Catching Fish while Sailing?

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by thinwater

If you are trolling multiple lines, you NEVER stop to fight or land a fish. Slow way down, yes, but stop, never. The fish will swim around, tangling the other lines. If you keep moving, he is forced to the top of the water an nothing tangles.


Also, moving keeps some pressure on the hook, making it harder to through the hook. With a hand line it is difficult to keep the slack out when they start head-shaking at the sight of the boat. The only fish I have lost were due to going too slow during landing.



Don't be in too big a hurry to land the fish. Let them get a little tired. Take 2-3 minutes to get everything ready.



Slow way down, yes. 2-3 knots is enough. The best method depends on what sails are up. Even big fish (up to 50 pounds) are easier to land when moving because they can't get sideways to the boat as easily.

^^^^ this is the real answer on how to do it. Sometimes you do loose fish because they rip out, but not that many.

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by TheDrunkenKetch

I can see the frustration. Some Mackerel are just too oily. If I may(this may take some more time compared to Sashimi), try to brine the Mackerel for a few hours. We have Spanish and King Mackerel here in Florida. We usually brine them and they actually taste good. Just some food for thought, pun intended.

Really,
Fresh spanish macks make awesome sashimi.

Guess it's a taste preference, but we follow this way of prepping the macks and they are excellent.

follow this way of prepping the macks

If we catch too many, we can grill, pan fry or smoke them on the boat for apps.

[sailingchiro]

We have bad luck at attracting sharks while fishing. We have lost several fish or at least half of them to sharks, especially tiger sharks. So, We land them as quick as possible while still sailing. Though, we have never caught anything very big. We use yoyo reels that sit on the genoa winches and have a rod off the back. The yoyo lines are clothes pinned to the life lines. As soon as the clothes pin pops off They are tied to the life line, game on.

[captstu]

When I had a Voyage, we trolled 2 120 # dest lines with steel leaders and lures during the day when we were ready to eat fish. One cat stood "watch" on each line and howled when the bungee cord came taught indicating a strike.

At that point, we boated the other line and dragged the fish to tire it. If the line broke (happened only once), we figured the fish was to large for us.

Once some time had passed, we wrapped the line around the winch and winched the fish to the sugar scoop where we did the initial fileting and fed the cats their reward.

After that, it was easy to cut off our first meal and freeze a few more meals.

After a catch, we stopped fishing for a few days.

[captmikem]

I troll with 100 lb test, best luck seems to be with green feathers. Often times, I will look back and we will have hooked a fish and towed him to death, this happens with smaller fish like Spanish Mackerel or small tuna. (Both are still good eating!) If it is a large fish, like a Mahi, I will sometimes luff up a bit. Once caught a black Marlin in the Tuamotus, fought him for hours. He was not that good eating so I gave him to the locals at Ahe.

And I always reel my line in at dusk, put it out again with the dawn.

Often hook up Barracuda but I toss them back. favorites are Wahoo and Mahi.
I use a boat rod and a good reel, both bought in pawn shops.

Having a plastic belt with a rod holder that you strap around your waist helps quite a bit.

Enjoy!
M

[Mlp48]

THE BEST WAY to fish ! Zinnnnnnnnnng.... that's "music to my ears !"

I have caught many sailing. I love it so much it shouldn't really be called "caught". I won't go "fishing" on a powerboat that intends to troll.

Yes.. slow the boat. But that reminds me, there is always a discussion or controversy of what is the best speed for trolling..

[jim King]

We trim the sails to slow the forward progress but don't stop. Like others have said be patient and let the fish tire before bringing it in. Most of the fish I have lost were to impatience on my part bringing it in too quickly and loosing them when the get next to the boat. It's also a good idea to take the line to mid ship to keep the line from getting tangled in the prop or rudder if the fish decides to head that way. Let them tire before bringing them in. Depending on size, bring the small ones up by pulling on deck with the line, or gaff the larger ones, or if really large, tie a noose around the tail and bring them up.

[garyfdl]

While it pales compared to the salt water 'anglers' I've caught trout and salmon off the boat in Lake Michigan, and even equipped one sailboat with a single downrigger. Trolling speeds for these fish already quite low so, on calmer days I will drag a couple of lines behind and drop the 'cannon ball'. Generally when the fish strikes, I try to keep some way on to keep pressure on the fish. I also use a net, with the longest handle extension I could find, instead of a gaff. In the northern reaches of the lake we fish over the side for perch, walleye, as well as trout and salmon.

[SteveSadler]

Luffing up does help, but most passages are downwind so not an option. Reels make it that much harder, so we use hand lines, 300lb test. Bungee for shock loads and a bell to let us know. Let them tire for 5 minutes, then hand over hand it in, the line goes back in the water to avoid a tangle. Tethered to the swimstep, towel ready, pliers ready in case we don't want it, I pick it up by the leader, throw it on the towel, fold the towel over it's head and stick a knife in it's brain. The towel allows a good grip, and covering the eyes keeps it calm, and keeps the cockpit clean. Filleting it there on the towel keeps it from sliding around with access to the ocean at my feet. Keep the towel small as it gets washed, dried and stored with the fishing gear.

[PaulvR]

OK dude , here's the deal :-)

When cruising the ideal size fish is 2 - 6 pounds. Fresh at dawn or dusk, ideally every second day!
Use small lures , SS trace, 200 pound line or any heavy, speargun bungy attached well forward of winch :-), and a clothes peg! No more. Knife and bucket standing by.
When the clothes peg flies, it really does, put the line on a winch with gloved hands, and winch fish alongside.
Carefully, with the aid of a boathook (or off the sugarscoop if big boat), place a slip knot around the fishes tail on a lazy sheet and attach to cleat.
Let go the fishing line and drag fish backwards for a minute or so..
Bring tail of dead fish up to gunwhale head down of course, gut and chucka bucket, then triumphantly land clean dead fish in cockpit.

I only alter vessels status for sports fishing....never for cruising.

No drama Obama!

[captmikem]

Originally Posted by SteveSadler

, fold the towel over it's head and stick a knife in it's brain. .

A shot of cheap vodka, gin, or tequila tossed in the gills stuns them and they do not flop around. They stay quiet while you cut them up.

M

[AiniA]

We fished for food and not sport, used heavy line and leader and the rubber tubing/clothes pin system. Just kept going and pulled the fish in on our landline (with gloves) and did nothing fancy, just lifted the fish out of the water. Best fishing by far was across the Indian Ocean towards Mauritius. We caught a maxi-mahi every time we put a line in the water -~8 pounds to ~35 pounds. We stopped fishing until we finished the fish we had, which for the bigger ones could take some time. My wife developed about six different recipes starting with sushi and onward. Best success was with yellow lures that looked like squid, at least to a fish.

[wannacat]

Thin water, Chris Mack and Ben Solomon all offer good advice! Keep the boat moving and tire him out till he’s on the surface and then try to surf him him to the boat on top of the water, then gaff him. We have a detergent bottle filled with cheap mango rum to squirt into the gills and supdue him. Also seems to keep the flies down. Clean asap, chill and or eat it.
Good luck!

[garyfdl]

Originally Posted by Bill O

If we catch too many, we can grill, pan fry or smoke them on the boat for apps.

I'm curious how you go about smoking them. I love smoked fish and being able to do it on the boat would be fantastic. (I have a smoker, but would need a bigger dinghy to bring it along )

[PineyWoodsPete]

On our FP Antigua 37 in the 90's, we would luff up a bit and haul the catch up a stern scoop, tying off the line, and beheading it on a cutting board in the process to keep the blood mainly out of cockpit.

On a year's family cruise on our Endeavour 32 way back in '79, the main problem was our hysterical 14 year old daughter, who was banished to the forepeak with a hooking. Her 11 year old sister was all in on the event, tho! Except for the Bluefish that jumped into the close-towed Avon, all catches went pretty smoothly...