Hi. Anybody has experience of trolling for salmon under sail in Lake Michigan? Is it possible to do it at all? I used to troll for salmon with the power boat, it should be pretty solid speed of 2.3-2.5 kts .
Trolling for salmonunder sail
- Thread starter audriuskanape
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I fish................
Lake St Clair, trolling for Walleye from a sail boat. Use just enough sail to get desired speed. Remember, people were fishing from sailboats before they ever fished from a powerboat.
Peace
dmc
Lake St Clair, trolling for Walleye from a sail boat. Use just enough sail to get desired speed. Remember, people were fishing from sailboats before they ever fished from a powerboat.
Peace
dmc
We do it but only on light air days. If it's blowing too much its hard to sail and fish and watch the depth and charts all at the same time so we just strike the sail and become a powerboat to find the fish. My avatar is a 10-12 pound lake trout caught on Lake Superior from our boat.
Yes I've done it many times with great success. I use a downrigger clamped to the stern pulpit, a 6 lbs. ball weight, and a bright colored spoon. Once the wire rope on the downrigger starts to hum, I adjust adjust my sails to maintain that speed. I've caught Coho, Lake Trout, etc. The best day fishing was four Salmon.
I don't see why you can't do that. I have trolled for, and caught, striped bass very often. I have also caught them when I was going too fast....5.5 knots. They still bit the bucktail.
Go for it, it can't hurt!
Go for it, it can't hurt!
In my area, I have never EVER seen anyone sail/troll besides me!
East Galveston bay, is a popular fishing ground for speckled trout and redfish. It's also shallow. My favorite areas might be 3-6 feet. Most motor-boaters drift while casting. Trolling with a motor spooks the fish.
Last year I learned that my sailboat doesn't spook the fish. I had a ball catching trout while relaxing under the bimini and sailing. It seemed to work best between 2.5 and 3 mph.
East Galveston bay, is a popular fishing ground for speckled trout and redfish. It's also shallow. My favorite areas might be 3-6 feet. Most motor-boaters drift while casting. Trolling with a motor spooks the fish.
Last year I learned that my sailboat doesn't spook the fish. I had a ball catching trout while relaxing under the bimini and sailing. It seemed to work best between 2.5 and 3 mph.
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I usually throw a rod out and troll for bluefish when I'm out. Never hooked one (or even had a bite) with the motor running, but under sail I've pulled them in many times.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trolling_for_bluefish2.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trolling_for_bluefish2.jpg
Trolling behind a sailboat
did it many times around NY Harbor/LI sound, mostly bluefish. But, I did catch a barracuda once in the BVI.
did it many times around NY Harbor/LI sound, mostly bluefish. But, I did catch a barracuda once in the BVI.
West coast, but yes
With roller furling it's easy to troll for salmon, In fact I am able to control my speed at slower speeds than most power boats (needed for Chinook (king) salmon. These days I put a downrigger on the track used for a spinnaker sheet. I do get some funny looks because rarely do I ever see another sailboat fishing.
Ken
With roller furling it's easy to troll for salmon, In fact I am able to control my speed at slower speeds than most power boats (needed for Chinook (king) salmon. These days I put a downrigger on the track used for a spinnaker sheet. I do get some funny looks because rarely do I ever see another sailboat fishing.
Ken
We have a sailing friend who would break out his fishing pole every time we were about to overtake and pass him.
We used to troll with just the jib and with the helm tied down just enough to cause the boat to tack. The back-winded jib brought the boat around to a jibe, and so it continued, around and around without attention while we fished. The more line out, the slower the bait/lure traveled as it had a tendency to seek the center of the circle.
FWIW, Geohan
Love this tread. I had the same idea since I bought my boat 2 years ago. I thought I would be the only sailboat with a downrigger and downrigger fishing rod. Still haven't bought the downrigger yet, but will be soon. Used to do a lot of salmon fishing when I had a power boat. Sailing just seemed to be the best speed and watching the fish with the sonar keeps me thinkining.
There are just too many other priorities to do on the boat first.
There are just too many other priorities to do on the boat first.
I know that there are a lot of blue water cruisers that I have met that pull baits offshore. It would be nice to hook a tuna while sailing along.
Filet stripers. Take no stick foil and line bottom with strips of bacon. Sprinkle the top of the filet with Old Bay Seasoning. Place the filets on top of the bacon. Put more bacon on top of the filet and rap in foil to close off fish.
Put the filet on a grill with medium flame. Cook it for about ten minutes and then flip. Cook it again for 10 minutes on the other side. Check to see if it is totally cooked. Open up the foil and drain it. Cook it for 5 more minutes with foil open to dry out fish slightly.
Put the filet on a grill with medium flame. Cook it for about ten minutes and then flip. Cook it again for 10 minutes on the other side. Check to see if it is totally cooked. Open up the foil and drain it. Cook it for 5 more minutes with foil open to dry out fish slightly.
Never found them to be too oily or strong, as long as they are cooked right.FourPoints(Brian)
Good recipes for Blues are a little harder because they're so oily strong. Catching them is one thing but getting them off the hook in the back of a sailboat can be fun!
Simple recipie that is really good for blue and you can easily cook on the boat grill:
De-scale, filet each side leaving skin on, as 2 large filets (or as large as your grill will fit)
create a "boat" out of aluminum foil by folding / rolling the edges up to create a makeshift pan (you may want 2 layers thick)
lay filet skin down on aluminum foil
brush or rub dijonnaise on meat side, apply fairly thick (about 2mm)
grill on low to medium heat until fish is cooked and comes right off the skin
enjoy!
Can be used for anything from fish tacos, sandwiches, or eaten as is, it's delicious!
I normally troll for them around 5 kts, that means only the big ones are going to bite. It can be a 30 minute fight to get them aboard
The big guy was just about to get tossed in the ice chest (hence the bag), he took a good 20+ minutes to pull in, the smaller one we were actually doing about 7kts (double reefed in 20+kts of wind) when we hooked him, never reduced sail or speed, and he took about 40 minutes to land.
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on 2nd thought, I must have that catch confused with another... The little one must be from a different trip, the water doesn't look like it's blowing 20+
Here's another one, 34"
Here's another one, 34"
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I once snagged a stingray that was 6' tip to tip while trolling in an inflatable boat with a trolling motor. It was a real Nantucket Sleigh Ride. It pulled me backwards against the trolling motor.
I use an in-line sinker, around 6 to 8 ounces, and then a large leader back to a bucktail or a spoon. What are you guys using?
I use an in-line sinker, around 6 to 8 ounces, and then a large leader back to a bucktail or a spoon. What are you guys using?
Normally just use a Yozuri Sinking Crystal Minnow 4 3/8", often the red head, but sometimes the green one. I put a 12" stainless leader on it with 20lb test mono.
http://www.amazon.com/Crystal-Minnow-Floating-8oz-Redhead/dp/B000BHP0IE
The red one also works good to pull in bonito tuna, we had fresh tuna almost every day in the BVI, Even caught one in LIS out by Mystic Harbor once late summer.
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