Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
Last week I heard someone on the marine radio calling out to a sailboat that was passing by and requesting that they change course and give them some room because they were hooked up to a big shark that was “strung out” far from the boat. Understandably, the fishermen didn’t want the sailboat to run over his line and make him lose his fish.
Listening to the call I couldn’t help but wonder why the fisherman didn’t just maneuver his boat so that the sailboat wouldn’t pass between him and the fish? It was quite calm that day and hard to imagine that any sailboat could possibly be moving so fast that it would have been a credible threat to someone’s line unless their engine wouldn’t start or their anchor was stuck in the bottom, and considering how visible sailboats are on the horizon, I doubt this one snuck up on the lucky fishermen.
But I’m guessing that the fellow on the radio just didn’t think it through enough to realize that if your fishing line is on a collision course with an object, it’s pretty easy to prevent the collision if you just get your boat moving and rotate the line out of harms way. In fact, the incident is a good example why anglers who hook up to fish capable of taking more than just a little line off their reels will usually fair best if they do whatever they must to shorten the distance between man and beast, because whether it’s another boat, a sea turtle, a bunch of floating debris or even another fish, anything in the water can snag and part a line, and the more line that’s off the reel and in the water, the more chance for the heart-break of a lost fish. So it would seem obvious that the closer a fisherman can stay to their hooked fish the better chance they have of not getting cut-off by someone or something in the water.
Staying close to a fish is certainly easier from some boats than others. Those fishing from center console boats have it best since they can put the angler up in the bow and just point the boat where they wish to go and then use as much speed as necessary to get there. Cabin boats often limit the angler to fishing from the stern and are much more problematic because in order to run up on a fish, the skipper will have to decide if it’s best to back-down on it or keep the angler and the fish on one side of the cockpit and move the boat forward.
Backing down might be the only option if the angler is limited to working from a fighting chair in the middle of the cockpit, and it can be the most difficult way to get up on a fish, particularly if the boat has a single engine which will limit maneuverability. Under choppy sea conditions backing-down can also lead to a very wet battle for everyone on board.
Whether they’re going forward or backwards, anglers trying to shorten the distance between them and the fish can either move the boat directly at the fish or run a more parallel track to the direction it’s traveling and then gradually close the gap between boat and fish.
Running a straight track to the fish can be the best approach when the fish is showing signs of being tired and anglers think that they can get in quickly, get a shot at grabbing the leader and bring the fight to an end. The critical part of the tactic, however, is that the fish be at or near the surface. But dogging close to a fish on the line will tend to drive it deep rather than enticing it up where anglers want it to be. To counter this, anglers can use the tactic of stopping the boat and letting the fish run off line which will often prompt it to rise to the surface as it heads away from the boat. By watching the angle of the line, it should become apparent when the fish is working it’s way to the surface and once the fish is on the surface, the boat can be moved quickly towards it. But it’s important that the boat not be moved any faster than the angler can crank so that the fish isn’t given any slack and the boat doesn’t run over the line.
This method sometimes has the fish to the boat a lot quicker than the crew expects so everyone on board needs to be very prepared with gloves, tags, nets, gaffs and any other necessary tools because things can happen fast! If the fish sounds when the boat gets close, the engine can be put back into neutral and the fish can be allowed to run again until it gets back on the surface and the process is repeated until the leader can finally be grabbed.
Instead of moving the boat directly at the fish, it’s often better to run parallel to the fish and gradually close the gap by moving closer at a very gentle angle. In the process, a belly in the line will usually be created which will assist in keeping pressure on the fish without overworking the angler. This often proves to be the best way to stay close to a fish during most of a fight, but it does require that the captain pay close attention to the direction the fish is traveling so that he can turn away should the fish try to cut under the boat or turn towards it if the fish starts to veer off. Paralleling can work well right up to the end stages of the fight, but anglers must be careful because a fish that is very close can quickly dodge under a boat that’s moving ahead and pull the line into a turning prop.
Hearing the guy calling the sailboat had me remembering how, when tarpon fishing down south in the winter, every time we were hooked up to a big fish on light line we were constantly maneuvering our boats around stone crab traps, bridge pilings and mangrove roots to avoid being cut-off. We don’t moan and complain about someone building a bridge in the middle of our fishing hole, we just fire up the engine, get after the fish and do whatever we have to do to keep our line from contacting the structure. But it doesn’t matter if someone is chasing tarpon in the Keys, blue marlin in the Washington Canyon or sharks in the Fingers - every angler should be prepared to maneuver their boat and keep distance between them and their quarry to a minimum, thereby keeping maximum pressure on the fish, minimizing the chances of a broken line and providing a greater chance of success at the end of a long fight.
Mark Sampson is an outdoor writer and Captain of the charter boat, “Fish Finder”, docked at the Ocean City Fishing Center.