The imperial garfish is still, in many ways, a fish full of mystery and fascination, which often divides the opinions of experts, to the point of being able to identify 10 unfounded technical and behavioral beliefs, and which we therefore believe it is our duty to debunk…
If once its capture could be considered a rare event, it has now become a prey within the reach of all alpinists, and not only, thanks above all to its massive diffusion along most of our coasts, but also to the ever-increasing knowledge of the techniques to be able to catch it. But you know, when a fish becomes the ambition of many fishermen, who sometimes dedicate themselves to it even improvising, "interesting" theories can arise, some right, others clearly wrong, which can consequently lead even the neophyte to an incorrect approach.
And taking a look at those who have been fishing for billfish for much longer than us Mediterraneans, perhaps with a little experience you can figure out which ones they are… We have identified 10.
Long spinning lines
The first belief, mainly due to the knowledge of the only billfish present in the Mediterranean before the arrival of the imperial garfish, that is the swordfish, concerns the distance at which to spin the baits. The theory according to which, since the swordfish prefers very long lines, also the imperial garfish goes hand in hand being in turn a billfish. But if it is true that it is a billfish, it is equally true that it has nothing in common with the swordfish, and perhaps behaves more similarly to a small marlin or a sailfish. And then it goes without saying that it does not make much sense to spin the lines hundreds of meters, if not the classic shot gun, probing instead the first 60 meters from the stern, up to even 15/20 meters.
Soft rods
How can a large hook, maybe 9/0, penetrate a hard part like the beak of an imperial garfish, if on the other side of the line we have an 8/10 lb rod ready to bend and absorb all the force necessary to allow that hook to set correctly? We agree that these are fish that objectively do not reach considerable dimensions to justify the use of heavy equipment, indeed it would certainly be more fun to face a fight with a light rod... but the problem arises precisely on the strike, where this type of equipment would not play in our favor. So, if we really want to compete in the most sporting way possible, we could perhaps assign the light rods to the divergents, hardening the release clamp so as to leave the latter the task of setting the hook.
Double hook
Over the years I have seen kona rigged in the most disparate ways, even with treble hooks. Without taking into account these last cases, maybe we start from a more advanced step, of those who use a rig with specific hooks. The most frequent dilemma is: single hook or double in tandem opposed? The answer is simple: single hook. And the motivation is equally simple if we analyze the way of attacking the baits by the various fish. Specifically, there is a difference between a billfish and a tuna for example. If the latter opens its mouth wide swallowing its prey by placing itself laterally to it, the billfish instead, before eating it, tries to stun it by hitting it with its beak. But a bait towed by a boat, will continue to "escape" ... which is why, our imperial needlefish will continue to strike undaunted. And by hitting by hitting, the hook will set, maybe not necessarily in the mouth, but also externally... as long as we have positioned it well, that is, as far back as possible towards the end of the skirt. Otherwise it would risk getting stuck in a point too far forward of the rostrum, inevitably coming unhooked during the fight. The position in the center of the skirt is, instead, effective for tuna, dolphinfish and all fish that tend to bite the bait. In the case of the double hook, therefore, it is a rig to use when our attention does not want to be exclusively focused on the rostrum... but which inevitably exposes us to the risk of being unhooked in the event that an imperial garfish were to hook on the front hook. We can therefore affirm that the use of double hook rigs increases the chances of unhooking, rather than decreasing them.
Open the clutch
“The clutch should be kept loose, so when you feel it slipping, open it and give it a chance to eat”… There is not one mistake in this theory, but at least two. The first is that the clutch should not be kept loose, but hard, at least at 3 kg, even 4: it must not slip, it must go! As we said, imperial garfish do not eat, they strike with their beak and, by striking, the clutch must not slip, because when the hook becomes sharp between one strike and the next, it must penetrate immediately… and if the clutch is loose, this will not happen (as with the soft rod). So if we happen to feel small clutch strokes when the garfish is behind the bait, we have made the wrong adjustment. The second mistake is to open the clutch to make it eat the bait, which we remember is artificial. And we hope that a fish eats a fake, still bait. Maybe he will continue to play with the beak before realizing what is happening, maybe the hook will be set, but we will have the clutch open and it will not set. So, when trolling offshore for imperial garfish, the clutch must be kept closed, and the eyes fixed on the baits to understand when a fish rises to follow.
Thread in band on divergents
Same goes for the clutch. Those who think of leaving loose line between the release clamp and the rod do so in the hope of making the imperial needlefish eat the bait when the latter is hit and the divergent clamp releases the line. But as we said, this will not happen. It is therefore important to make sure that there is as little line as possible between the release clamp and the tip of the rod, and that the clip is adjusted so that it can already give the hook enough strength to penetrate even hard parts like the beak. In all fairness, we must specify that the technique of leaving loose line, i.e. the drop back, does exist... but it is used when natural baits are used. In the latter case, in fact, the technique involves adjusting the release clamp to the limit of the opening, so that at the first blow of the beak it can open, the bait can stop thanks to the drop back of line, and be eaten by the fish, being natural.
Double shock leader
Is the beak of the imperial garfish sharp? Absolutely not! Anyone who has had the chance to fish one has noticed that the very small beak is round in section, not sharp like that of a swordfish, and has a very rough surface, due to the presence of thousands of micro teeth. In practice it abrades, not cuts. But during a fight, especially if you use rigid rigs that protect the first 15/20 cm before the hook, it has no way of wearing out a nylon line to the point of compromising its hold. Of course this does not mean that we will use a 0.30 mm shock leader, but let's say that if we used a 0.50/0.60 we would not take a great risk... wanting to be more relaxed we could go up to 0.90, but it makes no sense to increase the diameter further. Indeed, the use of thinner, and therefore softer, shock leaders offers us the advantage of giving the baits a much more natural and therefore attractive movement.
Trimmed Outboards
The importance of “cleaning” the wake is often underestimated, especially when trolling with surface lures, compared to sinking minnows. For this reason, it is often thought that by trimming the outboard motors upwards, in order to create greater turbulence on the surface, it is possible to increase the attractive power towards pelagic fish, attracted by the noise and the foam that resembles that of a feeding frenzy. However, the visibility factor of the lures is overlooked, which will be almost hidden by the white of the foam. Differently, the motors trimmed to the maximum downwards, will certainly make less noise, but will concentrate their foam a few centimeters below the surface of the water, leaving the surface cleaner… and also by pushing the bow of the boat downwards, they will help to flatten the wake and therefore make it even cleaner, making our kona swim optimally.
The via ferrata
Let's start with a basic concept: when trolling offshore, you don't hook! We sail at a speed between 6 and 9 knots, with a clutch set to a minimum of 3 kg. When we feel the clutch start, the imperial spearfish will have already received a strike from the boat that will have allowed the hook to penetrate. If this had not happened, taking the rod in hand and striking, considering the elasticity of the nylon main line, we would not return any type of force to the hook: indeed, due to the elastic effect, we could increase the risk of it coming unhooked. It is therefore better to slow down and start the fight, resisting the temptation to strike.
Fluorocarbon
The fluor carbon terminal is one of those beliefs that are difficult to change, especially for those who approach offshore trolling from live bait trolling. The difference, however, lies in the trolling speed: with live bait, at 1 knot or a little more, the fish could notice the line, which justifies the use of fluor. Differently, offshore, at a speed of 6/8 knots, in the foam of the wake, but also in clean water, it would be practically impossible for our imperial needlefish to notice the line tied to the bait. Furthermore, the rigidity of the fluor carbon does not allow the bait to move in a very natural way, a characteristic that we instead find in a good and soft nylon.
Soft head lures
Soft head lures are born from the need to prevent the billfish, hitting with its beak, from feeling the hardness of a resin or metal head and understanding that it is an artificial threat, losing interest definitively. Nothing to object, except that almost no one is aware of the fact that this type of lure was created to exclusively target swordfish, so much so that even for marlins hard head lures are widely used with excellent results... imagine if we are talking about imperial garfish whose beak is very short and will hardly be able to hit the trestina, assuming it can be bothered by it!
