Fishing on an Ocean Crossing - The Right Technique ?

[captain58sailin]

I agree with the posters here, however it is possible to over think the process. If you have flying fish in your area, use the ones that land on your boat at night for bait, they aren't bad eating too, if you don't mind the bones. Personally I prefer a hand line with a snubber attached, and I don't worry too much about the speed, what ever the vessel is sailing at the time works for me. I have caught fish from Alaska all the way to Tahiti with the feathered jigs & the barbless dbl. hooks. We didn't know about squirting alcohol in the fishes mouth, so we drank the alcohol and put the tuna head first in a 5 gallon bucket, after we brought the first one aboard and it spewed blood all over that was enough for us! I will be using that idea thanks. I have seen evidence of fish hanging out by underwater formations, there is a sea mount about 200 nm due east of Belize city, that I crossed once and saw the biggest blue Marlin I have ever seen in my life working the water, he was 1000 lbs if he was an ounce, and did not seem overly concerned with our presence, what ever he was feeding on had his attention.

[JiffyLube]

One time ages ago when I was a young man of 19, I sailed from Hawaii to California with two guys on a 28' trimaran. Since I had some time on my hands I decided to troll for fish, but I didn't really have any fishing gear. I found a spool of fishing line on the boat and some large hooks, but I didn't have any bait. I decided to use some tin foil attached to the line in three places, and a hook right behind each piece of tin foil. I trolled for two weeks straight, and never caught a thing. I thought the foil would attract the fish (and maybe it did), but they must have been smart enough to not bite on just any old thing. Good thing we had enough food for the trip, because we would have starved to death trying to catch fish with the setup we had..lol

[AlexJageren]

Thanks, hummingway,

About what waters we will be fishing in: See our travel plan (map at the bottom of the page).

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by AlexJageren

Heck this is becoming complicated: I just wanted to fish from the boat...

We normally always troll a line.

We have caught 4 fish in 25,000 NM's.

Don't wait dinner!


Mark

[fishwife]

Mark, in the Med mankind has caught most of the fish and what remain are slowly being killed off by pollution. Around the Straits of Gibraltar you may get lucky with a skip-jack tuna, unlikely though. Once you are on your way to the States, if you are willing to look for underwater features like sea mounts, on the charts and sail near to them, your luck may change Large accumulations of floating debris are also areas where you can expect to at least double your catch to date.

P.

Added let out more line if you don't catch much, 60 yards plus is not too much.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by fishwife

killed off by pollution. ...

Added let out more line if you don't catch much, 60 yards plus is not too much.

Paige, we have tried everything from 10 feet to 1,000 feet.

I will try your idea of killing the b**s with polution and scooping them up!

I will suceed!

[fishwife]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Paige, we have tried everything from 10 feet to 1,000 feet.

I will try your idea of killing the b**s with polution and scooping them up!

I will suceed!

Even a single floating plank is likely to have a resident predator. Once when we came across a patch of debris about half a mile across we filled the spare freezer with dorado in 45 minutes. If we ever manage to get our paths to cross, Helen our resident expert will be only to happy to talk fishing for hours, she even managed to get some of her knowledge into me

P.

[hummingway]

The North Sea has been hit pretty hard by commercial fishing practices and "accidental" catches seem unlikely to me. Trolling the surface is unlikely to be productive. Much of the catch is bottom where trawling practises haven't destroyed the bottom. You can jig squid off the bottom at a transition zone or near a rock outcropping if you want to drift fish. If the salmon are running you might get something trolling for them. Watch your fish finder to find the depth they're feeding at. That usually means using a downrigger which adds to your cost and requires active management to get the right depth. If you know someone who fishes where you live ask them what they would do or try a fishing store. I'm afraid the north sea fishery is in sad straights but the right technique might produce something.

Late summer into the fall the gulf stream makes it to the coast of Portugal and Surveyor's technique should work well there. Supposed to be a very good fishery.

[svcambria]

I have seen posts here that say they have never caught a fish while underway, which is hard to believe, they must be holding their mouth wrong.

They weren't calling "Here fishy fishy fishy".

Most fish I want to catch in warm waters - tuna, dorado, wahoo - hunt near the surface, so I trail artificial lures on the surface. The lures with beveled heads to make them bob around and jetted lures - little tunnels drilled thru the head to catch air and trail out clouds of bubbles - work the best, and even better if you tape some origami-like wings to the side of the lure, make it look more like a flying fish. With skirts or feathers. Generally bullet-headed lures don't bob around much behind sailboats. The leaders should be out of wire (like No. 7 coated wire, available at most tackle shops) so the fish won't bite thru them. I have a preference for multi-hooks with barbs, but that's just me... A lot of fish get hooked outside the mouth and a number of hooks seems to increase the odds that they will get caught on something.
The boat itself acts like an attraction to fish, so you don't need to trail the lure very far back, but you should keep it in a wake. I use about 100 feet of 3/16" nylon braided line with a spliced thimbled end and swivel to get the lures out; inboard side put on a cleat, with or without a bungee shock absorber. The line just gets flaked in a bag when not in use. The lures are all on their own leaders so they can be swapped easily; you wind up changing them frequently using different colors of skirts until you find what works that day.
If I use a flasher, it is put on a separate shorter line on the other side of the stern.
Good luck, and don't forget to call "Here fishy fishy fishy!"

Michael

[roger.waite]

Originally Posted by fishwife

In my experience, at least 15 degrees North and South of the Equator in the Pacific, I think you can find flying fish in the Indian Ocean as well though I've no recollection of seeing them. You also get 'flying' squid within about 2,000 miles of the West coast of the Americas, in the same latitudes.
P,

Had 'flying' adelie penguins on my boat some years back.

But it seemed such a shame to eat them ...

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by svcambria

They weren't calling "Here fishy fishy fishy".

Michael

Oh yes we do!!!!!!

I call them and they come up and say hello. But they get too friendly and wont take the lure!

Look at this Dorado. A group of 3 (sometimes 4) followed us for 3 days while becalmed near India. I can tell you we tried EVERYTING for a bit of fresh fish!!!!




See his little face? He's laughing at me


Its pretty demorializing when that happens


Mark

[hummingway]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Oh yes we do!!!!!!

I call them and they come up and say hello. But they get too friendly and wont take the lure!

Look at this Dorado. A group of 3 (sometimes 4) followed us for 3 days while becalmed near India. I can tell you we tried EVERYTING for a bit of fresh fish!!!!




See his little face? He's laughing at me


Its pretty demorializing when that happens


Mark

Damn, he is laughing at you! Wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes!

Remember he who laughs last ... wipe that smile off your face young fish!

[colemj]

you need a spear gun...

Mark

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by colemj

you need a spear gun...

That's what I thought too.

since we're talking about the right technique - how much do you offset for parallax?

[Bash]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Its pretty demorializing when that happens

I feel your pain, brother! Just keep reminding yourself that the folks catching all the fish are probably averaging four knots to your seven. THe dirty little secret has nothing to do with lures or technique, and everything to do with slow boats.