Dhufish Handlining
Submitted by Boppo on Thu, 2017-05-11 08:27
After a recent trip to Shark Bay I have rekindled an interest in handlining. Mucked about with a 50lb handline in 12 m of water and did well after busting off about three sets of rod terminal gear. Really enjoyed the fights and even had a couple of 5 ft sharks give me some fingercuts before busting off but great fun all the same.
Am keen to try handlining for Demersals off Lano and Two rocks. As the water is anywhere between 28m- 50m what strength mono would be best and how many meters will I need on a hand spool? Was hoping there might be a couple of old schoolers here to give me advice.
PJim
Posts: 200
Date Joined: 26/04/11
too deep
I catch quite a few dhuies off my yak up around Lancelin, Ledge and all are under 20 mts , handline be fine
clayd
Posts: 128
Date Joined: 07/12/15
Love using the handline.
Love using the handline. 150lb works well for me for dhuies and when you get a big kingie. Thick enough to grip onto, but will still will cut into you. I normally put some tape around my index finger to stop the cuts. Need a heap more weight than using braid as the resitance from drift is very noticeable. I like to use tuna circle hooks, the stretch in the handline is q good match for them i reckon. I'd be getting 100m+ on the spool, not necessarily because you need that much, but over time when you cut off frayed bits of line, you'll need the extra length.
Nothing like being pulled over the gunwale by a big fish on the handline. A real man vs fish fight.
beeroclock
Posts: 746
Date Joined: 22/08/12
I would just go buy a reel of 100lb jarvis walker line from
kmart, I think they have about 100m on them, its cheap as chips 5bucks or so and the line handles abrasions on the reef cos its hard and strong I use it on my paternoster rigs out there off two rocks in the depths your talking about. Put it on a descent solid hand caster reel and dont forget youll need a pretty big sinker cos its much thicker than braid so more line drag the deeper you go. You dont need fancy mono for that type of fishing it will catch just about anything out there if you hook something huge wrap it a round a cleat and it will tow the boat around without snapping till the fish tires out. Only probs will be if you get a snag bloody hard to break, use big 3 way swivels and gloves a good idea too - might see you out there being towed around some time ha ha good luck
hezzy
Posts: 1521
Date Joined: 27/11/09
boppo being as i still
boppo
being as i still prefer a hand line over a rod when demersal fishing i use the following and it works well
get yourself a 100 metre coil of 80LB K BRAID ,this is the stuff we used when commercial handlining to improve feel and touch , its soft on your hands and wont cut you like mono will, 80 lb is well sufficient to handle standard demersals and is light enought to allow you to feel the bite and lower drag
set up a rig in a standard paternoster style for demersals , use some large 3 way swivels and have the bottom 10 metres of your line in 100lb mono , then swivel join it to the k braid up to the main handline reel
standard leads are same to use , drag is ok out to 50 metres or so , add more snapper leads if you need to , drift is better if its under .6 of a knot when fishing , so sea anchor is a good idea to slow you down if drifting for demersals
and yes use smaller cirle hooks of a good quality
same as any gear , wash it after each trip and store it out of the sun to extend its life
old school but works well
hope that helps
hezzy
OFW 11
evil flourishes when good men do nothing
carnarvonite
Posts: 8673
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Got it
Hezzy is spot on, the braid is thick enough that it won't cut your hands and still allows you to feel when a dhuey picks up your bait then its let it have line till you feel the third bump and give it heaps.
Used to love taking mates out to the Yallingup lumps and then tell them its handlines only and sit back and watch as the sambos took over, you can really feel the raw power they can produce.
Willlo
Posts: 1490
Date Joined: 07/10/11
John you are a sadistic
John you are a sadistic bastard , ive been in that situation in the same area and its fun to start with but you soon loose enthusiasm and it becomes torture especially when you get a double header
Hezzy is spot on although i went a little heavier and used 140 it hurt my hands less , the only thing i could add would be to get a bike tyre inner and tie it to the gunnel then loop the line around it so you can get it off quick , you can then sit back and watch them catch themselves saves holding on to the line all day. Much better fun in shallow water lol.
Call Sign - BZ785
Haynes Hunter Prowler CC
carnarvonite
Posts: 8673
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Hand casters
Nothing better than watching 3-4 hand casters spinning around the deck and those trying to hold the line complaining about getting their fingers burnt.
Trick is to hold the line down below the gunnel so its got to do a couple of bends before affecting your hands.
Up north used to get new deckies to catch cobia on about 20 metres of 300lb mono. Every time we got a big shark either alive or dead on the mainline there would be a cobia or two with it, small chunk of shark meat on a single 8/0, most times they would hang on to the line like they were fishing off a jetty, small bite then give a little jerk to set the hook then all hell breaks loose and me yelling at him to stop messing around and get back to work. After they had suffered a few times we would show them how its done, flick the bait no more that 4 metres from the boats soon as its in the mouth give it heaps, 3 or 4 full grabs of the line then flick the fish on board, definitely no mucking about otherwise you are going to get badly burnt
hezzy
Posts: 1521
Date Joined: 27/11/09
lol yeh lot of fun when the
lol yeh lot of fun when the kingies hit you up on hand lines
one other thing thats worth mentioning is if you cant keep your free line still once you have it on deck , then make sure you wind it back on the hand line each time you pull up ........ or you will get a giant fark up on the deck with your line tangled in loops to hell
farrell was always onto me as a deckie to keep the lines looped in one spot ,nice and tight free from screw ups we usually fished with two handlines each , so you needed to keep your feet and anything else out of the way when they where all on deck moving in between spots or you would get some magic tangles on the deck
so be warned boppo , coil it onto the deck so it will go back over the same way & hooks first then the lead when you drop , dont throw the lead carelessly first or you can get a set of hooks catch your leg/arm as they fly over following the lead down
hezzy
OFW 11
evil flourishes when good men do nothing
Boppo
Posts: 214
Date Joined: 08/03/09
Great!! Old man and the sea stuff coming up!
Change is as good as a holiday.....been getting bored of dhuie fishing with a rod.....and jigging just aint my thing