DIY Floatline Clutch: The Prusik Fighting Clip
One of the USM crew was getting ready for a bluewater trip and the subject of floatline clutches came up. If you don’t know what a floatline clutch is used for, it is a clip or device that you can systematically shorten your floatline while fighting a fish. In the world of floatline clutches there are a few options, the Neptonics Clutch, fighting clips such as the RA Third Hand or Gannet clip, or just a plain tuna clip attached with hardware to your float. The issued with the above options are that they only work with specific types of lines or diameters. Something that we have been using for a while with great success is what is known in the climbing world a Prusik.
You can buy these pre made at sports stores such as REI, or like we do tie your own. The Prusiks commercially available are made of materials specific to the climbing world and ropes not floatlines. The positives of a prusik are that they are very forgiving on your floatline, fit multiple types of floatline and can be made in various lengths, and on the fly. When tying a Prusik your material is supposed to be between 60-80% of your floatline diameter, we have not followed this rule and for this application they still seem to work.
The material we use is 3/16 12 strand dyneema, you can use other ropes or materials but we find this works on various flowline types.
How to tie:
Basically tying a prusik involves using a double or triple fishermans knot to tie a loop. It is up to you how long you want your loop and if you want to attach any hardware.
Our average line length that we start with is 58-60”, with this length you will end up with a loop approximately 21” long. Again the nice thing about a prusik is that you can customize it to any length, if you want it right at the base of the float make it shorter or longer if you want some room to work.
How to attach:
Full Video:
If you do give this a try make sure and review its application before you use it and make sure that it will work for you. It is not for everyone, but is a good tool to know how to tie and opens up some options.
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