Sailboat Fishing: Fresh & Saltwater

Posted By: Charles Brennan, Windrose18, So.Fla
Date: 2/3/00 8:54p.m.

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Sailboat Fishing: Fresh & Saltwater I have done a variety of types of fishing on my sailboat over the last 20 some-odd years, and after a few requests, thought I would pass along my opinions, on some ways to do it. These are certainly not the only approaches (or necessarily even the RIGHT ones!), and you will have to adapt your sailboat to your area and needs, but hopefully this will give you a good starting off point. I donât claim to know everything about fishing; I only claim to have an OPINION on everything about fishing! A SALTWATER FISHING I TROLLING OFF-SHORE: ăIn for a penny . . . . . .ä The cheapest way to get your line wet, is to purchase those plastic 8ä diameter line spools, known locally in south Florida as ăCuban Yo-Yosä and string a whole roll of at least 60 pound test (100 pound test is better, but more expensive) on the spool. Attach the end of the line to a GOOD quality ball-bearing swivel (like Sampo, or your preferred brand) and attach a 100-pound test leader of 6 feet or so, and terminate with a feather or lure of your choice. Ask at your nearby tackle store, what works best in your local waters, all the while bearing in mind that the only things lures are guaranteed to catch, is fishermen. Green feathers or plastic skirts, and red and black feathers are popular in Miami. You generally get Dolphin (Dorado, Mahi-Mahi, etc., no, NOT Flipper!) on the green feathers and tuna and bonito on the red/black feathers. Kingfish and Barracuda generally hit spoons, or rubber surgical tube lures. Try to troll weedless artificial lures, as your natural baits will tend to snag seaweed more quickly. Every time you are sailing off-shore, let out line off the spool, until you can (just barely) see the lure skipping in the waves, and tie off to a stern cleat. Pull up on the line from time to time. You will feel a light resistance. When you feel a moderate resistance, you have probably picked up some weed. When you feel a LOT of resistance, you have probably picked up a fish! (Or another boat!) Either way, wrap a band-aid around your index and middle finger of the hand (pad side of the band-aid on the inside of your hand), opposite the hand you hold the reel with. For righties, that will be the left hand with the bandaids. Pull in, by resting the line against the band-aids pads, and pull until you have enough slack to wrap a turn on the spool. At NO point, do you EVER wrap the line completely around your fingers, band-aids or not, as a bigger fish might hit your fish, and jerk the line taut enough, to take away your fingers. Got the concept? Good! Only 500 or 600 more turns to go! If youâre working the spool right, your left forearm and right bicep will hate you in the morning. Move smartly, before a shark or barracuda deprives you of the majority of your dinner. If you donât have a gaff handy, a towel is useful for getting a good grip on the fish (keeps the hands from sliding on mucous of the fishesâ skin) preferably before he gets a good grip on you! Donât boat a green (highly active) fish, let him hang, by looping off on the stern cleat for a while, then bring it aboard. If you do not want to consume the fish, remove the lure immediately with long nose pliers, or cut the hook where it attaches to the lure, and release the fish. ăIn for a pound.ä BOAT GEAR: If youâre more serious about trolling, then get the equipment to do it right. It will still cost you less money, than it would for a powerboat, since you donât have to buy outrigger poles, and outrigger mounting brackets. Powerboats use outriggers and separate the baits horizontally, so the baits don't tangle on each other. I have a line (1/8 inch parachute cord) from a small block near the masthead that I have an outrigger release snap on, so by pulling the snap all the way to the top of the mast, I can run the bait out long. Try to troll weedless artificial lures out long, as your natural baits will tend to snag seaweed, and itâs a pain to keep pulling in the longest line. Another line from a block on the spreader (our burgee line gets pressed into double duty for this), I use in the same manner to run the bait medium distances, and an outrigger snap right off a stern cleat, to run baits short. Finally, I have a small down-rigger (4 - 6 pounds is about right for trailer/sailors) on the opposite side of the stern, so I can run deep, usually with a spoon. A depth sounder/fish finder is necessary to determine what depth the fish are at on any given day, in order to set the downrigger correctly. So in a sailboat, you separate in the vertical plane, not the horizontal plane, like a powerboat does. So I troll long, medium, short, and deep, with out snagging baits on turns, just like the powerboat sports fishermen. If all this line rigging sounds a little complicated, there is a product called an "Outrover" that comes in port and starboard models that has an offset that pulls your line off to the side, so you can have multiple lines in the water. They pull farther out the faster you go, so for sailboat speeds you're pretty much limited to two, no matter what the manufacturer claims. I generally use a feather lure, a spoon lure and a natural bait (usually ballyhoo) for my port, starboard, and center lines respectively, when playing with the Outrovers. For me, the jury is still out, on which is the better method. Try it each way, and make your own decision. A word about the sun; I'm sure you all have sufficient SPF gear and all that, but a lot of people don't use enough, or in enough places. You have the sun beating down on you, the sun reflecting off the sails, and the sun reflecting off the water, and the sun reflecting off your pristine white decks and hull. You can get burned in places that you can't even figure out how they got exposed. Parabolic convection ovens aren't this efficient! I keep a bath towel over my legs when trolling, and a hand towel over the back of my neck (I'm told it's red enough already) for the gap between my tee shirt and hat. Wetting down these towels also helps in the summer. BOAT TACTICS: Make wide turns when coming about; if you aren't getting into "irons" once in a while, you are probably turning too tight. If you go out with a gung-ho sailboat match racer type, and he wants to throw up in disgust every time you do a turn, you're probably in the ballpark. Tight, racing turns will snag your lines on the boat, usually the centerboard, but sometimes the rudder also. Control your trolling speed with sail choice (jib vs. genoa, etc.) and wind angle. Powerboats have to slow down to troll, and you are already going that speed! You can also troll over the top of a school with out sounding the school, if you are not using a motor. You can drag baits directly over a pod of mackerel, bluefish or kingfish, whereas, powerboats have to skirt the edge and drift the baits to the center of the pod, so the school won't sound. And for the truly hardy souls, on weekenders offshore you can sometimes pick up enough baitfish piloting off the hull, to attract pelagic game fish. Some will want to use the motor as well as the sails; I sometimes have to do this when the current and the wind are running the same direction. The caution is, to keep a close eye on fuel consumption, and a closer eye, on your direction. 25 miles offshore, against the current and against the wind, to get back to shore without a motor, is a sure invitation to the Weekend From Hell; donât ask me how I know this. There is a sailing technique called "hove to"; you need to learn this technique cold. You use it when you get a strike to fight the fish, or to arrest your progress to free cast to other fish in the area, when you have nearly boated a fish. This is a common technique used in Florida, when fishing for dolphin. A sailboat really needs one dedicated boat handler and one fisherman, at a bare minimum. I've tried both fishing and sailing while single-handing, with very mixed success. Trying to fight a fish while holding the tiller between your knees to steer, and trying not to crash gibe, gives a great sense of pride and accomplishment, even if it is only that you survived the experience! FISHING GEAR: You are going to want to use shorter, stouter, rods to stay clear of rigging and booms. I use 5-foot rods, where my powerboat buddies all use 6-foot and 7-foot rods for the same tackle, in terms of reel size and line strength. You need shorter boat poles to keep from snagging in the rigging during a moment of excitement, and to be easier to get them in and out of the cabin, and to clear the boom and shrouds, and to just generally be more maneuverable. FISHING TACTICS: Fighting the fish does not require standing up necessarily; if you insist on standing (like some of my guests), then brace yourself in the companionway, as it helps keep the rod clear of the rigging, mostly. This gives you the maximum ărod pumping areaä swing between the hitting the cockpit seats, and hitting the boom. You will need to pass the rod around the main sheets and backstays once in a while, when changing tacks, or when the fish changes direction. It is a real Chinese Fire Drill with a multiple hookup! What also helps a lot, is those fighting belts with a place to secure the rod butt. You can use this to brace the rod, whether you are standing in the companionway, or sitting in the cockpit. BAITS: Popular in south Florida are rigged ballyhoo, and goggle eyes, and threadfin sardines. These are rigged with a hook buried in the body and another trailing free on a short length of leader called a ăstingerä, which may be either a single or treble hook. Stingers are useful for fish which are notorious ăback-bitersä (they bite just behind the hook; thus, both missing the hookup and ruining the bait) such as king fish and sailfish. Keep the baits in individual sandwich bags, which avoids a lot of tangling of the leaders. Also, Tupperware has this thing called a marinator, originally designed to marinate meats. It is an equal sized top and bottom that locks together along the middle seam (so you could flip the marinade over from time to time), and it is perfect for holding larger baits, like bigger ballyhoo or bonita. They also now have 2 gallon freezer bags that will hold a weekends' worth of baits. Those vacuum seal-a-meal gadgets are more trouble than they are worth in my experience. We now have a second hand freezer out back, dedicated to baits and fishing (and overflow foodstuffs at the holidays). But before we had a second freezer, in order to keep peace in the house, the trick was to prepare the baits, bag them, wash your hands thoroughly, and insert the bags of baits in a tupperware or big freezer bag. Rinse off the outside of the bag, and there will be nothing your wife can object to afterwards. Don't forget, she will be the one scrubbing that freezer, while you are out there trolling. A little preparation ahead of time makes for a lot less domestic friction. LURES. Ask at your nearby tackle store, what works best in your local waters. Green feathers or plastic skirts, and red and black feathers are popular in Miami, as are plastic squid. You generally get Dolphin (Dorado, Mahi-Mahi, etc., no, NOT Flipper!) on the green feathers and tuna and bonito on the red/black feathers. Kingfish and Barracuda generally hit spoons, or rubber surgical tube lures, usually by trolling over the reefs. Try to troll weedless artificial lures, as your natural baits will tend to snag seaweed more quickly. Donât be afraid to drag the big ăTeasersä (a cupped lure that makes a lot of splashing and racket) off any convenient cleat. Sometimes in the winter months in Florida, you will pick up a sailfish on an artificial, but donât depend on it, no matter what the fishing and sportsman magazines may try to tell you. ICE: Ice is a bigger problem on sailboats than powerboats, because you simply have to have a whole lot more of it. Face it, it's going to take you 4 to 8 times longer to get back to the dock than a powerboat can, so you need to have lots more ice aboard. Tuna for example, are not cold-blooded fish and the meat will spoil, if not iced down immediately. I carry so much, that I have to keep it on the windward side, and shift it after tacks, at least at the beginning of the day. II DRIFTING OFFSHORE: BOAT GEAR: My current sea anchor is a parachute drogue. After checking out sea anchor prices at my local Marine Store, I went to a pretty well stocked Army Surplus store and bought a cargo drogue chute. This is a little parachute that drags out the bigger parachute when the Army is dropping Humm-Vees and whatnot, out of the sky. (When my son was in the 82nd Airborne, he watched one bounce when a chute failed to open, but that's another story). Cost me 5 bucks, although 20 years later, I see they are up to 25 bucks. There is an Iron ring at the end of the lines, which promptly rusted, and which I replaced with a galvanized anchor swivel shackle (necessary, those things can un-lay 1/2 inch dacron line in an afternoon, without some form of swiveling arrangement). Next, I attached 6 feet of polypropylene to the top of the chute (thereâs a loop there, very convenient). What we do for drift fishing is attach the swivel shackle to a line, let it out and tie it off on the bow cleat. Next we clip a snatch block on at the bow line, and then move the block aft as required to get the angle we want on the hull, to balance wind direction and current direction. The end of the snatch block line is then tied off to a stern cleat, for adjustment from the cockpit. To retrieve, I winch in the seas anchor line until I can snag the polypropylene line on the end of the chute with a boat hook. Being on the top of the chute, it promptly collapses and is easy to bring aboard. Much longer than about a 10 feet polypropylene line, tends to snag in everything while drifting. I cut my 10 footer in increments to itsâ current 6 feet, because that was the point at which it quit tangling. BOAT TACTICS: Experiment tying off the sea anchor on one side of the boat or the other, until you get the drift rate you want. Alternatively, you could hone your heaving to skills, although this generally means one less fisherman. FISHING GEAR: Pretty much everything you use for trolling, you will also use for drift fishing. In addition, you may want to have fairly heavy duty spinning reels with at least 20 pound test monofilament, on short stocky (read stiff) spinning rods. You may have to have these custom made; I made my own. FISHING TACTICS: Similar to trolling, except that you also cast into schools, as you drift over them. BAITS: Same as trolling (see above). Plus, chunked up mullet or ballyhoo, sometimes shrimp; used for casting to schools. LURES: Lead head jigs in different weights and sizes for casting to schools, as well as for deep jigging over wrecks, if drifting slowly. Yellow and white are the two most popular colors in south Florida. III BOTTOM FISHING: BOAT TACTICS: I typically run a "Y" yoke from the bow cleat to the stern cleat to attach the anchor, putting the boat sideways to the current. This allows the whole family to fish from the pulpit to the cockpit, on top of the cabin, etc. Put your better fisherman in the cockpit, as he (she) is most likely able to keep a fish away from the rudder and the motor etc. Anchoring from the bow can cause the guy up front to snag the centerboard from time to time. And the other people on one side of a cockpit will continually snag each other, as the current sweeps down a boat that is anchored from the bow. Everybody needs to fish on the down-current side of the Y-rigged boat, in order to keep from snagging on all the underwater pieces of your craft (fish love to weave in and out of your centerboard and rudder like macramŽ). However, you still need to make certain that the boat is stable enough, that everyone rushing to the edge in a moment of excitement does not swamp the boat. If anchored in a strong current, the current will push on your keel/centerboard tilting the boat towards the current. Plus everybody is already sitting on that side. It is unpleasant (and unsafe!) to sit at a 30-degree angle of heel, while fishing. As counter-intuitive as it sounds, cranking up the centerboard, while making the boat a little tippier, will cause it to ride more upright, as the current has less hull surface to push against. Move everything in the cabin to the down current side for more balance (especially all that ice!), and you should be OK. Donât forget to put it back down before you leave! (We seem to have a lot of lee drift tonight, Hmmmˇ.) Another advantage is if you are fishing shallow, you wonât bang the centerboard on the reef, when the tide goes out. For bottom fishing in the Keys, anchor over the sand, and then drift back over the reef, by paying out line, as required. This will avoid nasty fines from regulatory agencies. This also means that you will need LOTS of line to control your location. I have better than 400 feet aboard at minimum, but a newbie might consider using more, until they get the feel of it. If after anchoring, the wind and current are at odds, you can adjust the angle of the "Y" yoke to "tack" the hull up wind to keep it in place. Donât forget to point your rudder in the right direction, to force the boat to lay a hull. Then tie it off, so it doesnât slap. If the wind swings around, you may have the decision to swap everything end for end, or more importantly, to consider what that kind of wind shift really means: time to get out of Dodge!! FISHING GEAR: Boat poles have about the same requirements as trolling, about 5 foot lengths, for conventional bottom reels. We also use light tackle spinning gear down in the Keys, on the shallower reefs; more sport that way. In addition to the depth sounder and chum bags, you will need a landing net, hand towels, measuring devices (in Florida, locally called a ălaw stickä), and possibly a small gaff. Add appropriate lighting, for fishing at night. FISHING TACTICS: Chum heavily; anchor just BEFORE you get to the reef. With a grouper, the fight is determined in the first 2 seconds; if he can get back to the reef, you lose. If you can entice him into the open (with the chum), the fight is on! Keep a five-gallon bucket to put eels, small sharks, barracudas, rockfish and other nasty vermin in. You donât want them loose in the cockpit, where someone can get stuck with a spine, or bitten. You have a lot more control if they are trapped in the confines of a bucket. Keeps the cockpit cleaner, too. Use conventional reels deep, and light tackle spinners, shallow. BAITS: Chunked mullet, squid, strips of same, shrimp, basically, whatever works. LURES: Ask at the local good-ole-boys tackle shop, or use any personal favorites. CHUM: Tupperware has this thing called a marinator (mentioned above) and it will also hold a 7lb block of frozen chum, if you trim the corners of the chum block slightly. My wife doesn't mind the baits, as much as she minds the chum, in the freezer, so a little cleanliness goes a long way. Rinse and bag as mentioned above, for the baits. On board, chum is best kept in the cockpit until needed; once down below, you will inevitably spill some and the smell will NEVER go away, thus straining relations with the wife, and whomever has to sleep on the spilled upon bunk. I like to attach the chum bag to the bow pulpit where I get the most up/down movement and therefore the most "action" to get a stream going. Dry chum or frozen, depends on your personal preference, I use both at different times for different reasons. For example, dry chum doesn't gross out my wife, as easily as frozen chum does. B FRESH WATER I TROLLING: I DO troll for bass down here, and unless your northern bass are completely different, they will bite trolled lures/baits from 1 to 4 knots, at different times of the year. So, also say my bass-boat electric-trolling-motor buddies. BOAT GEAR: Actually, nothing special compared to saltwater gear. Lots of bug spray, is about it. BOAT TACTICS: The trick to controlling your trolling speed is simply to point closer into the wind (to almost stall the boat), and increase trolled speed by falling off and picking up hull speed. I can go (and have gone) slower than some bass-boats with trolling motors, forcing them to turn their motors on and off. Which sometimes has the side benefit of scaring the bass toward me. You can ghost along, quieter than the quietest trolling motor. I also have a jib, a genoa, and a drifter/reacher to control boat speed, although I do have to say in general, all I use is the jib. Donât forget, hove to is just a great tactic on a lake, as it is offshore. FISHING GEAR: All your favorite rods, and a GOOD landing net. Size your landing net (and/or gaff) for your fishing type, AND your boats' freeboard. Sailboats sometimes have more of a reach to the water than a bass boat does, and it is really heartbreaking to see that lunker right at the side of the boat, and then the sudden shift in your balance from leaning over to reaching down, (from the landing net being too short) gives them that one last chance . . . . FISHING TACTICS: I seem to get the best hits about 25 to 50 feet beyond my rudder turbulence. Trolled depth varies with water visibility, but is rarely more than 4-10 feet down here, at the deepest. BAITS: Worms, Shiners, Chicken livers, whatever is typical for your area. LURES: Rebel Crawfish work well, as do Rapalas, especially down to about three feet or so. II ANCHORED: BOAT GEAR: Actually, nothing special. For freshwater fishing, depending where in the country you fish, you may also need a plastic rake. No fooling, hydrilla and lily pads, and all kinds of stuff can snag your centerboard cable, (or your centerboard, or daggerboard) and clog your centerboard trunk, and cause enough drag to stall you out on a calm day. A rake keeps you from having to go over the side (we have to deal with alligators, where I live) to clear debris. Make sure your rake reaches close enough by testing it at home, on the trailer. A plastic rake instead of metal, will not leave gouges on your hull. BOAT TACTICS: Lying a-hull at anchor with the main up, allows you to cast on top without spooking the fish, as the sail shadows the cast. (Also works good, cast-netting for baitfish.) This can extend your fishing time from dawn, until late afternoon, depending on the temperature. Don't forget to keep looking up. The best places on lakes tend to be close to trees; make sure you can back out in a hurry, if necessary. ăYä anchoring (see bottom fishing above) in rivers, or spring fed lakes, where there might be a current, is probably only necessary, if you have several people aboard. FISHING GEAR: Same as above. FISHING TACTICS: In Lake Okeechobee shallow water fishing, I head for grass beds, until my keel drags me to a halt, work an area, then crank up the board a little and ghost along to the next (shallower) spot, and try again. This is especially effective for crappie. You can also use an oar to clear a hole in the lily pads, to fish in. It knocks bugs off the pads, and makes an instant chum stream to attract the fish. Make sure you keep track of centerboard height! There isnât the same kind of tides to lift you off, like we have in Biscayne Bay! In deeper lakes, I anchor where the fish show up on the sounder. I hope this gives you some insights into your sailboat's fishing capabilities. Basically, I urge everybody to get out there and see what works. It takes very little modification for a sailboat to be a fearsome fishing machine. After all, 150 years ago, sailboats were the ONLY fishing machines! Most sailboat hulls are designed so as to be easily cleaned; fish guts hose off as easily (almost) as seaweed and mud, off a well-waxed gel-coat. Good luck, and tight lines! Charles Brennan