How Many Lures Do You Go Through in a Year's Warm-Water Cruising ?

[Mark Zarley]

Fixing lures that have been mouthed and consequently mangeled by toothy advisaries of the deep is not only cost effective, but contributes to the true cruisors life style of being self-sufficient.

[sww914]

Sorry to hijack, but it seems on topic anyway. Where is the best place online to get a great deal on fishing gear? Looking at ebay is grueling, there is sooooooo much disorganized Chinese stuff.

[forsailbyowner]

Canning is sooo simple. Cut up fish, stuff in jars, clean rim, put on lid, pressure cook for 90 minutes. Spices, smoking, mustard or hotsauce optional.

[hummingway]

Do you not heat the jars before putting the lid on and closing the cooker?

[zeehag]

i have bought my most expensive fishing gear in walmart lol--funny how the stuff costing only a small amount is so much more efficient that the expensive stuff -- i use blue and white skirts on a white jighead--about 3/8 ounce..troll it behind the sloop--to look kinda like a flying fish and go from there.....i was catching spanish, king , tuna, a dorado, and whatever broke vs bit my 45 pound steel leader....so many times..LOL.....was in gulf of mexico just shy of one year...

[forsailbyowner]

Originally Posted by hummingway

Do you not heat the jars before putting the lid on and closing the cooker?

for water bath canning with veggies, you must hot pack. For fish you must pressure can which kills all bacteria present in canner.Just washing the jars is sufficient.

[Vasco]

I get a new cedar plug every other year. When one gets chewed up I retire it to my tackle box as a spare. I have only ever lost two, one due to the drag being stuck on my reel, the other to a real mother of a fish!

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by sww914

Sorry to hijack, but it seems on topic anyway. Where is the best place online to get a great deal on fishing gear? Looking at ebay is grueling, there is sooooooo much disorganized Chinese stuff.

i get my disorganized chinese stuf in wally world, aka walmart----that makes it worth while if the fishies take my stuff without a deposit..lol..

[JusDreaming]

not the cheapest but a good company to work with
www.ballyhood.com

[hummingway]

Originally Posted by JusDreaming

not the cheapest but a good company to work with
www.ballyhood.com

The squid dogs look good.

[Dream In Blue]

For us, It always depends on how long we will be "out there". If we make a passage longer than 24 hours, we are sure to loose a lure or two. We run middle weight gear that handle 30-50 pound fish just fine. If anything else larger hits it's GONE! That is why we never buy expensive lures. We buy what's on sale and preferably anything in green or yellow. It seems to be a true and tested color for a large range of pelagics. Kings, Mahi, tunas and sword/sailfish. (we always release the bill fish, or they strip our gear is more like it!)

That is just what we have had luck with trailing behind our sailboat anywhere from 2-10 knots. I know of sailors who have used homemade lures made from all sorts of awkward things and they catch fish like crazy!

So I would keep a minimum of 4 trolling lures on hand and pick up what's on sale at every chance.

[captain58sailin]

We use steel leader to prevent the fish from biting through, we are also a hand line lot. I like to put about 4 meters, of 100 lb test leader to the steel leader then, I hank on a 100 meters of 300 lb test for pulling in and I use a snubber on the end where the line is secured, I also use big swivels at each joint. I have rarely lost a rig, usually they get worn out from the attention by fish. Many years ago in the south Pacific we hooked up with a rod and reel rig that had 80 lb test line with a feathered jig, and we chased the fish around for almost 12 hours, and came up with about a 500 lb black Marlin, the whole crew was exhausted by the time we boated the fish. Usually we only catch 5 to 20 kilo fish and do not have any trouble just pulling them in hand over hand with the previously described rigging. If we were to hook up on something really big, it will take our gear.

[zeehag]

i used 40 pound test with a 45 pound test steel leader in th egulf and dragged a blue and white lure looking similar to flying fish--caught dorado, king, spanish. tuna, something with teeth that took my rig--a few times--the biggest was off pensacola-dont know what it was--went deep like a tuna but was huuuggge..pulled hard and tore my leader in half--when i was using 35 pound steel leader--lol...didnt bite it--broke it.. i think in the year i was out in the gulf area i lost about 15 lures and broke 2 or 3 poles ..lol--that was fun!... we used a 50 yr old penn--i love those--i need to get fishing equipment for my sail trip to mazatlan...and panama...will be catching something on our way....