.
2) Handlines
3) Rod & Reel
4) The Cast
5) Patience
6) The Hook
7) The Fight
8) The First Run
9) The Dead Run
10) Bringing It In
11) Fish in the Boat
12) Coolers on Ice