How Far Out Would You Fish On A Small Boat

[2.8 guy 403]

I was just reading that a guy over in america who is a fishing writer often fishes 50 to 60 miles off shore on a 17 ft boat and says in rough seas a small boat can have advantages over larger craft.

 

What size boat do you have and how far out do you fish and what sort of conditions?http://www.sportfishingmag.com/boats

http://www.sportfishingmag.com/boats/boating-skills FFS carnt do the link lol

[noddy10 411]

all about being sensible and common sence respect the sea and check the weather. iv fished 8-10 mile out like.

 

I like to fish with my mates on other boats if we go further out always 2 boats incase owt happens,

[poacherkev 64]

There's no reason to fish 50 or 60 miles out !! You can catch the same fish a couple of miles out

Mother Nature can be a force to be recond with

[Tiercel 6,986]

I fished in a 17' dory for 15 years the distance you are able top travel depends on a lot of factors. The weather is the biggest factor around the British Isles. In the summer in the middle of a big high pressure system sometimes the further off shore you are the better. Seems daft I know but you do not get affected by the coastal sea breezes, where the land heats up and the warm air rises pulling in the colder air off the sea which can give winds of up to 20 knots on the inshore waters, while 5 miles out to sea it is still flat calm.

 

We would regularly travel 30 odd miles to fish a particular mark It was not usually straight out to sea but the distance travelling home was the same and the conditions were often actually worse than if it had been.

 

TC

[peter121 6]

(yanks) no more said

[nothernlite 18,078]

I go over to the Isle of jura on my 17 and a half foot boat it's 16 miles from where I leave and the seas can get rough just getting the tides and weather but the weather can turn quick just got to be careful and go like f--k lol

[2.8 guy 403]

(yanks) no more said

NOW if you said Pakistani this guy rowed the channel in a toy dinghy and was picked up near kent lol thats balls desprate or insane yes my friend

[mushroom 12,883]

Not one with much experience with boats but this is interesting

 

Do you not travel to certain spots like hunting ground no matter the distance??

[CraignTod 278]

Ive fished around 3-5 mile out in a 2 man inflatable rib, in the end the coast gaurd came to check because he thought we was stranded, we had life jackets ect so it was all fine

[noddy10 411]

Not one with much experience with boats but this is interesting

 

Do you not travel to certain spots like hunting ground no matter the distance??

 

yes all marks, wrecks on gps.

 

does any one think you get better fish off further out wrecks? only thing with the closer ones is there fished out just like good lamping spots

[noddy10 411]

 

(yanks) no more said

NOW if you said Pakistani this guy rowed the channel in a toy dinghy and was picked up near kent lol thats balls desprate or insane yes my friend

 

 

should of burst his dingy and made his swim back home

[2.8 guy 403]

Not one with much experience with boats but this is interesting

 

Do you not travel to certain spots like hunting ground no matter the distance??

 

Ive hunted for years on three shooting estates around reeth and ive always said its like trawling for fish some times you go and knock off 50 rabbits easy then go back a week later next to nothing in the same place, go round the corner say a mile and your back on so im hoping so lol

[Tiercel 6,986]

Not one with much experience with boats but this is interesting

 

Do you not travel to certain spots like hunting ground no matter the distance??

Fish are nomadic, basically they follow the food and it depends on wind, tides and time of year where they will be and what they be feeding on. Some types of ground suit neap tides other suit springs. I know of a couple of marks where August through to November you can hit some really big bass, but it has to be a spring tide. Other types of ground and May through to September will produce big bass but only on neap tides.

 

Most predatory fish are symbiotic in that each species depends on an other for it's feed. It starts with the Gulf stream, the gulf stream holds lots of plankton, whitebait feed off this plankton so follow the stream where ever the winds and tides take it. They in turn attract the Mackerel, the mackerel attract the Tope. The way the Tope hunt causes a lot of wounded Mackerel to drop to the bottom. The Ray and big Bass know this, so follow the Tope packs, easy meals for them.

 

Other big predatory fish cod, Pollock, Bass use the ambush tactic, but for that to work they have to have something to hide behind to get into a position to ambush the bait fish. But it is no good hiding and jumping out on bait fish if they can out run you. Ergo the spring tides, where the run of tide is so great the bait fish just cannot do anything but get carried along with it. It is then that the ambush tactic works the best for the predatory fish, big rewards for little energy expended.

 

TC

[2.8 guy 403]

A well informed piece as always TC, It will be a learning curve for sure for me im really looking forward to getting to grips with the sea and how things work on it or in it.

I take it the fish finders show a mass or indicate on the screen that you have got to a spot holding fish have you used them and are they any good?

[Tiercel 6,986]

I used one all the time, but not for showing up fish more to show the contours of the bottom, although they do show echo's. But sometimes they are false posatives, as in it will pick up anything floating in the sea. I found the ones that show an arch better than the ones that show fish symbols.

 

It only happened to me twice in 15 years but I have had the sceen go black with a shoal of bass beneath the boat, both times were in october when big shoals of bass were chasing the shoals of small whiting. One boat fishing next to me dropped over a small 50 yard net and filled his boat with fish, nearly every mesh had a fish in it, hell of a sight pulling up the net from 80ft of water, it took them nearly 5 hours to get the net into the boat as they had to take every fish out of the net as it was too heavy to pull into the boat.

 

Another chap had the same the same year and he lost his boat trying to get home with following seas and got swamped. Him and his crew were picked up by helicopter.

 

TC

 

TC