A while back, a friend asked my opinion on the best rig for handlining from a sailboat which at first glance seemed like a simple request. Seriously, how can you improve on some line with a hook on the end?
The funny thing is that the more I thought about it the more complicated the request became. So much so that I found the various permutations of the sailboat + handline = X equation started keeping me up at night. More importantly, it also got me to re-examine my standard any fool can fish advice which was meant to be a first step rather and never meant to be and end-all on handlining gear and technique.
Part of the problem is that, with a bit of thought, the oft given advice of throwing 200 or 300-pound test line on a Yo-Yo with a lure on the end is hardly an evolved system and actually flies in the face of most other fishing method's best practices.
For sure, that Yo-yo loaded with 300-pound test line and a lure is evolutionary more advanced than fishing with a club but not so much as you'd actually want.
We can do a whole lot better but, to do that, we'll need to get back to basics and a clean sheet of paper but more about that later...
The funny thing is that the more I thought about it the more complicated the request became. So much so that I found the various permutations of the sailboat + handline = X equation started keeping me up at night. More importantly, it also got me to re-examine my standard any fool can fish advice which was meant to be a first step rather and never meant to be and end-all on handlining gear and technique.
Part of the problem is that, with a bit of thought, the oft given advice of throwing 200 or 300-pound test line on a Yo-Yo with a lure on the end is hardly an evolved system and actually flies in the face of most other fishing method's best practices.
For sure, that Yo-yo loaded with 300-pound test line and a lure is evolutionary more advanced than fishing with a club but not so much as you'd actually want.
We can do a whole lot better but, to do that, we'll need to get back to basics and a clean sheet of paper but more about that later...
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