[Uncle Russ]

Jep: I cannot speak for all Venice captains, but Captain Eddie on our trip a year ago, did in fact set the drags very low--I'm thinking about where Louis said--certainly under 20 pounds--and we were all using our own gear. I think (although he can correct me if I am wrong) that his concern was mainly to avoid pulled hooks. And in fact, we had only a couple out 15 or 16 hookups--and I think all of those were on a rod that was set quite a bit higher. Our success rate in landing those fish was phenomenal--and I don't remember any given fight lasting even 20 minutes. (of course, no tuna was over 75 pounds, either.)