Fighting a fish in a float tube...chaos.

Got out on the water today with some new clear intermediate and a spool of seguar fluoro. Fishing a size 10 wolly worm and got a really hard strike. What followed probably resembled a deer running on an ice skating rink. I landed the fish after some extreme uncoordination and it turned out to be a 9-10" gill that fought like a bull. I got the fish on the reel after reeling up what was on the apron then it came off the reel so I started stripping and the fish came towards me faster than I could strip. Then it kinda took me for a ride it was ridiculous. One thing that I felt was that it is hard to get leverage on the fish sitting lower. Can any one give any tips on fighting a fish in a more graceful efficient manner from a tube?
Janus

No advise from me, but it sounds like the kind of rodeo where I'd like to be the cowboy. When I first read your post I thought, "what a ride." Lucky you. I'm jealous.

Do you use fins while in the tube? I like to position myself square to the fish. When the fish moves to the side of me, I reposition in my small pontoon with the fins. At first I thought you were going to tell a story of fighting a red fish or something big in a tube.

Ha! yes the title makes it sound like it was a monster...yes I use fins. The positioning is something I need to be more aware of..thanks for the tip

I'd would have like to have seen that on video.

Ha!
Mojo that crossed my mind while it was all happening..."man I hope nobody is filming this".

LOL! Sounds like fun!
When a fish charges you, you can turn with your flippers so you are facing the fish. Then reel in like crazy while also flippering like crazy away from the fish.
I've been in the unfortunate situation of having a large trout run circles around my legs. You guessed it -- I was completely hobbled, and lost the fish. Another of those "I hope nobody's filming" moments.
DANBOB

Don't feel bad about having a bluegill move your float tube around. I fish in a kayak a bit over 13 feet long and bluegills and every other fish I tie into makes it slide one direction or the other.

I agree with the others who suggest using the fins more. If you were standing in a stream and the fish was moving around that much you would probably change position to face them and might also back up (to shallower water) if this could keep tension on the fish. So remember, like any good athlete, use your legs.

What I did when it happened to me was hang on and enjoy.


knucks

Really hard to beat that kind of fun. I miss tubing. :-(