My brother did the same however it was left to me to get it out applying pressure on his arm with my left hand and armed with a pair of pliers in my right.
have to say i use a runnning setup and on the odd occasion i do put it out with the baitboat i have never had tangles, I do use pva nuggets but that is only to make sure hook is free of any debris.
I am pretty sure there are many on this forum that don't use tubing and have never lifted a scale without the use of it.
what sort of distances are we talking about?