Second Handline stories...

[HOLWACHAGOT]

As a kid I loved to fish almost as much as I do now. Who cared what you caught em on....as long as you caught it. I distinctly remember cussing a Snoopy rod and throwing it in a tree at about eight years old. Only after removing the string and winding it up on a stick so I could get back to fishing properly. No mechanical failures to deal with now. How's an eight year old to know sand and mud will jack up the best of the pushbutton specials, even the old Snoopy Zebco 33 combo. Fact was, while I didn't know anything about mechanical quirks of fishing reels at eight...by then I already had a few years of handline fishing under my belt. My buddies John and Paul and I could load a stringer so full we couldn't lift it, unless a Snapper helped us with the lake end; which, more often than not one would.
Kinda funny how my affection for the handliners of old has grown of late. I find myself reflecting back on my own handline days and the similarities to the old methods. Much like the legendary lure maker Deep C relates to Hawaiin lure designers before him(both made lures), my handline fishing was similar to the polynesian style(we both used one). My handlines were also born of neccessity much like the ones used hundreds of years before me. My neccessity a lack of funding, thiers technology.
I guess it's all the second hand stories on here that I've read about that prompted me to share a few more I heard lately...and a neat photo sent to me from the Captain I'll speak of in the last story.
By far my favorites are the stories of Yannis, which you can read about here. I cannot do them justice...but if we're lucky perhaps SeaBiscuit will chime in as he remembers a few things....or finds a few more lost photos.

Last week I heard of some people giving a certain Captain an order for five boxes of Alberts. I'm told the said Captain went and and dragged them up in some snotty mess...all on handlines at around eight knots I'm told. Again...it's second hand info and names have been reserved just because I'm not certain the Captain wants his business told... If you know the guy it wouldn't surpise you.

Another secondhand story, not handline but equally impressive in it's own right, and one I would love to have witnessed...Catching a grander Marlin on a live sailfish...the grander already had two or three sailfish bills sticking from its sides from others it already ate that were poking through it's stomach. Oh, that was from a twenty two mako I believe in a land where the coast guard does not exists.

Lastly what prompted the starting of this thread was the following picture of a Bigeye sent from a friend I've yet to meet but hope to some day.


In the E-mail he tells of another story that has my imagination trying to picture the very whitewater he tries to describe. The Captain tells of raising a nice Madieran Blue and eventually having the fish fade away uninterested. Supposedly after working the area for long enough to feel the Marlin was gone they steamed on. A local Bigeye boat watched them leave and eased over the same spot trolling a lone Bigeye lure. The Marlin ate it and was subdued in five minutes on the handline. It was around 600 pounds I believe. Anyway, I was asked in the E-mail "can I imagine the whitewater from that one?" No is my answer because I am still trying to paint the picture in my mind. Oh, and they didn't use gloves!

Anyhow, the point of the thread was get some others to share more stories and pics of the handliners and the adventures you may have heard of.
Thanks Roddy for the pic. I am sure Biscuit will post the Frogmore stew recipe if you'll share a few more of those old pics with us.
Hopefully some others will chime in too...

HOLWACHAGOT

[Captain Michael Buffington]

As a kid I loved to fish almost as much as I do now. Who cared what you caught em on....as long as you caught it. I distinctly remember cussing a Snoopy rod and throwing it in a tree at about eight years old. Only after removing the string and winding it up on a stick so I could get back to fishing properly. No mechanical failures to deal with now. How's an eight year old to know sand and mud will jack up the best of the pushbutton specials, even the old Snoopy Zebco 33 combo. Fact was, while I didn't know anything about mechanical quirks of fishing reels at eight...by then I already had a few years of handline fishing under my belt. My buddies John and Paul and I could load a stringer so full we couldn't lift it, unless a Snapper helped us with the lake end; which, more often than not one would.
Kinda funny how my affection for the handliners of old has grown of late. I find myself reflecting back on my own handline days and the similarities to the old methods. Much like the legendary lure maker Deep C relates to Hawaiin lure designers before him(both made lures), my handline fishing was similar to the polynesian style(we both used one). My handlines were also born of neccessity much like the ones used hundreds of years before me. My neccessity a lack of funding, thiers technology.
I guess it's all the second hand stories on here that I've read about that prompted me to share a few more I heard lately...and a neat photo sent to me from the Captain I'll speak of in the last story.
By far my favorites are the stories of Yannis, which you can read about here. I cannot do them justice...but if we're lucky perhaps SeaBiscuit will chime in as he remembers a few things....or finds a few more lost photos.

Last week I heard of some people giving a certain Captain an order for five boxes of Alberts. I'm told the said Captain went and and dragged them up in some snotty mess...all on handlines at around eight knots I'm told. Again...it's second hand info and names have been reserved just because I'm not certain the Captain wants his business told... If you know the guy it wouldn't surpise you.

Another secondhand story, not handline but equally impressive in it's own right, and one I would love to have witnessed...Catching a grander Marlin on a live sailfish...the grander already had two or three sailfish bills sticking from its sides from others it already ate that were poking through it's stomach. Oh, that was from a twenty two mako I believe in a land where the coast guard does not exists.

Lastly what prompted the starting of this thread was the following picture of a Bigeye sent from a friend I've yet to meet but hope to some day.
Attachment 124548

In the E-mail he tells of another story that has my imagination trying to picture the very whitewater he tries to describe. The Captain tells of raising a nice Madieran Blue and eventually having the fish fade away uninterested. Supposedly after working the area for long enough to feel the Marlin was gone they steamed on. A local Bigeye boat watched them leave and eased over the same spot trolling a lone Bigeye lure. The Marlin ate it and was subdued in five minutes on the handline. It was around 600 pounds I believe. Anyway, I was asked in the E-mail "can I imagine the whitewater from that one?" No is my answer because I am still trying to paint the picture in my mind. Oh, and they didn't use gloves!

Anyhow, the point of the thread was get some others to share more stories and pics of the handliners and the adventures you may have heard of.
Thanks Roddy for the pic. I am sure Biscuit will post the Frogmore stew recipe if you'll share a few more of those old pics with us.
Hopefully some others will chime in too...

HOLWACHAGOT

I have my own handline experiences. My grandparents had a condo on Ross Barnett res in Ms when I was little and I got 25 crickets and 25 minnows a day allowance. This was when I was like 5. They didnt give me a cast net till like 8. Until then I would use my crickets up catching bait sometimes and the minnows were strung up and down the docks on sticks I came up with that worked like tip ups for ice fishing that really worked the crappie I would check from my 4' rowboat Once I was out of crickets I would get my grandmas begonia blossoms and thread them between the slats of the deck to catch rockbass for catfish bait.

Later on the Shogun we handlined great whites off the cleats to sattelite tag them. Amazing how things can evolve

Mike

[Dave Sikorski]

I'll never forget the first day I saw a fly and in short time, made my first handline.

We rode I bikes to the local lake as I did as much as possible in the summers. It's a little over a mile away, and is where I used to molest the local bass and panfish population.

We used to raid every parents change jar we could find to buy candy at the pavilion at the lake, or the local super market, then ride for miles just being kids.

One day I got down to the boat ramp at the lake and found a clear plastic box full of flies. I remember rooting around in the trash can until I found a suitable rats nest of fishing line to use my new found "tackle".

After my first few "casts", I realized that the flies weren't enticing enough for the local bluegill population. I needed some bait.

I rode over to the snack shack and found out the slim jims to be the right price.

If I had to guess, that one slim jim, and the fly that I stripped all of the feathers off of led to more hurt bluegill lips than anyone could imagine.

It's funny how some days "on the water" just stick out in your mind.

Who knew that 20ish years later I'd have a pile of feathers in the basement, and not need that slim jim bait anymore!!

Great post Geoff. I'll be looking forward to the stories to come.

-D

[Capt. Lyndon]

There is nothing like catching fish on a handline. This past winter fishing out of Kona was my first "true" handline fishing. 2 of us on the boat, catching 8-10,000 lbs. of 15-80 lb. bigeye on handlines in 4 or 5 hours. Two things really stand out in my mind. Catching a near-60 lb. dolphin on a 100 lb. mono handline, and hooking an est. 850 lb. blue marlin on a 500 lb. handline. What happened with the marlin was this: We were killing the tuna, when all of a sudden the bite stopped, I don't mean tapered off, but died just like someone flipped a switch. I glanced behind the boat, and saw dozen's of tuna skying out of the face of a swell. Kenton said watch this, and threw the boat in neutral. He proceeded to grab a 30 lb. tuna of the deck and stuck a hook through his nostrils, no time to bridle it. While he was in the process of grabbing the tuna, I started to clear all 15 lines we had out. He snapped the rig with the tuna on it on to one of the two 16/0 senators we used for our "long lines". I made it back to the stern about the same time as he, and was looking as this big son of gun swimming 5 ft. off the stern. Kenton chunked the tuna toward the marlin, and I grabbed the handline. The marling darted for the tuna, then faded off and grabbed the 8" jet on my handline. OH SHIT!! I double wrapped with both hands, and jerked with all I had. I was hoping to pull the hook out of her mouth, but due to murphy's law, all I mananged to do was drive the hook home. I held on with all I had, knowing it wasn't going to last. After all of 2 second's, and a half jump, the 500 lb. line cracked off. It sounded like someone shooting a .22 rifle. The worst part about losing the fish was the fact that it ate the last cherry jet we had. That was one day that I'll never forget.
Capt. Lyndon

[Asylum]

Second Hand?

Gear in Left Hand:
Bulk Spool 80lb Hi Vis Mono
200lb Jinkai Leader
SquidNation Rasta Squid
Owner Treble

Gear in Right Hand:
Olympus DSLR

Line angle is odd due to altitude of angler

[merry marlin]

Here is a picture that hangs over on the wall next to the computer that brings back good memories... It was given to me by my fishing buddy Bruce when he left Dakar with whom we'd fish the Konk Diabar (meaning Cubera Rock) 31 miles south of Dakar... The full moons from June to August would produce 400 to 800 pounds of these Lutjan Dentatus...
We'd chunk freshy caught albies and bring the snappas to the surface away from the rock. Rig was 200lbs Korean leader that came in 1000 meters coils. No buying bait, no jig no reel... Life was Good



This picture is the type of boat I dream about using here in a bigger version but the USCG may not quite agree to give it the ok!!!! Kids found this one in their Chatham pond a few years back...
The first summer I ever went to Dakar I fished with 14 year old Madou Ndiaye that took me on a pirogue this size with a 8 HP Yam missing the Hood... You pulled on some fishing line to accelerate and there was no reverse left. Caught my first dozen sailfish on that rig with good ole handline and freshly caught balyhoo in the bay of Ngor... Those for me were the good ole days!!!
About 3 years ago was that one of the fishermen from that bay brought in a big marlin that had to be weighed in 3 pieces coming to 525KGS.... We'll never know the exact weight but it was on handline. We would see these little boats 20 miles offshore pulling one albie and one balyhoo on a "TIASS" the local name for the 20" piece of broomstick loaded with that good ole cheap korean line the boys know use to string decoys!
MM

[Captain Michael Buffington]

Here is a picture that hangs over on the wall next to the computer that brings back good memories... It was given to me by my fishing buddy Bruce when he left Dakar with whom we'd fish the Konk Diabar (meaning Cubera Rock) 31 miles south of Dakar... The full moons from June to August would produce 400 to 800 pounds of these Lutjan Dentatus...
We'd chunk freshy caught albies and bring the snappas to the surface away from the rock. Rig was 200lbs Korean leader that came in 1000 meters coils. No buying bait, no jig no reel... Life was Good



This picture is the type of boat I dream about using here in a bigger version but the USCG may not quite agree to give it the ok!!!! Kids found this one in their Chatham pond a few years back...
The first summer I ever went to Dakar I fished with 14 year old Madou Ndiaye that took me on a pirogue this size with a 8 HP Yam missing the Hood... You pulled on some fishing line to accelerate and there was no reverse left. Caught my first dozen sailfish on that rig with good ole handline and freshly caught balyhoo in the bay of Ngor... Those for me were the good ole days!!!
About 3 years ago was that one of the fishermen from that bay brought in a big marlin that had to be weighed in 3 pieces coming to 525KGS.... We'll never know the exact weight but it was on handline. We would see these little boats 20 miles offshore pulling one albie and one balyhoo on a "TIASS" the local name for the 20" piece of broomstick loaded with that good ole cheap korean line the boys know use to string decoys!
MM

NUMBNUTS, the last of the Dakar rednecks!

thats priceless! Love the boat too!

Mike

[Ace1st]

My handline story although much more suttle, was the start of my passion too.

Here on the farm we have a long, although narrow pond once used for irrigation purposes. Dad and I went down one day and I watched him do what at that time I thought was just crazy. He would take the end of his pole and slap the water with the tip, stirring it into a whirlpool. Immediately, the rod bent over and in came what he called a FLY BREAM. Quickly we caught a mess and went home.

After a couple nights seeing those bream in my dreams, I slipped down to the pond and tried my own hand at this technique. Immediately I went from Bream fishing to squirel fishing because the first cast ended up in the water oak above my head. Not to be outdone I stormed home and went to G-Daddys house. Pappy informed me I didnt need no pole, he said just tie the line to your finger and put a small piece of a ballon on your hook. Drop it in and snatch um out! WOW, was that a rush for a little guy. I found an endless supply of bait and didnt need a pole. Watch out FLY BREAM I thought.

Next day I went down and tried this technique but realized fishing from the bank wasnt gonna work. So I went back home, found my life jacket and headed back to the other end of the pond where I knew Daddy kept a small strip plank two man boat. The paddle I quickly learned was not much good since the termites had there way with it over the summer.I had been banned from using the boat alone but I figured if I caught a mess of fish Dad wouldnt mind the fact that I had not done as he said. So I once again went back home and found a length of rope and a piece of steel that I tied to the end. I used this to throw it across the pond, which took several tries before reaching the other side. Once I did I walked around and tied the end to a sapling in the edge of the water on both sides of the pond. Then I pulled myself out to the center of the pond by hand linin the rope. Didnt have much manueverability but didnt need any. I reached overboard with my hands and started swirling the water just before dropping my HANDLINE into the whirlpool. BAM A LAM...the first FLYER came over the side and into the boat. Time after time I snatched flyers and put um in my bucket. After sometime I heard my mom calling me but I didnt answer.

Sometime later, I heard my Dad say ACE! This voice was much closer, I looked up and saw him and mom at the end of the pond. Things did not look good for me!! Mom was in a tizzy cause I was in the middle of the pond by myself. I then heard Dad say, he knows he shouldnt be in the boat alone but at least hes got his life jacket on! I knew then, Id be OK. I pulled back over to the shore side and Dad said..you know youre not suppose to be in that boat very sternly.....but did you catch any son, I said yes sir! So I pulled the bucket over and dumped them in the floor of the boat. Moms eyes were big as saucers, I had 272 fly bream!

Dad spoke up and said well at least you got enough to make a meal. I said whata you mean daddy. We can feed the whole community. Knowing that when we fried fish, normally each person would eat two or three, I thought I had enough for everybody. Dad just laughed and brought it to my attention that they were only as big as two of his fingers, after cuttin off the head there would not be much left to eat, but to me "THEY WERE MONSTERS". Dad then told me, Why dont you put um back in so you can catch um again? Reluctantly, I put um overboard but swore I'd be back when they had grown!

It is funny what we remember from our chilhoods aint it? Sometimes it takes something so simple to bring it back. Those were the GOOD OLE DAYS!! THANKS HOLWATCHAGOT!!

[HOLWACHAGOT]

was none other than...
NUMBNUTS- The last of the Dakar Rednecks
A title fit for a king!
Thanks MM. Quite a post. Feel free to dig out as many of those stories and pics as you please.
Thanks to all.
Holwachagot

[merry marlin]

was none other than...
NUMBNUTS- The last of the Dakar Rednecks
A title fit for a king!
Thanks MM. Quite a post. Feel free to dig out as many of those stories and pics as you please.
Thanks to all.
Holwachagot

Gotta Love fish stories, they get better as time goes!!!!
Geoff the big mama had 3 digested sails in him just the cartilage of the bills and tails were left. That fish was caught on a Moldcraft lure.
The stuck bill was in another fish and we only used dead sailfish as a teaser but yes the marlin would go for them...
MM