By now, most anglers prefer to fight big-game stand-up style.

Many don’t know how to fight a fish from a fighting chair properly, because of that.

Yet most big-game boats include a fighting chair, and there are instances when a chair works better.

That can include when particularly large fish are targeted, or when seas are rough, making a chair safer or simply more effective.

The chair can also be best when the angler is young, a novice, disabled or simply tired of getting whipped on stand-up tackle.

A veteran angler might have nothing left to prove.

Using a chair effectively includes using the right gear with the chair.

AFTCO has developed the Maxforce III GBR Bucket Harness specifically for the “stiff-legged” technique for using a chair.

Capt. Peter Wright, who’s in the IGFA Hall of Fame, helped develop the harness, and the stiff-legged technique is also called the “Wright technique,” because he founded it.

Wright has been called the most successful marlin skipper ever and a top giant bluefin tuna captain.

Several techniques have been developed to use a fighting chair.

One bends the knees to pump in the fish, and another keeps the legs stiff and straight, and another is a combo of the two.

In the bent-knee technique, the angler slides back and forth in the chair, and with the stiff-legged technique, the angler does not, but instead lifts up off the chair and sits back down, repeatedly, while pumping in the catch.

There can be reasons to use one technique instead of another.

The bent knees could be used with marlin, when gaining line quickly is important, and the stiff legs could be used with shark or tuna fishing, for instance.

Explaining the methods could be the subject of an article itself.

But one thing is clearly important in all the methods.

Good equipment makes a difference.

So this bucket harness was made for the job by a reputable company, and one of the best captains, in big-game fishing.

The shell is made from epoxy fiberglass and carbon, and the padding, covered by heavy-duty Spandora, is extra-firm foam.

The adjustable straps include knitted-in numbers to adjust for multiple anglers.

Fitting the angler to the harness before fishing starts is one part of properly using a chair.

The steel used in the harness is the finest available, the company says.

The harness, measuring 21 inches wide by 10 inches tall, weighing 4.9 pounds,  is designed to be extremely durable, the company says, and is completely washable.

For more info, visit AFTCO’s website.