Fishing successfully while sailing

Don't know how long ago you bought yours ..... had to buy a new one last year and it was £9.99 !

Everyone: replace your swivels regularly; I lost my last paravane because a swivel was made of brass and dezincified!.

Can almost guarantee mackerel from Hurst westwards, but never inside the Solent....and seldom from Forts to Chichester.

Vic
 
As others have said, a paravane is the device. As a lure, I use a ‘red gill’, it’s a rubber (silcone) fish that has a long tail that wiggles as it goes through the water, the hook protrudes from its arse and the line (3 or 4 mtrs) to the paravane comes out of its mouth.
For Mackerel, I find the small ones are more effective than the bigger ones.
Best depth is controlled by the water temperature and light at the time in the season.
 
well the above came out of this catatogue and is 3 quid, and have found them as low as 2.95 if you are really concerned..... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I don't use them as I 'stop to fish' or troll plugs at around 2 knots for bass. Between 3-7 knots the paravane is excellent - at 25 they are useless!
 
Plenty of mackeral to be had in The Solent, but only on the downtide side of banks. Best at about 2 to 3 knots. Never caught any above that speed. Ryde Middle and off Gilkicker usually produces a good crop. Have often sailed whole length of Solent without a bite and then the second you cross to the downtide side of Ryde Middle get a sudden rush of activity. I use a paravane set to run at about 12 to 15 feet and couple of mackeral spinners.
 
I use some purpose made lead weights to get a feather lure (cone shaped and between about 4oz and 8oz) which I bought from a fishing tackle shop on the South Coast. These are used by the grokell boats taking out tourists for a couple of hours mackeral fishing. At less than 4 knots I have caught mackeral in the Summer at most points between Padstow and Inverness. Never succeeded at all above 4.5 kn
The weights are usefull when leaving the boat unattended - I tie them (on about a 1 foot length on line) to the bottom of my fenders. These prevent the fenders from popping out due to wake or waves.
Golden rule is if you cannot eat the mackeral within 4 hours do not bother.
 
I'm interested in why nobody is catching fish above 5 knots, 'cos I do regularly, and can only conclude that we are doing something different.

Now, I've been fishing a lot longer than I've been yotting so perhaps there is some subtle technique that I use or that you lot are just useless fishermen!
 
I think the reason that most of us don't catch fish at faster speeds is simply because the Mackerel just don't swim that fast. This would suggest that the only fish you can catch at those faster speeds are the really suicidal or that your log over reads. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Martin
 
Hi Chris

I can vouch for the fact that there are plenty of fish in our part of the world who seem to be quite happy getting caught at speeds greater than 5 knots. When trolling for fish we hardly ever slow down, unless pretending to be really serious, and still catch them - even at our max of 7-8 knots (and I have caught them faster in MoBo's).

I have no real data to support this, but my feeling is we catch more when under sail than when motoring (regardless of speed).

Like you, I have fished all my life so I guess we can just put it down to experience /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif.

John
 
BigMart,

Tee hee, however, if I was to put forward a reason it may be that I use less contoured baits that continue to look like fish even at speed.

As I said earlier, my own bet is that you lot are just crap at fishing, apart from the Ships Cat who clealrly has the knack as well!

Chris
 
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