Sailboat Fishing

Llamafish

New Member
Swapped my aluminum fishing boat for a 30' family sailboat - but the will to fish remains!

Anyone doing this around Victoria? I'd love to get some tips, or pictures of setups so I can start to learn.

So far I'm leaning towards jigging (the famous high tech jigging thread) and some deep 6 divers.

Anyone use downriggers on their sailboat? Anchor for halibut?
 
My brother used manual downriggers on his sailboat. I still have the brackets he made to attach to the cockpit sides. Generally the engine is a slow troll of about 1.4 knots. lots of rigging in the way.
 
Fished off a sailboat for years. We used manual riggers. Nice stable platform. Rigging was never an issue. There are a few guys who fish off sailboats on the Victoria waterfront. Go for it.
 
Fished off a sailboat for years. We used manual riggers. Nice stable platform. Rigging was never an issue. There are a few guys who fish off sailboats on the Victoria waterfront. Go for it.
Thanks for the encouragement! Did you put the riggers off the railings at the stern or did you mount them on the deck?
 
I've fished off our Mirage 33 for years now - both manual and electric riggers. No difference in technique than if on power boat, other than higher freeboard means a long net reach
 
Friends don't let friends fish from sailboats .... lol. I caught lots of salmon off of my parents 42 foot maple leaf. Had one manual DR .... no problem.
 
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my downriggers and islander mooching reels collect dust now that i got the jigging bug. i literally use the same jig to catch salmon and lings. that’s what i’d be doing if i had a blow boat
 
my downriggers and islander mooching reels collect dust now that i got the jigging bug. i literally use the same jig to catch salmon and lings. that’s what i’d be doing if i had a blow boat
Not uncommon to get both fish on the same drift. Can be a very efficient way to fish!
 
Not uncommon to get both fish on the same drift. Can be a very efficient way to fish!
i don’t know anything about sail boats but the last thing i would want is. able getting wrapped around keels, shafts etc. plus all the downrigger rigging getting in the way of sails and ropes i’m a big fan of keep it simple. jigging is so effective
 
I've tried dipsy divers a few times on a friends sailboat without success. The boat already goes so slow under power that we don't really want to slow down more to fish while traveling

This year we added a downrigger mount and will be dragging plugs. These should fish better at the speeds we travel. I tried running one as a surface line last year and the action was great at our 4/4.5 knot cruising speed
 
I fished over 30 yrs from sailboats before moving to power last year and have caught hundreds of pounds of salmon over that time. Started with divers, then manual, then powered DR's. The biggest problem I found fishing from a sailboat is the railings and rigging getting in the way of the play and netting is a science... Don't let it stop you from catching fish, just adapt.
 
Yes! I sailed my Albin Vega to/from Hawaii in 2014 and then kept it moored in Ucluelet for the next 3 years. Built some square plywood boxes at the stern for manual downriggers, and spent many many days and nights fishing La Perouse- often jumping aboard Friday evening, sailing to the banks throughout the night and fishing for two days to get full possession limit. We trolled under sail all the time. One of my favourite ways of fishing- set the sail and autopilot to move slowly one direction, set the rods at 40' and 80' with clickers on, and chill laying down in the berth. So relaxing.

Custom-built a 6' gaff, because there's way too much rigging in the way for a net.
 
Sailed a 30 ft steel sailboat in the Caribbean for a year in 1980-1981.
We just trolled a 150 lb mono line (no rod or real) and a silver spoon all the time we were sailing.
When we stopped we just pulled in the line and usually we didn't have to eat spam for dinner.
One day I filled the dingy with 8 mahi mahi in about 10 minutes.
Those were the days.
 
Yep, I did the same crossing the Pacific for mahi and tuna- heavy mono with 10” ‘popper-head’ squid with big hook tied to stern rail. Instant fish anytime since the schools followed the boat.
 
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