Line fishing from a moving yacht?

[yachter]

Hi everyone, I've not done fishing before, but I do go sailing in the Mediterranean every year, and last year one of the gang asked me if we could fish for lunch!

I didn't have a clue, and wrinkling my brow a lot didn't help. The main problem it seems to me is that we're constantly on the move, except then we anchor, or put into a marina, and the water is shallow then with many tiny fish. Obviously I know you can trawl with nets on the move, but this is really just a bit of fun, and I want lunch for the crew, not dinner for the whole marina that evening. So, can you fish with a line on the move? I've been trying to research it, but it's overwhelmingly unclear to me if it's possible at all or even if it is possible, if our chances of catching anything, ever, are at all significant, and then too, what can and can't you eat that comes up out of the water?

When I was a kid, I remember my grandparents using a line, no rod or anything, tied to the boat, but I can't remember if we were moving (I was very very young), and we caught a fish quite quickly. This was somewhere in the English channel.

It's just a bit of fun really so we don't need to catch anything, but it seems rather pointless if the odds are too badly against us.

I'd really appreciate any comments anyone can offer me.

[10lber]

simple answer is yes you can fish whilst moving through water.
But it is not as simple as just chucking a baited hook or lure over the side into the deep blue.
Just a few questions. Do you have a depthfinder or even better a fishfinder in your yacht? and are you prepared to invest in a downrigger at approx £200.
If the answer is yes then the trolling technique is the way to go.
Also you could fish with a string of feathers over any broken ground or pinnicle towers as the fish will cogregate over these hotspots. Although this is better to do on the drift rather than under sail.
My advice for a lunch would be to keep your eye on your fishfinder near to lunchtime and when you find some broken ground/pinnicle/wrecks/or drop offs bring the sails in and motor back back over the broken ground and drift over it. Tackle up with a string of feathers (readily available in tackle shops anywhere in the med) and drop down either by handline or rod to the depth where the fish should be. Dont go too far down or you will snag the broken ground and lose your tackle. Then keep pumpinp you arm up and down as if flagging a massive taxi from along way away until you feel a fish on. (This will be obvious once you get used to it).
If you cant do the drifting because of the structure of your vessel then the down rigger is your only other option.Again keep your eye on the fishfinder and drop your down rigger down to the required depth.Again only experience will tell you what weight ratio to knot speed to depth to use. Then tie a sparkly lure on to the downrigger about twelve to twenty feet away and simply drop down to the required depth keeping an eye on the changing bottom conditions and adjusting the down rigger to suit them.This technique will require a rod/reel combo with a rachet switch on the reel.Just leave the ratchet on a set to freel spool or light drag setting and when a fish takes your lure an audible clicking will be heard. If its a big fish or you've caught bottom the reel will scream!!!!!!!
Hope this helps in your new experiences with fishing.
Good luck

[yachter]

Gosh! Thank you, I've just read a load about downriggers and watched the YouTube videos. Downriggers came up in my previous research, but I kinda filed them under "crazy complicated specialist equipment for people that know what they are doing".

No fish finder I'm afraid, yes to depth finder, but most of the time we'll be deep enough that the bottom is out of range. I don't mind spending some money, though I'd hoped not too much and my original thought was to keep it as simple as possible so I had less stuff to get wrong. Having said that, the system/combo you describe sounds extremely sensible and ideal for me from a 'how it works' point of view, even if it is a lot more equipment than I would have wanted.

What range of speeds work for this sort of fishing? A lot of stuff I read seems to imply quite slow speeds, like maybe 1 or 2 knots. What sort of speed do you have to begin spilling wind to slow down if you want any chance of a bite?

[10lber]

All I know about down rigging is that the faster you go the more weight you need. And the deeper you go the more weight you need. Think In terms of the ammount of drag that would be on a fast tide on your anchour rope. The faster the tide the heavier the anchor and the longer the rope needed to be played out to make the hold effective. However there will come a stage whereas the weight of the anchor will be too heavy for the vessel and/or the ammount of rope played oput would again nullify the effectiveness of the anchor as a means of holding your vessel in the tide.
Well down rigging is like that too.
Think in terms of 10Lbs of lead as a maximum and 250 ft depth a s a maximum( Hunting fish will not be able to see beyond that depth anyway) The speed would be too fast at 12 knots as the weight would be too light and would just kite to the surface with the ammount of drag on it acting like a plane. Cut the speed down to about 4 knots and the weight too could be cut to 7lbs. This is just a guesstimation as i've only ever seen it done by others when chartering a fishing boat but here's a link that will give you the exact information with weights and lengths and boat speed.
http://www.lakemichiganangler.com/ti...gger_depth.htm
and http://oregonfishingnews.com/forum/y...ger-chart.aspx

[yachter]

Ahh, excellent, that's a huge help. I don't see us doing 12kn at any time, under motor, let alone under sail, and under sail is how we'll be unless we have a real calm. Most of time 4-5kn is probably realistic, 7kn max usually, and we'll be lucky to have wind for that too often.

It's funny, I was thinking of being too fast for the fish... In my mind I was imagining the fish on the hook going nuts as we haul it along, not thinking so much about the drag on the downrigger pushing the weight to the surface! I have a lot to learn! I guess we'll have to heave to sharpish when we get a bite to fight the fish, but that should be no problem. The funniest thing would be if it was all too easy after all this fuss, I guess I have in my mind the image of a lake side angler reading a book with his line in the water all day catching nothing.

I think I'm completely sold on your advised setup though, and endless YouTube videos and diagrams later, I feel like I should probably be able to get it to work. I'm looking around getting a feel for the equipment out there at the moment.

Thank you very much indeed for your advice, I really appreciate the pointers!

[10lber]

No probs. Let us know how you get on and enjoy the med.and remember that a bad days fishing is always always better than a good day at work!!!!!

[yachter]

Hi all, the week before last I had my first fishing experience.

Thank you for all the help and advice to prepare, but I'm back to ask for more help I'm afraid, as unfortunately it wasn't really all I might have hoped for, in fact 'depressing' pretty much sums up my efforts so far. So if anyone has any advice I'd greatly appreciate it.

Largely following 10lber's advice (which after more research I decided was totally the way to go, thankyou 10lber), I bought a rod, reel and various other equipment to go with it, various lures, a paravane, etc. I stopped short of a down rigger, opting instead to tie my down line line to a cleat, with the paravane on the end. Not as good as a real down rigger obviously, not least because it's so difficult to estimate how much line you've let out, but it kinda does the job.

My biggest problem was line twisting. This was particularly bad when using a meps spinner lure, despite my deploying multiple swivel connectors here there and everywhere, but my rig seemed to contrive to twist and spin my line horribly even when using other lures. I did manage to get my line down and up a few times without it being spun so much it almost formed into a ball, but even when this wasn't clearly a show stopper the line seemed to get twisted at least somewhat. It also seemed to be a nightmare to get the fishing line down the down line without wrapping one around the other, of snagging the lure hooks on something, and I think sometimes this would happen without my knowing it whilst under water.

The second problem is, the only thing I caught was a plastic bag, and it wasn't even a very big one.

It would obviously benefit me hugely to go on some sort of a fishing expedition/holiday where newbies can learn from experienced professionals, but I'm not sure where I can find the time for that any time soon.

[Vectensis]

Fishing from any boat really requires a fishfinder otherwise you are simply wasting your time. An adequate fishfinder can be found on eBay for around £80.

[10lber]

Ah ha.
Vectenus is on the right lines there but not totally correct.
You can find fish just using a depth finder which i assume that you allready have.
Most fish hang around features like rock pinnicles and reefs and this will show up on a depth finder. The trick is not to fish too deep. if your're in 400ft of water there is not much point in trolling these waters as the kind of fish that would be able to live and hunt at this depth would be lone fish such as conger eels ,angler fish. The sport fishing would be nearer the surface. Use some watercraft to spot things like seagulls and gannets feeding on fry. If you see a flock of gulls away from land then this is what they are up to generally. Dont plough through the centre of the feeding birds just keep to the margins of the feeding flock.
Downrigging in my opinion is best at under 100ft deep purely for the weight reasons. Not forgetting the pressure of water and the salt content all combining to make you use more weight!!!!
This will be the reason of the twisting of line you,ve been experiencing. A small mepps spinner would vertually weigh the same as a feather at that depth and dragging it along a 4 knots would make it just go mad (like a tangled parracute)Try this book for a downrigging bible http://www.protroll.com/books/?id=4
Catching fish at depth is not easy at anchor let alone trolling a mepps. Try a different type of lure for better results. Start with a heavy weighted bare hook and tie a jig head and lots of feathers to it. Then drag it through the water in a basin and trim that sucker to the shape of a fish. Then fish that about 100 foot down over a reef or rocky area or near a drop off.
Your best bet though if not getting a down rigger is the previous advise that i reccommended for you. i.e. fish at anchor when near pinnicles dropoffs and reefs or on the drift near the surface when spotting feeding birdlife or boils in the water.
Good luck in your quest and hope that i've been some help.
Whilst some of the information i,ve given you might not be completely accurate it does and will give you some idea of fishing on the move and its complexities.

[yachter]

Thanks guys, I guess I didn't appreciate some of the issues too well. So do people do fishing in properly deep water, like in the middle of the ocean? Or is that a crazy idea? I mean one wouldn't go to the middle of an ocean to fish, but if one was there?

The more I learn the more I realise I know nothing :) I will definitely try and get that book.