Fishing?

[Mike Sibley]

Wife and I are coastal cruisers. On a recent 2-week trip along the gulf coast (Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama), we decided that we needed to learn how to fish, both for fun and to provide protein. The problem is neither of us know anything about fishing. A recent trip to a sporting goods store proved totally confusing. We hear of some cruisers using a hand line to fish, but we don't know what that involves. We have seen some cruisers fishing with a rod and reel after they have anchored, but there seem to be a thousand different types of rods and reels. And what bait to use? Any cruisers out there have any suggestions on a simple and inexpensive way to get started?

[Cheechako]

Just get some weighted rubber squid for trolling while moving. Green and yellow are good. Get one about 8" long. Usually the lead weights and rubber squid are sold separately. Get the Bullet shaped weights that the line goes through. Get large hooks bigger than your thumb for sure. A stout pole and reel with 60-80 lb line is good for "meat fishing". Just get a used one or cheap one, really doesnt matter. Get some stainless steel leader 4 ft ong or so to put between the line and the lure. This avoids barracuda taking your rig! Any small fish, clams, little animals in shells you find on the beach etc can be used as bait while fishing when anchored. The key is to catch the first fish with what you can find, and then use parts of that fish for bait! Or buy some bait, not sure what is best down there, but I suspect shrimp bait is widely available...

[mesquaukee]

We use the bungee cord method when under way. Same kind of heavy headed squid rig as Cheechako described, color is important. There are numerous theories about what color to use.
We attached the squid to 100 or 200 lbs monofilament with a wire leader of course. The line is wound around a large diameter hand spool. We let out a couple hundred feet of line and attach it to one of those black rubber straps. When a fish strikes it stretches. We wait until the fish stops thrashing around. Then we wind the line in by hand. A gaff is used to land the fish. We rarely slow down.
Some of the fish we have caught have been self cleaning. A shark snipped the tail off and the flow of water through the open mouth would nicely rinse all the guts away.

[Cheechako]

Yes, I've used that method it works well too. And the self cleaning can be overdone.... once I got the head of a wahoo... only! The one advantage of the pole and reel is you can leave the clicker on and when you get a fish, it is more noticeable, so the barracuda or sharks dont eat most of it before you notice! Although, there have been times when I noticed a drowned smaller fish skating on top of the water behind the boat!

[Boomp]

We use a piece of pvc pipe about 18" long and have it zip tied to one of the stanchions. It perfect for holding a pole and just trolling along.

[mesquaukee]

We use a homemade alarm system using a clothes pin clipped on the line. If the bungee cord stretches it pops off swings in on another line and attracts our attention.
A rod and reel does not work well on our boat. We do have mounted on the port side one of those downrigger reels for winding down a 10 lbs weight. I replaced the stainless wire and weight with 200 lbs monofilament and use it as a reel. Letting line out is easy as it has a brake on it. Pulling in line is a snap, one crank of the handle pulls in 3 ft of line. Works well.

Those sharks can be a real pain, they can get carried away cleaning the fish for you. Reeling a fish one time it was struck 3 times. All we had left was the line and leader.

[MarkJ]

People don't really catch fish at all. I think they all lie and buy them at the shops.

We have sailed for 14,000 nms and have caught 4 fish.... thats one fish per 6,000 kilometers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All the fishing shops sell lures that cost about the same as a teenagers education and to get what?

Save your sanity and just download fish photos off the internet!


Mark

[captain58sailin]

You can drag just about anything behind the boat with a hook in it and you should get some kind of action, anything that splashes or is silvery will work. I have used the tuna jigs that have the feathers, and the rubber squid jigs as well and they both work or a large silver jig. I personally prefer a hand line, less monkeying around and using a snubber is a good idea, it doesn't have to be fancy, you can just use a tarp strap. 100 yards of 150 lb to 250 lb mono makes a good hand line, then put a big barrel swivel in the end of it and put a couple of fathoms of 80 to 100 lb test on it as a leader, then connect some stainless wire about 18" long and put a swivel on the end of that and connect your jig.
A stainless steel gaff hook and a short club can come in handy. There are a lot of big tuna in the gulf of Mexico. You can also catch the King mackerel, any piece of flotsam or jetsam is a place for potential fish action. You can hang a cat's bell on the line as an alarm.
Mark you must not be holding your mouth right, I have caught fish from Alaska, all the way through the west coast, and up through the Caribbean, and all over the gulf of Mexico, dragging a jig behind the boat, some days we'd have to pull the line out of the water because there was no place left to store the fish.

[forsailbyowner]

My favorite is the eco spoon in silver. The flash elicits a lot of strikes. It has one large hook attached directly to the body. Often bounces off trap lines without getting hung up. Fishing varies greatly with location. We slayed tuna wahoo and kingfish off florida then didn't get a strike near georgia and carolinas where gulfstream is farther offshore.

[stevensc]

When you look around the tackle and bait stores you will see lots of "sexy" lures with multiple trebel hooks. I'd recommend NOT using these, they can be very dangerous when you are trying to unhook a thrashing fish, you could easily get hooked yourself and with the fish flopping around it won't be fun. Stick to lures as mentioned in previous posts like, spoons and jig types which have only one hook.
There are lots of books on fishing some for cruisers that might be a help. A good fish ID book would be helpful also some are good eating some are terrible!
I agree heavy tackle 60-100 lb range will be best for a cruising boat, the "stand up" style of rods are quite short and easier to store.
Carry some Kikkoman and wasabe aboard fresh sahimi is great!
Good luck
Steve

[sww914]

I bought this book on Amazon- Amazon.com: The Cruiser's Handbook of Fishing: Scott Bannerot, Wendy Bannerot, Scott Bannerot, Wendy Bannerot: Books

It's a great read even if you never get a line wet and it will easily pay for it's self on your first trip to the fishing aisle, IMO.

[Cheechako]

+++++ on the Sashimi! Man the best I ever had was a Bigeye tuna we caught in the caribe. At first I thought it was a small Bluefin, they look a lot alike in my fish book. I cut the slabs on the side of that fish , cooled them down for an hour and a half and.... sashimi!

[captain58sailin]

I always carry a kilo of wasabi powder & some soy sauce on board. That is the stuff of life!

[Curmudgeon]

Scott Bannerot's book is quite good. Very detailed. I use a 5'6" tuna rod and Shimano TLD-25. The TLD has a "clicker" that lets you know immediately if you have a strike.

But I use lighter (40 lb. test) line. If I can't land it on 40 lb. test, I don't want it flopping around my cockpit.

[scubasteve]

Trolling won't get you much unless you pass over underwater structure (reefs, rocks) or pass by a platform. Also drop off's, temperature breaks, weed lines and fishing boats cleaning nets will attract fish. You can always purchase offshore fishing charts and map your course over the structure. May be difficult to maneuver while sailing but at least you know where the fish are. Most reels have a clicker so set your drag and turn the clicker on....you will know when you have a fish on.

I recommend the following hardware to start out with.

1. 4OT Penn Senator or similar with 30#-50# line.
2. I would use steel leader as most pelagic fish have sharp teeth. Line to a swivel, steel leader then lure.
3. Any pole that’s rated for the reel; as stated a stand up rod.
4. Several "snapper slapper" and spoon/jigs. Be careful trolling spoon because many of them spin and this can cause your line to get twisted really bad. If you are around structure, weeds etc, you might want to tip the lure using ballyhoo, icefish, etc. This will really increase your chances.
5. Offshore fishing chart.

Tight lines!