Fishing Under Sail

• We threw some old gear on board before we left and wondered why we never caught any fish. We have since changed our strategy and have developed a set of guidelines that will help you catch fish while sailing. Remember that you are sailing in world class game fishing areas and have the same chance to catch fish as game fishing boats that charge $500, and you get the boat part for "free". Run multiple hand lines lines (cheap and easy to store) and add a teaser to raise the fish during the middle of the day. At dawn and dusk the fish rise to the surface to feed so surface action lures work best. Lures can be very simple, I caught a 50lb tuna and a 5 foot Mahi-Mahi on lure heads that I shaped from wine bottle corks attached to squid skirts. During the day the fish move to deeper water so a down rigger is helpful to get the lure deeper, we use an Old Salty planner which gets the lure down by planing instead of relying purely on weight. It can be rigged either to trip free to surface when a fish is hooked or released altogether. A simple underwater lure can be a squid skirt slid over a egg lead weight.
  
  See our  Sailboat Offshore Fishing Tips and a slideshow of our resent fish catches
  
  
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• If you get into making your own lures, Fishing Hawaii Style by Jim Rizzuto is a three part series which contains lots of information. Bring along a bunch of supplies: squid skirts, weights, crimps, chafe material, hooks, stainless leader, swivels, synthetic corks (start saving now), rigging beads, and a good crimping tool. You can also save your foil chip bags to add color/reflectivity to existing squids or by themselves to create a small lure.



• Cruisers handbook of Fishing – Bannerot & Bannerot
  Yes a book dedicated to cruisers and fishing.. VERY Helpful.

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