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The lowdown on stand-up gear
  |  First Published: December 2013



From Port Stephens NSW to Prince Edward Island Canada, Kim Bain has fought and caught large sharks, black marlin, blue marlin, striped marlin, yellowfin tuna and GBT on stand-up tackle. In this pictorial she shows some of the latest gear she uses.

1/ #4613

This is a homemade chafe tube. Chafe tubes are taped to the rod and break free in order to slide down the line and into the fish’s mouth when using tuna hooks, and they reduce the incidence of getting bitten off or worn through.

2/ #4639

These little plastic ‘coils’/spring-tubes make great hook point covers, and they are also great for securing coiled up leaders to prevent them from tangling. There are probably plenty of other uses as well.

3/ #4791

Gloves for the angler (rather than just the crew) have been around for a long time now. A glove on the left hand makes spreading the line on the reel a little easier on your skin (most anglers will get a line cut on the skin about 50% of the time when fishing super heavy drags of 60lb/27kg). A glove on the right hand makes gripping the reel handle easier on wet days, especially the older-style ‘hard’ handles that can get pretty slippery.

4/ #4803

With a push of the button, this new Winthrop bent butt is adjustable between bent-butt and straight-butt; the system still needs a little refinement in our use because the 2 set-ups so far have proven to require different harness adjustments. It seems a good idea, it just needs a little more tweaking in its use.

5/ #4809 or #4812

The Smitty gimbal plate is very wide and is worn low across the thighs (but above the knees) on drop straps. We have a plate with extra padding and also different plates with different gimbal heights.

6/ #4877

Note the lower gimbal height on this plate. The different heights allow sizing up to different anglers and for different gunnel heights.

7/ #4853

Stand-up rod blanks are designed these days to take many of the larger framed guides. The guides have been refined as well.

8/ #4931

This grander (1000 pounds plus) was taken on stand-up tackle fishing 63lb of drag.

9/ #4938

Extenda-butts are one way to fit short stand-up butts into rod holders suited to longer butts. An alternative is to use drop-ins that sit on the gimbal pins inside the tube of the rod holder. Some of the drop-ins have a friction swivel to allow the rod to follow the line when a strike occurs.

10/ #5235: The author, Kim, uses an OTR (Ocean Tackle Research) seat harness to fight a fish with 45lb of drag.

11/ #5233: Kim exerts some extreme angles during her fights, and in these situations it helps to trust your ‘second’; her dad Steve stands behind her just in case. A broken line can spell disaster, and when you fall you need to be careful of what you may your bump your head on. Some harnesses, like the latest AFTCO harness, have handles on the back of them.

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