The man makes the angler, the equipment makes the experience either hassle free or a disaster.
Saltwater, you have gotta love it. Even while almost soaking wet, I was casting frantically. The casts were far and straight, much to the amazement of everyone looking. After a few sweeps of the rod, a fish was on.
It was my 20th or so barracuda for the morning, I honestly don’t remember but people around me were whispering loud enough for me to hear that they were counting. Other anglers around me stared blankly as I released the fish, seemingly anesthetized by what has transpired the whole morning. Some screamed at me for “wasting” food, while others just smiled and called me stupid.
After the morning mayhem, I was walking home when one of the guys I met at the jetty asked me what exactly I was doing to catch all those fish. My reply was simple: A balanced outfit and the skill to cast straight and far.
One look at his reel and I saw that it wasn’t balanced, he was using a 12lb (6kg) rod and reel, and his line was 50lb(25kg) mono filament The line being thicker than what it should be makes greater drag while casting and the distance is cut short, the components did not match.
Something this simple is often overlooked, the last person everyone blames for these things are themselves. The list is endless, there are those that break rods, break reels, busted line you name it; the reason exists. Reasons however, are different from excuses. Those that truly know how to fish attribute a lot to human error more than equipment failure.
Fishing isn’t complicated, people make it. It is as easy or as hard as you want it to be.
Now, more than ever the anglers are spoiled. There are so many rods and reels to choose from more types of fishing line and even more kinds and colors of lures. Even fishing hooks can fill up a thick catalog…we are so spoiled we are in no position to complain.
Everything in fishing is geared towards fooling fish, which is odd since they mostly always win. Even with all the technology backing us humans, there would always be the one that got away, in more cases, there are a lot that get away.
Spools of reels have no either close to zero friction with magnetic cast control systems, spinning reels that have long cast spools; such simple machines with more bearings than a skateboard that you can ride on. Anglers are not only spending for these, but are also getting more confused on what to buy.
We always play favorites, two years ago, my favorite thing to do was soft plastics fishing. I had tons of these soft bodied lures and I caught fish, lots of them. Even in places where people don’t catch a lot, I would fool fish just because they looked alive, swim like they were alive and most importantly, they felt like the real thing when the fish1 bit them. This is nothing new, there are rods, reels, lines and other gear made for this type of fishing.
Lately my favorite has been fly fishing. After only two years of fly fishing, I have amassed almost a dozen fly rods and reels I have caught fish with all of them, except for the one that I bought for offshore fishing. Again, it was a lot of juggling on which lines to buy, which reel…even more complicated than your spinning rod and reel setup. The thing about it is that honing your fly casting is even more difficult than learning how to drive.
The first thing to figure out when you go about buying your equipment are your preferences. When I shop for a rod, I know exactly what I want. If I was shopping for a rod I want to use for soft plastics for example, I like long stiff rods with a soft tip. Most of the rods you see are 6 foot 6 inches long (201 cm) I like rods in the 7 foot (213cm) or 8 foot (243cm) range. This automatically takes off most of the rods available in the shop since they are not the common lengths. Longer rods mean I can cast farther, the soft tip gives me some sensitivity and cushioning when the fish lunges while close to the shore or boat. While these are largely personal preferences, it perfectly fits my fishing style. There are no right or wrong ways, just the wrong combination for one’s own personal fishing style.
With the technology of fishing gear improving each year, the price tags keep on going up as well, but even with that people are still continuing to buy them. Even if the use does not match up to the gear.
The most expensive doesn’t always mean the thing is right for your style of fishing or the place you fish in. The gear used for popping in Musandam for example, are not really the ones to use for shore fishing around Dubai. A trip last month proved that the best rod and reel combo for the day was one that cost me 200AED. It caught about 5 nice fish for a friend and another 7 for me. I’m pretty sure that considering the time we spent fishing, we landed more fish that morning than anyone within a similar timespan. It’s not that we were fishing the right way (that helps a lot too) but because we were not missing the strikes that we ought to have when fishing with heavier gear.
Now that we have professional sport fishing shops in Dubai, we have a resource to buy the rods and reels that will maximize our enjoyment of our sport. It doesn’t have to be the ones from the top shelf, just the right ones for the size of the fish we’re catching.
I know that it will come as a shock to a lot of people that the gear fitted for shallow water fishing around the UAE will have a rod with a tip the size of a toothpick. While this is nothing old for anglers who have been fishing in different parts of the world, anglers who aren’t too familiar will think that it’s not the way to go around here. It’s all about the preferences.
Dreamin’ of reels screamin’,
Kit
