must have fishing gear for cruising

[B~C]

if you where cruising and wanted to throw in some basic fishing gear, what would it be?

If I where gearing up for a variety of saltwater fish this would be my recipe;
take one decent fiberglass rod rated somewhere in the 20-50 pound range
add one Penn 320 reel spooled with 50 braided line
stir in several 4-6 oz Point Wilson Darts or Grim Reefer Jigs
finish off with a small gaff and maybe a net

I think with this set up, a person could scare up a decent dinner of black rockfish, halibut, salmon or lings, kings & yellow things with a minimum of tackle and hassel

whadda ya think?

[Casey]

P E R F E C T ! ! !

...just what I was looking for!

Thanks Captain!

Best,
Casey

[B~C]

see ya in the Cove

[Robbi]

Just an fyi,
In Washington waters, you may not use a gaff hook except to land legally-hooked halibut, tuna or dogfish that are going to be retained.

Robbi

[rogerbum]

Ken,

If you're sticking to minimalist gear, I wouldn't add much to this list. However, I would add some two hook salmon leaders, a few banana weights and a few sabiki rigs. The sabiki rigs (as I'm sure you already know) will allow you to catch herring. The banana weights will allow you to troll or jig cut plug herring. There's not much better for catching salmon on simple gear than a cut plug herring on a banana weight.

[Robbi]

Ken, You know about gaffs and WA. Duh. You are going into British Columbia! Sorry.

You know that I would throw in an 8 wt with a floating line and do some bucktailing. Nothing like seeing the take.

Robbi

[B~C]

ya good add on the sabuki rigs and salmon gear. Fly gear would be fun but I was thinking what a novice fisherman would throw in the boat on the off whim that they might want to catch some dinner.
A good note on the gaff use, be carefull what you stick with it, I threw it on my list for when that really nice sized daymaker, multimeal, halibut jumps on your hook....somebody (maybe Don G) told me story about some friends trying to net a large halibut, quite a tail

Naturally a copy of the regs for where you fish would be good, unless it's halibut because, as the NOAA enforcement guy said "we change the regulations so often, we don't print the rules" speaking of NOAA, here's an interesting read
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/fishing/x383291258/Audit-cites-wide-fund-abuse-by-NOAA-cops

[Sea Wolf]

[Casey]

"I was thinking what a novice fisherman would throw in the boat on the off whim that they might want to catch some dinner."

As mentioned, that's exactly what I was looking for.

Robbi comments about bucktailing, #8's and the other stuff was cool; but Greek to me! (But thanks Robbi!)

Best,
Casey

[Robbi]

Casey, here is a link to how to Bucktail for salmon.
http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure/angling/protalk/thornton/bucktail/buck.phtml

You don't need much equipment to catch a salmon on a bucktail fly. A salmon rod or a fly rod trolling a bucktail fly on or near the surface can attract coho and bring on some incredible takes. Bucktailing is one of the most popular methods of fishing for coho with a fly rod in British Columbia. If you want to try it while on your northern trip I will tie you up a fly or two. No guarantees!

Robbi

[rogerbum]

When coho are thick - almost anything on the surface will catch them. I've caught a lot of coho on spoons flopping along on the surface and I've even had them strike the green tip on the down rigger release just off the corner of the boat. I've trolled flies on occasion for coho and I have to agree, there's nothing better than seeing the take.

However, it seems like every year I take my fly rod out to Neah Bay with me with the idea that this will be the year I fly fish for coho. Yet every year I never seem to get around to it as I'm busy catching fish (and helping others on my boat catch fish) in other ways. I'll take the fly rods with me again this year (probably both a 5wt for fun with rockfish and an 8wt). This year I'll have to catch a few on the fly for the extra fun.

[Larry H]

Casual fishermen must remember to buy a license before fishing. Sounds simple, but an annual non-resident license in BC is about $110.00 and Alaska is $145.00.

Be careful if you have fishing gear onboard without a license. If you are in that situation, do not have any sport caught fish or crab aboard, and do not store the fish gear made up and ready to fish.

We did not carry any fishing or crabbing gear aboard last summer, and we were given both fish and crab. If you have gear and gift fish/crab aboard, presumably a fish cop could decide that you caught the fish/crab and give you a ticket for fishing without a license.

[rogerbum]

[Larry H]

Roger,

That's good to know.

Larry H

[Doryman]

I have a related question regarding cruising and fishing. If you have a boat with full canvas, do you typically take it all down before fishing? If not, which sections of the side canvas do you remove to fish? Have you fished with the top in place (I have not) or do you always fold it back first (my usual M.O.)

My Tom Cat canvas enclosure is made up of 7 large panels. Not only does it take a lot of time and effort to put up and take down, they take up a huge amount of room on the berth (or wherever) and if it is at all wet then I have to deal with preventing it from dripping on the berth (there really is no other place to put it. The roll of panels is too big to go on the cabin top with the dinghy.)

For that reason I am considering leaving the side panels at home, but I don't know if I can persuade the Admiral to OK that. Hence my questions.

Warren