I saw a show where they were on a large party boat off some west coast island fishing Tuna. It was pretty wild. They were chunking and hooked up with some big fish that was spooling 50W's in no time, they were then clippling on a marker and another line to the reel and tossing the rod and reel over the side and would continue the fight. Right before they tossed it in the water they would lock up the drag. At one point one guy had 3 rods and reels IN THE WATER and was still fighting the fish. Eventually they landed the fish. Several of these were going on at the same time. Looks like quite a trip.

I don't think I have the balls to daisy chain Shimano tiagras and stand up rods in the drink, but they got them all back. I would chase the fish down.

:eek: That is the wierdest thing I have ever heard of.

:eek: I thought the same exact thing eben, there is no way I would even consider it, crazy bastages:smash:

I saw a show on Tarpon fishing one time, the native fisherman had his son on board, like 12 years old. They hooked up a huge tarpon which headed for some kind of jetty or bridge.

Rather than lose the fish and no more rods and reels, the guy had his son jump in the water and swim with the gear to get the line freed, while the boat came went around to the other side of the structure picked up the kid (still holding the rig) and continued to fight the fish.

They asked him if it was dangerous for his son and he said "YES, but I have 5 more sons at home, and I only have one rod and reel.

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

those are two of the weirdest stories I have ever heard.

I guess the native guy, it is loosing food and possibly the ability to catch food in the future.

The charter - I gues they are thrill seekers. I wouldn't toss a rod and reel overboard if I was fighting the fish, much less a chartered customer.


Crazy stuff.
-IWK

Mr S.
As far as I'd read thats not uncommon (no matter how nuts it seems) I guess the cost of the trip, the thrill of the fish etc.. is worth the risk... I guess only some of those boats carry zodiacs to chase with otherwise I guess its impossible to chase 5 250lb YFT's at once with the big boat... either way, someday I'd like to get out there and try that in my next lifetime when I have the $$$

They do it often on those west coat long range trips, they don't have a choice, the boat can't (or won't) chase the fish. Some of the boats now carry inflatables to put the angler in if he hooks up to a fish that he can't stop.

That seems to be SOP on the San Diego long range boats when the bite is hot and they have a large fish on that won't stop running. I watched a video for the Qualifier 105 where they did the same thing and then dropped a skiff over the side and fought the YFT from there. Turned out to be a 250-275# fish.

On one of his shows a few years ago, Jose Wejebe hopped overboard and fought a tarpon that way too. The fish had swam under a dock. Seemed like a risky way to fight a fish of that size.

How about those freedivers that shoot tuna. They attach their $900 custom gun to a float, shoot the fish and let go. Back at the surface they wait for the float to show up with the tuna beneath it. Sometimes they don't find the float.

Crazy sh@t.

I was just going to mention what ScottM said about Jose.

Real life story from my days working on a big Viking …. Something similar happened to us out in the Canyon one summer, although not by design or intent. We were anchored up on the flats, chunking at night. The weather was snotty, boat was bouncing around. One of the guys (an experienced offshore fisherman) tied into a fish. Nothing out of the ordinary. The Fish went for the bow and of course eventually got wrapped in the anchor line, but in an attempt to avoid and undo the situation and save a friggin 75lbs fish, he started to walk up the side of the house ….NOT A GOOD IDEA ….

As he jumped back into the cockpit sans a $1200 outfit All we heard was a barrage of curse words !!!! A Fin-Nor Tycoon 6/0 (a 50 lb reel that was a predecessor to the Ahab line and cost about twice as much) and its attached rod .. went for a swim …Not good. It was somewhat ironic as we were wishing it was one of the International reels as they were a tad less expensive to replace !!! no such luck …

Well, My boss awoke the next morning to get ready for the troll… we told him what had transpired over night …. He was not overly pleased with the news. So while we are pulling the anchor up what shows up but the fish wrapped around the anchor line … we actually land this fish !!! Of course there is a whole bunch of the fishing line that is just “hanging out” opposite the wrap on the anchor line ….. We start retrieving this line and whats on the other end but the outfit ??? That’s right …we got the whole setup back. Talk about a happy ending !!!
The guy who lost it did reel repair so he tore it down and cleaned it up …Good as new !! saved himself a few $$$$$ to boot !!

amazing finesse.... :wiggle:

Seen this done here on the east coast on REALLY HUGE GBFT. Needless to say the reel that goes swimming gets a good bath and stripped down after that. :bl:

When a fish will strip a 50 or 80 class reel in one snap of the tail you need to take some drastic measures, esp. with the price of the belly meat. :D