08-24-2004, 06:15 PM
Last Thursday the man I was fishing with got a strike on a Rapala, that was still on the surface, while he was letting out his line. Unfortunately, he forgot that his line was still free spooling and he jerked. Made an enormous birds nest. He tried for about 45 minutes to get the line untanged on the levelwind reel, and finally just pulled his line in by hand and cut off the birds nest (unfortunately it was my reel). To make matters worse his leader snapped at the boat and he lost the fish and his favorite Rapala. In the fall I have learned, at Strawberry, that often one will catch more fish long lining, close to the surface, than with a downrigger.
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