Fishing Tips: How to Handline | Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] Hand lining is what we used to do years ago, 30 years ago, before Tyler was born, before all these guys were even on a boat fishing. We used to do handlines; now they do rod and rails. They just crank.

It's very important when you're handlining you don't bend your back. Every bit of handlining is upper body strength. When you're pulling a fish in, you need to go hand over hand. And you need to—what I do is I pull it, I give it a little pinch. Everyone's got their own way of pulling things.

It's hard, but what I do is I bend it to get a good bite. You got to watch out for kinks though, 'cause the lines loop, and when they take up, you got to stand clear. You can't lift your feet up. If you lift your feet up when there's line on the deck, that's where I've seen people go overboard, and it's very, very dangerous.

You got to remember there's between 600 and 1,000-pound fish. Heavy fish, you know? I think a lot of people would get hurt if they did it now. I've been doing it my whole life; I can't do it anymore ‘cause of my back. But ‘cause I did it for so long, you know, I like whatever gives me a paycheck: ourponent, rod and rail, handline, longline, grenades. Whatever it takes to get a paycheck to support my family, I'll do whatever it takes. [Music]