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| The Big Teaser |
The Big Tease
By Scott Leon (From Marlin International Sports Fishing)
Mon, Jul 9, 2001
Seemingly out of nowhere, a huge, dark shape materialized deep behind the left bridge teaser. "Big blue marlin on the left short," yelled Capt. Dave Noling as he slowly reached up and started bringing the Soft Head toward the boat hand over hand. "Get the big pitch out."
In an instant, the big shape rushed forward and opened a huge maw full of teeth, engulfing the teaser in a tremendous spray of white water and burning Noling's hands as it sped away from the boat. Now realizing that the fish wasn't a blue marlin, Noling started screaming at the angler to get the pitch away from the 800-pound mako that was trying to make off with his teaser. Suddenly, the teaser popped back to the surface, and we all breathed a sigh of relief . . . but the show wasn't over yet. The mako turned around and came halfway out of the water as he ate the teaser a second time. This time the electric teaser reel whined under the load as the big fish headed for parts unknown. "Oh, well, that teaser's gone," Noling said with a sly grin.
Just at that moment the reel stopped screaming, and we all assumed that the mako's formidable dentures had cleanly severed the 300-pound mono. But up came the "lucky" teaser again, and Noling hauled it in for a look-see. At first glance, the teaser looked untouched, but a closer inspection revealed an inch-long slot in the head of the lure where a single tooth had found its mark. For the next few hours, all conversation centered around the incredible sight we had just witnessed so close the boat. Once again, a bridge teaser bite had made the day.
There is no denying that bridge teasers are an absolute necessity if you are serious about fishing teasers. But to be straightforward, there is nothing sexy or exciting or even complicated about a teaser reel itself or the setup. This tool is about as utilitarian as they come - a simple but important piece of equipment.
Teaser reels take the form of everything from conventional reels clamped to a rail to specially made computerized electric reels to special pancake-style teaser reels. Some are recessed and built into the hardtop, and some stick out like sore thumbs. But all serve the same purpose - to hold enough line to allow the captain to control teasers from the bridge.
Despite its simplicity, there are some basic principles in setting up teasers on the bridge. Following these guidelines will make for better setups no matter what style of fishing the crew practices.
The Hardware
When a captain or a mate works a teaser from the bridge, he's not working it with the reel. The line is hauled in manually because that offers much more control. According to Noling of the Vintage, "Pulling in the teaser by hand allows me to get it to skip right when I need it to in order to keep the lure or bait out of the fish's mouth." Pulling a teaser away from a fish, using the reel itself, is uncommon. So what exactly is the point of a teaser reel? Actually, it does little more than hold the line at day's end. Some captains prefer electric rigs because of the added convenience they offer when winding in the teaser at the end of the day, while others like the simplicity of manual outfits.
"I prefer a manual reel because you minimize the risk of pulling off the glass rings on the riggers and damaging the halyards," says Capt. Franky Pettolina of the Last Call, currently out of Ocean City, Maryland. "If you don't pay attention to an electric as it brings in the teaser, you can really cause some damage. With a manual reel, you are always in control."
If you are running more than a pair of bridge teasers, though, electrics can be a big help, particularly when trying to clear the teasers on a strike. "We run four bridge teasers, and two are electric for the sake of convenience," says Scott Kerrigan, first mate aboard the Revenge. "Electrics make trying to clear three lines much easier for the captain, who's also trying to pilot the boat and tease a fish. In our case, unless there's somebody up there helping him, electrics are the only solution."
Many electric teaser reels are conversions of standard reels, with a few specially built systems, such as the Miya Epoch series. Most crews view these computerized reels as a serious luxury, and although expensive, they can be preprogrammed for drag and distance settings, making life that much easier. The only drawback to retrofitting electric reels is all the wiring involved, although in some cases, it can simply be a matter of plug-and-play.
Another teaser reel option is the pancake-style reel that comes as standard equipment on many new boats. These large hand-cranked spools are low profile and offer a very high rate of retrieve. Unfortunately, setting the drag can be a tricky process. Some of these reels have the capacity for two separate teasers to be run off a single reel, but most crews prefer to simply run two individual reels.
The last option is probably the most commonly used - an extra pair of conventional reels attached to the bridge over the captain's head. Which type of reel to use is not always a matter of preference. "A lot of times it's simply a matter of what you have lying around," Kerrigan says. "We used to run Fin-Nors as teaser reels because we had two extra ones on board."
Pettolina prefers Penn Internationals because of the lever drag and the stops. "I can set my drag so that I know the lever needs to be halfway for normal lure teasers and all the way to full for a dredge. Fin-Nors work, too, but the lever has no obvious stops, so they are a little trickier. Senators work as well, but adjusting and readjusting the star drag can be difficult," says Pettolina.
Kerrigan now uses modified Taigra 80s aboard the Revenge, reels that were souped up by Stuart Loveland of Neptune Fishing Supplies in St. Thomas. Loveland offers special gears for Tiagras to increase the retrieval rates up to 3.8:1, specifically for faster retrieval of teasers. "It's a bit of a luxury," says Kerrigan, "but it's worth it."
Most captains will quickly agree that whatever the setup, the reel needs to make a racket when a fish hits it. "I like to sit with one eye on the spread and one in front, but I still can't see everything going on under the teasers," Pettolina says. "That's why it's crucial that your teaser reels make noise."
Noling's favorite teaser reel is an old, neglected International that has a blown bearing. "That thing makes an absolute racket," he says.
The Setup
A captain's first priority on the bridge is to pilot the boat. The vantage point the bridge offers also gives him a unique perspective over the spread, and he's often the first to see a fish. Add the job of teasing a fish on top of everything else, and the location the teaser reels need to occupy on the bridge becomes very obvious - as close to the helm as possible. Most reels are set directly over the captain's head on the hardtop. Some are mounted directly to the top itself, and some, particularly conventional reels, are mounted on stainless-steel rails attached through the top.
Most captains prefer to have the reels within arm's reach of their chair between 1 and 3 feet apart. The one disadvantage to having the reels close together is that it can be difficult to determine which one the fish hits. "I prefer a good distance between my teaser reels so that I can definitely tell which one has the fish," says Noling. Although Pettolina agrees about the ease of distinction, he prefers ease of reach.
With few exceptions, most captains prefer two separate reels rather than one with two decks or one reel with line wound on in two different directions. The reasoning is simple: more control. If two teasers run off the same reel, then they always run in the same orientation to each other, and you can't change one without affecting the other. Granted, the setup means that much more work for the captain, but most feel the added benefits are worth it. "For the guy who gets maybe a few teaser bites a year, one reel with two lines is fine. But when you expect five or six teaser bites a day, you have to fish at least two reels," says Kerrigan.
For the line, you want to spool the reel mostly full with 250- to 300-pound mono, not Dacron. "The mono gives you a good handhold when you're trying to play keep-away with a big blue, and it won't cut into your hand like Dacron will," says Noling. Further, Kerrigan suggests using a length of lighter line, like 80-pound or so, at the reel end just in case you get spooled. The lighter 80-pound will give way before the reel's mounting screws will. Pettolina prefers to put the teaser itself on lighter line so that you lose only the teaser and not 300 yards of 300-pound mono. "Plus its less likely to pull your hand off if the wraps get too tight while teasing the fish," he says.
Pettolina offers one tip about positioning when setting up the teaser reels. "Pay close attention to the alignment of the reel and the glass ring on the rigger or whatever device you run the teaser line through. Eliminate as many sharp angles as possible. Sharp angles will only cause problems on the retrieve," he says.
One other setup worth mentioning is the recessed reels found in many new boats. These offer the advantage of a cleaner appearance on the bridge and keep your reels out of the elements and secure when not in use. The line in such setups typically runs through the hardtop itself straight out the riggers, so this keeps everything clean, too. However, such a setup has distinct disadvantages as well.
"The most obvious disadvantage is that you can't get to the line as easily for a retrieve if it's recessed through the hardtop," says Kerrigan. "Also, if it has to be respooled, threading the line back through the hardtop can't be easy. If you only expect a few teaser bites a year, I'm sure they're fine, but most guys who have these setups and fish teasers seriously have to modify the rigging."
Dragging the Teasers
How much drag to set on a bridge teaser reel depends more on the teaser's position than brute strength. "You want just enough drag so that the teaser stays where you put it," Noling says. "You'll have to play with your reel to figure out where that is, depending on the type of teaser you're dragging."
The trick to a good teaser setup is the ability to get to that setting easily. "That's why so many crews prefer to fish conventional teaser reels with lever drags. Just as you mark your drag settings for big fish on the reel, you can mark them for different types of teasers," says Pettolina.
As for where to run bridge teasers within the spread, most skippers will position them where they provide the most options. Pettolina prefers running his teasers about 40 feet off the transom between his short flat and his short rigger. "This allows me to decide whether to drop the flat-line bait back or pull the rigger-line bait up to the teaser. It's especially helpful when fishing where you're not sure you'll raise a blue or a white marlin or sailfish. You can fish lighter bait on the rigger and larger bait on the flat line. That way if a whitey comes up, you can pull the smaller bait up to him and remove the teaser, or if it's a blue, you can drop the larger bait back to him," says Pettolina.
That's a nice problem to have and one that only fishing with teasers is likely to present. So although the ubiquitous teaser-reel setup may often go overlooked in discussions of marlin fishing techniques, few successful crews could get by without a good one.
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