# Fishing From a Small Sailboat



## Arcb (Aug 13, 2016)

I am looking for some good fishing reference material, books, YouTube, Blogs.

I grew up in a big city (Toronto) and never really learned to fish well as a kid. When I was with the Coast Guard I got pretty decent at Fly Fishing and had decent exposure to commercial fishing, but I never really learned how to properly fish from a small boat.

Out of no where, my wife told me she wanted to start catching some dinner from our boat with a fishing rod and asked me to teach her how. I told her I don't really know how, but she bought a licence and a spinning rod and said lets learn together then.

We spent a wonderful 6 hours on the water together yesterday, casting and reeling in seaweed, but not a single fish.

What I am looking for is a good introductory book on fishing in fresh water and maybe something that can get us catching a few dinner fish in Florida this winter. I think that is probably 2 books.


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## SeaStar58 (Feb 14, 2018)

First you have to be where the fish are and fish on days conducive to fishing.

Try looking at the AccuWeather Fishing Forecast for your area to help plan your days. Here is an example for Ottawa where it shows it to be excellent Fishing Weather through Friday but if you wait until Saturday it currently looks like it will be quite poor:
https://www.accuweather.com/en/ca/ottawa/k1y/fishing-daily-forecast/55487?day=1

A portable fish finder can also help since there is no use in casting a line where there are no fish or bottom fishing when the fish are nearer to the surface.

Ask at the bait shop whats biting today and most will tell you whats biting and with what bait. If the fish want minnows today don't use night crawlers.

If the tides rushing out you usually won't expect fish to be rushing in either so you do have to watch the tides too.

Fish have a sensitive sense of smell so be careful what cleaners and rust treatments you use near your tackle box. Certain pesticides such as Demon will drive fish away so fishing gear that's been contaminated with Demon or similar pesticides will drive fish away from you. Any fishing line or lures that have been contaminated with pesticides will likely have to be thrown away. The ladies may have to be more cautious about hand lotions and such stuff that they use before touching the fishing line, rods, bait, etc.

Once I get my picnic boat beach launch-able fishing will probably become part of the equation.

Just have to watch out for the Bull and Hammerhead sharks here in Florida and what ever you do, don't hook, snag, bump, touch, or even look cross-way's at a manatee. That's worse to some than trying to lure children from a schoolyard with a bag of candy laced with crack. Leave the loggerheads and leatherbacks alone too.


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## jephotog (Feb 25, 2002)

Since you are on a small particular body of water, I suggest you plug your nose and hang out with some power boating fisherman locally. It's likely there is a group of guys, there might be a gal or two involved, who are all about the fishing on your bodies of water, that is what they do. If you learn how they catch fish you can try to adapt that to a sailboat.

The way I look at it is some power boaters are all about fishing, that is why they have a boat, boating = fishing. All money spent on boating is about catching more fish. Sailing is about sailing and sometimes wow, I caught a fish.


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

First and foremost, where in Florida will you be fishing? I have fished all over Florida, both coasts and the panhandle and know that this is a state where you can catch dinner every night if you know how and where to fish. Without local knowledge, you don't have a prayer of catching anything at all.

Next, casting from a sailboat is silly at best. Sailboats, by their very nature, are not good fishing platforms. Yes, you can cast from a sailboat, but not very effectively. The most productive fishing from a sailboat is either done by trolling, or bottom fishing with various forms of bait, squid, clam strips, etc...

In Florida, grunts and porgy are the easiest and best tasting fish. They are in the panfish category, usually measure 8 to 12 inches in length, easy to fillet and taste best when dipped in an egg wash, rolled in seasoned cracker crumbs and pan fried in vegetable oil or deep fried. 

Trolling will produce larger fish, king mackerel, Spanish and cero mackerel, grouper, snapper and a few other species, all of which are good tasting when properly prepared. 

There are a few books available that will provide you with the basics, but none will usually provide you with the specifics. My advice would be to go out on a headboat, which will take you to the fishing grounds and allow you to catch lots of fish primarily while bottom fishing with squid strips and clams. This will give you some hands on experience in a single day of fishing at a reasonable price.

Hope this helps,

Gary


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## jephotog (Feb 25, 2002)

The true difference is fishing people are all about fishing. I don't know if they have Meetup up north but in the US groups of like minded individuals/strangers get together via an app called meetup.

Look for a group, club or meetup that is all about fishing. Learn how to fish from the land or from a power boat then apply it to a sailboat. I had an old roomate that had a 16 foot aluminum skiff all about fishing. With a little outboard and downriggers we would slay lake trout. I would love to adapt these techniques to sailing on the same lake while fishing.

The difference about fishing from a power boat when you are going fishing you are going fishing. I know guys with multi million dollar boats that are used only for fishing. If you are going sailing you have other concerns other than catching fish, it makes it harder to bring home dinner and get to your next harbor.


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## Towguy (May 8, 2016)

Hey Acb,a new challenge eh,,,never occurred to me that someone who has spent so much time on the water never fished,,??but hey never to late and teach them yougans at the same time,,,,,,I,m not sure fishing is something one learns from a book or even vids ,you just gotta get out and figure what works for you,,,,talk to the guys with the older ,well used ,,,low hp,,fishing boats at boat launchs early in morning,rainy days and bout 1 1/2 hrs before sunset for walleye,,,,,ask at the small bait shops /fishing shops what working lately as as it will change day to day,weektoweek,,season to season,,get some chest waders or one of them little floaty things to get away from the boat for fly fishing,,above all fishing is about patience,,,,,....Ralph


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

Arcb said:


> my wife ... asked me to teach her how. I told her I don't really know how,


Ha! Metro-sexual!

The idea is not to catch fish but to sit there with a beer and your mates and chat about football. Wives don't come.
I never even have a hook on the line just a nice heavy sinker so I can cast furtherest.

Once, many years ago, we made a mistake and one of my friends accidentally jagged a fish. Stuffed if we knew what to do. I just ran away to a bar.

:eek


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## outbound (Dec 3, 2012)

While sailing we’ve had good luck trolling. We use two Cuban yo-yo’s. One has a surface lure. The other has something running deep.
While still use a 9’ small surf rod. Cast off the sugar scoop. Have learned to cast right or left handed. Therefore can cover the half circle off the stern.
When I don’t know the area use a Kastmaster or other generic lure and do well.
After dinner if we’ve had chicken or mildly seasoned meat a piece goes on a hook and lowered to be ~2-3’ off the bottom. That’s a sometimes thing but works in the northeast. In the tropics don’t eat reef fish due to risk of illness. 
When there’s an unsuppressible urge to flyfish you can let out your dinghy off the stern on its painter and stand or neal on your knees. Surprisingly cloisters troll well on the yo-yo. Have gotten striper and mahi that way. 
Hope that helps. Personally I’m addicted to fly fishing off the beach. Using breathables for waders and a 9 weight four piece you take up a minute amount of room on the boat.


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## outbound (Dec 3, 2012)

P.S.- if you need to keep kids entertained you can always gig. While doing an oil change my wife’s grandson caught dinner while we were in the slip. Black bass off the end of the pier. Um. He used a 2 oz. silver spoon with split shot a foot up. I was surprised but it worked. 
Never use treble hooks. Too much trouble.


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## Arcb (Aug 13, 2016)

MarkofSeaLife said:


> The idea is not to catch fish but to sit there with a beer and your mates and chat about football. Wives don't come.
> I never even have a hook on the line just a nice heavy sinker so I can cast furtherest.
> 
> Once, many years ago, we made a mistake and one of my friends accidentally jagged a fish. Stuffed if we knew what to do. I just ran away to a bar.
> ...


I think we would make good fishing partners.

:2 boat:


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## jephotog (Feb 25, 2002)

MarkofSeaLife said:


> Once, many years ago, we made a mistake and one of my friends accidentally jagged a fish. Stuffed if we knew what to do. I just ran away to a bar.:eek


You need to go fishing in Mexico. If you take your catch to the Cantina they will take it in the back and cook it for you. No need to gut and clean a fish in your cockpit. That has got to make an ugly mess.


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## capta (Jun 27, 2011)

Florida fishing is a very broad subject. You have Gulf side inshore fishing, backwater, and offshore fishing, often targeting completely different species. Then there's the Keys, with the bay side, flats, and reef fishing, not to mention offshore (quite manageable in a small boat in the right weather).
Being a saltwater fisherman, when I wanted to try my hand Fla freshwater fishing, I hired a guide and he took us out on Okeechobee and we caught a buncha bass. Not impressed enough to ever do it again, but the 70 mph bass boat and the gators were cool!
The secret to bottom fishing around the Keys is to use chum. It's a big block of chopped up fish guts and stuff which you hang over the side and it brings fish to you, just about anywhere near some structure. But it's stinky, messy and requires a certain amount of patience. Trolling (pulling a line or two behind your boat) can be productive, even in shallow water, using lures but is much more productive if you add a ballyhoo to the mix, but that adds mess and a need for refrigeration unless you can buy fresh ballyhoo each morning before you sail.
I think if I were you, I'd take a reef fishing (bottom fishing) and possibly a backwater or flats trip (spin fishing) with a professional and learn the right way to catch the food fish you want to target. Perhaps, if you get lucky, you will get a guy that is proficient at trolling up Grouper, something your small boat would be immensely well suited for. 
Good luck.


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## Capt Len (Oct 9, 2011)

Dealing with a 40 lb halibut in a homemade canvas kayak is much more interesting than catching shiners off the dock for kitty's dinner but both are fairly satisfying as a means of proving manly hunter provider .


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## capta (Jun 27, 2011)

Capt Len said:


> Dealing with a 40 lb halibut in a homemade canvas kayak is much more interesting than catching shiners off the dock for kitty's dinner but both are fairly satisfying as a means of proving manly hunter provider .


Though the rewards from halibut fishing fantastic (a great eating fish), they are hardly what I'd call fun to catch. Unless you like pulling a dead weight of whatever poundage up to the surface on a tiny string. lol


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## Arcb (Aug 13, 2016)

capta said:


> Perhaps, if you get lucky, you will get a guy that is proficient at trolling up Grouper, something your small boat would be immensely well suited for.


As long as it doesn't result in a Grouper inspired Nantucket Sleigh ride :eek


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## Capt Len (Oct 9, 2011)

Capta, there's a reason halibut fishermen carry a rifle .Dead weight in the water is quite different as it comes alive over the gunwale. My biggest was ove r630 lbs


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## capta (Jun 27, 2011)

Capt Len said:


> Capta, there's a reason halibut fishermen carry a rifle .Dead weight in the water is quite different as it comes alive over the gunwale. My biggest was ove r630 lbs


And you didn't invite us over for dinner? Shame on you. lol


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

The last time I pulled up a big halibut it was landing a wrecked school buss. Then the guy in the boat with me put a .357 mag slug into it's head. BOOM! Scared the crap out of me, but it sure calmed down that halibut. 

My favorite fish in all of Florida for a great meal is fresh caught grunt and porgy, skinned and filleted, dipped in an egg and milk mix, then dredged in home made cracker crumbs and pan fried. OH YEAH! What? You wanna linger in a nursing home?

Easiest way to catch both grunt and porgy is to find a sandy spot on the bottom near the reef, usually in about 12 to 15 feet of water, tie a frozen chum block in a mesh bag on the stern of the boat, then bait up with squid strips on a 1/0 wide-gap hook rigged to a top and bottom rig. Works like a charm.

The absolute best location I found in the Keys was Coalbin Rock, which is in Hawk Channel just about a mile south of Woman Key. Biggest grunts and porgy I've seen in my entire life on the water. When I've run out of squid, I've often switched to a strip of red rag about an inch long and dredged in the cooler filled with fish and slime. Very, very effective.

Good luck,

Gary


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

Personally, I won't eat any fish caught in the St Lawrence. There are all sorts of locations and species they tell women under 50 to never eat, men get one meal per month. Moving a mile down the road doesn't make me feel any better. If I can't eat at will, I'm not interested in the quotas.

https://www.health.ny.gov/environme...lth_advisories/regional/st_lawrence.htm#table


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## Arcb (Aug 13, 2016)

Good tip Minnewaska. I wonder if the inland lakes are any better. I definitely going to do more reading on the topic.


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

Arcb said:


> Good tip Minnewaska. I wonder if the inland lakes are any better. I definitely going to do more reading on the topic.


Not aware of the inland lakes. For many years, some buddies and I would take an annual salmon fishing trip on the Ontario. We would haul the catch of King Salmon home, invite everyone we knew and have a feast. Many years into this, I learned about the quotas. We probably didn't eat more than the quota, but my kids were young at the time and it really turned me off. Never went back.


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

While the water quality of the lakes has slowly improved over the years, much of which is attributed to the invasion of zebra mussels and their incredible filtering effect, the nasty chemical levels still remain very high. Unfortunately, salmon, which is an oily species, stores many of these chemicals in the fatty tissue of the meat and just beneath the skin, primarily along the lateral line. Consequently, there are many species where the consumption quota is listed at zero, such as brown catfish, blue catfish, carp, sucker, and others. 

The safest fish to consume are those that are fast growing and short lived. They don't have sufficient time to accumulate high concentrations of chemicals in the fatty tissue. The same rules apply to many saltwater species as well. Chilean sea bass, Atlantic and Pacific wild caught salmon, American eel, Atlantic croaker, bluefish, king mackerel, wahoo, marlin, swordfish and others are on the list of very small to no safe consumption levels. Most contain relatively high levels of mercury and PCBs - known carcinogens. 

Most panfish species, porgy, Atlantic sea bass, grunt, tautog, etc..., are fairly fast growing and safe to consume.

One of the secrets to insuring that you consume the lowest levels of nasties is to skin and fillet your catch as quickly as possible, then remove all the dark meat along the lateral line. This should be followed by thoroughly rinsing your fillets with cold, fresh water and blotting the fillets dry before cooking. I you intend to freeze the fillets, the best technique is to place the fillets in a vacuum sealing bag along with a small quantity of water, then vacuum seal them. Frozen fillets using this technique can last up to six months without loosing the fresh taste.

Hope this helps,

Gary


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## outbound (Dec 3, 2012)

I’ve taken to catch and release most fish I catch. Fish swim in water which supports their internal organs. When you pick them up out of the water and hold them vertically their organ shift down and can actually tear leading to their demise. Therefore I try to release them while in the water and horizontal.
Fish have slime containing multiple protective factors. I wet my hands in the water they are swimming in if I need to hold them and try to grab them as little as possible. Often they develop infections wherever you have touched them otherwise. I avoid touching their gills as they are so delicate and you can easily tear the capillaries. I’ve gotten rid of the gaff and use a bongagrip.
I play them just a little. Then bring them in. I used to try to catch the biggest fish on the lightest weight line. I still use light weight gear but have moved up on line strength so I can boat/beach/release the fish sooner. In the past I’ve killed fish by playing them too long.
In most cases I’ve gotten rid of triple hooks. Have done on any salt water gear and just some on fresh. I use a fishing dedicated and designed pliers for removal and make my strike fast to lip hook my fish. That way there’s less injury to a fish when the barb is bent down. I don’t mind the occasion lost fish.
Only fish I often intentionally kill is pickerel in bass ponds. But have even backed off of that. Love eating fish. Therefore after seeing how fish are farmed won’t eat them. Same difference as eating a heirloom tomato and what tasteless wood they sell in the supermarket.


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## SHNOOL (Jun 7, 2007)

I learned to Bass fish in the great state of North Carolina as a kid, bored out of my mind sailing with my father. I got quite good with artificial lures both topwaters, semis, and plastics. 

You can, and frankly many have, fished off sailboats for hundreds of years... ever hear of an oyster cracker for God's sake? How about a skipjack?

No harder to fish off a sailboat than a motorboat, except that long stick in the center.

The hardest part is getting the sailboat in shallow enough water in freshwater to fish. Best to fish drop-offs (depth). Which isn't real friendly with keels. Regardless, start with fishing while anchored (or not moving), use live bait and start shallow and bump deeper.

Again I think the OP asked about freshwater fishing. Freshwater is a large target, specific location and water temps helps... and targeted species better.


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## neeqness (Jan 31, 2017)

travlin-easy said:


> I you intend to freeze the fillets, the best technique is to place the fillets in a vacuum sealing bag along with a small quantity of water, then vacuum seal them. Frozen fillets using this technique can last up to six months without loosing the fresh taste.
> 
> Hope this helps,
> 
> Gary


Thanks for the tip!

What would you consider a small quantity of water in this case approximately?

Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk


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## Arcb (Aug 13, 2016)

SailingUphill said:


> I think the OP asked about freshwater fishing. Freshwater is a large target, specific location and water temps helps... and targeted species better.


Both fresh and salt water  I have up to 15 months of paid paternity leave that we are planning to use to trailer sail around a bit. Around home this summer, Cape Breton in early autumn, South Florida in the winter, hopefully some time in Georgia as well. That's if every thing goes according to plan any way.

For our time in Florida we are thinking inshore coastal on the southern gulf coast. Marco, 10000 islands, Florida Bay, maybe the Keys. The Florida bit is still a good 6 months away though, so more Freshwater right now.

Based on some of the heavy metal stuff presented above, it seems like smaller fast growing fish are a safer bet for eating.


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## Bradhamlet (Nov 8, 2002)

We seam to have the best results at dusk or dawn with an incoming tide. Depending on the location a good old fashion bobber with a bated hook can be successful at getting your bate at the desired depth in the water colom. 
Brad


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

neeqness said:


> Thanks for the tip!
> 
> What would you consider a small quantity of water in this case approximately?
> 
> Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk


Just enough water to cover the fillets and make the bag air free.

Good luck,

Gary :2 boat:


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