Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
Last week I had to retire a couple of my fishing rods from service because the reel seats had worked loose and were rotating on the rods. A year ago they were doing the same thing and I fixed them by drilling a small hole through the reel seat and the fiberglass rod blank and then securing a small bolt in the hole. I knew it was only a temporary fix because over time, the bolt would start to work on the fiberglass, enlarging the hole and destroying the blank beneath the seat. That time has come and now the rods share space in a corner of my attic with a number of other "retired soldiers" who served well but finally succumb to too many battles with big fish.
I've seen a lot of loose reel seats over the years, both on my own boat and back when I used to work in a tackle shop where sometimes irate customers would return rods that had the problem after just a season or two of use. I used to think that the problem stemmed from an error in manufacturing until I came to realize that with conventional rods it's almost always the result of excessive torque caused by anglers improperly reeling in medium-to-large fish.
"Reeling in a fish". That common term speaks to the root of a bad technique perpetuated by too many anglers and that can lead to the ultimate demise of a perfectly good fishing rod. A fishing friend of mine once said, "you don't reel in a fish - you rod in a fish." Yea, even to me that sounded kind of stupid the first time I heard it - but it's true! No matter what kind of tackle they might be using the basic lift-up-crank-down technique is usually the right one to use when dealing with ornery fish that actually have enough spunk and attitude to pull some drag and do anything but swim right to the angler.
Lift-up-crank-down, it's really a pretty straightforward process that, when done properly, is deadly effective on subduing a fish without subjecting the angler to any unnecessary strain or punishment. At least that's the way it should be, but for some reason way too many anglers try to improve on an already good technique by throwing in extra moves that do nothing but help throw a little more advantage to the fish. So let's break this down and see what should and shouldn't happen as an angler "rods" a fish to the boat:
With a fish on the line and pulling drag the angler should do nothing but keep the rod tip up at about a 45-degree angle. Any cranking or pumping the rod is only going to work the angler, not the fish. Anglers must keep in mind that as long as there is a bend in the rod there is pressure on the fish, and from the time the hook is set until the fish is to the boat their goal should be to keep the rod bent AT ALL TIMES! I emphasize that point because once the fish finishes its first run, it's usually time to start the pumping process (lifting and cranking down). Too often anglers get so spastic and out of sync with their rhythm that they pull back too quickly on the rod which allows drag to slip, and then they lower the rod too quickly to match their cranking speed which allows the rod to straighten out. At the other end of the line the fish feels pressure...then no pressure... pressure... then no pressure. This can be a good way to pull a hook or at the very least sap the strength out of the angler before the fish is halfway in.
As they lift the rod, anglers should be watching their spool to make sure that no line is going off the reel. If it is, they need to either slow their lift or stop it all together. If line is not going off the reel they should continue to lift the rod straight to the center of their chest until the lower half of the rod is no more than about 45-degrees. With medium-to-heavy tackle, anglers should never pull a rod to the side as this will only help torque their back, causing pain that will have them out of the fight very soon.
Once the rod has been lifted up it's time for the angler to turn their attention to the rod tip as they begin to crank down. Here the most common mistake is dropping the rod and then cranking. Again, all that does is give the fish a slight moment of slack and a chance to turn its head! While watching the rod to ensure that it stays bent, the angler must now crank the reel as they lower the rod. Timing is everything! The speed at which the rod is lowered must match the speed of the cranking perfectly so that the rod never loses its flex - that's what keeps a smooth and constant pressure on the fish.
Experienced anglers who have good lift-and-crank rhythm will never exert hard cranking pressure in attempts to winch the fish to the boat with the reel. Instead they'll (for lack of better terms) "rod" the fish to the boat and just use the reel to retrieve line that comes relatively easy when the rod is lowered at just the right speed. It's all about timing and finessing a fish to the boat by using the tackle to do the job it was designed to do. Brute strength has little to do with it, I've seen a lot of "tough guys" give up a rod after 15-minutes and a lot of women and even children go more than an hour while using proper technique.
Anglers who don't exercise the proper method of lift-up-crank-down not only stand a chance of breaking their backs or losing their fish, they also run the risk of tearing up their tackle by taxing it in ways it was not designed for. When someone attempts to just winch a fish in by steady cranking instead of using the rod as a lever to gain line one lift at a time, the side-to-side torque will eventually dislodge reel seats, break handles, twist reel feet, or destroy gimbals. Tackle doesn't come cheap these days and if only to protect their own investment, anglers should make an effort to learn and perfect their fish fighting skills. As a charter captain, I have a lot of inexperienced clients who seem intent to push my own tackle to beyond its limits almost every day of the season. All I can do is coax them along until they hopefully learn and do the right thing when working a fish to the boat - before too much of my stuff ends up in the attic graveyard.
Mark Sampson is an outdoor writer and Captain of the charter boat “Fish Finder”, docked at the Ocean City Fishing Center.
