[hoit]

I took Hoit senior out for a fish on SharkBait II this morning. The old man was fishing about 50m away whilst I was having a chat to 5/11. Our conversation was interrupted by the sound of the old man swearing. :? :roll: This was a result of him being spooled. :shock:

So my first question is who else has been spooled whilst kayak fishing ?

Dad was using 10lb mono with about 1.5lb of drag dialed up on a Symetre 2500. I reckon he probably could have cranked up the drag a little more.

Other questions are

1) when do you decide that the risk of being spooled is greater than the risk of being busted off and start to crank up the drag ?

2) how much drag do you need cranked up to start being towed around ?

The old man was obviously disappointed about loosing his first fish ever off a kayak. What a first fish it would have been. But for somebody who turns 70 this week its good to see him getting out and being active.

Hoit Junior

 

[Peril]

Saw occy get spooled by a tinny that ran over his trolling line

You can easily go 3lb drag on 10lb line (or one-third line weight). I've fought a few fish at this drag setting, had the fish take line, and not moved very far - depends on how the fish runs. I set my 20lb outfit to 3kg drag, but haven't had it tested by a good fish

 

[Dodge]

1) when do you decide that the risk of being spooled is greater than the risk of being busted off and start to crank up the drag ?

Much prefer to give the spool a apply little pressure with a thumb to add drag instead of fiddling with the drag, and if spooling looks on the cards, lock up the spool with your hand while you have some turns remaining on the reel and hopefully it breaks at a knot and leaves you line to recover.

Not many Alveys are spooled with an educated palm, and don't think any other type of reel is different with the right hand or finger pressure applied

And happy birthday to Senior later in the week :wink:

 

[Naki Man]

The guy I go out with was using 30lb braid drag up tight and had to thumb his reel just before he got spooled. managed to regain most of his line.
As far as being towed, I had 50lb main line (as I was targeting kingies) and had a grapnel down made out of N08 wire when my ledger got nailed (I think by a stingray) I locked up my drag and thumbed my reel which resulted in my grapnel straightening out and he pulled me slowly around the bay before be spat it out. The strange thing was that I don't think he realised he was hooked.

 

[hoit]

Saw occy get spooled by a tinny that ran over his trolling line

That was about to happen me at Ricketts last month. I screamed at the stink boat and one of the guys turned around to see my rod doubled over but they kept on going. I decided to lock my drag and got most of line back but lost my only Thunderstick. I wasn't too impressed. :evil:

But its always funny when somebody else is spooled by a boat.

Much prefer to give the spool a apply little pressure with a thumb to add drag instead of fiddling with the drag

I have thumbed my overhead reel before but never thought about trying it on a threadline. Damn this forum is useful

 

[spottymac]

Well all most spooled
read my fishing trip report today

 

[Scott]

Hoit, i am a line capacity junkie. Apart from my bream/trout spin reels which only have a 125yd spool of fireline on them my minimum line capacity would be 300m. Once you get over a 100 m out and if using mono the line stretch will allow you to easy go to around 40% of breaking strain assuming good knots. Once you have over 3-400 out on a fast moving fish which can change directions quickly go back to around 20% as your original strike drag would have doubled due to a smaller circumference of line on the spool in addition to water pressure issues. Mind you I have only ever had this happen from stink boats when game fishing. My P15 gets towed on anything heavier than 2 or so kg of drag and as i never fish deeper than 50-60 metres from the yak I never seem to get more than 150 or so metres out even on a decent shark.

Catch ya Scott

 

[Davey G]

dan (hobiefisherman) got spooled today off Botany Bay.

 

[justcrusin]

Saw occy get spooled by a tinny that ran over his trolling line

Look on the bright side, the stink boater now has fishing line wrapped around his prop chewing away at his bearings eventually letting seawater into his gear box turning the oil into a thick white gooe and eventually seising and then for his troubles he has to spend a few grand on a new box. :twisted: :twisted: :!:

 

[Daveyak]

Last year I lost a lure and most of a spool of line when a stink boat cut across behind me while I was trolling. I wondered what they thought a rod sticking up and gently curved backward meant. And I can still remember the bemused looks on their faces as they were wondering what that crazy kayaker what doing apparently shouting something & gesticulating angrily (with two fingers prominent) at them as they sped on their way. I consoled myself with thoughts of what the line wound around their prop shaft could end up doing to seals & bearings.

I had less than half a spool of line left so, rather than paddle all the way back to the ramp, put on another lure and shortly after that something (probably big mulloway) took it and the rest of the line until - ping! A full spool would have given me a chance to tire it & hopefully get it under control. So I was doubly angry with those bloody stinkboaters.

Now I've learnt not to trust 'em to do the right thing & often wind lines in when I'm not confident they'll stay clear of me.

And I now carry a spare spool of line for each reel so that if I get spooled or lose too much line I don't have to go home early or pull out when the fish are still biting. However, all that careful planning is useless when changing spools you drop the drag nut over the side - d'oh! :roll: :evil:

I don't usually know how much weight or percentage drag I've got on but you don't have to have much drag on to be towed around. I've been towed nearly 100 metres into the wind & against tidal flow by a 2 kg mulloway on 4.5 kg line. Mono line fished from a free floating platform has advantages!

 

[Guest]

I've been spooled while kayak fishing only once before, and it happened at exactly the same spot it happened to Hoit snr. And it happened in the same week to. I was really caught by surprise when it happened to me - I had no idea I was as close to running out of line as I was. Unfortunately I was dealing with a drift sock starting to tangle with the line and that distracted me from the spooling line. :-(