Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
Many years ago, I was preparing to fish a light tackle mako tournament and for some reason I decided it would be best to scale down the size and strength of the leaders we’d be using to better match the 20-pound test line that was on my reels. Lighter line, lighter leader, it seemed like a good idea at the time, but when we put it to application it didn’t pan out so well. After working in a 300-and-some pound mako I found out the hard way that the light leader didn’t allow us to apply enough pressure on the fish to hold at the boat. The fish surged, the leader popped and the tournament lost. The rules only required 20-pound line, we could have used our normal leaders and easily held that shark like a dog on a leash instead of a buffalo on a string. Another lesson learned the hard way!
Just as a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so to is the connection between fish and fisherman once a fish is hooked-up and fighting at the end of the line. To be successful, anglers must stay keenly aware of where the weak link is between them and their quarry and do everything in their power to minimize the chance of that link failing before the fish is landed. And just to make things a little more interesting, anglers should also know that the weak link changes throughout different stages of the fight.
To quickly conquer a fish anglers strive to apply as much pressure as they can. If you had a bluegill on a heavy rope you could just pluck it out of the water, but since anglers use relatively light line, leader and hooks, they can only apply so much pressure at any one time, which is where the “sport” in “sport fishing” comes from. In the tournament we were using 20-pound line and one might think that would have been the maximum amount of pressure we could have applied to the fish until we got hold of the leader - but that’s not quite the case.
Knots – Since almost no knots maintain 100% of the breaking strength of the line, in most cases the weakest link between victory and defeat isn’t the line that anglers have on their reels, but the knot that connects their line to their swivel, leader, hook or lure. So if the fish pulls hard enough, it’s first the knot at the end of the line that’s more likely to fail than the line itself. This provides good reason for anglers to always strive to tie the strongest knots possible.
Line – Since anglers usually know the breaking strength of their line they’re able to set their drags to properly slip before the line breaks. But whether the breaking strength is 2 or 130-pounds, a tiny nick in any line could become the weak link between fish and fisherman. So, understandably, the first order of business after hookup is to get that line out of the water and onto the reel thus eliminating that link from the chain.
Leader & Swivels – Once a big fish has been brought to the boat, the next order of business is usually for someone to grab the leader and direct it to the gaff, net or maybe just hold it there for a couple photos before release. Either way, unless you do something stupid, like I did in the aforementioned tournament, whoever has the leader in hand should be able to exert a lot more pressure on the fish than the angler ever did, because the breaking strength of the leader is usually much greater than the line. But just because you go from 20-pound line to 200-pound leader doesn’t necessarily mean that the weak link is suddenly 200-pounds. There’s more to it than that. If a two-part leader is used, the different components will likely have swivels tied or crimped between them. Any swivels used should always have a breaking strength higher than the line and leader so that they do not become a weak link between man and fish. Anglers must also keep in mind that the knots and crimps used to connect leaders together or leaders to hooks will have a breaking strength less than the leader itself. So just because someone is holding a fish on 200-pound leader in no way means that they can exert that much pressure on the fish without expecting failure.
Hooks – The last connection between victory and defeat is the hook, and anglers who think that they can really haul in a fish just because they have a heavy leader and good knots might be in for a surprise when they start pulling and lose the fish because the hook pops free. Hooks come in all strengths and fish are often lost when too much pressure is applied at the boat and they straighten out. Even if the hook is extra strong, if it’s not planted firmly in a hard part of the jaw, it will sometimes easily tear out just as soon as a little extra pressure is applied to the leader.
The Angler – In some cases, the weakest link between victory and defeat over a fish is not the tackle, it’s the angler. Imagine having 130-pound class tackle, 600-pound leader, good knots, strong hooks and a 60-pound, 7-year-old angler all hooked up to a 500-pound tuna. Where do you think the weak link in that program is? Just as all the tackle components must be of the right size and strength for the task ahead, so too must the tackle be matched to the angler’s own physical abilities.
Weak links cannot be eliminated, but by using good line, proper size hooks and leader and good connections they can be minimized. Then, by identifying and keeping aware of potential problem spots between man and fish, anglers can adopt fish-fighting strategies to reduce the chance of losing fish due to aweak link failure.
Captain Mark Sampson is an outdoor writer and captain of the charter boat “Fish Finder”, docked at the Ocean City Fishing Center.
