This is an article that I don't want to write. In fact, I don't think any sportfishing writer has tackled the issue. Clearly it is not a popular subject: tangles.

Nobody likes to be in them, but it's hard to keep yourself out of them, much less know what to do once you have become entrapped. Tangles. Just the word conjures up spider webs of monofilament and spectra, the embarrassment of sitting next to a patient deckhand trying to undo an incomprehensible mass of chaos, visions of dollar signs multiplying with each click from a pair of sidecutters.

Causes and Solutions-

I want to start with a simple hint that helps to get tangles out: the first thing you do is take the bait off all the hooks involved in the tangle. It is much easier to work out bare hooks instead of trying to thread bait through a small hole. .

In conversation with fellow deck hands, there is a certain point that comes up time and time again. The number one cause of tangles is (you will see this ties into the last article I wrote) not paying attention to, or losing contact with your bait. I am not going to go over the whole keeping contact with your bait scenario again here, we have covered in detail already. I am, however, stating that the more vigilant an eye you keep on what you are doing, the less time you will be involved in tangles…the more time you will be fishing, instead of wishing.