Gaint by the tail

[birdhunter]

I know that this may seem elamentary to some but what is the best way to get a tail rope on a big fish (marlin, shark, or tuna) at boat side?

[shoefish]

For tuna, we harpoon the fish first, put pressure on that line, back off the drag on the rod, walk the fish forward, and then use a flying tailer from the stern quarter....tie it off, then swim the fish and bring its color back before raking the gills.

For sharks....we just shoot them

Only kidding- you can do the same thing with the toothy ones.

[birdhunter]

So does no one put a tail rope on a big fish?

[sjogren]

What I've done is make a loop around the fishing line w/heavy wet sinking rope (5/8-3/4). Pay it out till it goes over the nose of the fish. I've only done this w/sharks. Keeping it in gear helps fighting all sharks beside the boat. Let it go past the pecs and as soon as it goes over the dorsal
haul in quick. Make off to cleat even faster. The trick is to get the tail up and out of the water.
I've done this w/sharks in the Monster Tourney here on the Island. It gave us a lot more time to judge the size of the fish w/o killing! Big fish are tamed easy w/rope. Fish to short? Cut the rope!
The first time I tried it worked like a charm.

[lazyfatass247]

I have heard of boats losing fish because they try and tail rope the fish first without hitting it with the a dart or flyer.

[sjogren]

Sharks hooked well are hard to shake off.
It is important to keep it in gear when sharks are along side, they don't panic
and start rolling.
Rope 'em before they roll, it's easy.
If there is a question in the length for tourneys , release it ALIVE

[Justin time]

what is a gaint

[shoefish]

what is a gaint

LMAO

[Seaker]

A flying tailer can be your best buddy. Especailly if your one little bit unsure if it's going to be relased. Go back a read sjogren and note they keep moving forward.

We handled a lot of large sharks in our research tagging and they must be treated very gently after all they are going to be wearing some real expensive jewelry and they need to be as close to 100% when we release em.

We have made up a special leader which just has a short wire trace. If the trace is too long and they roll they hurt themselves so we use this short trace with a swivel connection to 600 mono. It's easier to handle and will not cut the shark if they roll. When you leader if you use a steady and firm take you can bring them alongside usually but not always in a rather docile mode...get strong and jerky and you'll be in a rodeo in a heartbeat. With the leaderman moving up in the cockpit the tail rope or in our case the flying tailer gets swept from behind and then deployed while it's already attached to a cleat on the same side. Be carefull there is no one or nothing trapped between the line and the gunnel. Now you can measure and asses your fish and make the determination of a release.

For our purposes we then would bring them aboard for a full visit but that's another story We really got good at it but we had to develop a team approach. Especially at night where depth perception must be adressed.

So Lo Marine makes a right rine flying tailer and I think you can get them through a board sponsor All Tackle. You can also buy flying gaff heads for the same handle. If you do go with a flying tailer for toothy friends I recommend that the rope be one of the new nearly cut proff kevlar braids. They splice nicely and take a beating

Good Luck

Vin

[cattales]

An inexpensive and effective method is just splice an eye in the end of your 1/2" nylon line. You push the line through the eye to create the adjustable loop. Now the hard part is getting the rope around the tail since the nylon won't sink. We just tape a few small bank sinkers to one side of the loop so it will sink, now you can easily slip the loop over the tail after you have gaffed or harpooned the fish.

Ed