Landing Big Ones

[ReelChitty]

Alright everyone just wondering something, say your fishing on a sandy beach and you hook a big one. How do you go about landing it? Do you try and beach it or do you gaff it???

[mikecc]

Use the waves to your advantage & Beach it

[blackeye]

gaff? what's that? is that the thing people use to needlessly punch holes in fish?
if there is any surf, let the waves help you bring her in while walking backwards. if u can't do that get her in shallow enough that she has to roll over on the side and grab her

chris

[BigFish]

Gaffing stripers is illegal if I am not mistaken! I just play the fish ReelChitty and bring him in slow, wear him down a bit and once you get him in the wash, let the rollers help you out. Time it right and just the right pressure at the right time and those big girls will just slide right up onto the beach.

[ReelChitty]

Yeah thats what I do now, Mike was in your shop today ohh all i found myself was drowling over everything. ohh if I only had a credit card. lol

[mikecc]

next time introduce your self

[Uncle Matt]

Gaff no. What the? The way I see it, fight her, use the timing of the waves to your advantage, try your best and if you best aint good enough then it wasn't meant to be. But leave the gaff at home please.

[Nebe]

If I was going for the light tackle world record I might have a friend run down into the wash and run a rope through its gills then haul it up with a rope, but in most cases, timing the heave with a wave is the best, and dont forget.. when the wave starts to flow back, dont pull... stall, then when the fish is out of the water, grab it. Ive seen many good fish lost to people pulling agianst the waves.

[Sweetwater]

No need to ever gaff a striper from the beach. If you're close enough to use a gaff (unless you're swimming) the fish is basically on the beach anyway.

As someone already posted, use the waves to reel in..then let the drag play the fish out as the surf retreats. If it's a very large fish, as it tires, it will simply beach itself in the direction the tidal current is flowing....just walk down the beach, keep the line tight.

-- Tight Lines!

[beachwalker]

horse it in and find out if you can even tie a knot.

[ReelChitty]

Yeah I will next time, today I wasn't in the best of moods lol. Much better now. I was the really big guy with the other guy who bought a tip for his rod.

[Nebe]

So what your saying is "Theres big bass in Holyoke!"

right?

[ReelChitty]

lol yeah. I think its something in the water. j/k