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Fishing Anyone?

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Phredde
Navigator

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125 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/27/2017 : 10:28:44

Here is another topic for a slow posting season. How many of you fish from your sailboat, and any tips for success?

Until recently, I have kept the two hobbies separate, with the fishing involving charters out to the Farralones. But recently tried throwing out a line in the bay on a lighter wind day on a long tack. Only caught some seaweed so far, but thought it could be fun. And cheaper than those charters.

Thoughts?

Phredde
Catalina 25
San Francisco

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3754 Posts

Response Posted - 10/27/2017 : 16:48:57

I usually drift or anchor to fish. I have trolled, but it requires a tiny scrap of sail or a motor and I've never caught anything while doing it.. Bigger and more aggressive saltwater fish or a muskie might be inclined to go for something faster. I think landing a 4' - 5' muskie might be a challenge around the rigging. I can't really say since I didn't land either of the two I hooked. While people periodically catch 4'-5' muskies here, southwest Ohio isn't exactly the center of muskie fishing.

Dave B. aboard Pearl
1982 TR/SK/Trad. #3399
Lake Erie/Florida Panhandle

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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5231 Posts

Response Posted - 10/31/2017 : 19:57:07

Whenever we have a drifter of a day I take out my saltwater rig with 10# line. I used to use it for surfcasting but now I use it for:
* snapper bluefish - we've had plenty this summer, going after "bunker" which are also known as menhaden. There were so many bunkers that you could practically walk on them this year.
* summer flounder - not as many as in years past but the keepers are BIG! Filet of sole for the rest of us.
* blackfish - around jetties and structures especially during the incoming and outgoing tides. Also good eating
* striped bass - the king of fish around here
Some guys, like Dave Stinkpotter, might go out to Montauk for little tunny or false albacore. You see, we're so close to the Gulf Stream that exotic fish will get confused when water temps are in the mid70�s and they get off course. We've spotted bottle nosed dolfphins out there along with Ocean Sunfish and other tropicals.
The stripers come into the tidal rivers in the colder months chasing the shiners and other baitfish. Then in February when the lakes and rivers freeze up except the tidal stretches, that's when we see the bald eagles dining on stripers in the Connecticut, the Housatonic and the Thames Rivers. It's never dull...

Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain � Milford, CT

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9013 Posts

Response Posted - 10/31/2017 : 20:54:48

quote:
Originally posted by Voyager

...Some guys, like Dave Stinkpotter, might go out to Montauk for little tunny or false albacore.

Why bother when you can hope for a 65 lb. striper right here in The Race? These monsters hang out along the underwater cliffs, grabbing fish as they get swept by by the tide. But I haven't been a fisherman since I was about 16, when in northern Wisconsin I almost beached about a 5' northern pike or muskie--not sure which. It was way too scary to try to bring into the rowboat, but eventually it broke the line. We have some great seafood fresh off the boats around here, even in the supermarket.

I've known folks who put out lines under sail... (Can you troll successfully at 4+ knots?) Not sure what they do when something serious hits the bait--heave to while setting the hook? Might need crew...

These days in some places, just drive your dinghy around until it's full of Asian carp--but wear a helmet!

Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 10/31/2017 20:57:38

Ben
Master Marine Consultant

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1234 Posts

Response Posted - 11/01/2017 : 12:27:50

Years and years ago we used to have an association member who would regale us with his fishing exploits, JimB517, or something like that. He used to troll from his C25 outside of his home port in San Diego if I remember correctly. He would often catch bonita I think. I think also that he would troll, at least partly, to and from Catalina island. he'd sometimes post pictures, I remember him posting pictures of a sunfish and a whale fish beneath his boat in the clear water. That guy was my hero.

Ben
Beneteau 361
Viking Kitty
Columbus, Ohio

Stinkpotter
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Djibouti
9013 Posts

Response Posted - 11/01/2017 : 14:22:37

Yup--Jim Baumgart did it all on his C-25 SR/FK--buoy races, distance ocean races, cruises to Catalina and down to the Baja, occasionally trolling during all of those...

His one frustration was finishing an ocean race after the post-race party was over. (His was ~~almost~~ always the highest PHRF rating in the race.) So he sold the C-25 and bought a Pearson 30 Flyer--a flush-deck mini-sled in its time--updated the sail inventory, recruited and trained a semi-regular crew, and moved way up in the fleets--typically battling a J-30 head-to-head.

He is now retired, lives in La Paz, Baja, Mexico, and has a Formosa ketch--living his dream!

Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 11/01/2017 14:33:11

dmpilc
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4593 Posts

Response Posted - 11/01/2017 : 15:01:35

I don't fish/troll from a sailboat. Fellow student in college (St. Pete gulf coast)used to do that from one of the school dinghy's. She didn't come back in one Sat. Found the boat swamped, never found her body! School dockmaster, a great sailor, lost his job over the incident.

DavidP
1975 C-22 SK #5459 "Shadowfax" Fleet 52
PO of 1984 C-25 SK/TR #4142 "Recess"
Percy Priest Yacht Club, Hamilton Creek Marina, Nashville, TN

Tradewind
Admiral

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USA
531 Posts

Response Posted - 11/01/2017 : 16:25:36

I trolled for many miles from Puerto Rico to Pensacola via Jamaica, Caymans and Cozumel on my Cal 36 in 1979. I caught 2, a barracuda and a bonita. Haven't done any fishing around Pensacola Bay.

1998 250WK #331
CILCIA
Steve
Pensacola, FL

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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5231 Posts

Response Posted - 11/03/2017 : 18:23:57

I read an article in Sail Mag a few years ago where a couple of cruisers were fishing in tropical waters somewhere. They hooked into a big fish with white flaky fillets. After they ate said fish, they sadly found out that the flesh was poisonous to humans. Both became gravely ill and luckily had an HF radio transmitter and signaled to the local coast guards who came and found them, evacuated them from their boat and rushed them to the hospital. They lost their boat but saved their lives. Pays to know your fish.

Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain � Milford, CT

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9013 Posts

Response Posted - 11/03/2017 : 19:44:49

Aside from puffer fish (fugu) and anything that might have eaten them,
what are the dangers? Not that I'm in much danger--I eat fish from local markets that know what they're selling, I hope!

Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge

JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

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1519 Posts

Response Posted - 11/03/2017 : 21:46:38

On a 2-3 knot sailing day years ago I was trolling and caught a 30" rockfish (striped bass), and when my pal got it up in the landing net, it took one look at us, spit out the hook, wriggled out of the net, and said goodbye!

I have also sailed swiftly right past a flock of seagulls diving into the water that was "boiling" obviously from the school of bluefish that were devouring some smaller fish. But by the time I put my beer down and considered fishing I was already 1/4 mile away from an easy dinner.

You know, it was the one that got away.

JohnP
1978 C25 SR/FK "Gypsy"
Mill Creek off the Magothy River, Chesapeake Bay
Port Captain, northern Chesapeake Bay

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9013 Posts

Response Posted - 11/04/2017 : 10:09:40

In those frenzies (we have them often around here), you're more likely to catch a gull than a bluefish. Too many other targets for the blues--the gulls are grabbing the halves that the blues leave behind. My fishing friends will try to net some bunker in that craziness to use as bait somewhere else.

Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 11/04/2017 10:12:04

Sublime
1st Mate

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27 Posts

Response Posted - 11/04/2017 : 23:00:48

I grew up fishing off the back of a sailboat. Caught many fish at anchor, never while sailing.

This next season I'll have my boat up where the fish are faster so perhaps I'll have better luck trolling.

***This post is made of recycled electrons

redeye
Master Marine Consultant

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3474 Posts

Response Posted - 11/07/2017 : 14:52:46

IMHO
I can only speak for the area offshore Appalachacola/Panama City/Destin Florida.. but you may get some ideas from this.. I never trolled much from the catalina 30, never from the 25 but we were using similar speeds offshore in the powerboat.

Nowadays we mostly drift fish, or bottom fish or jig and flatline out a minnow for Kings...

You want a trolling rig, which means average length and stiffness for the pole, and a penn senator reel or similar ( given they are are a pretty good price and you can find them used... for the amount of line they will hold and they have a good loud drag.. I use 30lb test line and usually something like

http://www.seastriker.com/lures/lures_files/seabugs.htm

the ballyhoo rig in red/white with a cigar minnow...

Or just a wire leader, swivel and a spoon, or tantalizer

Your gonna need a rocket launcher on the rail to hold the rod... and be damn sure to set the drag loose and be ready to get to it quick after popping the sheets, a King's gonna peel off some line quick.

You are rarely gonna have live bait, ( cigar minnows, menhaden etc ) so it's kinda like saying I'd keep a spoon on the rig and drop it if I came into a pod of baitfish, or say... birds hitting the water up ahead, it's easy to quickly trail a spoon, and they are relatively cheep, but they have a tendency to burn up a swivel so you have to remember to change it out.. the bigger offshore plugs are getting expensive so stuff like the tantalizer is saved for an area and time when you know they are hitting. I'd probably rig a skirt on a spoon that doesn't spin much... ( good luck keeping it from spinning ) or just use a bulb head squid http://www.seastriker.com/lures/lures_files/squid.htm

We'd mostly get King Mackerel and Dolphin ( Mahi-Mahi ) Bonita and wahoo.... I'm not really far enough offshore our area for Tuna.

I'm guessing nowadays they probably run spyderwire to load up the reel with line. Ive often wondered if people have luck skipping a surface lure behind them.... I've never run into many Sailors that fish in Atlanta...

But uhh yep.. nothing like being offshore hearing that drag go off with a fish on.... the've stripped me clean a coupla times, and once got the whole pole when I just set it down for a second...

Ray in Atlanta, Ga.
"Lee Key" '84 Catalina 25
Standard Rig / Fin Keel

Edited by - redeye on 11/07/2017 14:56:50

Phredde
Navigator

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125 Posts

Response Posted - 11/07/2017 : 17:57:12

Hey - thank you all for the tips, especially you Ray for the specifics. I am going to try throwing out a line more often. Here in SF it will be more trolling for salmon or on calm days bottom fishing for halibut or rock fish. But should be fun. Thanks again -

Phredde
Catalina 25
San Francisco

redeye
Master Marine Consultant

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3474 Posts

Response Posted - 11/09/2017 : 10:52:55

OK after looking online it appears the spider line ( a braided line ) would probably get "wicked" twisted up trying to use it as a trolling line...

Ray in Atlanta, Ga.
"Lee Key" '84 Catalina 25
Standard Rig / Fin Keel

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5231 Posts

Response Posted - 11/09/2017 : 21:03:37

A downrigger is advised for trolling and a spinner for your leader line. Prevents birds' nests in your line.

Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain � Milford, CT

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