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Sailboat Fishing

10 Top Sailboat Fishing Tips for Offshore Sailors

As an offshore sailor and a saltwater angler, sailboat fishing is my passion. For any sailor on a long offshore passage, the ability to pull a few protein packed, omega 3 rich fish from the sea is a rather useful skill. So here I'll ignore the fishing-for-sport element and concentrate instead on fishing-for-food.

The other good news is that the fishing gear required is inexpensive - just a simple trolling line and a few lures.

In fact, the market value of your first decent-sized fish is likely to exceed your investment in the fishing equipment used to catch it - not that you'll want to sell it, of course. You'll want to eat it and catch more, which presumably is why you're here.

So if it's that easy, why do some yachtsmen tell you that sailboat fishing is a waste of time?

Well, it's because they haven't read the small print. So here's the small print...

Sailboat Fishing Tip #1 ~ Use a Snubber

First, let's think about what happens if you don't use a snubber on your offshore trolling handline . So, you're sailing along nicely when a tuna hits your lure. Instantly realising he's made a serious error of judgement, the tuna sets off lickety split in the other direction. Bang! Probably a broken line and no lure - definitely no tuna!

But with a snubber there's no bang, just a satisfying booiiing as it does its thing, taking all the shock load out of the tuna's instinctive reaction and alerting your crew to the tug of war to come. A vital part of any trolling handline, is the snubber.

It's made up from a length of bungee cord - essentially a large elastic band between the handline and the boat. Alternatively, if you've got one handy, an old bicycle tyre inner tube will do the job just fine.

The snubber, an essential part of a trolling handline

The safety line, made up from a length of 8mm nylon line (or similar) is attached to a cleat or some other strong-point on the boat. Make sure the loop in it is long enough for the snubber to fully extend, but not so long that the snubber can be stressed beyond its yield point.

Sailboat Fishing Tip #2 ~ Be Invisible

Not you or your boat, just the business end of your handline.

Up until quite recently I used a 5m (16ft) long nylon monofilament leader at the end of my trolling line, and very happy with it I was too.

After all, it was cheap and seemed to work.

Then I discovered fluorocarbon fishing line , a sort of hi-tech monofilament line.

It's thinner, stronger than mono, and best of all it's invisible!

Underwater that is, a trick resulting from fluorocarbon line having almost the same refractive index as water.

I'm absolutely, 100 percent, hand-on-heart sure that it's brought more good fish to Alacazam's galley than would otherwise have been the case.

Sailboat Fishing Tip #3 ~ The Right Type of Lure

Most of the fish that you're likely to catch will be looking upwards, hoping to spot their prey silhouetted against the sunlit surface. So this is where your lure should be, close to the surface, and it's no bad thing if it leaps out now and again like a flying fish in escape mode.

A cheap and cheerful Bulb Head Squid should get results here, but a slightly more expensive skirted trolling lure may well get better results, particularly if it leaves astern a fish-attracting bubble train, as it pops and fizzes down the face of a following sea.

But what about when you're sailing on the wind and a following sea is but the stuff of dreams? Here a lure that leaps out of the sea will not be so effective, the wave train and the motion of the boat causing it to crash through wave crests, rather than slaloming down the front face of the waves. You need a lure that will get down deeper, below all the unpleasantness on the surface.

There are several ways of achieving this. One is to rig a trolling weight on your main line - not on the leader - to take the same lure down deeper.

If that still doesn't work, you could replace the trolling weight with a planer - and, if your hull speed is not more than 3 knots or so you could replace the lure with a stainless steel trolling spoon. These lures are particularly robust and should have a place in all sailboater's fishing kits

Or you could forget about weights and planers altogether and use a deep diving plug.

Yup, they are more pricey but they really do what it says on the box - 6 knots with the right deep-diver (like the Rapala X-Rap Magnum shown here) will get you down 15 to 30 feet.

These deep-diving trolling plugs are characterised by the long, broad beak at the head of the lure. The greater its surface area, and the closer it's angled to the horizontal the deeper it will dive.

In the other extreme where the wind is light, the sea almost flat and the boat just ambling slowly along, a topwater lure - like the Williamson 'Jet Popper' - is well worth a try.

Sailboat Fishing Tip #4 ~ Use a Bird Teaser

But only if you're off the wind and using a skirted lure of the type that swims along close to the surface. So what's a bird teaser ? It's a decoy lure which you should attach at the end of your trolling line and ahead of your leader. The leader should be shorter now, around 3m (10ft) or so.

The bird is buoyant and skips smartly along astern, splashing noisily around ahead of the lure. The little winglets on either side of it shoot out an arc of spray either side increasing the area of disturbance on the surface.

To really maximise the effect of one of these, rig it ahead of a daisy chain like the Boone Bird/Daisy Chain Rig shown here.

Any predator within, er, earshot, will wonder what all the fuss is about, and is likely to amble over and take a look. What he'll see is an unsuspecting prey - your lure - in hot pursuit of a shoal of baitfish. The rest, as they say, will soon be history.

Sailboat Fishing Tip #5 ~ Double Your Chances!

Are you serious about putting together a robust handline for offshore trolling?

Do you want to know exactly what to buy, where to buy it online and how much to pay for it?

If so, take a look at Assembling Your Offshore Trolling Handline .

An easy way to do this is to play the numbers game. Use two trolling lines, one from each quarter.

To reduce the risk of them tangling together (note my use of the word reduce, not avoid), make the windward one shorter than the leeward one. Your boat's leeway will help keep them apart - more so if you clip the leeward one to a higher point such as the backstay, or the stern gantry if you've got one.

If you've only got one bird, use it on the shorter of the two trolling lines. Multihull owners could easily find somewhere to add a couple more handlines to help feed the multitudinous crew.

Sailboat Fishing Tip #6 ~ Killing It Kindly

It's often said in sailboat fishing circles, that to avoid making a crimson mess in your cockpit, you should leave your hooked fish attached and tow it astern until it drowns. The two obvious reasons for not doing this are:

It's unnecessarily cruel - the fish deserves better than this
If the fish is too large for your culinary requirements, you should release it unharmed and return the beast from whence it came
A shark may get to it before you do

And there's another reason. When the fish is fighting for its life, lactic acid accumulates in the fish's muscles - it's flesh - which will taint the taste. The longer and harder it has to fight, the greater the accumulation will be, and the greater the taste will be affected.

My advice? Get it aboard as soon as you can - using a gaff - and kill it quickly and humanely. Not by beating it to death with a heavy blunt instrument - that will end in tears, most probably yours. Just pour some strong alcohol down its gills. Not your finest malt of course - a splash of the rot-gut firewater you give only to your most persistent guests will be fine. This will cause brain death very quickly and it will leave this world in a spirit of great contentment.

Sailboat Fishing Tip #7 ~ Don't Miss the Point!

Check the point before each use and touch it up with a Hook File as necessary.

The technique is to stroke the file towards the bend of the hook - not towards the point. Use the file on the two flats to ensure that the flats converge in a razor edge and a sharp point. After a few strokes, try the following thumbnail test...

Drag the point of the hook lightly over your thumbnail. If it tends to dig in, leaving a white scratch, it's sharp. If it doesn't, it isn't.

Do it correctly and it'll soon be 'up to scratch'!

Sailboat Fishing Tip #8 ~ Be Safe!

It's not just shark that have an impressive set of dental equipment. Barracuda do too, and wahoo have smaller but razor-sharp teeth that can do you serious damage;
Don't try to unhook a large fish when it's leaping about the cockpit in a most unruly fashion. Wait until it calms down - a dark wet cloth placed over it may help. Another tip that seems to calm the fish, is to place it on the cockpit sole where its tail isn't touching anything. I've no idea why this works - maybe it tickles...
Always, but always, wear heavy protective gloves when hauling in a fish by hand, and take care not to step in any coils of line that you've recovered;
Always have a sharp knife to hand, just in case you need to cut yourself free. If that perilous situation arises, you won't have time to go looking for one!
With all the action going on at the stern, don't neglect your legal obligation to keep a good lookout at all times.

Sailboat Fishing Tip #9 ~ Making the Right Connections

Forget about even the best fishing knots in lines of the diameters we're talking about here - you'd never be able to pull them up tight. Crimped connections to hooks and swivels are your only option.

Use only top quality hooks and swivels by well-known manufacturers. Forged bronzed mild-steel hooks and ball-bearing swivels are what you need.

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S/V Violet Hour

Sailing adventures in the pacific northwest.

How We Learned to Fish From a Sailboat in Southeast Alaska – Techniques, Lures and Gear

Fishing from a sailboat isn’t quite as simple as on boats purpose-built for fishing. Yet, it can be really rewarding and we found it’s amazingly fun in Alaska, where fish are plentiful. In 2 of our 6 seasons cruising WA and BC we fished occasionally but never caught anything. It took coming to Alaska to finally learn how to fish.

From April thru August 2021, we caught 47 fish over the course of about 50 days with active fishing effort. Some days we’d spend a couple hours out in the dinghy, catching nothing. Other days we’d go out and catch something within 15 minutes.

13 Halibut (all 18-25” except for one 51” monster!)
21 Salmon (13 silvers, 7 pink, and 1 sockeye)
6 Pacific cod
7 Rock fish
28 Dungeness crab (we stopped crabbing around July when we switched to focusing on fish)

Fishing requires knowledge, patience and skill. It can be very frustrating at times (like when sitting in the cold rain not catching anything, or when we lost gear to the bottom). Yet it can be rewarding – other than being vegetarian, I think catching your own protein is one of the most sustainable ways to live in a remote area.

Catching our own food gave us a much deeper appreciation for the sacrifice made, motivating us to respect every fish caught – safely releasing ones we didn’t keep and carefully filleting the ones we did keep to maximize use. Meat (and groceries in general) is quite expensive in Alaska, especially in the small remote villages we visit when cruising by boat. Many of the small towns get their groceries by barge just once a week, and most of their meat is frozen – we found frozen beef with “packed on” dates from over a year ago!

Buying groceries in the store means lots of fuel was burned to ship it there (container ship, barge and truck) and refrigerate it. When catching fish we could be sure that it was as fresh as it could possibly be and processed in the most optimal way. Fish is also extremely healthy, packed with healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

The first salmon I ever filleted (a sockeye). An imperfect filleting job, but I got better after this.

We had a lot of fish tacos and also numerous other delicious preparations.

Fishing Advice

A few caveats – we’re not experts and there are certainly people that know a lot more! (like all the sport charter fishing guides and commercial fisher-people). Fishing isn’t a science and sometimes stuff that should work doesn’t (or vice versa). Fishing is very seasonal and I’m not going to cover that or other things you can easily learn from existing online resources.

Also worth noting – in the fishing world many people are protective about their fishing spots and can be secretive or even hostile towards newbies. This is quite a contrast to the sailing / boating world where there’s a culture of helpfulness, especially towards newcomers. Certainly not everyone takes this position (we met very helpful people too!) but some people who fish believe that additional people fishing will “steal” their fish or deplete the prime spots.

I don’t buy this argument because beginners who are truly interested in learning fishing will learn to do it whether you help them or oppose them. So it seems much better to me to be helpful and sharing of information. In the modern era of Internet and social media, there are no truly “secret” spots anymore anyway.

And for those who think an additional sport fisherman is going to deplete the availability of fish for themselves, they should consider that industrial-scale commercial fishing operations are harvesting far more fish than a sport fisherman, well before it gets to their preferred spots, with a lot of bycatch (unintentionally caught fish which are often wasted).

The Dungeness crabs can be very big in Alaska – often 8-9″. (Note: I have a proper crab ruler but it doesn’t go this high – that’s why I pulled out the tape measure).

Sailboat Fishing vs Traditional Sport Fishing

Fishing while cruising on a sailboat has a few unique aspects to it.

Sailboats have limited space for fishing rods and filleting tables.
High freeboard means it can be hard to reach down to the water to net a fish.
Sailboats go slow and usually don’t have trolling motors (you can use the diesel for this but it’s not ideal).
Storage / freezing – a sport fishing boat usually returns to a land home where they have a large freezer to store the catch in. Cruising sailboats have to eat all their catch relatively quickly or have a way to preserve it.
Cruising boats have more range for getting to the best fishing spots. Areas close to major cities (Juneau, Wrangell, etc) get heavily fished by the locals in trailerable boats – very few of those boats can go 2 weeks from port.
You can fish while sailing, using no fuel at all!
Flexible modes for different ways of fishing

The 4′ 3″ (~64 lbs) halibut I caught from the dinghy (quite a challenge – had to do a beach landing) and filleted at anchor on the foredeck.

Fishing from the dinghy. This was my preferred mode about 80% of the time. Photo credit: SV Tulli

a) while sailing
b) while drifting – no sails up or heaved to; wind or current will increase rate of drift.
c) while motoring (engine on, trolling)
2) Fish from the dinghy (sailboat at anchor)
3) Fish from the sailboat at anchor

One of the biggest challenges was figuring out which mode we prefer, and how to make it easier. In past years in BC we haven’t fished very much (and never successfully) partly because we don’t like fishing while underway. Since there’s limited time (and energy) in the day, it competes with sailing time. Sailing is our #1 priority, and often with light wind it takes up a very large amount of time.

Fishing on a Sailboat Underway:

Fishing while underway often means running the diesel at idle for quite a while – not only is this not great for a diesel engine, our engine is very loud and takes away the peacefulness of being out on the water. Alternatively, we can fish underway while sailing, but this is pretty difficult in the PNW. Tack/jibe lines take us across straits, and the middle of a strait isn’t the best place to find salmon. Plus you can’t be moving faster than 3 kts or so or you’ll probably be too fast for trolling – if more wind shows up, it can mess up your fishing.

To fish for bottomfish you need to be not moving (much). So one technique we’ve used while enroute to our next anchorage is drift fishing. Ideally, with little wind and no current you may not move at all, so the trick is to just stop in a good fishing spot and turn off the engine. However, positioning the boat in current, near rocky shorelines and headlands can be tricky and requires vigilant situational awareness.

Fishing from the Dinghy:

This is the method I grew to prefer. Once anchored, I could pretty quickly put the outboard on our Portabote and zoom out of the anchorage planing at 10 kts with our 6hp 4-stroke outboard. While we could go perhaps 6 nm this way, a range of 2 nm was preferable because going fast in the Portabote isn’t very comfortable. I wouldn’t go far out into major straits where dangerous waves can build quickly, and if the wind comes up it can be a cold, wet ride.

But the advantage is a dinghy can be moved easily and quickly to try new fishing spots, it can easily troll at 2-3 kts for salmon fishing, landing a fish is easier because you’re closer to the water line, and it confines the mess (scales and blood) to your dinghy instead of the entire boat deck or cockpit.

One downside is a dinghy is less comfortable – our seats with no back support are pretty killer after an hour, and we don’t have all the at-home comforts of the sailboat (heating, wind/rain protection, a galley, etc).

Fishing at Anchor

This was our least used mode, since it’s less common for an anchorage to have lots of fish in it (fish congregate out in the straits, near points or bottom features that bring them food sources on the current). But, halibut sometimes do head into anchorages and we caught one at anchor that way (the great thing about fishing at anchor is you can leave the bait in for hours, just checking it occasionally). You can also cast artificial lures or jig at anchor, which we saw some boats doing but we haven’t yet caught anything that way.

In some anchorages, salmon were literally jumping around our boat while at anchor.

Fishing Gear

Fishing gear is overwhelmingly confusing because there are thousands of variants, and many of them aren’t labeled or documented well. To make matters worse, the costs can add up quickly (since there are so many little things to buy) and the big ticket items (rod, reel) can range from budget priced to sky high.

All of our items are on the budget side of things. Our initial approach, from past experience not catching any fish in BC, was that we wanted to justify our gear expenditure by catching enough fish to equal the gear value, compared to buying the fish in the grocery store ($12-22/lb for salmon or halibut).

Also my opinion is that very expensive gear doesn’t catch fish that much quicker. It may provide some minor edge and conveniences, but we found pretty basic gear was sufficient in Southeast Alaska. I think being in the right place at the right time, and being skilled at the right fishing techniques, is usually more important than having the latest and greatest technology.

Must Haves:

License , regulations pamphlet , Harvest Record card , and fish identification guides ( rockfish , salmon , bottomfish ).
Southeast Fishing Atlas: Salmon Holes and Halibut Hills (free PDF)
6’ rod – Penn Mariner II Boat rod – I used this because around 6’ is recommended for halibut. This worked fine for salmon, rockfish and cod too.
or Okuma Cold Water 303d line counter reel – we’ve now upgraded to these (more expensive, but well worth it if you’re doing a lot of fishing)
around 60-80lb test is good in case you get a big halibut, braided line is better than monofilament because it’s thinner and will have less drag in current, and you want about 450’ in length because halibut fishing can be as deep as 200-300’.
80lb line is overkill for salmon and other fish (only need 20-30lb) but we found this worked fine for them all. Having one rod/reel saved money and space.
Fishing line leader, 20-30 lb – for connecting things, lures, salmon flashers, divers, etc.
Multitool for cutting line, prepping hooks, removing hook, etc.
Fillet knife – we typically have a bait knife for fish cleaning, bleeding and bait prep and a fillet knife (like Rapala 6″ or 7.5″ ) for the actual filleting.
Descender – mandatory in Alaska (see regulations) for descending non-retention rockfish. (Or a Fancy version )
Connecting hardware such as swivels .

Fish identification can be tough. Our first fish caught was a large cabezon / sculpin / “bullhead”. We usually release these because they’re usually small, but some people like to keep them (good in stews or fried+breaded – the meat is a bit more chewy / dense than other fish).

Halibut fishing / Bottomfishing:

Double circle hook leader for fishing with herring. (This same setup often works for Pacific Cod too). I used mainly size 8/0 or 9/0 hooks.

Leadhead jig with a rubber lure like the Berkley Gulp line .
Buzzbombs – good for jigging for smaller fish like rockfish. I haven’t caught a halibut with one.
Gaff hook or spear/harpoon
Club (or use the handle end of the gaff hook – carefully).

Herring on a double circle hook setup. I made some improvements to the hookup later (losing herring is a nuisance inherent to fishing with bait) and many people have their own favorite technique.

Salmon Fishing:

Deep Six Planing Diver – helps get the lure deeper while trolling. Sport fishing boats use downriggers, but those are expensive and take up room on deck for mounting (although some sailboats do mount them). Note there are different sizes to this – I like to have a big one (5″ / 5oz) for deeper salmon trolling from the dinghy and a smaller one (3.5″) for trolling while sailing.
Net – salmon are acrobatic fighters (especially Coho/silvers) and a net helps get them onboard before they can spit the hook. For bottomfishing I found a net to be unnecessary but it may help in some cases. Nets, unfortunately, are expensive! Get a good one and don’t lose it.

Spoons like the Silver Horde line
Hoochies (plastic squid lures) with a one or two hook leader (3/0 or 4/0 hooks)

Casting lure like the Blue Fox Pixee Spoon
Note: you can fish for salmon with bait (herring) too but we never had much luck with that. Might be more critical for king salmon. We found silvers and pinks will bite anything, as long as it has a color and motion to attract them.

A beautiful sockeye caught trolling a Buzzbomb on a diver (without a flasher) in late July. Pure luck (sockeye are hard to catch in open water – this one was in Chatham Strait off Waterfall cove) – the only sockeye we caught.

Tackle box – we used a Tuperware container for a while but a tacklebox is nice.
Alaska Fishing (3rd ed) by René Limeres and Gunmar Pedersen. I found this book in the Juneau library after our summer of fishing (and wish I had known about it beforehand because it would’ve answered a lot of questions!). This is like the bible of Alaska fishing, so I highly recommend it if you can find it (not always in print but you could buy used or find it in a library in Alaska).
Fishing rod holders
Herring jig – we used these on a couple occasions to catch herring for bait. If you can find a herring ball it’s a lot of fun (watch out for humpbacks though)!
Fish Filleting/Cleaning Board – a lot of other boats had these mounted. We relied on just an old plastic cutting board placed in the cockpit. This makes a mess and more cleanup work.
A portable seat (with back) for our dinghy would make dinghy fishing a lot more comfortable.

Smoking pink salmon. Later on when we started catching a lot of silvers (coho) we smoked some of that too.

It should go without saying, but Southeast Alaska is rainy and chilly, even for much of the summer. Having the right clothing is important for being comfortable and being able to stay out as long as you want to. Shorts + t-shirts fishing was rare.

Waterproof outer layer: Helly Hansen Impertech Deluxe Rain Jacket For sailing I often use a DWR coated (Goretex) jacket ( Marmot 3-in-1 jacket ). Different brands have various trade names but they’re all essentially fabric with a water repellant coating on top, and with all of them that coating wears away or degrades with time. You can re-treat the coating , but even then I’ve found it doesn’t stay dry with 1-2 hours in the rain. Fishing in Alaska I found myself sitting outside in the rain for longer than I would be in the rain while sailing (because we have rain protection in our cockpit). This Helly Hansen jacket is more like a plastic rain slicker (it uses a polyurethane coating). An impermeable layer is much quicker to dry out when you get back to the boat. And I haven’t found breathability to be a problem.
Would-be-nice: Waterproof phone case and mount for the dinghy. I use my phone for navigation (Navionics) in the dinghy, but fishing means I use it even more – checking our drift rate and position over depth contours and bottom features. A RAM mount would’ve been handy (since your hands are already occupied with a pole and tackle) and a waterproof case (my phone survived being rained on a lot, but I was pretty diligent about drying it off afterwards).

[This post contains Amazon affiliate links which help fund this site – the prices to you are the same and if you make a purchase within 24 hours of clicking a product we recommended, we’ll get a small referral bonus].

4 thoughts on “ How We Learned to Fish From a Sailboat in Southeast Alaska – Techniques, Lures and Gear ”

I am enjoying looking at your postings. Newby sailor. Thanks, Kevin

I like what you said about using a rain slicker. I need to get a new fishing pole. I’ll have to consider getting new bait as well.

Great article Patrick!

Excellent details with good references to external resources.

This is the fishing primer those planning to visit the NNE Pacific need to read.

Cheers! Bill

Thank you for the detailed article. Well written and thorough, like the rest of your website. Cheers, Lisa on SV Raven

Bluewater Sailing Techniques Part 12: Fishing from your boat

August 13, 2015

Fishing from your boat is one of the many fun activities while long-distance cruising. Dan Bower's advice on catching a fish for your supper is the last in our series of Bluewater Sailing Techniques

Photo: Tor Johnson

Now there are as many fishing ‘golden rules’, guaranteed methods and fishy tales as there are fishermen. There are also some excellent books dedicated to the subject – these are rather large – so there is a lot to say. This is what works for us; it’s simple and we rarely go hungry.

Choosing your gear

There is a lot out there, racks of rods, reels and shelves of shiny, colourful lures of all shapes and sizes. The best thing is to seek advice from the shop and find out what works for the area you’re fishing in and what fish you’re looking to catch.

You don’t need a rod and reel set-up to land a fish, but it does make your life easier, and the bigger and stronger the equipment, the more it will cost, but the less work it will be to bring one in and the more ‘strikes’ you will land successfully.

On many of my early transatlantic deliveries our fishing kit consisted of some line and an empty 2lt water bottle to wrap it around. With this budget and easy-stow system we landed some fairly sizeable catch, but it required thick gloves, a bit of a fight and all three crewmembers pulling the line. We also lost a few, together with line and lures.

If you’re going for hand line, then it’s the thicker the better, without the clutch lessening the snatch, a bigger line is less likely to snap – it’s also much easier on the hands when pulling it in.

Aboard Skyelark we have a simple, short rod – Penn Tuna Stick with 345 GTI reel and 60lb line – mounted on a stanchion and tend to favour the squid-style surface lures in various colours as bait.

Before setting off on an ocean crossing we encourage our crewmembers to go off in search of their own favourite lucky lure and so we acquire an eclectic selection with all the bubble-blowers, rattlers and teasers that the salesman proffered, and to be fair most do quite well.

Blues, pinks, reds and whites are probably the winners in the tropics.

Line length

After selecting the lure and tying it on, it then comes down to line length, and you want the lure to be just beyond the effects of your wake. We usually go for around four boat lengths (60m), but the faster you are travelling the more line should go out. The boat’s wake causes a disturbance and intrigues the fish, they come up to take a look and, always peckish, they go for the lure.

If it’s too close to the boat the wake will hide it and too far out you may get fewer strikes. A good rule of thumb is 10x the boat speed to give metres – eg 5 knots = 50m, 6 knots = 60m.

We experiment by counting the number of passes of the line guide, as it’s hard to judge how far back a semi-sinking lure is. If you’re using a reel then you can set the break so it only lets out line when a fish strikes. If you’re not using a reel then you need something to take the ‘snatch’ – in this way the line doesn’t snap and the hook becomes more firmly embedded. A small piece of bungy works well.

Reeling it in

It’s called fishing, not catching . . . but hopefully before too long you will get a strike signalled by a satisfying clicking and the line running away. The first thing is to increase the drag (clutch) on the reel. You don’t want to stop the line going out completely as a strong fish will snap it, but you want to increase the drag to tire it out.

You can play the drag to exhaust the fish; however, the more you let out, the more you bring in, but it’s easier to bring in if it’s tired, hence the balance.

It’s also useful to slow the boat down at this stage – consider bearing away or furling the headsail. To wind in, set the drag on the reel so that the line will wind in, but not so tight that the fish can’t take some more if it is feeling particularly energetic.

Once the fish is surfing on the surface, you can make good progress; if it gains purchase and dives deep, the work will become slow. Be patient and if necessary allow out more line.

Getting your catch on board

Once you have the fish close to the boat, it’s time to consider how to get it aboard as quickly and cleanly as possible. It’s worth noting that under sport fishing rules ‘leader in hand’ counts as a catch so once you’re here, it’s as good as caught technically so even if it gets away it’s a victory.

The surest way of landing the fish is to gaff it. A gaff is a big sharp hook on a stick and allows you to hook into the meat before the fish is out of the water. Failing this, you can pull it up onto a sugar scoop or under a guardrail – but be mindful that during this stage a final flurry of rapid thrashing can set your meal free. A gaff is a good investment.

We once caught a beautiful white marlin, which was swimming beside the boat. Neither I nor my able mate was keen on the idea of simply hoiking a monstrous thrashing fish onto the deck and would have been quite happy to let it free, but surrounded by eager clients we had to try something.

The first attempt was to pass a loop of line over the fish and tighten it over its tail – the plan was to get a firm hold and pull one at each end. This wasn’t a success and neither was our hastily put together homemade gaff – the fish in this case jumped the hook and got away unharmed. After blogging our woes, a new gaff arrived for Christmas and the next marlin was landed.

Killing it!

Now comes the rather grisly bit: the fish does have to die, but how best to do it? Whacking it with something heavy – a winch handle is usually the instrument of choice – can be slow, bloody, inhumane and result in some chips in the glassfibre.

Our favoured method is to hold the fish head first in a bucket of water and cut into the gills with a sharp knife. This way the fish will pump its blood out into the bucket: no mess, no drama and it is better for the meat.

Another option is to inebriate it with hard spirits, straight into the gills, or knife in the back of the head/spinal column. Whatever method you use, it needs to be quick – this is kinder to the fish and better for the meat.

Fish supper

Next prepare for cooking. With a small oven-sized fish we would favour keeping it whole, so first it needs to be gutted – we do this in a bucket. For bigger fish this is not practical; even just cutting through the spine can require a cleaver and a mallet.

For these we fillet the fish there and then, running a sharp filleting knife down each side of the bone and removing the flesh. The fish doesn’t need to be gutted, and the head and carcass can be thrown back as part of the food chain. Watch how we do this in our online video.

Where to fish

We generally deploy a line whenever on passage, either across an ocean or just between islands. We don’t fish near reefs or in passes because of the distraction and the risk of ciguatera poisoning (see below). The best times are dawn and dusk, but there is no hard rule; you can strike any time.

We don’t fish at night for the practical reason of dealing with a catch in the dark, so our line goes out just before dawn and in after sunset – you have to be in it to win it!

A note on ciguatera poisoning

Ciguatera is a toxin that can accumulate in fish that feed off the algae on coral reefs (or eat the fish that do) and while it’s harmless to the fish it can be very unpleasant for humans. Although rarely fatal, symptoms occur within three to five hours, but can develop and worsen over four or five days and can last for weeks, months and even for years!

Tingling and numbness around the nose and mouth, vomiting, diarrhoea, aching joints and muscle pain, weak pulse, feeling cold and weak, shocks and burning sensations are all possible – and medical attention should be sought.

The toxin is generally limited to reef fish and their predators, so is more relevant to spear fishing or trolling around the reefs. The bigger the fish, the more likely that the toxin levels will be high – they have eaten a lot of little fish – so keeping to smaller fish lessens the risk. However, the toxin levels can also build up in humans before becoming dangerous, so if you regularly consume reef fish, you are at risk.

Usually anything caught offshore is not affected and pelagic fish are safe (tuna, mahi mahi, marlin, wahoo). The only sure way is to abstain from eating reef fish, but you’re fairly safe if you take advice – local fishermen will know. Ask them what is safe from which areas (this can change from reef to reef). Groupers, jacks, barracuda and the moray eel are particularly predatory fish and are the most at risk, so should be avoided.

Our approach aboard Skyelark is to eat anything caught offshore and we prefer to buy any reef fish from fishermen or eat them in a restaurant where the chances are you should be OK.

Do’s and don’ts

√ Do experiment with different coloured lures.

√ Do slow the boat down to help reel it in.

√ Do throw a line out when on passage.

√ Do buy the best rod and reel your budget allows.

√ Do take care with the hook as you bring the fish on board. One crewmember on an ARC yacht needed surgery to remove a fish hook from his arm.

√ Do seek advice from local sailors about what works for them.

x Don’t take any risks with eating a fish that may have ciguatera.

x Don’t be afraid to cut the line if you end up with a fish much larger than you are happy to try to land.

x Don’t try to pull a fish in on a handline without slowing the boat right down and wearing gloves.

x Don’t Don’t troll around reefs or passes if you’re not sure about ciguatera .

Reels can take a lot of punishment and it is worth buying some spare parts if you are away on a long trip.
A gaff is a really useful piece of kit for getting the fish on board – it can be a big struggle without one.
Two hours after sunrise or before sunset is the best time to fish.
Make sure you have attached a swivel and leader before the lure.
Use line thick enough and strong enough for the fish you hope to catch.
Try making your own lures out of rubber gloves.
Rig flying fish for bait.

There is a ciguatera test kit – see www.cigua.com

Baked fish (mahi mahi)

1 oven-sized whole mahi mahi, or fillets

2 onions, sliced

Garlic cloves to taste.

Splash of lemon juice or white wine

Cover fillets or stuff whole fish with onions, lemons and garlic, place in tin foil, splash over wine and bake for 20mins or until cooked. Serve with a bit of butter and sides.

Dan and Em Bower

Dan and Em Bower, both in their thirties, are lifelong sailors. Six years ago they bought Skyelark of London , a Skye 51 by American designer Rob Ladd, built in Taiwan in 1986, and have been sailing and chartering her ever since, making some 12 transatlantic crossings and covering around 60,000 miles.

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Handline Fishing

Handline Fishing Tips for Offshore Sailors

Vegetarian boaters should read no further - this isn't for you.

But handline fishing is a skill that all other cruising sailors should acquaint themselves with.

Don't be put off by the word 'handline' - you don't have to hold it all the time. Just wait until a hooked fish announces its predicament, then haul it in.

We're not talking about sport fishing here - sailboat fishing is all about catching fish to eat.

And there's more good news...

You won't need any expensive rods and reels.

Handline fishing gear is simple, robust and inexpensive.

Once you've tasted your first handline-caught fish - whether caught while sailing offshore or at anchor - I'm pretty sure you'll agree that the investment was cheap indeed.

A Handline Fishing Rig for Sailing Offshore

Here's the basic gear, a simple handline fishing rig for trolling offshore...

Just 100 feet (30m) of 300lb main line, a snap swivel and a further 20 feet (7m) of 300lb leader attached to a skirted trolling lure.

You won't be able to tie secure knots in this heavy line; only crimped connections will hold under load.

Note that the trolling weight on the main line is optional - only use it if the lure skips along the surface and refuses to submerge. For best results the lure should 'swim' a few feet below the surface, but should break the surface every few seconds before submerging again.

Look for the bubble trail streaming out from the lure. This is the sign of a good, fish-catching lure as it's this that creates 'noise' in the water and attracts the fish to your lure.

Whatever type of trolling lure you use for handline fishing, remember to check it now and again to remove any flotsam it may have picked up, redeploy it and await the arrival of Neptune's bounty.

Use a Snubber Line for Handline Fishing

a snubber for an offshore trolling handline

Artwork by Andrew Simpson

This is an essential addition to any trolling handline. The 'snubber' is the bungee cord; it acts as a shock absorber and will prevent the fish from tearing itself free of the hook when it first realises it's in a spot of bother. It also lets you know when you've got a fish. If it's fully extended, get pulling!

The eBook that contains everything you need to know about catching fish from a sailboat!

If you're serious about catching fish while underway, then you really should take a look at it.

Considering its true value, you'll be absolutely amazed at its price! In a nice way, of course...

Take a look at 'Secrets of Sailboat Fishing' Here!

Ocean fish are fast, powerful creatures and in their struggle to get free they will use every ounce of their considerable energy. So, a few safety rules when handline fishing:~

Always use tough gloves when hauling in the fish and never, ever take a loop of line around your hand;
When hauling in a fish, be careful not to step into the loops of line that will accumulate in the cockpit. OK, the fish on the end of the line may not be enormous but the one that grabs it just might be!
Always have a sharp knife to hand, just in case;
A large, hugely agitated freshly caught fish leaping around in the cockpit is at its most dangerous. Place a wet towel over it to calm it down, and pour some strong alcohol (not your best malt whisky - the cheapest firewater will do the trick) in its gills to accelerate its passing;
Wait until the fish is dead before attempting to unhook it.

Double Your Chances!

Why not use two trolling handlines, one from each quarter? Make one around 100 feet long (30m) and the second one a little longer, say 120 feet (35m) and use a different type of lure. As soon as you get a strike on one, bring the other one in, as two fish on at once will almost certainly lead to a major tangle - and no fish at all.

The longer line should be on the leeward side, which will help to space them apart.

What will My Handline Fishing Rig Catch?

king mackerel caught on an offshore trolling handline of Nevis in the Caribbean

In warm ocean zones these handline fishing rigs will catch the fish that hunt their prey close to the surface - tuna, wahoo, dorado, kingfish, barracuda, mackerel, jacks etc.

And having caught your fish, you'll need to know how to kill it humanely, clean it and prepare it for cooking.

Ideally, your catch will be around the size of the kingfish shown here, but now and again you may hook one of the oceans' great billfish, a sailfish or a marlin for example.

The odds are that you won't get it to the boat - nor would you want to, I'm guessing. But if you do, please unhook it and release it if you can, or cut the line close to the mouth of the fish and let it swim free if you can't.

Are you serious about putting together a robust handline for offshore trolling?

Do you want to know exactly what to buy, where to buy it online and how much to pay for it?

If so, take a look at Assembling Your Offshore Trolling Handline .

They're just too magnificent a creature to kill, and they're not the best tasting fish in the sea.

Although these huge fish will take a small lure, they're more likely to ignore it than they would a large one.

So unless you want to do battle with an ocean gamefish, it's a good idea when sailboat fishing to use lures that don't exceed 8 inches (200mm) or so in overall length.

Top Tip #1 - Try a Teaser!

Fish get very excited when they detect a shoal of baitfish splashing around on the surface. You can replicate this activity by towing a splashy object a few feet in front of your lure. A half-filled plastic bottle works well, as does a net bag full of wine bottle corks.

If you're using two trolling handlines, one from each quarter, tie the teaser line to the backstay and make sure that all the splashing takes place a few feet ahead of the lure that's closest to the boat. This deception is probably the most effective way of getting fish to take an interest in your lures.

Top Tip #2 - Rig Up a Daisy Chain!

a daisy chain rig for an offshore trolling handline

And you can also create more noise with a daisy chain.

A low-cost version can be made up by positioning a few plastic squid skirts along the leader at around 3 foot intervals, each one separated from the other by an overhand knot (or better, a crimp) and a bead.

Only the lure at the end of the line sports a hook; the others are merely decoys.

But what are the best saltwater trolling lures for sailboat fishing?

Next ~ My Very Fishy Story...

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March 09, 2024

Sailboat Fishing Guide: How to Fish from a Sailboat

Do you know how to fish from a sailboat.

Sailboat fishing is one of my favorite activities during our boat trips. Fortunately, many of the most popular sailing destinations like the Bahamas and British Virgin Islands (check out my BVI specific fishing tips or Exuma fishing guide ) are also excellent places to fish.

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Better Sailing

Trolling From A Sailboat: How To

Trolling is the fishing technique in which at least one fishing line is drawn through the water. This can be behind moving a sailboat or any other boat for that matter. It is utilized in catching pelagic fish like mackerel, mahi-mahi, tuna, swordfish, and other big game fish. Speed, location, weather conditions, and of course, equipment will have a significant impact on the kind of fish you are going to catch.

Sometimes, people mistake trolling with trawling, which is a different technique of fishing in which the net is drawn through the water rather than fishing lines. This requires a special fishing boat and cannot be done with a sailboat.

Out in open water, chances of getting larger fish are high. In the open sea, trolling speeds must be higher. Somewhere between five and seven knots. Be prepared if you want to go to the islands. You will definitely require heavy gear for trolling, especially when sailing. At least thirty-pound test line and if you are going for bigger game fish you have to have much more than that.

When sailing, you can not always halt the boat. If you want to hook large fish, you will definitely require gear that is heavy enough to actually pull fish while you’re trying to slow the sailboat down. If you’re motoring, it would not be difficult since you can stop whenever you want, but that is not the case on long trips or passages so when sailing is the only option. You could troll with a fifteen-pound test line is the latter was the case.

When it is completely wound in then, gradually let bare line pull out again during still sailing, to make sure you do not get twisted up areas of line come overboard. If possible, let out for a bit more line than the point when it became twisted. While having nothing on end of the line and water moving beside the line, twists will eliminate themselves in no time. Now, let’s start with the basics and the fun part:

Rod or Hand-line?

Personally, I will pick a rod over a hand-line every day for a couple of reasons. First of all, I have experienced more bites and have caught more and bigger fish with a rod and reel. I am not sure why though.

Maybe it’s because the rod is swinging up and down more when sailing and that gives the lures more action. One more season to love the rod and reel combo is the noise it makes when you hook a fish. When a fish is hooked, and the reel starts screaming, you know it’s game on!

This trolling fishing rod from Amazon is one of the best for its price.

Saltwater Offshore Sailing Trolling Rod Big Game Roller Rod Conventional Boat Fishing Pole

A strong fishing line is essential when trolling (duh!). Especially when sailing since you can’t just stop your boat on a second’s notice. Personally, I use monofilament line on the top and braided line on the bottom of the spool. That is because a big fish will take a lot of line from your spool and you will have to let the fish run before you start reeling it in. Braid line is compact and spools really well while mono is flexible, so the fish can’t easily break away. With a set up like this, you will never run out of line; especially if you opt for a large boat reel.

This set up also makes it easy and less expensive to replace the top mono line that degrades faster because of the heavier exposure to water and sunlight. Make sure to rinse your spool after fishing every time since that will help them last longer.

Do get a good quality ball bearing swivel for trolling. They are more costly than regular swivels, but they work exceptionally even under heavy load. When trolling, the bait or lure is continuously pulling on the swivel, so the regular swivel may not turn. This means that your lure will be spinning and if you are lucky, then it will just put hundreds of twists instead of thousands in the line, which would be a nightmare for you.

You may not notice it at first during trolling, however the second you try to reel your line you will understand what I am talking about. First of all, check if slack is positioned on the line because it will turn up severely. If your links twist, you need to get the twists out by just carefully reeling in the turned line, take necessary precautions to avoid the line getting any further slack during reel.

You should at least go for a 30-pound test line when trolling from a sailboat. Personally, I always go for something like an 80-pound test line because I always try being optimistic.

After the Fish Is Hooked

After the fish is on your hook, you should try to slow down the boat. This is not a problem when you are running the engine but if you are on sail things become a little trickier. First of all, you should furl your genoa. Then, if the fish is big, you should drop the main sail as well. This will make reeling the fish easier. This is really a two-person job, but it can be done singlehanded as well.

When you pull the fish onboard

First of all, you need a gaff to “stab” the fish and bring it onboard. You can bet something more expensive but a cheap gaff from Amazon will do its job just fine. A “gaff” is a pole with a large hook on the one end that is especially useful to bring larger fish on the boat. Alternatively, for smaller fish, you can use a hand net, but I personally prefer the gaff. That is because when you are about to bring this fish onboard, the hook may fall off or the line can break when pulling the fish on the boat. Keep in mind that the fish will try to swim underneath the boat, and that is a problem because the kneel could cut the line. If that happens, be prepared to move yourself in either direction to avoid this.

Before pulling the fish onboard, make sure to water the deck. This will make it much easier to clean up. That is especially true if you have a teak deck and you are reeling a tuna in. Tuna will bleed heavily on your boat, and if the teak is dry will absorb the blood, making it difficult to clean.

After The Fish Is Onboard

First of all, be a sportsman and don’t let the fish suffer. There are a couple of ways to do this. The first is to take a cutting board, place it beneath the fish, and make a deep cut/stab on the top of the spine or into the brain. The fish will bleed a lot, especially if it’s a tuna or other large game fish. A good idea is to have a bucket and place its head until it bleeds out to protect your deck, especially if it’s teak. Another option is to pour alcohol straight on the gills, that will kill it fast as well.

Now, you can fillet the fish and depending on the size and how long it will take you to consume all of it you can place the fillets on smaller bags and place it your freezer or cooler.

You can read my article about grilling or cooking fish on a sailboat, but if you like sushi you can eat it raw as well. To be honest, I do enjoy my tuna raw, especially when it is that fresh with some rice.

>>Also Read: How To Cook On a Sailboat

Trolling Lures

It is optimal to have many trolling lines behind your boat with different types and sizes to target different species and different fish sizes. You can buy your lures from your local angling shop or straight from Amazon . A good tip is to buy a variety pack so you can try a wide variety of lures.

Other Essentials

Fishing Rod Holder: Most sailboats don’t have fishing rod holders built-in but don’t worry, they are pretty cheap and very easy to install. If you do not want to drill holes in your boat then these mounts from Amazon are your best option.

Trolling Dodgers and Flashers: This is a flat-like object that attaches to your fishing line and serves two objectives. One, it shines into the water, and that attracts fish and the other, makes a noise similar to other fish swimming; that attracts other fish as well.

Trolling Divers: Some fish don’t bite very close to the surface, and if you are hunting for those species you will need a trolling diver . This takes the lure down to the strike zone and multiples the chances of you bagging your dream fish.

Reels: Get a large boat reel that you can spool a lot of line into. I always prefer reels with a line counter, which means you are always aware of how much line you got behind your boat. Go with brands like Penn , Shimano (High-end Options), Okuma (Middle and VFM Option), KastKing , Sougayilang (Value Options).

Fishing Rod Belt: This is especially useful when you are trying to reel larger fish. Because of the functionality of the belt, you will be able to use your own body’s weight to pull on the fish. A cheap belt like this one will make all the difference in the world when reeling a fish in.

Now, let’s take a look at the more technical side of things:

The cruising speed of a sailboat is actually ideal for most species targeted when trolling. Some others require higher speeds but what can you do? (Nothing)

While trolling most people have enough information to calculate the speed which is suitable for fish they are targeting, rarely some people know to take environmental factors into account, which causes drift.

Drift is very important, particularly where you will have to deal with major currents because it alternates speed of lures as they travel through water. If basic navigation is known to you, then you have already a basic idea about the difference between water and overground speed. In trolling, you will need to take into account the speed through water because fish are apprehensive with this speed, and it is the speed that directs the action of the bait or lure.

For many people, while trolling, this means that using paddlewheel speedo rather than the Global Positioning System to establish their speed while they start trolling. These speedometers are infamously unreliable. A tiny thing like kelp or a small twig of seaweed may toss them off, even the finest paddlewheels require continuous calibration.

How will you be able to discover the trolling speed that is needed?

The answer to this question is hidden in your baits. While trolling some people get the speed to the point they think it is right, then they grab one of the lures and observe it “swim” through water? When it seems to be actually swimming, then you have found the accurate speed.

If someone changes course, then the tide also changes simultaneously, you enter a part with a different current, the wind changes significantly, and because of that, you will be going in the incorrect speed again. This is not a one-time set and then forget the speed proposition. You will require to continuously pay attention, even when you do not believe that anything has recently changed, recheck action of the baits at least every hour or by holding a lure next to the boat and keep observing it.

There is one extra thing you will require to be familiar with the speed: when your outcome is uninspiring, change it. Many people have put along, just waiting for the lure to be picked up or tide to face variation, when a small change in speed may make all the change in the world. So if the fishing is not fast, try to crank the speed a little bit up. Or try slowing them a little down. A slight modification in speed may work, and you can begin catching.

One more variable many people forget while trolling is to check the depth of the lures. They may try to let out more line than they have to when they see a fish down in-depth on the fish finder, or they pull lines up a bit when fish start to seem to be in shallow waters. But this makes about as far sense as aiming a gun in the same direction of a target, pulling the trigger, then somehow supposing to hit bull’s eye mysteriously.

Unluckily, a list of features affecting depth where lures should swim is lengthy and varied: lure, line diameter, current, weight, lure size and shape, and many more.

Well, there is a common thumb rule you may utilize to get a feel for wherever those baits are swimming. It is also known as “the Rule of Fives”. While trolling at five miles per hour with five ounces in weight and fifty feet line out, the bait will be approximately five feet below the surface. Of course, you will rarely be going precisely five miles per hour, using exactly five ounces, and letting out exactly fifty feet line. This is something that depends on the resign of the lure as well and this rule applies to simple lures that are not designed to go up or down on the water.

However, by using “the Rule of Fives”, you can perform some basic math to approximate the depth of the lures. If all these baits are precisely at the same depth, then you have just dishonored one of the “cardinal rules of trolling” i.e., always set some lines at different depths. It will not only help you catch fish while they are dispersed throughout the water column, but it will definitely help you hook larger fish.

Trolling From A Sailboat – Conclusion

It doesn’t matter where you want to fish and what you want to fish for, there are high chances that you will have to use trolling techniques. The main question is, how effective are these techniques? Well, trolling while sailing may seem straightforward, you just have to drag baits or lures behind your sailboat. But, you also have to make these lures look alive, and many more countless details that isolate the “pros” from the amateurs. I hope that I was able to help you with this article enough to for you to start with trolling and start bagging some big fish.

Peter is the editor of Better Sailing. He has sailed for countless hours and has maintained his own boats and sailboats for years. After years of trial and error, he decided to start this website to share the knowledge.

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FISHING FROM SAILBOATS: For Whom The Bait Trolls

A LOT OF BLUEWATER SAILORS I know complain that they never catch fish while on passage. I once had this problem, too, but since perfecting my technique I’ve never once been skunked on a passage during which I have tried to catch fish. It’s really not very hard and is a great way to vary your diet at sea.

Some hardcore “veggie-lantes” I know do like to argue that it is immoral to catch and eat fish. But the way I see it you have to look at things from the fish’s perspective. A fish that is bigger than you normally will not hesitate to eat you if it is hungry. But it also probably won’t kill you for sport and prominently display your remains in its home. Thus, rule number one in my guide to ethical fishing: never kill a fish for fun.

As far as the actual catching of fish goes, the experience from their point-of-view must seem supernatural. The closest equivalent, in our terms, would go something like this: you’re walking down the street minding your own business when suddenly a delicious cheeseburger appears in front of you. You succumb to the temptation, grab the burger, and take a bite. Next thing you know, you are suddenly yanked into another spatial dimension you never knew existed, then are butchered and eaten by aliens. There is no way to make this a pleasant experience, so there is no point in prolonging it. Hence, rule number two: do not “play” a fish on a line, but land it and kill it as quickly as possible.

People who kill fish for sport, besides driving boats that burn way too much fuel, are often obsessed with gear. Therefore, as a matter of principle, I also believe ethical fishing sailors should use as little gear as possible. This is both more convenient and more effective. Rods and reels, after all, are a real pain to store on a sailboat. Plus, near as I can tell, they don’t really help increase the number of fish you catch.

The one time I went head-to-head with a real gear freak fishing off a sailboat–his fancy rod and reel and amazingly expensive lures versus my ratty old handlines–I totally smoked him. This was on a passage from Massachusetts to Bermuda aboard a 47-foot cutter. We agreed beforehand we’d each have one corner of the transom to fish from, and while he fiddled with his lures on an almost hourly basis, I just plunked my handline in the water and forgot about it. I soon caught two nice tuna, then put away my line for fear of snagging more than we could eat. I urged my shipmate to do the same (citing rule number one above), but he refused, as his pride by now was sorely offended. Fortunately, there was nothing for me (or the fish) to worry about. His pride remained offended, and the only thing he ever caught was a bird that persisted in diving on his lure.

To achieve such results, the first important trick I’ve learned is to put multiple lures in the water and show the fish a real meal instead of just a snack. Instead of trailing just one lure on a single line, I now routinely trail four lures on two lines (that is, two lures in series on each line) and almost always catch something. The lures I use are cheap rubber squids, which look tasty to both tuna and dorado. My lines are 200-pound test monofilament. Using such heavy line is more humane, in that you can land a fish very quickly (see rule two above), and, again, is more effective, as 200-pound test line is very unlikely to break under load. I find, too, it is tough enough that you needn’t put a steel leader in front of the hook.

I store my lines on plastic yo-yos and set them up with bungee cords and metal clips at the end. When deploying a line, I simply clip the end of the bungee cord to a lifeline or stanchion base. I then gather the bungee cord in a loose bight and fasten the end of the monofilament line to a lifeline with a clothespin. This serves two purposes. First, the clothespin popping off the lifeline alerts you to the fact that you have a fish on the line. Second, the slack bight of bungee cord, combined with the cord’s great elasticity, act as an excellent shock absorber when a fish first hits your lure and prevents it from being ripped from the fish’s mouth.

Another important trick: keep your lines short. This may seem counterintuitive, as many assume fish won’t hit a lure near a boat. In fact, however, fish in the open ocean are often attracted to boats, as long as they don’t hear engines running. The best technique is to let out just enough line that your lures don’t sink too far into the water and occasionally skip on the surface. This sort of action is highly attractive to ocean predators.  Having short lines also makes it much easier to land a fish once you’ve hooked it. You won’t need to slow down the boat to get your catch aboard, as the lack of scope in the line, combined with the speed at which it is being trailed, will keep the fish bouncing along on or near the surface. This prevents it from getting under the water where it can get its tail working and put up a fight. How short is short? Probably shorter than you think. The lines I currently use, which have worked very well for me, are only about 50 feet long.

As for killing a fish once it’s aboard, conventional wisdom has it that pouring alcohol down its gills is the fastest and least painful method. Whenever I try this, however, I am never impressed with the results. First, it seems a horrible waste of a valuable resource. Second, in my experience, the fish goes absolutely crazy as soon as the alcohol touches its gills and flails around frantically like a possessed demon for several minutes. To me it does not look painless. Another popular alternative is to bludgeon the fish with a winch handle, which is quick, but messy. My preferred method is to simply let the poor creature “drown” in the atmosphere. It takes little time and causes little fuss.

Culinary Imperatives

Once you have mastered these techniques, your only problem will be deciding how to prepare your fish for dinner. I’d love to suggest this, too, is a moral issue, but really it is only a matter of taste. That said, I do feel it is almost a crime against nature to do anything other than eat your catch raw. To this end, I always carry some wasabi, ginger, and soy sauce whenever I sail offshore. And when I do catch a fish I usually compel my crew to at least sample it au naturel. They often complain about this beforehand, but never afterwards. I’ve found there’s nothing like a meal of truly fresh sashimi to help philistines open their minds to the more sublime aspects of bluewater sailing.

Developing a taste for sashimi does have other benefits. For one thing, if you ever end up in a survival drift aboard a liferaft, you won’t have any trouble getting used to the cuisine. Also, if a cheeseburger from another dimension does suddenly appear in front of you someday, you’ll be less likely to take a bite out of it.

Preferred Targets

The fish you are most likely to catch sailing to and from the tropics in the North Atlantic are tuna and dorado. Both are very good to eat (raw or cooked) and are fast swimmers that like to feed near the surface of the water. This makes them excellent prey for bluewater sailors itching to trail lines behind their boats while on passage. Trolling lures at speeds from five to eight knots usually works well for both species.

There are several different species of tuna. Lesser tuna such as albacore and skipjack generally never grow longer than four feet, while bluefin, the most prized species, can reach nine feet in length and weigh over 1,000 pounds. Tuna are unique among fish in that they are warm-blooded and have very oxygen-rich blood. The ability to generate body heat not only allows them to swim in a wide range of water temperatures, but also helps make them very powerful swimmers. Described as having a “perfect” hydrodynamic body form, they can hit speeds of 40 mph over short distances. They grow rapidly and are relatively long-lived and, unlike dorado, will also feed in deep water as far down as 1,600 feet.

The species of tuna you will most likely encounter fishing from your sailboat is the yellowfin, so-called because its second dorsal and anal fins are both bright yellow. Yellowfin generally grow to a maximum length of six feet. They love to form schools, whether with their own kind or other species of the same size, and are especially attracted to floating objects in the water.

Because tuna have such a large quantity of rich red blood in their bodies, you should first drain away the blood before cleaning the fish. After the fish is dead, make deep incisions with a sharp knife behind its gills, then drag the fish in the water by its tail behind your boat for 30 minutes or so. This way you’ll make much less of mess when butchering the animal, and its meat will be sweeter.  Dorado, also known as mahi-mahi, or dolphin, don’t live nearly as long as tuna and grow to a maximize size of about five feet. Most are smaller and on average weigh 15 to 25 pounds. They are distinguished by their brilliant coloration—an array of vivid yellows, blues, and greens. These colors change rapidly when the fish is landed and fade to a dull yellowish-grey by the time it is dead.

Dorado often travel in mated pairs. The males are easily identified by their bulbous foreheads, which grow more and more prominent as they mature. The fish are surprisingly loyal to their mates—if you catch one, the other will continue to follow your boat in mourning, and you will likely catch it, too. On one memorable occasion, I snagged both a male and female simultaneously on the same line and came within an inch of landing the pair together.

One thing a dorado is very apt to do once hooked is put up a fight. If you fail to follow my advice about short lines and allow a dorado enough scope to manuever freely, you may be treated to an exciting display of aerial acrobatics before you land your dinner.

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What a great article Charlie. I fish too, mackerel in Ireland, cod in Iceland, tuna in Azores. The dorado got away. Totally with you on sashimi. Marinated & ate the seabirds that got hooked – very good. Most sailors don’t fish. I never understood that.. why? I forage as well. picked about 10 different wild greens in Iceland alone – handy given that veggies can’t commercially be grown there & must be shipped in. Nice n fresh.

@ Nick: Seriously? You eat seabirds? That never ever occurred to me. I always thought they must taste terrible. I may have try one now! charlie

Had jellyfish in Chinatown, delicious, haven’t tried that at sea yet..

Great article, Charlie. So you use all hand lines (no rods/reels)? Do you retrieve with a gloves? And is that a young Charles Doane on your Alberg in the first picture?

@SailFar: Thanks, mate. All handlines is definitely the way to go on a sailboat, IMHO. I don’t need gloves to reel them in. I wrap the line on to the yo-yo turn by turn, and the heavy monofilament presents no problems re hand abuse. That is not me in the first photo, but it is my old Alberg 35. That was shot en route from the Cape Verdes to Antigua; the guy landing the fish is my old buddy Mike Csenger. The shot of me is the one further down where I’m licking raw tuna on a scoop transom. charlie

Charlie you should get paid for this stuff 🙂 Nice article! Denny S/V Aleta

@Denny: Thanks, mate! I’ve been thinking the same thing. If I put up a PayPal button, would you hit it? Or just think I was begging? charlie

charlie sounds like a trick question.

Denny Ray S/V Aleta

Is the end of mono-filament tied to the bungee? It’s not clear from the article…

Also, which knots do you use to assemble dual lure rig with 200 lbs mono?

Just loved this. Tried on passage between Tortola & St Croix– 6-8 hour reaches each way at 6ish kts, no joy! Any ideas on how to fine tune it? (We were towing a dinghy, could that be a problem?)

@Ted: Sorry to hear that! The dinghy might be an issue, I don’t know. Personally I wouldn’t troll lines while towing a dinghy just for fear of them getting tangled up with each other. If you feel you have to do it that way maybe letting out more line would be a good idea. Also, that’s not that much time with lures in the water. I do this over multi-day passages. I catch fish every passage, but not every day. Keep trying! charlie

Charlie, thanks for your very quick reply. I’ll keep at it!

Re: Nick Kats. Years ago in my old hunting grounds I came across a bunch of Hippies who had set up a summer camp in an old disused cabin near a secluded ocean beach and they routinely roasted Seagulls as if they were Chickens. I passed on their invitation to sample the Gull and proceeded onward to hunt my ducks and geese.

I suppose one can eat anything that is edible, and to be honest the difference between eating Duck, Pelican, Goose Chicken or Gull is one of degree and not one of kind.

How to you secure the end of the line specifically?

I am going to be living on a 43 foot dufour, I have no idea how to sail it yet but I spent a winter fishing in Key West. I too also thought it was such a waste not to get fish while on a sailboat. My idea was to just spear fish, but I will definitely add this technique for travel days. I do something similar as a canoe guide, fish while traveling. Very grateful for this article. Can you give more detail like a shopping list and I’ll echo the thoughts of others on how do you connect the elastic to the mono or is it done by connecting both to the yoyo? Please excuse my ignorance, just learned the words “tack” & “jibe” today. Great article. Miles

THE 10 BEST Moscow Fishing Charters & Tours

Fishing charters & tours in moscow.

Adrenaline & Extreme Tours
Gear Rentals
Nature & Wildlife Tours
Fishing Charters & Tours
5.0 of 5 bubbles
4.0 of 5 bubbles & up
District Southern (YuAO)
3rd Transport Ring (TTK)
District Central (TsAO)
Garden Ring
Danilovskiy
Biryulyovo East
Zamoskvorechye
Meshchanskiy
Good for Kids
Good for Big Groups
Adventurous
Budget-friendly
Good for a Rainy Day
Hidden Gems
Good for Couples
Honeymoon spot
Good for Adrenaline Seekers
Things to do ranked using Tripadvisor data including reviews, ratings, photos, and popularity.

1. S-cruises

2. Moscow Fishing Lodge

3. fishing trip club of alexei chernushenko, 4. dva peskarya, 5. sea wind.

6. UTS GROUP

7. Magiya Otdykha

8. sportfish tour, 9. fishing adventures club.

10. Kolchenko Vladislav Sergeevich

Magiya Otdykha
Fishing Trip Club of Alexei Chernushenko

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Weeping, weak and soaked, dozens of Rohingya refugees rescued after night on hull of capsized boat

M EULABOH, Indonesia (AP) — An Indonesian search and rescue ship on Thursday located a capsized wooden boat that had been carrying dozens of Rohingya Muslim refugees, and began pulling survivors who had been standing on its hull to safety.

An AP photographer aboard the rescue ship said 10 people had been taken aboard local fishing boats and another 59 were being saved by the Indonesian craft.

Men, women and children, weak and soaked from the night’s rain, wept as the rescue operation got underway and people were taken aboard a rubber dinghy to the rescue boat.

There were contradictory reports about whether anyone had died in the accident, with survivors saying many who had been aboard when the boat departed from Bangladesh were still unaccounted for, but authorities insisted everyone had been rescued.

“We have examined all 69 Rohingya that we rescued and from our examination, there was no information from them about any deaths," Fathur, a rescue officer who gave only one name, told reporters. "We managed to evacuate all 69 people and no one stated that anyone had died.”

With the addition of six Rohingya who were rescued by private fishing boats that were at the scene well before authorities launched the official rescue mission, a total of 75 people from the boat were saved.

But Samira, a 17-year-old who was among the refugees from the Kutupalong camp in Bangladesh who had been traveling to Malaysia, said there had been 146 people on board, raising the prospect that 71 could still be missing at sea.

She said the boat began foundering three days ago and then capsized on Wednesday, adding that her nephew was among those unaccounted for.

“All of us are very sad," she said. “We are very hungry and weak.”

When fishing vessels reached the scene on Wednesday, desperate refugees clamored aboard one of the boats, overloading it and causing it to also capsize. It was not immediately clear what happened to the crew on board.

After being informed about the refugees in need of help by the fishermen Wednesday morning, an official search and rescue team set off from Banda Aceh city on Wednesday evening. They didn't reach the area of the accident until early in the morning and could not initially locate the capsized boat.

When they came upon it midday Thursday, they found the refugees on its hull, desperate for help.

They rescued 42 men, 18 women and nine children and took some to a temporary shelter in the Aceh Besar district and others to a local hospital for treatment.

Amiruddin, a tribal fishing community leader in Aceh Barat district, said those rescued indicated that the boat was sailing east when it started leaking and then strong currents pushed it toward the west of Aceh.

About 740,000 Rohingya fled earlier to Bangladesh to escape a brutal counterinsurgency campaign by security forces in their homeland of Myanmar.

Thousands have been trying to flee overcrowded camps in Bangladesh to neighboring countries, with Indonesia seeing a spike in refugee numbers since November which prompted it to call on the international community for help. Rohingya arriving in Aceh face some hostility from some fellow Muslims.

Indonesia, like Thailand and Malaysia, is not a signatory to the United Nations’ 1951 Refugee Convention outlining their legal protections, and so is not obligated to accept them. However, they have so far provided temporary shelter to refugees in distress.

Last year, nearly 4,500 Rohingya — two-thirds of them women and children — fled their homeland of Myanmar and the refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh by boat, the United Nations refugee agency reported. Of those, 569 died or went missing while crossing the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, the highest death toll since 2014.

Returning safely to Myanmar is virtually impossible because the military that attacked them overthrew Myanmar’s democratically elected government in 2021 . No country has offered them any large-scale resettlement opportunities.

Tarigan reported from Jakarta. AP journalist David Rising contributed to this story from Bangkok.

Rohingya refugees stand on their capsized boat before being rescued in the waters off West Aceh, Indonesia, Thursday, March 21, 2024. The wooden boat carrying dozens of Rohingya Muslims capsized off Indonesia's northernmost coast on Wednesday, according to local fishermen. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)

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Sailboat Fishing Guide: How to Fish from a Sailboat
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Sailboat fishing: expert tips on fishing from a sailboat
Sailboat Fishing in the Caribbean
Sailboat fishing: expert tips on fishing from a sailboat

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COMMENTS

Sailboat Fishing Guide: How to Fish from a Sailboat
Sailboat fishing is one of my favorite activities during our boat trips. Fortunately, many of the most popular sailing destinations like the Bahamas and British Virgin Islands (check out my BVI specific fishing tips or Exuma fishing guide) are also excellent places to fish.
Sailboat fishing: expert tips on fishing from a sailboat
Place in a mixing bowl and squeeze over 1 ½ limes. Season with salt, and toss to combine. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours until the fish turns opaque. When ready to eat, drain the fish, add the spring onion, chopped herbs, chilli, coconut milk, a generous pinch of black pepper, and any extra vegetables, and stir well.
Sailboat Fishing: Feasible and Fun
Here's what I learned from fishing on my sailboat, so far: 1. Do all the prep (rig your gear, cut bait etc.) before you leave. It is a real pain to do in the cockpit, it makes a mess, and then you can't actually sit down. 2. The boom is always in the way of the rod. Always. 3.
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The basics of fishing by trolling onboard a sailboat. You don't need much to catch a lot of fish. I'll show you a few kinds of fishing lures that work well u...
Fishing From A Yacht: The Complete Guide
There are three basic ways to fish from a sailboat. You could fish while towing a lure behind your boat while either under power or sail (also known as trolling ), or while drifting (also known as jigging ), or at anchor. 1. Trolling. This technique involves casting the hook with a ready bait behind a slow-moving boat.
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Our fishing setup for fishing onboard a sailboat on passage. For more information you can check out my how-to fishing guide which details everything you nee...
10 Top Sailboat Fishing Tips for Offshore Sailors
10 Top Sailboat Fishing Tips for Offshore Sailors. As an offshore sailor and a saltwater angler, sailboat fishing is my passion. For any sailor on a long offshore passage, the ability to pull a few protein packed, omega 3 rich fish from the sea is a rather useful skill.
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Dan Bower's advice on catching a fish for your supper is the last in our series of Bluewater Sailing Techniques Become a FREE SUBSCRIBER to Yachting World's...
How We Learned to Fish From a Sailboat in Southeast Alaska
Sailboat Fishing vs Traditional Sport Fishing. Fishing while cruising on a sailboat has a few unique aspects to it. Cons: Sailboats have limited space for fishing rods and filleting tables. High freeboard means it can be hard to reach down to the water to net a fish. Sailboats go slow and usually don't have trolling motors (you can use the ...
Bluewater Sailing Techniques Part 12: Fishing from your boat
1 oven-sized whole mahi mahi, or fillets. 2 onions, sliced. 1 lemon. Garlic cloves to taste. Splash of lemon juice or white wine. Cover fillets or stuff whole fish with onions, lemons and garlic ...
Fishing From a Yacht: Secrets of Sailboat Fishing
The Different Gear and Equipment Needed to Fish on a Yacht. The secrets of sailboat fishing are not found in your boat, nor are they found in your gear or equipment. The secrets are not based on the fish you have caught in the past either. The key to becoming a leader in fishing, whether it be trolling, jigging, near the shore, anchored, or ...
Handline Fishing from a Sailboat Will Keep the Crew Well Fed
Here's the basic gear, a simple handline fishing rig for trolling offshore... Low outlay - High reward! Just 100 feet (30m) of 300lb main line, a snap swivel and a further 20 feet (7m) of 300lb leader attached to a skirted trolling lure. You won't be able to tie secure knots in this heavy line; only crimped connections will hold under load.
Sailboat Fishing Guide: How to Fish from a Sailboat
Sailboat fishing is one of my favorite activities during our boat trips. Fortunately, many of the most popular sailing destinations like the Bahamas and British Virgin Islands (check out my BVI specific fishing tips or Exuma fishing guide) are also excellent places to fish. Even if you aren't an experienced angler, with a little planning you ...
Trolling From A Sailboat: How To
Trolling is the fishing technique in which at least one fishing line is drawn through the water. This can be behind moving a sailboat or any other boat for that matter. It is utilized in catching pelagic fish like mackerel, mahi-mahi, tuna, swordfish, and other big game fish. Speed, location, weather conditions, and of course, equipment will have a significant impact on the kind of fish you ...
FISHING FROM SAILBOATS: For Whom The Bait Trolls
The species of tuna you will most likely encounter fishing from your sailboat is the yellowfin, so-called because its second dorsal and anal fins are both bright yellow. Yellowfin generally grow to a maximum length of six feet. They love to form schools, whether with their own kind or other species of the same size, and are especially attracted ...
Catching a Yellowfin Tuna on a Sailboat
Jul 6, 2017. "The monster," a 210lb yellowfin tuna, aboard the boat, finally. Mine is a fishing family. Whether we are running lines off the stern, spearfishing or casting from the boat, we're always fishing. So, of course, we were fishing while we sailed as part of the 2015 Pacific Puddle Jump. Among our mini-group of boats, a ...
BVI Fishing Tips: Here's Where to Find the Fish
Here's what you need to do: Fill out the BVI Form 20a (application) Fill out the credit card authorization. Obtain a copy of your identification - they recommend a scan of your passport. Submit all three items to [email protected] for approval. Additional notes: It costs $45/person (as of Sep-2023)
How to catch BIG FISH while sailing
BIG REEL: https://amzn.to/2LghCVtWEIGHT LOOKUP TABLE: http://bit.ly/yellowfin_weight_lookupGAFF: https://amzn.to/2LkYVQQLEADER KIT: https://amzn.to/2T6ahLvCU...
THE 10 BEST Moscow Boat Rides & Cruises (Updated 2024)
Explore the scenic and historic attractions of Moscow from the water with the best boat tours and cruises. Enjoy the views of the Kremlin, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, and the Sparrow Hills on a relaxing or informative boat ride. Or, spice up your trip with some water sports and activities in Moscow. Find out more on Tripadvisor.
THE 10 BEST Moscow Fishing Charters & Tours
Fishing Charters & Tours. District Southern (YuAO) 3. Fishing Trip Club of Alexei Chernushenko. 2. Fishing Charters & Tours. District Southern (YuAO) 4. Dva Peskarya.
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Take Me Fishing
VESSEL REVIEW
About Us. Baird Maritime, launched in 1978, is one of the world's premier maritime publishing houses.. The company produces the leading maritime new portal BairdMaritime.com, home of the world famous Work Boat World, Fishing Boat World, Ship World, Ausmarine, and Commercial Mariner sub-sites, and the industry-leading ship brokerage platforms WorkBoatWorld.com and ShipWorld.com.
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fishing during atlantic crossing - sailing the Atlantic Ocean with our Beneteau Oceanis. It was probably our highlight of our Atlantic crossing. Sailing the ...
Fishing & Hunting in Moscow
"SAFARI"/ "САФАРИ" — the BEST Hunting and Fishing magazine in Russia, CIS and Baltic states, the residence of 4 mln hunters and 18 mln fishermen - invites our visitors for cooperation. The magazine is devoted to international hunting and fishing , hunting and fishing tourism, trophy hunting, deep-sea and sport fishing, adventures ...
Weeping, weak and soaked, dozens of Rohingya refugees rescued ...
An AP photographer aboard the rescue ship said 10 people had been taken aboard local fishing boats and another 59 were being saved by the Indonesian craft. Men, women and children, weak and soaked ...