Fishing

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SWMBO belives we can improve on our normal cruising diet of mackerel, mackerel and mackerel by rod fishing for other species on our Summer cruise.

What recommendations do people have for equipment? (Smallish boat and smaller budget, so nothing too extravagant . . .)

All suggestions/recommendations gratefully received.

- Nick
 
Don't ask me mate - this is the best I ever fluked.

tob01.JPG
 
What I find fascinating is the absolute nil response frae ra likes o' yin big daft Parahandy. He - the great and michty harvester of the seas - the only man, if you are to believe him, tae be given a quota by the good Burghers of Brussels - such is the rate at which he can whip oot they fushies.
Very quiet he is noo.
 
I'm no expert at all although had fished a bit in my yoof, but went through the same decision making process last year with a lot of help from Duncan and Chris Enstone to name just two.

FWIW our on board gear now includes 2 20lb class boat rods and a cheap light rod for spinning and float fishing, the 2nd boat rod was for SWMBO and might be (is) OTT but it allows the 2 to be left set up with different tackle (one with feathers say and one with a plug or rubber eel etc).

There are some cheapish telescopic rods and some that break down into more sections than usual. Both types stow easily like that, but in practice ours stay ready for use and in rod holders on the pushpit under way (raked aft for max street cred), the rod holders are pieces of 50mm dia plastic drain pipe cable tied in place. We chose mid price multiplier reels rather than real cheapies in the hope (so far so good) they would stand saltwater and neglect from me better than market stall specials, we have a cheapish saltwater fixed spool reel on the spining rod

We then added a selection of rigs for trolling (not the forum kind) which includes some rubber eels, Rapala plugs and also some sets of feathers albeit the silvery foil ones which we weight down with a heavy lure (pirk) rather than a plain lead. If you then add a selection of hooks, weights, swivels etc you can make up other tackles for bait fishing stationary or drifting as required. Do get a decent and very sharp filleting knife and a sharpener, it will work on bait or the catch or even on the purchase from the fishmarket.

An excellent tip from Duncan was to buy a cat litter tray from a pet shop and put a plastic cutting board in the bottom, this makes an ideal gutting filleting and bait prep station and keeps the muck off the decks. We also keep some cheap rubber gloves (for the monster, not yet used..) and plastic carrier bags with ours to grab the catch as it is swung on board.

Does it work, yes with reservations! With a fast boat we are usually travelling too fast for trolling even with handlines so we need to make an effort to fish at a suitable place and either drop the sails and motor or used a bit of furled genoa or drift rather than rush by and hope we hook something as we go. Mackerel are so easy with feathers and therefore are easy to catch for bait if needed, I quite like them smoked anyway so am thinking about buying or making a smoker. Bass are what I REALLY like and we have had a few now plus a few pollack, flat fish however have so far refused all our offerings though I haven't tried that hard or that often so far.

Tight lines!

Robin
 
Re: Flat fish..........

Robin,
Next time you are in the CIs you really should have a go for some real flatties!
Long strip of mackerel hooked once through the end on a longish trace drifted over the many banks (can give you some numbers/areas if you like) should see you grab at least one - will be either a turbot or brill, mostly around 10/6lb mark or bass of the same size.
 
Depends where you are cruising. If you are crossing the North Sea. East coast England to Holland, Denmark or Norway I can definitely help.

MINESAPINT.
 
Minesapint, We're heading to Ostend from the Crouch this weekend. Have rods and reels and spinners (and a few plastic worms) but absolutely no fish skills. What would we hope to catch, if anything, whilst sailing along at 5knots? Is Mackerel likely hereabouts or would this be a waste of effort and we should concentrate on the sailing instead?
 
Thanks Kim. Trouble is there aren't any peeler and ragworm stores about when needed and going to actually hunt/dig for them requires more effort! I bought some pretty and smelly Japanese made imitation lugworms to try but yjey seem to be applying racial discrimination as far as Eurofishes are concerned.

Seriously though I do need to make a bit more effort this coming holiday so I'll give it a try.

Robin
 
Re: Flat fish..........

Hi Duncan

Yes very partial to Brill and Turbot so thanks I'd appreciate knowing where. Ideally spots close on the lines between places like say between Roche Douvres & St Peter Port or St Peter Port and Cap De La Hague or Alderney, that way we could have a short try without missing the tides on passage, because unlike some we need to go with the flow!

Tried to fish last Friday evening going to the Solent and Sunday coming back but no luck, rubber eel on the way over the Ledge and a Rapala plug in Hurst and the Ledge coming back. I think it might have been too bright, we saw some gulls diving on Sunday but it was all over by the time we got to them. I should have gone back and tried the Shads and hollistic sandeel things I bought but it was so hot and we finally got a sea breeze and were off again.

Robin
 
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