Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
A friend sent me some photos of a huge grouper that someone caught down in the Gulf of Mexico. The darn thing weighed over 300 lbs. and was surely the catch of a lifetime for the angler who was not only lucky enough to hook the beast, but also fortunate to have the strength and stamina to get such a fish to the boat. Grouper of any size put up a heck of a fight. When they arrive at such proportions that they equal the weight of a couple grown men, you can bet that whoever is tasked with the duty of cranking such a critter up off the bottom is going to remember the struggle long after the residual soreness in their muscles finally goes away.
It’s probably safe to say that the goal of most fishermen is to catch the biggest fish they can. After all, not too many anglers head out in the morning with a goal to catch themselves a nice “little” fish. Naahh – everyone wants to land that lunker! Can you imagine some fishing buddies getting together and making a friendly wager on who will catch the “smallest” fish of the day? It just doesn’t happen that way. When it comes to fishing – bigger really is considered to be better.
Of course, what constitutes a “big” fish doesn’t necessarily have to mean something that rivals the size of your fat Uncle Wally. Depending upon the species of fish, the tackle, the location and a whole lot of other factors, a big fish might just as easily come in the proportions of a pan-size bluegill as a wall-size blue marlin. By changing a few variables on the playing field anglers are able to change molehills into mountains if they so choose. When the big bluefish are running it’s easy to follow the tradition of dragging lures from 50 lb. tackle and winch-in every 8 to 12 pounder that comes along. Bluefish are well known for their fighting abilities, but not so much on tackle that is made to handle triple-digit fish. Anglers who scale their tackle back to 12 lbs. or below are going to catch a lot less fish, but every one they bring to the boat will certainly qualify as a “big fish”.
Of course, I’m not telling anyone anything new here. Going light for a better fight is the way it has always been for fishermen. But as much as anglers would like to have the opportunity to always match tackle to quarry, there’s always the “what-if” factor to contend with. What if you’re set-up with 10 lb. tackle for bluefish, but you encounter a school of 70 lb. tuna? Better have some heavy guns aboard just in case. Or let’s say that, like we saw last year in July and August, instead of 8 to 12 pounders, the offshore shoals were covered-up with 1 to 3 lb. snapper bluefish. Anglers had better have some ultra-light gear available if they wish to enjoy any kind of scrap out of a fish of those proportions.
Particularly when it comes to ocean fishing, always being ready for any “what-if” that might come along can require anglers to be armed with a ridiculously large array of tackle. Aboard my charter boat “Fish Finder” we carry an 80 lb. rig, six 50’s, four 30’s, four 20’s, two 17 lb. spinners, two 10 lb. spinners, three fly rods, six bottom rods, plus two or three other rods that might find a place aboard the boat during certain times of the season. I can only get away with carrying such an arsenal because, at 40-feet, my boat has enough room in the cabin to properly store it all. “More” isn’t always “better”, but when you’re trying to follow the old Boy Scout motto of “be prepared” there’s not much getting around the fact that the more assortment you can have aboard, the better off anglers will be when something very large, or very small, pops up beside the boat.
Most folks with small boats or open boats can’t reasonably expect to carry half as much tackle. Space is such a limiting factor on so many boats and it usually requires that anglers leave tackle at home that they’d really like to bring along “just in case”. But recent trends and innovations in tackle are beginning to make it a lot easier for even small boaters to carry almost twice as much tackle as ever before. It wasn’t too many years ago that braided lines hit the market and began to be used by fishermen. Boasting unsurpassed sensitivity, abrasion resistance and ultra thin diameter, the new breed of line provides anglers with a lot of benefits not available with monofilament. As the line gained wider acceptance, rod and reel manufacturers began to produce products specifically for use with braided lines. Thanks to the incredibly thin diameter of braided lines, reels are now being made that are half the size of what they used to be and still hold just as much, if not more, line. Rod manufacturers have been prompted to follow suit and design rods that accommodate the smaller reels.
But make no mistake, in this case small doesn’t mean wimpy. This new breed of tackle is engineered to provide flawlessly smooth performance, even when it becomes necessary to push the drag up on a jumbo fish and take full advantage of the 80 to 130 lb. breaking strength of the line. Some of it might look like it’s better suited for catching bass on a lake, but that’s only because technology now allows toughness to come in very small packages.
Naturally, with the ultra heavy tackle shrinking down in size, so too has much of the medium and light tackle on the market these days. Whether it’s bluefin tuna, blue sharks or bluefish, the species can be just as big as ever but anglers can now fight them on tackle that’s much more comfortable to use – particularly while stand-up fishing from small boats.
As more tackle manufacturers get in on the trend of producing tough, lightweight rods and reels for use with braided lines, anglers who fish from boats of all sizes will find it easier to always be equipped to effectively deal with any “what-ifs” that come along, be they monsters or minnows.
Capt. Mark Sampson is an outdoor writer and captain of the charter boat, “Fish Finder”, docked at the Ocean City Fishing Center.
