Hi,
Do you bother throwing a line out while coastal sailing, & is anyone having any luck?

Anyone got any tips on what techniques & tackle you need... & any favourite easy recipes for the fish fare would be great!

cheers

Yep if towing a lure it must be within the disturbance of your yachts wake.

That means within 10m!

I think the use of attracters would help as well.

The problem is if and when you catch some thing you need to get it on deck, then the fun starts, blood and guts ever where, and the smell lasts for days

BlueMoon said..
Hi,
Do you bother throwing a line out while coastal sailing, & is anyone having any luck?

Anyone got any tips on what techniques & tackle you need... & any favourite easy recipes for the fish fare would be great!

cheers

What the hell as luck got to do with it. I actually go fishing a lot. Usually troll a flat line with a chrome Smiths jig, works on just about everything. I also do a fair bit of bottom bouncing for Flathead, snapper and Morwong though I do target Wrasse a fair bit. Bottom bouncing requires the boat to be stopped and this is fairly difficult with a yacht. Light breezes you can trying hoving to. I find with my boat that furling the headsail and leaving the full main out to about the broadreaching position and letting her sail up till the main shivers [full batten main] and setting the windvane to hold her there is the go. The drag on the mainsail and the slop is usually enough to keep her fairly stationary.
Below is another of my videos from a few years back of my old windvane. On the port side stern you can see my flat line and on this day I was catching a few bonito. Small fish like this I just keep sailing, larger fish I have to luff up. The line is two metres of shock cord, about 15 metres of 4 mm cord them 200 lb mono down to 100 lb trace. Swivels fitted inbetween for grip. Use fishing gloves for tuna.

Lexmark said..
The problem is if and when you catch some thing you need to get it on deck, then the fun starts, blood and guts ever where, and the smell lasts for days

What my mate does is get the fish just clear of the water and slip a noose over his tail. He then pulls the noose tight and hangs the fish upside down over the water and pours a little metho down his gills. That settles him down instantly.

Then while holding the fish by his tail on the side of the boat he slits his guts and cuts his throat with a short but sharp knife. When most of the blood and guts are gone he brings it onboard to finish the job.

My favorite quick recipie is to carry a few packets of me goreng noodles on board and boil them up throwing in diced fish, calamari, scallops or whatever else is the catch of the day. Also a few thinly sliced vegies go in, eg carrots, broccoli challotts. Timeing is the key so no ingredient is overcooked.
For something a bit more elaborite but still easy, i cook up a Thai coconut milk green curry with curry paste, lemongrass, basil, garlic. Then I throw in the diced fish, etc catch of the day. This really works well if you have a dozen or so mussels as well.

Yes definitely.

We caught a huge (as usual stories go) tuna dragging a line while sailing off the Coromandel Peninsula in NZ. Sometime later caught a speed boat prop as he cut across our stern at high speed! Once realizing there seems to be fish there as opposed to off the NSW coast trawled often and caught many.



I would love to know if there are fish to be caught between Sydney and Port Stephens and if so what we should be trying to catch. Havent caught much so far there.

Out fishing today. Caught plenty of flathead, left them biting. Nice sailing day too but breeze faded on the way home. Some of the best sailing happens this time of the year in between the gales. The breeze dying as the sun sets on light wind days the only handicap.

BlueMoon said..
Thanks for the replies everyone, the simply cooked fish & Thai green curry sounds luvly.
Is anyone else getting the cool fishing rods in the background image? I wonder if its because I mention 'fishing' in the subject title.
cheers

Yes, I have them on my screen. Was wondering about it.

Guitz said..
I don't remember if i posted this in another thread, but this stainless steel pressure cooker is just so handy for efficient, and safe cooking on board...... $10 at the local Blairgowrie op shop!
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Best way of cooking at sea. Chuck everything in seal the lid and short of the pressure cooker actually exploding you cant spill boiling contents.
Unfortunately at $10 bucks you got ripped off . Picked one up for $5 at Lakes Entrance oppy for sons H28

Real winner there! I paid $210 from memory. They are indispensable.

Mines stainless steel, Prestige I think the brand is.