Levers?

[Paddler]

Dang, I had to break out my engineering handbook and an old abacus to work on this differential equation -- but fortunately Jeff came to the rescue before I had the graph paper out and slide ruler out.

Interesting question.  Two things.  One, I find it much easier to bring in albacore on a handline that rod and reel.  The rod acts as a lever in favor of the fish, the longer the rod, the greater the torque at the rod tip.  Second, guys on long range boats fighting big fish don't use their arms much.  They rest the rod on the rail and put the butt in their arm pit.  They then just use their weight to push down on the rod, lifting the tip.  Much more efficient than using their arms.  They can bring a fish in in a fraction of the time it would otherwise take.