Catching Fish while Sailing?

[fleet2001]

I ease the sails or engine in neutral if motoring or heave to in order to fight and land a fish.

[Nahbrown]

Hand lines with parachute line, bungee, parachute line to leader wire.


We dont slow and typically dont see the fish until its tired out and skipping on the water. The parachute cord makes it easy to haul in the fish by hand and is easy to untangle

[jzk]

I have this hand rig I just unspool and cleat off. I just went into a fishing place and asked them to make up something for me to drag behind the boat. Every now and then I take a gander behind the boat. Sometimes I see the fish just waterskiing behind the boat, and other times it is swimming off into different directions. If I have the engine running I might ease back, but I don't try to stop the boat.

Often, I forget about the line back there. Once I brought in half a barracuda.

I just hand wind the line back in and slide the fish right up the sugar scoop. It was like the sugar scoop was made for landing a fish.

Caught this one in December between Bimini and WPB.

[JMaav]

Originally Posted by TheDrunkenKetch

Question: How do you usually land a fish when you're sailing and trolling?

I always use a heavy bottom fishing type handline when trolling by sail, not a rod. I find the rods a bit of an obstruction to moving around. I haul in the line, luff up when not too rough, and bring her in. I don’t troll if too windy or rough. Always worked well, even with heavy fish: tuna

[captstu]

I am curious why people use a rod/reel when trolling?

I used two "Cuban" yoyos during an Atlantic crossing and several multi-week trips around the Caribbean and Bermuda. They were fitted with 100# (or ore) test monofilament and a steel leader/lure.

Clearly, I never fished - just caught for dinner. Thee was almost 100% success when within 150 miles of an island - and nothing in very deep waters.

The yoyos took almost no space, line recovery was with a winch on a sailboat if needed, but after dragging the fish for a while to tire them, I could usually recover by hand with gloves.

What does the rod do?

[thinwater]

Using a cuban yo-yo does not require gloves. You wind the string on the yo-yo using a figure eight motion, like recovering a big kite. I've pulling 40-pound fish and never touched the line, using the yo-yo to lift the fish. The other hand is only a guide. Very neat, no line on deck.


I'd rather not use a winch. When the fish gets close to the boat they will make one last attempt to shake threir head and throw the hook. The "spring" that keeps tension on the line is either the pole or your arms, so your arms become valuable shock absorbers. Keep them elastic.

[captstu]

Thinwater, I respect your non-use of gloves - but I've seen the injury to crew when one tried to bring in a fish as you described and it got away from her, causing severe cuts in one hand. Gloves are cheap - kind of like seat belts, they seldom are needed but . . .

I bungee the yoyos to the boat and put small bells on the bungee near the attachment point. When the fish strikes, the bells ring and the cats meow, thus a 24 hour fishing watch. Their pay is fresh fish for cat dining.

Everyone is happy but the fish.

We actually strive for fresh fish every night when within 100 miles of an island.

I think of the risk of Ciguatera occasionally, but that far from a reef, I think the risk is small. We do eat small barracuda but toss back the bigger ones, hopefully still alive.

[Idaho]

I fished across the Pacific by towing two 1/8th inch polypropylene lines with steel leaders and a big hook wrapped with shredded poly-line as lures. The hooks would last for about 10 days of towing before the tip was rusted/eroded away and needed replacing.

The lines were tied to the stanchions and a bungee cord was hooked between two knots. This lets the fish get pulled up to boat speed without ripping out the hook. The lines have a clothes pin tied on, with a beer can attached, which is clipped to the lifeline.

When there is a hookup, the clothes pin snaps, the beer can rattles to the deck, and the crew is alerted to Fish On! Then the sheets are eased to slow the boat a bit as the line is pulled in hand over hand, and the fish is gaffed and pulled aboard.

We would catch tuna every other day and mahi-mahi about every 4th or 5th day. Since tuna usually school, we'd almost always catch two.

After hooking a mahi, we'd slowly pull in the other line as the hooked fish was brought to the boat. About half the time we'd catch a second mahi, as the first was brought in.

[Messing About]

This has been my favorite thread so far! Please keep it going with continued reports of what you're catching and how. Photos would be even more fun.

So, I'm a former powerboat fisherman who plans on turning into a sailing/cruising/liveaboard fisherman. Your stories of hand line success are enlightening. Still not sure what a Cuban Yoyo is but I will search it online.
I have a decent amount of spinning reels and a few conventional trolling reels and about a dozen rods. Certainly not going to be room for all of those on the boat.

I did really enjoy my reef fishing in Southwest Florida, out of Charlotte Harbor, regularly catching Red and Gag Grouper, Lane Snapper, Vermillion Snapper, Porgy, Grunts and other variety. I envision continuing that when I return to SWFL in retirement aboard my future sailboat. Do any of you anchor up in 80' of water to reef fish from your sailboats?

I also loved flats fishing for Snook, Redfish and Speckled Sea Trout from my Mako 161 flats boat, that floated in 6" of water but also got me through many squalls with 4-6' waves on the way back to my home dock on a canal. I will have to use a dingy to get back to flats again. Trolling for Spanish Macs was always a blast and I loved serving those, baked, on club crackers with hot sauce!

Alas, for now, I'm stuck in my native Arizona until I retire and sell this house. Initial plan will be Oct-Apr aboard the sailboat in SWFL, The Keys and maybe Bahamas after I get more comfy as the solo skipper. I will return to the mountains of Northern AZ and spend Apr-Oct in my 5th wheel trailer, camped above 7,000' elevation to avoid the heat of the desert but still be close enough for kids and grandkids to come visit their Pappy.

Can't wait to be back fishing on the water and learning a whole new kind of boating.

[Don Lobo]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

I've given it up.

You never catch the right fish. You think "Bit of sashimi would be nice", throw the line in and a damned mackerel will grab it and you end up going without the sashimi and then having to eat a freezer full of mackerel for the next two months (Single hander and some of the mackerel in northern Queensland have to be seen to be believed)

The Spanish Mackerel we catch in Baja is GREAT sashimi!

[Cracker]

Can anyone recommend a good rod holder for my safety rail that will secure to the horizontal top rail as well as to the adjacent vertical post for stability? my experience has been that the rod holders that attach to the single horizontal top handrail tend to rotate around the rail, with the possibility of losing the rod. Any other suggestions?

[Don Lobo]

we catch Spanish Mackerel in Baja, Mexico and it's awesome sashimi!!

Originally Posted by RaymondR

I've given it up.

You never catch the right fish. You think "Bit of sashimi would be nice", throw the line in and a damned mackerel will grab it and you end up going without the sashimi and then having to eat a freezer full of mackerel for the next two months (Single hander and some of the mackerel in northern Queensland have to be seen to be believed)

[Tenedos]

Latecomer to the thread but my favorite is catching silver/coho salmon. Caught three decent sized ones while trolling under sail with 16 oz banana sinkers in Alaska. Also caught one on the surface without any sinker while running before 30 knot winds on the western side of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Our speed has between anywhere between 4-6+ knots, well above what is known for salmon trolling. Pretty surprising but seems to work with some luck. I call this "trolling for stupid salmon"

[Alistair242]

Originally Posted by Don Lobo

The Spanish Mackerel we catch in Baja is GREAT sashimi!

Same with that caught in Australia and Indo. Very nice as sashimi or raw in sushi.

[Flagfish]

Originally Posted by Tenedos

Latecomer to the thread but my favorite is catching silver/coho salmon. Caught three decent sized ones while trolling under sail with 16 oz banana sinkers in Alaska. Also caught one on the surface without any sinker while running before 30 knot winds on the western side of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Our speed has between anywhere between 4-6+ knots, well above what is known for salmon trolling. Pretty surprising but seems to work with some luck. I call this "trolling for stupid salmon"

Yes, coho (and sometimes chinook) can be caught up high trolling fast. Probably not as efficient as deep and slow, but when sailing, a dumb salmon or two is a pretty nice bonus treat.