Mark says:

So about half way in to a fight with this Bull, as they all do on light tackle, she ran around the boat, with what turned out to be a 40″ Redfish on 20lb line and 30lb leader…. I’ve got a couple of replies from guys about holding the bail and why I hold the line instead. Simple answer. I don’t change my setup much from fishing for 15-25 inch trout(that chew up leaders when catching 30 a day, to 100-150lb Tarpon)Redfish won’t cut the line due to their gill plates, scales like Tarpon or our South Texas Snook. But, we are fishing a 130 year built jetty system, with many class 3-4 hurricanes going through it and lots of structure while the others are on heavy gear for offshore fishing. In short, I rarely grab the bail. With this light tackle, you risk breaking off very quickly with just a head Jurk of a strong, green fish with a run and snag on any structure.You risk getting a good paper cut by holding that line by hand, but doesn’t bother me. But it does change with heavy gear, which I don’t use. But the guys at @puertoricofishingcharters have got my instinctually bowing to a monster redfish?. #redfish #bullred #fish #fishing #fishinglife #fishingtrip #saltlife #saltwaterfishing #getbent #skifflife #catchandrelease