physical exercises to get ready for stand up style fishing?

[SoCalAngler]

Working out is great and not just for fishing.

I'd add a couple of things which should help landing fish with less stress to the angler. Once I started doing these things I found I had more energy after landing fish and was either able to get back into the game sooner after big fish or fish longer on smaller to mid sized fish.

First once bit and hooked up try to relax. I use to get all tense and nervous. When tense your own muscles start to work against one another building lactic acid faster making them burn out quicker.

Second, breath. In through the nose and out of the mouth. Doing this helps keep you more relaxed and focused.

Lastly the only time you rest when hooked up is when the fish is taking line. The line on a reel should either be going out or coming back onto the reel when you have a fish on your hook, never static. If you rest mid battle the fish is doing the same thing making the fight last longer. Even if you can only gain a couple of inches at a time this will keep pressure on the fish not allowing it to turn away from the boat as easily, stripping all the line off the reel you worked so hard to get on. This may seem like more work but this can make the fight much shorter. I had a captain give me this advice when younger and ever since I have had several deckhands comment that I'm able to get the fish to the boat quicker than others.

I like you am 6' 160-165 lbs so no body builder or football player type of size but doing the above things has helped me a great deal in getting fish to the boat faster and not putting so much wear on my body.

Good luck on your trip. 

[Keta]

Working out is great and not just for fishing.

I'd add a couple of things which should help landing fish with less stress to the angler. Once I started doing these things I found I had more energy after landing fish and was either able to get back into the game sooner after big fish or fish longer on smaller to mid sized fish.

First once bit and hooked up try to relax. I use to get all tense and nervous. When tense your own muscles start to work against one another building lactic acid faster making them burn out quicker.

Second, breath. In through the nose and out of the mouth. Doing this helps keep you more relaxed and focused.

Lastly the only time you rest when hooked up is when the fish is taking line. The line on a reel should either be going out or coming back onto the reel when you have a fish on your hook, never static. If you rest mid battle the fish is doing the same thing making the fight last longer. Even if you can only gain a couple of inches at a time this will keep pressure on the fish not allowing it to turn away from the boat as easily, stripping all the line off the reel you worked so hard to get on. This may seem like more work but this can make the fight much shorter. I had a captain give me this advice when younger and ever since I have had several deckhands comment that I'm able to get the fish to the boat quicker than others.

I like you am 6' 160-165 lbs so no body builder or football player type of size but doing the above things has helped me a great deal in getting fish to the boat faster and not putting so much wear on my body.

Good luck on your trip. 

All good stuff. When I was deckhand on a charter boat I told customers rest when line is going out, work when it wasn't, those that listened landed fish quickly, those that did not wore themselves out.

[Alto Mare]

Yes, all good stuff, but from looking at some of the guys, working out ain't working.
Make sure you'll eat your Wheaties.

Just kidding 

I lift all day on my job, my doctor tells me I need to do some walking.

Good luck out there.

[Shark Hunter]

Its all in the legs with a bucket harness. I am 6'1', 230lbs. I just lean back with my built in counter weight.
There are no rails on the beach.
A funny thing happened on this trip. John was the first one to run baits out on the kayak. My Boy Mike was the last one to have the life jacket on.
John had to adjust it all the way out. When it was my turn, it fit perfect. John said" I have that adjusted just right for you, Fat!"

[swill88]

Its all in the legs with a bucket harness. I am 6'1', 230lbs. I just lean back with my built in counter weight.
There are no rails on the beach.
A funny thing happened on this trip. John was the first one to run baits out on the kayak. My Boy Mike was the last one to have the life jacket on.
John had to adjust it all the way out. When it was my turn, it fit perfect. John said" I have that adjusted just right for you, Fat!"

sometimes it pays to be heavy...

like when doing tequila shots with big tim and alan...

the next morning alan told us he calculated our blood alcohol level (cause that's what he does)

alan 2.1; tim 1.5; steve 1.3

it pays to be heavy

[PacRat]

This is great advice! Especially "rest while line is going out". When I was fishing Cabo; the Mexican deckhands were the best cheerleaders with their one word of English, "REEL, REEL, REEL!!!". With that said...my cranking arm burns like hell during a long fight. Lately, (with all this reel hot-rodding going on around here) I find myself doing a lot of line (braid) transferring from one reel to another. This is either to inspect line that's on a second hand reel or to inspect the spool. What I do is to mount two reels on a pipe or broomstick placed in a bench vise and transfer the line to an empty reel. I do this with a medium/light drag setting and the effort required becomes greater as the spool empties. I know this puts some wear on the drags but I like to think of it as a treadmill for my cranking arm. It's a lot like Alan's advice (tying line to a trailer hitch) but it's focused on the arm and wrist.
-Mike

[Rickb]

I have to agree to resting when it's taking out line!
I fish with guys who don't understand the basics and they wear their selves out or loose fish.
  Shark hunter
  I have nephews and a brother that said "an old Fragile Wuss like me needed a bucket harness!
  PacRat.  I helped a guy fill a few reels with braid under tension last week it put the fire in your arm after a few hundred yards. (There was 1200 yds in a spool)I was the one who got to do the cranking!

[theswimmer]

Steve,
 When Miss Mari and I arrived on Saturday Alan's BAL was probably still about the same level !
I asked how he was doing,
The look on his face was priceless......
I for one am glad we missed Friday night😁

[Tiddlerbasher]

Now that's why line spoolers were invented

[Rickb]

 We were both line spoilers.He did the little gold penns .
I got to put the line on the big avets (felt like they held five miles worth)he wanted to put 80 pound sufix braid on then some heavy mono. They had heavier line on them. he was heading to texas

      I imagine he was going to fish a pond for bluegill or some other sunfish
everything is bigger in texas so they may weigh several hundred pounds

[boon]

If you're going to do it "proper" standup then along with fitness comes having the right gear and using it correctly, you will absolutely need a proper drop belt with the plate low on your thighs, plus a kidney harness. When used properly this setup means you basically just sit down in the harness, you essentially fight the fish with your body weight and your knees as the fulcrum. So many people try to fight with their back and arms, the fish will quickly destroy you if you do this.
If there was a single collection of muscles I could choose to work out for standup they would be the glutes, quads and hamstrings.

If you're going to "use the rail" and just see-saw the fish in low gear, I'd say get a bent-butt 130lb rod and just fish it from the rod holder.

[Keta]

You obviously know nothing about using the rail.

[Newell Nut]

More fitness nut than newell nut so here goes. First off use the rail when necessary. It is your friend. Do not do curls. Do hammer curls with dumbbells and this is with the palms facing each other. This motion duplicates daily activities whether fishing or changing a tire. We never lift things with our palms facing the sky as in a normal barbell curl. Exercise for normal life activities. For hammer curls you can use dumbbells or resistance bands and I use both. Start with a weight that you can manage and over time work to heavier resistance. Too much too fast and you get injured and then no fishing. Along with the hammer curls you need to do front laterals with dumbbells and this is raising the weight with fairly straight arms up in front of you as if you are going to put them on a shelf about head high or more. This strengthens all the muscles that you use holding a rod with a heavy fish. Alternate the hands such as left and then right. Again start with an easy weight and work up over time.

A third exercise and one that I would say works the entire body if you have no gym access. With a pair of dumbbells on the floor, squat and in one smooth motion stand and lift the dumbbells as if placing them on a shelf head high or more. Return to the floor and continue. This will do everything you need to strengthen for fishing and general life activities.

Use a belt rather than fighting a fish with the butt under your arm.

Dwight (Grandmaster 60+ National Champion)

[Aiala]

Great advice, Dwight... thanks!

Any specific routines to help strengthen the back (especially lower)? 

~A~

[Newell Nut]

Great advice, Dwight... thanks!

Any specific routines to help strengthen the back (especially lower)? 

~A~

The last exercise that I described does it all. If I were home I could send you pics of Elli demonstrating these exercises that will one day be published.