Thread: Long Line Traces

When living near Waihi Beach (sandy bottom) we used the following longline bits. (A) 450 -500mm galvanised chain as an anchor as easy to recover. It was clipped to backbone and dropper line via small ‘shark clips’. (B) Backbone was commercial stuff, cut to approx 50m so one hook every two stoppers. This prevented tangling of traces. (C) Traces were snooded on like your hooks. We used the square jawed commercial type (name forgotten, but think it started with letter W). Traces were 15Kg weight (Kingis) and about the width of a bread crate as we used that for our trace holder. (D) Flag was bright orange AND black. It was pop riveted to about 1500mm of plastic conduit, that was fed through a cottonreel type polystyrene buoy. Chain was attached to the protruding conduit under the buoy to hold the flagpole vertical in wind. (E) Recovery reel was an electric fence one. It was held on knees by crew as I pulled in line and undid fish. When out alone, I fitted the reel to a rodholder via suitable broom handle offcut. (F) The line was set and recovered after 40-45 minutes only. This system slayed hundreds of fish.