Help! Need fishing advice...

[mikehmc]

I like the wire suggestion. and I am sure someone told you ALWAYS retie all knots after you catch anything. I would add any line out for enough time for you to check it several times is worth the time to check and re-tie all knots. also always check your lines for any damage. sometimes my mates and I get cruel and just slightly nick a buddies line which always causes a lost fish. in our defense... ok, no good defense. but proof even the slightest damage on a line if not good, peel out some good line and re-tie knots often.

Mike, it's called fishing, no catching, McG

[Moonskater]

Great pastime, aint it!
We sailed several thousand miles in the east med, always trolling something behind and catching nothing. But we saw them so they were there! Got some more expensive lures, lost them, got some more and added a ss wire leader. Stopped losing lures, at least to the previous extent but still no catches. Started hooking them at least.. Then we talked to a guy in the old port on Corfu and realized that we might have gone for too big stuff. we put a smaller like 12 cm Rappalla diving lure on for the crossing to Italy and only 10 miles off we caught our first Tuna at 8 kg! Next catch going across from Ponza to Sardinia, a tuna at 2,3 kg. Got an early birthdaypresent, a bigger reel and rod in Mahon, Menorca and then sailing from Mallorca to Ibiza last week we caught on booth reels at the same time! Big activity! Landed one 9 kg and one 13 kg tuna within 20 min!
We are Four people on board and no freezer so we cant eat it all, had to give half of it away to thankful nudists on Formentera!

Our turn to luck came with using reels with ratchet on to signal a catch. I think we must have had fish hooked before and trailed them for miles before they came loose on their own just because we did not realize they were there. Also to be able to let line out after the strike to let the fish run after striking. The small reel has a counter and the strike comes with 150 feet of line out, the fish will happily pull out another 400 feet before we can start reeling it in without having to jeperdize the line.

Apart from this i agree with rinsing lures in freshwater after fishing, wire leaders and other stuff mentioned. And, when you get the strike, make sure to reduce speed to match the pull on the line. We lost a big one and a good lure when the strike came as we were doing 8 knots with the gennacker up and did not get it down fast enough and the line broke. More line on the reel would have bought us some time. Had the line been fixed to a bike innertube or other short flexible device, the line would have broke instantly.

My feeling from our recent twin catch is that if they see it, they will strike on just about anything. The 13 kg tuna was caught on a 14 cm diving lure we found in the sale box for 2€ in Palma.

[arsenelupiga]

there is a problem of less fish in med. Last time in sicily - on dry, there was no fresh tuna available to eat in restaurants in high season.

i think catching tuna and swordfish should be prohibited in med for couple of decades to allow population to recover.

Other thing to worry about is poisoning from all the toxic unexploded waponery thrown in the sea.

[Alec H]

No experience in the Med., but in the Caribbean an US east coast I have used nothing but a 4-6 oz. feather lure, on rod and reel with 80lb. and with enough SS leader to reach the deck while the fish is still in the water; this saved having to gaff.

If trolling offshore, you need 6-8 knots; some go faster for tuna. Slower, 4 knots, can work if there is a reef below; have caught grouper this way.

[Moonskater]

Arsenelupiga,
I'm sure you are right, But, (and i will probarbly get a beating for this). We sailed for two years in the med in 1993-95, pretty much the same places we are in now and we saw very little marine life. The italian 60 foot fisherboats would carry ashore a bag of fish, no more. We saw a few dolfins, two turtles and caught one fish.
This time we frequently see several tuna jumping, swordfish, we see dolfins on almost every passage, we've seen three big sunfish and a hundred turtles!
Marine life is a hundred times more now than 20 years ago.
Still i can appreciate whar you are saying about endangered species but it's still fun to fish while on passage!
/petter

[Secondwind410]

Hi there, we fish each year from sailboat charter in BVI. And this is what we have found helps to catch the fish, you have to see the birds!! Flying fish really help to locate them as well. we use mostly feathered lures and some squid and change up the colours depending on the day, lime green works the best followed by the blue and white and the dark purple! cedar plug works well too. set your drag so you hear it go off and let it run a bit, 6-8 knots is the nest and we use all top water lures with a bubbling trail to attract the fish, we have used a teaser closer to the boat with no hook as well. If you can find a sabiki rig, small branch like lures for catching your own bait that works the best! we tried ballyhoo, works but stinks up your fridge!! we do a lot of fishing right in the anchorage at night and have caught cabera snapper about 35 lbs, stingray that was not fun to bring in, and the we have tarpon just for fun fishing! Mahi are usually in schools so if you get one keep the other line on just let more line out to catch the others that are there too! use circle hooks I think ours are size 8 and wire leaders for sure, lots of teeth out there! wash everything right away in fresh water and let dry completely before you put them away. It is always a blast to land a big one and fishing is just part of the catching fun!

[Doug Brown]

I always have the lure about 100-yds back from the boat - especially if motoring. I think that as the boat moves thru the water it makes enough "noise" that the fish swim away or go deeper until the noise passes, then come back up towards the surface.

With the lure 100-yds back, that's about the right place for it to be when the fish re-surface after the noise passes.

I use a Penn 9/0 fastened to the steer rail for my "handline". It holds about 400-yds of 120-lb test line, and makes it much easier to deploy and retrieve the line. I use 100-lb test mono or braid line - with a 100 to 150-lb wire leader.

Find a commercial fishing store - they should have the heavy duty stainless steel swivels, connectors, wire leaders, hooks and trolling line that you need - usually a lot cheaper than anyone else.

You can make your own lures and then spray paint them blue/white, or red/white or blue/green.

Spray your lures with WD-40 before you put them in the water, you should have real good luck. WD-40 containes a lot of fish oil - which attracts fish. Professional skippers use it and give it some mysterious name so no one can figure out what it is!

If you use a bungee, take a loop of the line up to a clothes pin type of clip. When the fish hits, the line snaps out of the clip (makes a pretty good noise) and then tightens on the bungee. Biggest advantage is that you can look and see if the line is still in the clip - and if it isn't, you probably have a fish on.

If you go to large type discount department stores (Wal-Mart type) they sometimes have lures - especially the larger Rapala type - on sale really cheap as no one ever buys them!

If you haven't caught something in 30-minutes, probably time to change to a different lure. As mentioned, tide lines or any patch of floating trash or debris are usually "hot spots" as the fish hide under them.

Good luck!

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by Doug Brown

I always have the lure about 100-yds back from the boat - especially if motoring. I think that as the boat moves thru the water it makes enough "noise" that the fish swim away or go deeper until the noise passes, then come back up towards the surface.

With the lure 100-yds back, that's about the right place for it to be when the fish re-surface after the noise passes.

I use a Penn 9/0 fastened to the steer rail for my "handline". It holds about 400-yds of 120-lb test line, and makes it much easier to deploy and retrieve the line. I use 100-lb test mono or braid line - with a 100 to 150-lb wire leader.

Find a commercial fishing store - they should have the heavy duty stainless steel swivels, connectors, wire leaders, hooks and trolling line that you need - usually a lot cheaper than anyone else.

You can make your own lures and then spray paint them blue/white, or red/white or blue/green.

Spray your lures with WD-40 before you put them in the water, you should have real good luck. WD-40 containes a lot of fish oil - which attracts fish. Professional skippers use it and give it some mysterious name so no one can figure out what it is!

If you use a bungee, take a loop of the line up to a clothes pin type of clip. When the fish hits, the line snaps out of the clip (makes a pretty good noise) and then tightens on the bungee. Biggest advantage is that you can look and see if the line is still in the clip - and if it isn't, you probably have a fish on.

If you go to large type discount department stores (Wal-Mart type) they sometimes have lures - especially the larger Rapala type - on sale really cheap as no one ever buys them!

If you haven't caught something in 30-minutes, probably time to change to a different lure. As mentioned, tide lines or any patch of floating trash or debris are usually "hot spots" as the fish hide under them.

Good luck!

Howdy.

Doug gave a lot of good tips up above.

But…I always think it is best to avoid "urban myths" when they can be spotted and it is better to know the facts or truth than a myth.

Of course some things (like the Banana Ban on Fishing Boats) are just for fun to most people and are part of the fun or good humor of dealing with newbies and disappointing results (fishing without catching).

So, with sincere respect for Doug's experience and true appreciation for his contribution to the thread, I will post something that I think might interest him and others, even if it is something different from what he wrote (I bolded in the quote above to show what caught my eye).

__________

SOURCE: WD-40 website (official)
WD-40 Facts - Read WD-40 Myths, Legends and More!

"Myth: WD-40® contains fish oil.

Fact: Consumers have told us over the years that they have caught some of the biggest fish ever after protecting their fish hooks and lures with WD-40®. We believe this legend came from folks assuming that the product must contain fish oil since it appears to attract fish. Sorry Charlie®, it just ain’t so.

WD-40 Company has taken steps to respect and conserve the environment, and encourages its users to do the same. While WD-40® can be used to help protect fishing equipment from rust and corrosion, WD-40 Company does not recommend using WD-40® to attract fish."

_________________

SOURCE: SNOPES
snopes.com: Household Uses for WD-40 Spray Lubricant

"As for the claim the "basic ingredient" in WD-40 is "fish oil," it's a common rumor and one that is easily propagated (because cans of WD-40 spray include no ingredients list), but a glance at the composition information included in the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for WD-40 aerosol indicates the product is primarily petroleum-based, with the main ingredient being "solvent naptha, petroleum, medium aliphatic" (also known as Stoddard Solvent):
solvent naphtha petroleum, medium aliphatic, > 60%
petroleum base oil as paraffinic distillate, heavy, solvent-dewaxed (severe), 15% to 25%
corrosion inhibitor unregulated, 1% to 10%
wetting agent unregulated, 1% to 10%
fragrance unregulated, 0% to 1%
carbon dioxide, 2% to 3% "

[Doug Brown]

So much for WD-40.....

I have never used it, but have watch others use it and catch fish....

However, maybe it was something else in a spray can that contained fish oil as a major component - obviously it couldn't have been WD-40.

Whatever, I just use lures as they come out of the box - and catch fish.

Thanks for point out the wrong info!