|
"On The Fly"
Skiff Setup
Bluewater fly fishing is a young sport that poses a special set of problems for
skiff fishermen. here are some ideas and suggestions on how to set up you skiff
to maximum effectiveness, and minimize pain.
Background
|
Line Mgt
|
Layout
|
Strategies
|
End Game
|
Conclusions
Scott Jaunich and his 86 lb YFT on fly
courtesy Scott Jaunich For fishermen, there's nothing more heartbreaking than losing a large
fish right at boatside. The pain is especially bad if you had
the fish close to the boat several times during the fight, but were unable
to move it the last few feet for a clean release or capture.
There is no question that a fly rod's length works against the
fishermen when it comes to landing a heavy, active fish. To avoid
blowing up a fly rod by "high sticking" a fish (raising the rod to a sharp
angle relative to the line), the fisherman has to keep the rod at a
relatively low angle. But in this position, the rod is sometimes over half
the length of a skiff!
Moving a fish those last 15 feet is sometimes the most difficult part of the
fight. With conventional gear, especially if a wind-on
leader is used, the process is fairly straightforward.
That's not to say that once you leader a fish, everything is a piece of
cake. It's still a risky process, but at least with conventional
gear you have around 20' or more of heavy material to work with. With
a fly rod, it's only 12 inches.
This implies that you will have to fight fish on fly
gear until they are more tired than they would be on conventional gear.
This makes it more difficult to release the fish in good condition.
Once a fish is next to the boat, the fisherman needs to back up and
give the person playing deckhand some room (this is generally true, even with
conventional gear). It's tempting to try to get close to see the fish, but
with the extra length of the fly rod, this can lead
to "high-sticking" a rod, with disastrous consequences. The best
approach is to back away from the person landing the fish. On a skiff,
this could put you almost half-way to the other end of the boat.
For really big fish, not being able to use a flying gaff can be
a major problem. We have heard of some prototype
fixed-head gaffs that have handles sticking out at right angles from the
main shaft. This allows the deckhand to hold on to the gaff more easily if
the fish pulls away, resulting in an increase in the gaffer's ability to
control a hot fish. But it's still a difficult and dangerous task.
Being able to put more pressure on a fixed head gaff means an increase in the
possibility of being pulled over the side. If that's a concern,
it would be a good idea to look at some of the mate safety
harnesses, such as the Mate-Saver from Gameface Gear.
|