ive spent a lot of time fishing the reefs here in the PNW, as well as halibut fishing,salmon fishing and just dragging along the bottom to see what you can catch. Ive done this from a powerboat and it isnt any different from a sailboat EXCEPT you can heave to in a sailboat.
you can troll under sail or motor... you can use the motor to hang over a reef... you can heave to under sail to slow you down, but not stop. with the additional use of the proper size sea anchor you can slow down some more. the speed over ground depends on the sea conditions, current and the wind....
as for the rolling on the beam, it isnt any different than in a powerboat cuz if the boat wants to lay beam to the sea , its gonna roll.
as for the comment about a "well ballasted dory", any decent sailboat is better ballasted than any dory ever built, and will handle rougher weather. im not knocking dorys as they are at the top of the list for their type and purpose, but a sailboat has somewhat of a self righting ability built into it, whereas a dory does not.
sailboats in general, as we know them, werent designed as a fishing boat, but many fishing boats in history have been purpose built with sails as a means of additional propulsion. they didnt use different methods for fishing from them, but learned to use the sails to help control the boat for what they needed..
on a calm day I always enjoyed running upwind a few miles over a clean sandy bottom, then tossing out a couple drogues and letting the lines drag along the bottom with a substantial weight and a 3-5ft leader... then set back, drift along and take a snooze.
sand dabs, flounder and other types of sole fish can easily be caught this way if the speed isnt too fast, but its anybodys guess what type of creature you will see when you get it to the surface.
for bottom fishing on a reef, hover over the reef with the motor. this is a lot easier if the reef breaks the surface so you have a bearing and visual to hover by.... a shrimp fly rig with a piece of squid on the hook will insure you wont be on the reef fishing for very long.
if the boat lays beam to the sea, use a drogue from either the bow or the stern, then the rolling will turn to pitching, but you can attach the drogue to the boat at any place along the rail so that it will lay at any angle you want it to.
use the sea anchor, the heave to method and the motor, either alone or in combination with each other and learn the technique it takes to fish in anyway you want from your sailboat. all boats are different and different owners have identical boats set up differently so you need to find what works the best for you, because it can be done without much changing of style.... if fishing becomes an effort, you arent doing it right!
