So
you lost the stud that would have won you the tournament.
Was it bad luck, operator error, or tackle failure?
Often the angler gets the brunt of the blame for losing
a fish, but I think many times it’s the fault
of the Captain. Yeah, that guy on the wheel, commonly
barking off orders and laying all the blame elsewhere.
I’ve often said, “God don’t
make a kingfish that can’t be whooped in 20 minutes.”
I’ve seen those guys fighting fish for 45 minutes
or more, but why? Every minute that fish is in the water,
the more likely a line will be tail whipped, a hook
bends or pulls, the line finds a prop or downrigger
of another boat or a cuda takes a cheap shot at our
money fish. I’m not talking about putting more
pressure on a fish. Rather, I’m talking about
putting less pressure on those tiny hooks and boating
a fish faster by proper positioning of the boat.
I was lucky a while back to have some
great captains teach me how the position of the boat
adds to the success of kingfishing.
Rule Number One: Stay on top of your
fish. I can give countless reasons for this, especially
when fishing in a crowd, but pressuring a fish up and
down handicaps the fish. A king’s power comes
from being able to fight from the side – using
its tall body and tail to its advantage. The fish has
to work much harder resisting the pressure applied by
the angler when fought correctly. The harder the fish
has to work, the quicker that fish will roll up. Also
add, the less pressure exerted on terminal tackle, the
less failures occur.
Staying on top of fish also benefits
your hook set. By theory, most pulled hooks result from
the fish being hooked in the lower jaw. If this is the
case and a hook pulls when fighting the fish up and
down, the hook often resets in the upper jaw rather
than resulting in a lost fish. I know you think I’m
stretching, but I have felt this happen many times and
the hook ends up between the front teeth.
Rule Number Two: Don’t require
anglers to fight the fish to the boat, take the boat
to the fish. When a fish roles up, its not going to
be there long. I’ll go out on limb and say most
fish are lost at the boat. I know that’s the case
with me. The captain needs to watch the angler and anticipate
the fish rising to the surface. It is the captain’s
responsibility to make sure the gaff man is within reach
when it happens.
Rule Number Three: Don’t make
erratic movements. There are a couple of reasons here.
First, the captain shouldn’t make any movements
that could cause the angler not to keep good footing
and constant pressure on a fish. As most anglers have
figured out with kingfish. Lose of constant pressure
= lose of fish. The captain can assist with that. Another
important reason for eliminating erratic movement is
that white water from the props can cause a rising king
to dart back into the deep, lengthening the fight and
increasing the chance of loosing that fish.
Rule Number Four: Keep the motors on
the down current or down wind side of the fish, whichever
is stronger. This allows the captain to work to the
fish rather than letting the wind or current control
the boat. Running over a fish is never a good thing,
and many times results in a lost fish.
After a 30-minute fight, I saw a boat
loose a fish to another teams prop 100 yards away in
Sarasota this year. Of course, they were very upset
and had words for the other team, but really, whose
fault was it?
There
is an art to every skill on the boat whether it’s
driving, angling, gaffing, or even clearing lines. Every
part is just as important to icing a fish. I always
think it’s funny when folks that don’t understand
the tournament team concept ask, “Who caught the
fish?” They always look at me bewildered when
I say. “We did.”
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