Told y’all I’m eat up with it..
.. But a Andy Mill video came across my feed (imagine that) that raised an eyebrow. At any rate, it was him talking about fighting big Tarpon. He said he only uses 3lbs of drag and fights the fish essentially with the rod mostly pointed at the fish and then holds line with his hands to control the fish. Kinda pinching it between the rod and his hand.
His reasoning was, when the fish exits the water and shakes, that the full weight of the fish hitting a tight drag and causing the break off. Of course we are all familiar with “bow to the king” to help mitigate that, but he says with his technique he can put more pressure on the fish and land it in 10-15min.
What’s y’all thoughts on this technique?
Or what is your technique?
I would agree–too much drag often results in broken leaders.
I can certainly see to much drag causing that, but handlining seems like a pretty risky proposition as well. I’ve thumbed many of baitcasters, but that’s a different animal.
He’s doing that because of the way he fights the fish. He’s fighting the fish with the leader in the tip, at close range. No shock absorption from the fly line with that technique so a lighter drag is necessary.
I should be the last to comment on this. Maybe @Loogie can comment. But based on my research that seems to be normal and you can get down and dirty and put extra pressure on the fish by palming the spool. I kind of do that with spin as well, leave the drag light and palm it to put extra pressure when called for. Also, I’ve read you can increase the drag as the fight goes on. You want it loose at the start because that’s when all the mayhem happens and you don’t want that airborn fish to land on a tight line…
Andy has a light drag for the initial battle, as you should, getting the line on the reel without a hazard and then keeping the pressure on the fish when it’s not airborne. Once the fight settles then he applies up to 12lbs of drag against the fish to turn him. His reel is clearly marked at 3/6/9/12. You have to apply that much drag to turn the fish, one of his demos is a 12 lb kettle bell lifted off the floor on a pulley so you know what that feels like along with using the butt end of the rod. If you don’t put that kind of drag on a 100lb plus fish, you’ll never land it period.
Once you have him defeated in close, it is wise to lower the drag as a safety ensure, not sure about that video Mike watched, or the context, but what I’m saying is paraphrasing Andy Mills, after spending an afternoon with him.
His idea is correct and the technique works😎
IMHO
PS
I never touch my drag once set(light). I palm the reel.
Exactly what I do. At most I have 5-6lbs of drag off the reel but as soon as I get the fat part of my flyline back on the reel I’m going at the fishes throat. Pinching the line on the cork allows for more room for error but you can still pop fish off if you don’t react quick enough. Anticipating the fishes next move not only helps with this but you can catch them quicker by thinking a few steps ahead. A lot of the midsized fish I’ve been playing with lately in the 40-60lb range don’t even get into the backing so as soon as the initial freak out is over it’s straight to applying maximum pressure but anticipating the surges. You can definitely pop them off on 16 by getting too aggressive just pinching on the cork.
I’d like to see this video and technique
This. Great insight.
Andy’s tactics are referred to as fighting “down and dirty” - keep the rod more horizontal and pull against the fish downward toward the bow. When it jumps, give them slack - bowing works, but if you are already down, extending the arm and pointing directly at the fish gives slack fast.
A tip here that is key - once they jump, put the heat on them - they get disoriented when jumping and that’s the time to turn them.
When they get close, don’t let them roll or breath. Keep the head down - that’s the “down” part being used again to wear the fish out quickly.
I am no pro like Andy, but have landed some 100lb+ fish in 30 minutes or less. But in one area I’ve been to a couple times, some guides allow anglers to fight big fish hours. It’s ridiculous and those fish probably don’t survive. And the anglers brag about 6 and 7 hour fights and could not comprehend how and why I would land a big fish in under 30 minutes.
Fantastic reply, and fills the gaps I had. Thank you.
The video I seen was brief, Just a couple minutes and did not go into this detail.
@B.M.Barrelcooker it came through my FB feed I believe or atleast that was my first click that led to it. At any rate, I’m sure it’s on You Tube. I’m admittedly not much of YT watcher or I’d provide the link, but unfortunately I don’t have it.
That’s ridiculous. Who in the world would even want to do that. SMH.
People pay to fight a fish and the guide is too lazy to land the fish fast and go try to get another.
Guides watching the clock. I’ve heard more than one person (and guide) mention this.
Playing the fish light in the beginning and palming spool to adjust pressure has worked for me as well. Down and dirty tactic is key, especially after they jump like mentioned above. The hardest fish to land are the ones that don’t jump!
I would never presume to argue with Andy Mill when it comes to fighting tarpon on a fly rod.
In this case it was Mexico. A group of anglers from South America were bragging as a badge of honor for how long they fought each fish. My guide was against it and I asked him about it - he basically said “their dollar and those guides give them what they want.”
No joking, I remember seeing a boat on the horizon with the sun setting and they were still fighting a fish. I think that one pushed close to 10 hours. I was not at this lodge - I was direct with a guide I know and on my own. But it is a well known lodge with a well known host, so I found it surprising.
Stu Apte developed and named the Down and Dirty approach for fighting tarpon. Watch his film.
Definitely not arguing, just trying learn. What I initially watched didn’t go into depth with the technique, just more of a summary, which left me with more questions. @Loogie reply answered those questions. Coincidentally his latest podcast came across my feed yesterday evening and I was able to listened to it, and Andy himself went into more detail about his technique. Makes complete sense now.