lifting fish

big phil 123

Well-known member
Jts funny to see lads in the summer lifting full houses of makkie up the pier probs averaging around the 5lb mark yet in the winter people hand ball 3lb fish???lol makes me laugh if i am fishing and my rod wont lift a 3lb cod am using the wrong rod i just trap my line against the rod with my hand and lift i have seen rods lift fish look on you tube see gary pye he has abojt 10lb of fjsh min and he deads lifts it. I try not to hand ball and let the rod do the work. So why do lads hand ball fish to 6lb i say 6 as thats the last one i lifted at sheilds walkway nearly low water. Is it easier to hand ball? Is it incase your rod snaps? Everytime i hand ball its jerky and feels like i have more chance of dropping the fish and takes longer
 
Some reels will not cope with the weight and with regards to mackerel they still fight on the lift so 6lb of mackerel will put more pressure on a rod than a 6lb cod that wont give any fight
 
Personally I do it when I get a full house or big fish simply to save unnecessary wear on my reel gears...also I sometimes use a floppy rod, so to speak.
 
Some reels will not cope with the weight and with regards to mackerel they still fight on the lift so 6lb of mackerel will put more pressure on a rod than a 6lb cod that wont give any fight

Thats why i jam my leader against the rod so i am not putting strain on the spindal or drag. Thats what i am saying lads lift full houses of mackerel without a thought but when its cod they dont and your cod rod should lift more than ya makkie rod lol
 
I think some people just think there is less chance of losing it by handballing, never done it myself so dont really know, I was spinning on ssp 2 days ago and some kid asked me if I wanted him to handball a single mackerel up lol
 
I think some people just think there is less chance of losing it by handballing, never done it myself so dont really know, I was spinning on ssp 2 days ago and some kid asked me if I wanted him to handball a single mackerel up lol

Haha he probs wanted something lol i dnt mind kids like that if am fishing and there youngens about 10 asking for stuff i give them it its the older ones i dnt like like
 
there is a big difference between trying to lift 5ibs of jerking mackerel on light spinning gear and lifting a 5lb sack of spuds with heavy winter gear
 
line strength, a multiplier has a lot more winding power than a light fixed spool as does a 13 ft beachcaster against a 9ft spinning rod that's the difference.
 
I think it's more to do with how far you've got to lift them. I've lifted in fish over 8lb quite happily when I can get the tip down low enough - but if you're say 20-30ft above the water the fish will still be still be too low to lift on the rod (especially if you've got to hoik it over some railings). That's when handballing comes in for me. If I'm on a higher rock edge where it's not a straight drop, I shove the rod out over the edge to keep clear of any obstructions, stand on the butt & hand-haul the line through the rings - works for me!

Gary :)
 
I think it's more to do with how far you've got to lift them. I've lifted in fish over 8lb quite happily when I can get the tip down low enough - but if you're say 20-30ft above the water the fish will still be still be too low to lift on the rod (especially if you've got to hoik it over some railings). That's when handballing comes in for me. If I'm on a higher rock edge where it's not a straight drop, I shove the rod out over the edge to keep clear of any obstructions, stand on the butt & hand-haul the line through the rings - works for me!

Gary :)

I only lift fish if shocker is on the reel just when i have tried to hand ball its been cold winters night and .40 line feels about .0001 lol
 
I only lift fish if shocker is on the reel just when i have tried to hand ball its been cold winters night and .40 line feels about .0001 lol

Yeah, forgot to mention that - I'll always put a much longer leader on when fishing any height, or be fishing 40lb-plus straight through....lifting any fish when the leader's not on the reel always feels dodgy!

Gary :)
 
Yeah, forgot to mention that - I'll always put a much longer leader on when fishing any height, or be fishing 40lb-plus straight through....lifting any fish when the leader's not on the reel always feels dodgy!

Gary :)

Hahaha yea i dont trust my knot enought if i am fishing walkway normal leader 4 arm spans on a cliff 5 arm spans then a few turns lol normaly cast about 30 yds before i hear my leader knot rattle my eye lol
 
Yeah - the real ball-ache though is if there's a raft of weed on your knot & it won't come through the rings...bad enough on a rock edge where you have to scramble backwards just to get the fish out the water, worse still when up a height! (Guess that's when it's time to hand-ball again!).

Gary :)
 
I know nightmare might just get a huge reel and put huge eyes on and winch everything round the reel lol guess i am a lazy fisherman when i am cod fishing i want my rod to be like a bar not move and a big winch and who says there is no sport in cod fishing lol
 
I tried handballing a big cod on North Row Ends for a guy, it was easily a double and rod was bent double, his line was under massive tension and then his leader knot got stuck on his tip ring...bye bye fish! It was an open comp too and he would have cleared up.
 
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