Handline Test in the Salt

So I took the Way Cool handline with me to the San Juans this past week. I took 3 buzz bombs with me, but only used a pink 2.25oz out of the 3.

I must have caught 100+ fish with this thing. Buzz bombs are the greatest, they attract EVERYTHING!

Caught canary & china rockfish, greenling, and a 30" lingcod.

I had 20lb maxima as my leader, and one evening at dusk I got into some lings....and then...WHAM! I feel something huge smash into my lure. It startled me and I pulled back hard to set the hook...It pulled so hard after I set the hook that it snapped the 20 pound leader.

I gotta admit it was scary. Whatever it was had to be 30/40 pounds plus... probably a lingzilla.

I'm going to return next time with a heavier line so I can land something in that 30-40 pound range, but I like the fact that my leader will snap with anything bigger.

I'm still learning this hand line thing, but it's going well. Won't be long until I feel confident going for the monsters.

I'm leavin town again early tomorrow, but will try and post some pics tonight.

I probably won't ever take a rod and real in the salt ever again. It's so much fun having the direct connection to the fish, and I actually found fighting the fish easier with the hand line. It is kind of like water skiing. Just need to keep the boat trim while you hold the rope and get towed around!

Here are a few pics from the trip. My fellow guide Chris caught his first fish ever on the handline, and wouldn't stop pressing me to go fishing again. He's hooked. He took pics of the lingcod I caught, so I'll have to wait a until I get them from him to post.

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Sweet! Sounds like fun! I might have to try that. Did any of your bigger fish take any strong runs? I'd just be worried about a fish pulling that line out of my hands. I guess you would want to wear some kind of gloves, huh? How deep were you when you were picking up the lings? Just off the bottom? I have that exact same lure and wanted to give it a shot for lings and rockfish so that's good info!

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Sweet! Sounds like fun! I might have to try that. Did any of your bigger fish take any strong runs? I'd just be worried about a fish pulling that line out of my hands. I guess you would want to wear some kind of gloves, huh? How deep were you when you were picking up the lings? Just off the bottom? I have that exact same lure and wanted to give it a shot for lings and roskfish so that's good info!

To be honest, nothing really gave much of a fight. Even the @30" lings were a breeze. The one that took my pink buzz bomb however, required some pretty serious hip snapping and edge holding in order to counter the @downward pull.

The handline was easier for me to find bottom and feel what kind of surface & structure I was on. Made it easier for me to gauge my depth too. I know I've got 67ft of mainline and 10ft of leader, so I could look at the 12" winder and tell how deep I was, or count it as I dropped it down.

We caught the lings @ 40-70ft, and the rockfish etc. all over. It's so clear you could sight fish in the kelp/sand/rock transitions. Honestly dude, just drop that buzzbomb to the bottom and jig it and you will catch fish.

Also-forgot to mention earlier I released everything successfully. Lings are out of season up there.

Didn't use gloves. Maybe I'll use something in the future. Wasn't bad at all.

Sounds like a lot of fun.  Sometimes keeping it simple is the best way to go. 

BTW, you might want to pinch down the barbs on that buzz bomb next time.   I don't fish much in WA, but I'm pretty sure you need to use barbless hooks in Puget Sound and the San Juans.

Brian

Some of those looks like whitespotted greenling ... a catch of which is somewhat rare in my experience.

-Allen

I realized that shortly after catching those first couple of fish and replaced the treble with a single siwash with the barb pinched.

Didn't think killing a bunch of cute little fish would be a good example for our clients

J

One of the lings.....

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