Lifting power of a fly rod

[Paul Arden]

I was with you Gary and flying off on that direction however Sakari is flying off in the other direction - and he’s equally right also.

I was wrong of course. And consequently have learned a bunch.

[sms]

I've caught some juvenile tarpon. My experience is that they jump, but lack in strength, speed and endurance in comparison to different tunas of the same size. I have caught much bigger tunas than tarpons - and these big tunas were the problem that we were looking to get a solution.

The problem was that not to break tackle, we needed strong rods. Strength meant weight. And it also meant that the lines needed were really restricted due to needed weight of the line to work on these stiff rods. And fighting big, strong fish that eventually will sound, was pain in the ass with the long lever the rods had. So, casting was exhausting and fish fighting was exhausting. After one fish I was out for an hour.

So, we wanted bendier and lighter that would not break. We went for these hybrids and have not looked back. Much nicer to cast and easier to find lines (as long as the true breaking strength is sufficient and known, in our case the fly line actually is often the weakest point unless in pure breaking strength if we are not using Leviathans etc). And waywayway better fish fighting tools in vertical direction. So, I have not looked back. The problem is solved. This spring I caught a similar size tuna (I'd put it in the 60lb basket even thou the weight according to tables based on length would be in the 85lb+ range) that previously took me more than 20minutes with huge effort and made me not wanting to fish in an hour, I was able to muscle in about 10 minutes with relatively easily and be ready to fish right after again. It much, much easier to lift 6-10kg than previously 4kg! And that makes a huge difference in how fast the tuna is boatside.

With surface staying fish, I you don't need these. CF is completely fine as you can pretty much point at the fish. But lifting big fish from the depths and pointing the rod a the fish is not effective. In those cases it is just a must sometimes to prevent the rod from breaking or being able hold on to the rod. So, with each big tuna this used to happen: https://www.perhokalastajat.net/keskust ... 96#p466496

High sticking? I don't high stick with the tip, I just keep enough tension on the line to prevent it.
https://www.facebook.com/sakari.siipile ... 7806537147

[VGB]

I ended up high sticking with a trout this season. I was wading and casting from behind tree roots and the fish ran straight towards me and through the roots, so it was behind me. The tip was the shape of the letter P

[Mangrove Cuckoo]

sakari

Saying a juvenile tarpon does not have the strength, speed, or endurance of a similarly sized tuna is understating the fact significantly!

We have some local small tunas in our nearshore water: Bonito and Blackfin tuna. They are often abundant and easily targeted by fly anglers. What a workout!

I caught my first Bonito when a was a child from a party boat and with the heavy conventional tackle they provided. I remember fighting the fish, sitting down with the butt between my legs, my feet on the gunwale, and the rod pinned against the rail, while I cranked the reel for what seemed forever. When they gaffed the smallish fish and lifted it over the rail I started crying... I was sure some sneaky son of a bitch was trying to steal my fish, which I felt just had to be as big as me! I could not accept that the little fish on the gaff could fight that hard.