Part of being a fishing consultant which is just an old fart that has done a lot of fishing, is basic instruction in old school fishing stuff. On a big sportfisherman that is rigged for bear there are a lot of bells and whistles that hardly ever get used. Take those pretty Penn International 30 and 50 wides along with the big cow bell and bullet head Wahoo lures. I had suggested to the owner that he try fishing the back side of the stream off the Cay Sal bank if he wanted to find a fish or two worthy of breaking out the heavy stuff.
Back side or other side fishing, grew popular out of Port Canaveral where fishing rocket scientists ran into fishermen wanting to tangle with Tuna. By tweaking a high end radar properly, a fisherman could get a fairly good tuna bird target making the longer than normal trips worth the effort. The Cabo we were fishing had all the bells and whistles only the radar couldn't quite do the birder thing.
Anywho, since we were going the back side with the old eyeballs only I asked the owner where his tag lines were for the tag line returns installed on his outrigger. That is the subject of today's post, tagging the bear.
A tag line on an outrigger is a heavy line that you rubber band typically your out rigger line to while high speed trolling the big ugly lures you never use. The real reason for tag lines seems to vary from marina bar to marina bar, but basically the tags reduce nuance knockdowns, set those big assed hooks in the bag ass lures you never use and reduce drop back after hook set. So when you are trolling at around 10 knots you can enjoy so tropical adult refreshments without having to reset out rigger lines constantly.
Tag lines can be a pain in the ass, but a large part of fishing for "trophy" offshore fish is dealing with the PITA and expensive. Tournament quality offshore fishing isn't for the weak of heart or light of wallet. Trolling a 35 foot Cabo at 10 knots sucks down around 10 gallons of $4.50 to $9.50 a gallon in fuel per hour with the average Mr. Big strike coming around once every 30 hours. For that reason many elect to fish for Mr. Not-so-big and the tasty Dolphin, Tuna and Wahoo that like to break the monotony while fishing for Mr. Big.
To reduce the tag line PITA here is a
link to an Australian blog with pretty pictures and a nice video or two. What is missing though is proper Mr. Big trolling accessories. Typically, a nice mixed fruit bowl, cheese and cold cut platter with a variety of tropical adult refreshments is required to truly appreciate the elegance of "Blue Water Fishing" with the wides. It is also nice to have a token young stud to clear lines and wire fish.
Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.
Tight lines,
Capt. Dallas
