Meat Lines

Posted by: RUNnGUN

Meat Lines - 08/06/19 02:56 PM

Saw a boat with a couple guys in MA9 running the old style meat lines. For those that aren’t familiar it’s a short downrigger style fiberglass boom with a pulley on the end, single action reel with cable like downrigger cable with a downrigger ball. Off of the ball a rubber snubber to flashers, hoochies or spoons or plugs. When you get a bite or fish on, you just crank them in. Have not seen them in years. Thought they were illegal now.
Posted by: Larry B

Re: Meat Lines - 08/06/19 03:19 PM

Originally Posted By: RUNnGUN
Saw a boat with a couple guys in MA9 running the old style meat lines. For those that aren’t familiar it’s a short downrigger style fiberglass boom with a pulley on the end, single action reel with cable like downrigger cable with a downrigger ball. Off of the ball a rubber snubber to flashers, hoochies or spoons or plugs. When you get a bite or fish on, you just crank them in. Have not seen them in years. Thought they were illegal now.


Illegal? Nah, still fairly commonly used in MA 11. While not too sporty the fact is that what you saw is a rod and reel, line, weight and bait/lure.
Posted by: stonefish

Re: Meat Lines - 08/06/19 05:22 PM

I caught A lot of fish as a kid with my dad using a meat line.
As Larry mentioned, not very sport but productive as hell.
The later day downrigger.....

Short rod, Pflueger Pakron reel, wire line, sash weight or a section of pipe filled with lead, rubber snubber with a fly line likely connected likely to something like an Abe and Al flasher followed by a bucktail Fly, Pt Defiance spoon or a pearly wobbler or just running a Tomic plug.
SF
Posted by: Anonymous

Re: Meat Lines - 08/06/19 05:49 PM

The meat lines will make a man of ya!
Posted by: Anonymous

Re: Meat Lines - 08/06/19 05:51 PM

First troll caught salmon in Monterey Bay came off a meat line many many moons ago. And a purple haze hoochie and red hot spot flasher. Still works. More fun on a light rod and a downrigger.
Posted by: eddie

Re: Meat Lines - 08/07/19 04:17 AM

I like to run a whiskey line, which fishes a lot like a meat line but with modern gear. Usually a 3 - 4 oz. banana sinker with terminal gear behind. Last year, I was out with buddies on a boat and one of the downrigger lines broke, so I put out the whiskey line and caught a 10lb. chinook. I probably wasn't deeper than 10 - 15 feet below the surface! What a hoot!
Posted by: GodLovesUgly

Re: Meat Lines - 08/07/19 08:05 AM

We've been running 180-220 feet of cable recently. I'll take a hard pass on cranking that in by hand with a 15lb ball on it!
Posted by: RUNnGUN

Re: Meat Lines - 08/07/19 04:42 PM

Curious what might it make more productive? Years ago I knew some that used the snubber setup right off the downrigger ball...illegal as hell, but it did produce twice the success as the regular downrigger clip release setup used today.
Posted by: Larry B

Re: Meat Lines - 08/08/19 09:58 AM

Originally Posted By: eddie
I like to run a whiskey line, which fishes a lot like a meat line but with modern gear. Usually a 3 - 4 oz. banana sinker with terminal gear behind. Last year, I was out with buddies on a boat and one of the downrigger lines broke, so I put out the whiskey line and caught a 10lb. chinook. I probably wasn't deeper than 10 - 15 feet below the surface! What a hoot!


Not sure where the "whiskey line" came from but what you describe is my early morning presentation particularly when fishing with herring for silvers in the fall along the rips. Subtle takedown? Not a chance - they are all over it!
Posted by: eddie

Re: Meat Lines - 08/08/19 03:51 PM

I believe the term whiskey line came from the commercial fishers who would run a line off the stern. The fish caught and the money earned would buy the whiskey. Don't know if that is true, but that is what I've heard. Yes, the takedown is not subtle! I was surprised that a king would take the lure with the sun up for 4 hours. But, fishing almost always surprises me, one way or the other!
Posted by: riverdick

Re: Meat Lines - 08/08/19 05:03 PM

Originally Posted By: Larry B


Illegal? Nah, still fairly commonly used in MA 11. While not too sporty the fact is that what you saw is a rod and reel, line, weight and bait/lure.


Fairly commonly used in MA-11 to run two lines too.
Posted by: Capt Downriggin'

Re: Meat Lines - 08/10/19 10:05 AM

Grew up fishing plugs year around on a bamboo meatline and a Pakron 3180 in the early/mid 70s. Every so often we trolled around the ever reliable Pt Defiance spoons or huge 13-inch spring brass flasher and hoochies. However a 4-inch Macs Squid plug #15 (Point Special) was tremendously hard to put in the tackle box in winter. The 5 and 6-inch plugs were absolutely deadly in the spring and summer. I didn't really get into downriggers until the mid 90's.

My last 2-years in Washington I pretty much fished meatlines exclusively. Not much sport until you get to the last 30-feet of line on a summer fish. However when we had larger fish back in the day that last 30-feet of line... You better have some skill on the tiller, rod and net!

Speaking of fishing two lines... I remember way back when Ned Krilich (Krilich Killer plug fame) got a ticket for fishing 7 plugs (7-lines) off his meatline. Of course we could fish "up to three hooks" back in those days. Ned took the ticket to court and had it reduce to "fishing with 4 hooks." If you can find a few of his wooden plugs- fish them! They were all white with a red face and no eyes. We called them "blind plugs."

I thought after 44-years of working the saltchuck, I would miss it terribly. But life on the Rogue is phenomenal! Different bred of people and life here.



[img]https://i.imgur.com/urrOzqi.jpg?1[/img]
Posted by: RogueFanatic

Re: Meat Lines - 08/13/19 10:15 AM

Originally Posted By: Capt Downriggin'
Grew up fishing plugs year around on a bamboo meatline and a Pakron 3180 in the early/mid 70s. Every so often we trolled around the ever reliable Pt Defiance spoons or huge 13-inch spring brass flasher and hoochies. However a 4-inch Macs Squid plug #15 (Point Special) was tremendously hard to put in the tackle box in winter. The 5 and 6-inch plugs were absolutely deadly in the spring and summer. I didn't really get into downriggers until the mid 90's.

My last 2-years in Washington I pretty much fished meatlines exclusively. Not much sport until you get to the last 30-feet of line on a summer fish. However when we had larger fish back in the day that last 30-feet of line... You better have some skill on the tiller, rod and net!


Did you get out in the salt this past weekend? We were 15 miles out of Gold Beach and had a flat ocean to ourselves. 41 albacore in 3 days.

Speaking of fishing two lines... I remember way back when Ned Krilich (Krilich Killer plug fame) got a ticket for fishing 7 plugs (7-lines) off his meatline. Of course we could fish "up to three hooks" back in those days. Ned took the ticket to court and had it reduce to "fishing with 4 hooks." If you can find a few of his wooden plugs- fish them! They were all white with a red face and no eyes. We called them "blind plugs."

I thought after 44-years of working the saltchuck, I would miss it terribly. But life on the Rogue is phenomenal! Different bred of people and life here.



[img]https://i.imgur.com/urrOzqi.jpg?1[/img]



Did you get out into the salt this weekend? We were 15 miles out of Gold Beach in a flat ocean and boated 41 albacore in 3 days. Most were on snubber meat lines.
Posted by: Capt Downriggin'

Re: Meat Lines - 08/13/19 11:02 AM

Originally Posted By: RogueFanatic
[quote=Capt Downriggin']
Did you get out into the salt this weekend? We were 15 miles out of Gold Beach in a flat ocean and boated 41 albacore in 3 days. Most were on snubber meat lines.


Cresent City is much closer for me (a smidgen over a an hour), but I haven't hit the salt yet. Summer steelies are early and plentiful in the upper river this year and I have been spending a lot of time throwing flies for them. Fall nookies are right around the corner!
Posted by: Streamer

Re: Meat Lines - 08/15/19 09:19 PM

Meat lines are certainly not illegal and are an incredibly efficient way to fish. I use them almost exclusively while fishing out in MA11. Using a meat line does enable one to use a “spread” and fish two different lures easily, which is entirely legal as long as each lure only has one hook.

Some wardens will ticket for this but I know several people that have fought it and won. I don’t personally enjoy fishing a spread. Too much work.


Streamer