Fish hits and the line starts peeling

[cayman al]

Hey Box

Quick, and possibly rather silly, question for you. You're trolling along, spread swimming nicely then all of a sudden one of the rods bounces and the line starts peeling of the reel. The question is what now? I know to keep the boat in gear for at least a further 30 seconds to take the slack out the line and see if any other denezen hooks up but what do you do with the rod losing line at a great rate of knots? Tighten up on the drag, take it out the rod holder / leave it in the rod holder? go get a beer? i don't know?

Please help.

Al

[WAHOONBOX]

GOOD QUESTION!

LETS TALK TUNA FISHING...THE YELLOW ONES.

SPEED....6 KNOTS....

I DO LIKE TO MAINTAIN SPEED FOR A BIT.....SO I GO QUICKLY TO THE ROD WITH THE LINE SCREAMING OFF LIKE A BANSHEE FROM HELL....AND INCREASE HER DRAG APPX 3 LBS.......LET'S SAY THE DRAG WAS SET AT 15-16 LBS ON A 50 AT THE STRIKE BUTTON....I GENTLY PUSH THE DRAG LEVER ONTO THE BLACK BUTTON ON A TIAGRA AND THE SILVER SPRING LOADED SMALL BUTTOIN ON A PENN INT....


AT THE SAME TIME I AM OBSERVING THE SPREAD- RODTIPS AT THE SAME TIME....IF I DO HAVE MULTIPLE HOOKUPS....I DO THE DRAG THING TO THENM AS WELL.....


THE RODS ARE STILL IN THE HOLDER...

THEN I CRANK ON THEM ONE AT A TIME UNLESS I HAVE SEVERAL EAGER CRANKERS ON BOARD


I DO EVENTUALLY DECREASE SPEED....BUT NEVER TAKE IT OUT OF GEAR WITH THE MEAT ON.....NOW BILLFISH IS ANOTHER ISSUE HERE.....WHCIH WE QUICKLY ATTACK BACK AT HIM...


IF I HAVE A SOLO STRIKE MEATFISH ....I DO RETRIEVE THE NECESSARY LINES IN THEAT MAY HINDER STICKING THE FISH COMING IN....SUCH AS THE PLANER OR A FLAT LINE....AND IF I THINK THE MEAT FISH IS A TRUE SLOB...I MAY RETRIEVE ALL LINES IN AND GO GET HIS ASS!

NOW LET'S SAY I HAVE ONE...MAYBE TWO MEATFISH ON.........MAYBE A THIRD LINE GOT HIT AND WE MISSED.....SO

I THEN RETRIEVE THE MISSED BAIT IN....REBAIT...AND RESET INCLUDING PUTTING IT OUT IN THE RIGGER PIN AS WE ARE CRANKING IN ON THE HOOKED FISH

AMI GOING TO FAST?

LET'S CATCH UP HERE....

DINNER IS ON MY TABLE....WILL RETURN LATER TONIGHT


OKAY GANG.....LEFT SHORT JUST POPPED FROM THE CLIP............YOU HAVE ONE ON THE LONG BRIDGE POLE AND IT IS SCREAMING! .......THE LEFT SHORT ALSO ONLY CLICKED OFF LINE FOR 2 SECONDS AND STOPPED............

SEA WITCH /MED BALLY

....WHATS THE NEXT MOVE?????

[joeksr]

I know the question is for box but heres what we did when faced with that situation on my boat.
first, everybody just stands there for a few seconds and says, Damn, looks like we got a fish on.
Then we panic and start running around speaking loudly, "we never yell but you have to speak loudly to hear yourself over the pounding of your heart".
Eventually the boat will slow down and someone will pick up the rod and bring the fish to gaff.
Then we all have a beer and pat ourselves on the back for a job well done.

I wouldnt fool with the drag until the boat slows if at all.
The extra lline out will increase the drag. Dont want to break off.

[clt_capt]

OKAY GANG.....LEFT SHORT JUST POPPED FROM THE CLIP............YOU HAVE ONE ON THE LONG BRIDGE POLE AND IT IS SCREAMING! .......THE LEFT SHORT ALSO ONLY CLICKED OFF LINE FOR 2 SECONDS AND STOPPED............

SEA WITCH /MED BALLY

....WHATS THE NEXT MOVE?????

If the one on the bridge pole doesn't have a pointy nose greyhounding to the horizon, drop the Left short back, maybe a short jig or 2 and drop back some more - Fish On

[pitch bait]

First TAKE YOUR FEET OFF THE STEERING WHEEL AND TAKE THE BOAT OFF AUTOPILOT. Put the fish on the inside of the circle and get back on the mark where you got your bites. making sure to cross the mark the same way you did the first time. If you were down sea or in the trough. If at all possible dont get to far away from the bait or school of fish. Heading sounder temp make sure your not going to crash. When you get a bite you need to record all your info temp, heading, position, bait,depth, where you got your bite, current,birds, or what ever observation you can make to determine why the fish were there.

[HOLWACHAGOT]

Let's assume we have a decent crew that is paying attention...

Assuming the bridge pole is clearly past the longriggers, start jigging the hell out of them(LR's) by pulling the line...DO NOT PICK UP THE ROD! DO NOT LET THE TIP OR GUIDES GET WRAPPED UP. DO NOT JERK AND JIG IF IT IS INTO ANOTHER LINE! Maybe dump one for a few seconds and have a crew member crank like hell on the other. Any remaining crew members should be jigging the shorts. Make it look like your spread is freaking out in fear of it's life from the Yellowbelly assault. Listen to the Captain...if he says clear one clear it. The longs and shorts should be cranked in until they are dangling almost vertically under the clips without leaving the water if it is neccessary to clear them. IF THE BAIT IS POPPING OUT OF THE WATER WHEN THE BOAT LIST TO ONE SIDE YOU ARE GETTING READY TO GET YOUR ASS CHEWED. Once the boat speed is slowed a little and the fish is getting closer...the Flats should then be cleared so the fish can be stuck in the belly with a gaff.

Any lines that pop from the clips...Bring the clip down immediately then crank that one in to check the bait.

Get the mate a Dr. Pepper and make JMS crank in the stretched out bridgepole.

DAMN I"M GETTING ALL WARM AND FUZZY THINKING ABOUT IT!

HOLWACHAGOT

[austin ensor]

just keep good pressure on him slay in gear for about 30 sec and like geoff said jig em like crazy!!!!!

[whitey]

OKAY GANG.....LEFT SHORT JUST POPPED FROM THE CLIP............YOU HAVE ONE ON THE LONG BRIDGE POLE AND IT IS SCREAMING! .......THE LEFT SHORT ALSO ONLY CLICKED OFF LINE FOR 2 SECONDS AND STOPPED............

SEA WITCH /MED BALLY

....WHATS THE NEXT MOVE?????

Dump a hundred yards and just when you think about trying him dump another 100 yards. God I love my high speed Tyrnos reels!!

[35viking]

OKAY GANG.....LEFT SHORT JUST POPPED FROM THE CLIP............YOU HAVE ONE ON THE LONG BRIDGE POLE AND IT IS SCREAMING! .......THE LEFT SHORT ALSO ONLY CLICKED OFF LINE FOR 2 SECONDS AND STOPPED............

SEA WITCH /MED BALLY

....WHATS THE NEXT MOVE?????

First get the bridge pole down in the pit so the captain could pay attention to driving and watching the line. Hand the pole down if U CAN and secure it in a rod holder or the chair and put the drag up a little bit to stop some of the line from coming off then you would jig the the left short like crazy to try and get the fish back. In the mean time keeping tension on the bridgeline and paying attention to that . Just pay attention dont panick and BE SMART.

[flatbottom]

Dump a hundred yards and just when you think about trying him dump another 100 yards. God I love my high speed Tyrnos reels!!

@ 6 knots just under 45 seconds to dump 600', thats a lot of dumping