Sailing and Fishing Advice Requested

[chandykc]

i have a 30' fibre glass boat with an outboard engine which i use for fishing (trolling) during weekends.knowing the speed of the boat is very helpful because different lures need different trolling speeds.right now it is pure guesswork on my part!is there any method or gadget that is not very expensive to measure the speed?

can anybody advise me on the best ARTIFICIAL lures for KING MACKEREL?

[zeehag]

for kinjg--make a lure to look like a flying fish. i use cheapo skirts o9f blue and white with a jighead of 3/8 oz an let it drag behind boat as we sailed and was gooooooood... use steel leader, as king have teeth.

[GeoPowers]

Easiest, cheapest method to tell speed is eyeballing your wake (with practice). Second easiest, cheapest method may be a small handheld GPS. Won't give you speed through the water, but will give you speed over ground. Might be OK if you don't live in an area with lots of currents....

[cat man do]

These work a treat over here

http://www.campbellsprotackle.com/store/product.asp?ID=1045

I use a big cheap handline like this


spooled with cheap 6mm rope
Big quality swivel
Piano wire, torpedo sinker, big quality swivel, Piano wire
and then the spoon.

[Irie]

Yellow feather.

[moggie]

Tennis ball on a length of string, you drop the ball and count seconds, when the string jerks you then divide and the speed is knots! Cheaper than a GPS. Only problem, I can't remember the length of the string or the number to multiply by, sure you could look it up. Alex

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by moggie

Tennis ball on a length of string, you drop the ball and count seconds, when the string jerks you then divide and the speed is knots! ...

Since 1 Knot = 1.688 Feet per Second
hence
Seconds ÷ 1.688 = Knots Speed

[moggie]

Hi Gord, I'm sure it was simpler than that, we had a bit of string about(by memory) 30-40 ft long, and even I could do the maths!

[moggie]

Found it:
We need to round up a closed face spin-ning reel, about 90 feet of 10-pound test line or stronger, a stop watch, and an old tennis ball. Using a piece of thin stiff wire with a tight loop bent into one end, thread the fishing line through the tennis ball and then tie the line back to itself, thus securing the tennis ball to the line. Measure off 88 feet of line from the tennis ball and tie off onto the spool on the reel, remembering to thread the line through faceplate first.

We'll use the device in the following way. After getting the boat in the configuration and speed desired to measure, hit the release but-ton and let the ball drop into the water. When the ball contacts the water, hit the start button on the stopwatch. When the line pulls tight, stop the watch. To determine our velocity through the water, we divide 60 by our measured time in seconds. (60/seconds = mph). Example: If we time 4.2 seconds then 60 divided by 4.2 seconds = 14.28 mph. The tennis ball can be quickly retrieved by reeling it in. Additional runs/measurements/verifications can then be performed.

The derivation of this method follows along with sample numbers arranged so that we can see the relationships. If an object is moving at a velocity of 60 mph, then it is trav-eling one mile/minute. (60 miles/60 minutes = I mile/1 minute). Since there are 60 sec-onds in I minute, and there are 5280 feet in 1 mile, we can divide 5280 feet by 60 seconds to find how far the object travels in one sec-ond at 60 mph (5280 divided by 60 = 88 feet/ second at 60 mph). We'll use this relationship to develop the following table. The table will demonstrate the relationship of speed, time, and distance (a constant in our calculation), so that we can have a feel for doing the speed calculations in our head, interpolating when necessary. Of course, to get the really accurate value, you may need to actually do the division.d it!

[zeehag]

yipes --alli used in th egulf to catch the 3 i caught was usean old heavy sea fishing pole, about 50yrs oldm and some newish line and made my own lure with cheepo skirts of blue and white coloration and a doa under that on a jighead with a 3/8 oz weight and dragged it about 100 ft behin th e sloop i was sailing inand pret3ended like i wasnt fishing--lol--ignore it , they will come... i caught 3 edible medium sized king, 7 spanish, 3 tuna, 1 dorado female. had lovely dinners....
oh yeah-- the reel was 50 yr old penn. we used 45 pound test steel leaders on 30 pound test line--didnt want to bring anything too big into cockpit. was fun
i cant wait to fish behind my ketch!!
we didnt do anything s fancy s speed and all that- we just trolled for fish behind the cruising sloop....

[chandykc]

thank you very much for taking all the pain. it will be very useful for me.