KNOW THE RULES

Sometimes bad habits can work against you

- CAPT. SKIP SMITH

It looks like most boats are using light tackle to catch billfish these days and posting a lot of it on social media, which is great-we all get to share in the excitement of those crazy bites and jumps. Watching some of these crews working the cockpit, though, I have noticed that a few are grabbing the rod tip first in order to get to the leader when they're out fun fishing. I always like to fish every day like it's a tournament because there might be a time one day when your muscle memory kicks in during a tournament that requires a video of the release, and grabbing the rod tip first is an automatic disqualification.