The long-lining setup of tyler Brinks
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
like most techniques once they get popular, specialty equipment comes along to make it easier. Starks will squat or get on his knee as he is retrieving the bait and rest his rod on his foot or knee to take some of the pressure off of his rod. He mentioned a new product from Bass Mafia called the Crankin’ Buddy that mounts onto the boat. He described it as a t-Bracket where the rod tip can rest as the bait is being retrieved. each cast can take up to 10-minutes, so any help during the retrieve will ease the strain of doing this all day.
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important piece of equipment for this technique. “Without my lowrance and navionics i would not have won at douglas. You need to be able to find the depth the fish are relating to and most of the time you will see the fish and bait on the screen before you start to fish for them,” said Starks.
IS IT LEGAL?
i asked Jeremy what he would say to someone who questioned the legality of long-lining. He made a convincing point. “it’s just like someone who is bed fishing and casts on the bed and then backs away while free-spooling. everyone does this for spooky bed fish and it’s the same thing, we would have to ban that too.” affirmed Starks.
MY ATTEMPT
after talking with Starks, i was excited to try this myself. i went to a deep lake that had active fish chasing bait. i rigged up my reel with as much 8-lb line as possible and started working the bait at the 30- to 35-foot range. i fished with a Strike King 6Xd, dt-20 and the aBt X-2 Countdown Crankbait. The aBt, since it is a countdown model is an easy way to reach those depths without as much work. it was surprisingly easy to reach these depths, but i quickly realized that this takes effort and time. i admire Starks for being able to do this for four straight days. He deserved his win. long-lining is something that takes time and effort. it is not for someone who isn’t willing to work for it, but as Starks proved it can be a tournament winning pattern.
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