Three times last year anglers on my boat had a big common skate with a lost trace in its mouth, and without exception it was a long trace of eight feet or more. The other problem with long traces for common skate fishing is deep hooked fish. Tangling around the main line is just about guaranteed at some point, and once the bait is down you can’t be sure no way of knowing it’s not wrapped and hanging 10ft off the bottom even if it is only partially tangled, if a big skate takes the bait there’s a good chance of the tangle resulting in a broken line. So how do you combat this all too common scenario? Go to a 10ft, 250lb mono trace perhaps? Well you could, but imagine having to drop a large bait such as two whole mackerel on a 12/0 hook plus 2lb of lead down through over 500 feet of water.

Your main line had been raked through by the skate’s coarse skin, and a fish lifetime is offski because you put your trust in that wholly inappropriate ebay ‘SKATE’ rig. You wind in the slack and discover the tough 50lb mono line looks like it’s been rasped with cheese grater… you’ve been fatally tailed. Battle is locked for several long minutes, then sickeningly the rod abruptly relaxes and the giant fish is gone, taking the hook, trace and weight with it. Tight as a guitar string, line peels grudgingly from the reel. With the drag carefully set harness straps bite into your shoulders. She doesn’t like the intensity of light from above and suddenly headstands, beats massive wings and powers headlong inexorably for the seabed. You have wrestled this leviathan up from a dark depth of over 140 metres almost to within sight of the boat.

Imagine a fish almost eight feet long with sharp, crushing teeth at one end, and row upon row of jagged line-slicing thorns studded along the back, wings and tail. But what is the best rig? Boat angler Les McBride has numerous massive commons under his belt and reveals the rig that works for him and many other dedicated skate hunters. Terminal tackle in particular needs to be strong, and rig design well considered. 6.7K Big powerful common skate will terminally expose any weakness in tackle.

Best casting setup planet fishing]