CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
Well-Known Member
I bought a paravane fishing tackle and tried yesterday (Solent), to my surprise, I caught a mackerel within five minutes; was it luck or the paravane really works?
Paravane fishing line
- Thread starter CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
- Start date
Boathook
Well-Known Member
A bit of both. I never seem to catch much fish in the Solent but outside to the west is another thing.
VicS
Well-Known Member
A paravane works because it takes the spinner, or whatever, and hook down to a depth where the mackerel are. If correctly set up it should come to the surface as soon as you have hooked a fish.
Whether or not you actually catch anything is more down to luck.
Tried it once. Ok until you catch something then you end up with blood and fish scales every where. Took a couple home and gave them to my father who declared then to be "not as nice as trout". That was in 1987. Never bothered since.
ianat182
Well-Known Member
It is worth experimenting with the depth settings at the front of the paravane- the three or four holes, I believe the rear hole there gives the deepest and the first the shallowest depth setting; at the rear of the vane the holes here give different angles from the stern view so that they track out on either side of the stern, enabling 2 paravanes to be set apart from one another, preventing tangling.
ianat182
ianat182
prv
Well-Known Member
I like barbecued mackerel a lot; we used to catch lots of them camping in West Wales when I was a kid. I say "we" referring to the group as a whole; from that day to this I have never caught a fish even when everyone around me was. I must be projecting some kind of fish-repelling ray down the line
Pete
KAL
Well-Known Member
Off South Devon it's almost impossible NOT to catch Mackerel. Seriously, let the boat drift, let down your feathers and pretty much every time you've got a few fish on the line before it has even hit the bottom.
Seajet
...
The only successful fishing froma yacht under way I've ever seen was a paravane towed across Lyme Bay; the mackerel were throwing themselves onto the hooks !
Amulet
Well-Known Member
It is just about getting the lure deep enough. When I was a lad sailing in the West Highlands we caught mackerel whatever we wanted them. We made our own huge lead sinkers and added any old bit of chain or the like to get the lure to sink. A long line between sinker and lure was needed to get the lure out of the massive turbulence from the sinker. Of course you never had a clue when you had a fish given that the sinker weighed five times as much as any mackerel. You just had to pull the thing in from time to time. Paravane does it much better, but we certainly caught many dozens mackerel without it.
Never catch much around the Orwell to Thames, but have around the North Foreland.
Round here the water's so manky that the visibility is about a foot. Have to drag the lure past the fish's nose for it to see it.
Bit of blood and guts don't bother me that much in exchange for fresh fish. I think mackerel straight out of the sea are delicious.
Never catch much around the Orwell to Thames, but have around the North Foreland.
Round here the water's so manky that the visibility is about a foot. Have to drag the lure past the fish's nose for it to see it.
Bit of blood and guts don't bother me that much in exchange for fresh fish. I think mackerel straight out of the sea are delicious.
aslabend
Well-Known Member
Spent an hour trolling for mackerel yesterday just of Ryde Sands and caught three. Just have a plastic paravane with about 10' of leader to a spinner. Another place to try is out by Leap spit, caught quite a few there last year. What sort of speed were you doing when you caught it?
Rigger Mortice
N/A
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
Well-Known Member
No more than 6 knots. Fresh mackerel tastes very nice indeed
Poignard
Well-Known Member
After I've caught the first one I bait the hook with a bit of it to tempt the rest.
Spyro
Well-Known Member
I bought one of these. Last week I experimented with it at various settings, anything above 5 knots and the rod almost bends double and is impossible to reel in. It does seem to send it down to the correct depth but as I never caught anything I can't tell you if it comes up when I hook something.
prv
Well-Known Member
+1
I think you and me need to have a worst-fishing competition
(Obviously the result would be a no-score draw though, which wouldn't tell us much
)Pete
nimbusgb
Well-Known Member
Lost one of my two paravanes on Monday. Something hit the lure rod bend over and 'twang' gone!
Never actually caught anything but a plastic bag though!
Never actually caught anything but a plastic bag though!
Blueboatman
Well-Known Member
This rubbish hunter-gatherer is now one Garfush and two mackerel 'up' since buying a paravane..another few kg of tasty fresh pan fodder and it will have repaid its investment. Available in a particularly attractive shade of lurid green too
temptress
Well-Known Member
SWMBO (SailorGirl in here) uses one whenever we sail below 4 knots - great bit of kit. Mackerel in the UK and Tuna in the MED.
Boathook
Well-Known Member
Lost one of my two paravanes on Monday. Something hit the lure rod bend over and 'twang' gone!
Never actually caught anything but a plastic bag though!
I never use a rod but handline. The line is the orange stuff that has a bout a 100kg breaking strain. I have never lost a paravane yet (last famous words), but have ended up using a winch to help get the line in once as the paravane had got covered with weed.
As per others, the paravanes do rise to the surface but I find that holding the line for a few seconds to feel if there is any 'jolting' is the best indication of a fish.
alahol2
Well-Known Member
Just as an aside, what's the best place to hit a mackerel to kill it? I always seem to end up battering the poor thing to death with the winch handle. Seeing highland gillies kill a salmon seems to involve a light tap with a bit of wood.