Atlantic Crossing

[stuarta]

Hi all, I've just joined the forum and i'm doing my first alantic crossing in Feb from St Martin to The Azores. Whilst on board for entertainment and a source of fresh food i'm planning to catch as much fish as pos along the way. As i'm not a fisherman and the only info i've seen about fishing in the altantic seems to involve landing 150lb monster trophy fish, i wanderen if anyone out there has any tips they can share.

Please Help !!!

thanks

Stuart

[ssullivan]

I'd be highly interested to here any tips on this as well. I'm a fishing moron and I have no clue other than putting a worm on a bobber in a lake or pulling a lure around a stream to catch a rainbow trout. Anyone know what kind of equipment is needed for fishing in the ocean from a sailboat?

[gharr8]

Hey Guys,
This is a great thread. I'm waiting myself to read some thoughts and ideas....

gh

[cat man do]

We usually just used a big plastic handreel with about 100 ft of cheap green rope about 6mm like used on crab pots, a good quility Black game fishing swivel with ball bearings cost abot $6-00 each but worth it if using a lot, then about 6 ft of piano wire. attached to a cheaper 60kg swivel we'd have a large torpedo sinker on this wire and then another 6ft of piano wire another 60kg swivel followed by a nice shiny Halco Barra spoon. Try to use Black coloured swivels as the fish will go after shiny ones.

The important part was attaching it to the boat. We used old bicycle inner tubes [ free at bike shop] fed through the reel and back through itself, and then back to and through a horn cleat. This takes the shock out of your gear and let's most fish have a run without breaking off. We never had a tube break and man , can they stretch when you get a good un' on the end.

We always had this out as soon as we started to sail and in some places had a fish on before you'd get to the end of the line. We were rarely without a feed while cruising.

When a fish jumped on we'd just tow him aroun for a while until they were worn out and then they were quite easy to deal with.

Dave

[Charlie]

Cat man do:

Sounds like a good system. I'm not much of a fisherman. In fact when I lived in Montana they wanted to have me arrested when I told them I didn't fish. The cop called into the office and finally told me, "It's not illegal -- ITS JUST IMMORAL." and then he sped off.

There are a couple of things to look for when fishing. One is if there are birds sitting on the water or flying above try to bring the boat thru that area b/c it often means there are fish there. and two make sure to have some system for bringing the fish on board a gaff or a net. Once caught a shark off the Marquesas and didn't know what to do with it once we had winched it aboard.

BTW there was a good article on fishing in Sail magazine about 4 or 5 months ago.

[Canibul]

Mid Atlantic you might get away with towing a hooked fish until it expires. Try that here and you'll quickly end up with a clean hook and the knowledge that you made at least one barracuda very happy.

[Vasco]

I use a Cuban yoyo ( big plastic hand reel), 100 lb. test line, stainless leaders, large, sharp hooks and surgical tubing. Let out 150 feet or so of line, pull up a little bight and attach to surgical tubing ( I have like a bungee cord hook on the end of the tubing) tied to cleat. The tubing takes the strain when you get a strike. For lures, the old shiny metallic like bags out of box wines works very well. Unfortunately the newer box wines have a clear plastic bag. Make a skirt out of the shiny plastic, add some beads or coloured yarn. Coloured plastic tubing works well too. Excellent lures. I also have a cheap set of crimpers to make the leaders and lures. The secret of fishing is to check the hook often and clear it of seaweed. Once I get a hit I put on my gloves and haul it in as fast as I can. A squirt of real cheap rum (it's from the DR and so bad even I won't drink it) in the gills and the little fishy goes to sleep.

I used to try and kill the fish with a small baseball bat (better than a gun aboard). First time I tried the bat out I missed and hit the side of the boat. Second swing and I dropped the bat into the ocean, turn around, retrieve the bat and put a lanyard on it. The bat has been retired and is kept only for defensive purposes.

[Canibul]

If you use the Barbancourt Five Star, just the sight of the label will euthanize a knowledgeable gamefish...

[hellosailor]

"a fishing moron"
Al Hirt was talking to Johnny Carson about deep sea fishing out of N'Orleans some years ago. Apparently AH loved to go deep sea fishing and JC had some questions about it. As Hirt explained it, they used to go out with two coolers on the boat. One full of ice cold beer, the other full of dynamite, and the only trick was to remember which one you hold on to, and which one you throw overboard.<G>

Sailboats are supposed to be good platforms for trolling either bait or lure but I suppose you'd need to study up on what runs how deep to make sure you are trolling where it can find your hook.