We all love the rush we get when we see a big girl cruise into the spread. Unfortunately, we've also shared the pain when one comes in fast and goes away just as quickly. That's when our adrenalin really takes over on Reel Tight. 
 
The captain pushes up the throttles and turns the wheel hard over, trying, as quickly as possible, to get back over the magic spot where the marlin appeared. Sometimes these aggressive moves can catch us napping — and then everybody forgets about the center rigger. 
 
On a tight turn, the center-rigger line can cross over behind the outrigger — not the halyards but the actual outrigger pole. Now the center-rigger line is going to slide down the pole and hang up on the last nut that holds the eyebolt your halyards pass through near the tip of the rigger.
 
Now you have to turn the boat in circles, yank on the halyards and pray the fish doesn't hit any lures while you're trying to fix the mess. 
 
Well, Capt. Jeremy Huston and the brains over at Merritt worked a way out of this predicament. All you need is a couple of inches of solid aluminum bar and a drill-and-tap set. First, find the right size aluminum bar to fit in the outrigger tip and mark the spot where you want to put your eyebolt.
 
Drill and tap a hole for the eyebolt, being careful not to go all the way through the bar, and screw in your eyebolt. This leaves a clean backside on the tip of the outrigger. Now when a line crosses over your outrigger, the line has nothing to catch on and simply slides off. This is also great when kite fishing and you spin your kite around while trying for a quick release.

Eric Leech
Fort Lauderdale, Florida