Some anglers who drop baits deep in the Gulf for species like grouper and snapper prefer to hand-crank their fish, while others lay out the extra cash for electric reels that wind up the catch with the press of a button. And, of course, many of the hand-crankers claim the electric reelers aren’t sporting… while many of the electric reel lovers scoff at the notion of all that winding.
While everyone can probably agree that electric reels are in a way sort of “cheating” as compared to hand cranking (and we note that any fish caught on an electric is ineligible for setting records), there’s also no doubt that for many people this isn’t exactly an either-or proposition. Consider:
Does all of this sound like an argument in favor of electric reels? Perhaps so. The fact of the matter is that as long as an angler is abiding by the law, what gives anyone else the “right” to tell them how they should or should not catch fish? (Answer: nothing does). And there will be cases in which using an electric reel makes sense. So before you bash on anyone for press-button fishing, think twice – and then start cranking.
Lenny Rudow
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