Fishing from Your boat.

[Rick]

I like to know what is your catch.
This one I got on a silver spoon ,12 nm off of Isla Mujeres, Mexico.

 

[Sven]

We've mainly caught mackerel but we keep trolling a cedar plug on a boat line. Once we get away from Los Angeles we might actually catch something to eat !

Did you eat the barracuda or is the danger of ciguatera too high ?

I suppose you could use it as bait ?



-Sven

 

[exoduse35]

got a few sturgeon off the back of mine by the mothball fleet east of SF, and many stripers just sitting at the dock. and one big ass tuna off Annacapa Island.

 

[Rick]

Sven,
to answer your question, I eat Barracudas from this area and is one of the best tasting fish. The biggest one ,over 30lbs I let go.
This one on the picture is 21 lbs. King Mackerel –female.

 

[mherrcat]

I looked up "ciguatera" and it sounds pretty nasty...there is no cure and apparently no way to tell if the fish is contaminated, unless you can perform liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, receptor binding assays and neuroblastoma assays on your boat:

Currently, multiple laboratory methods are available to detect ciguatoxins, including liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LCMS), receptor binding assays (RBA), and neuroblastoma assays (N2A). Although testing is possible, in most cases liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry is insufficient to detect clinically relevant concentrations of ciguatoxin in crude extracts of fish.

Also saw this:

http://keysnews.com/node/21773

 

[Sven]

I looked up "ciguatera" and it sounds pretty nasty...there is no cure and apparently no way to tell if the fish is contaminated, unless you can perform liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, receptor binding assays and neuroblastoma assays on your boat

Yes, it can take all the fun out of fishing for dinner. We've only met a couple of people who had first hand experience with it, one of them was Bob Bitchin's (Latitudes and Attitudes) wife and I don't remember who the other one was. Not fun at all.

Avoiding top predators seems like the only reasonably safe course

I made the mistake of reading one of the DAN books on hazards from marine life a few years ago ... I wish I was still ignorant.



-Sven

 

[davisr]

There's a good article in this months' SAIL magazine "Voice of Experience" section about a cruising couple who contracted ciguatera after eating Spanish mackerel they caught near the end of a long passage to St. Maarten in the Caribbean. It struck the woman first, and affected her to such a degree that she couldn't do anything to assist her husband. Fortunately for them both, it didn't strike the husband until they had made their destination. The both had a lengthy recovery.

Roscoe

 

[rwthomas1]

Don't know what to think of ciguatera. I'm from Barbados and I can tell you that I, and every other local ate/eat every and all kind of fish, especially Barracuda. Never heard of a problem like this. I remember living there and hearing about this ciquatera. People there thought it was a joke. Last time I was home fresh local seafood is still everywhere. From the docks to the plates and especially the hotels. Mass illness? Not that I know of.... RT

 

[steven]

Aren't dinoflagellates (the cause of ciguatera) the cause of red tide? Growing up in South Florida ate lots of fresh caught King, Snapper, Mahi. Never even heard of ciguarta. Is it increasing due perhaps to nutrient runnoff in the mouths of estuaries where Kingfish hang out?

 

[windjunkee]

I caught a 49" long Yellowtail off the entrance to Magdalena Bay during the PV race in '07. The thing was bigger than the forward cockpit. It hit a massive, single hook Wahoo plug.

Jim McCone
Voice of Reason, E-32 Hull #134
Redondo Beach, CA

 

[Bill Sanborn]

Congrats on your yellowtail. I thought I was the only one who trolled while racing. Deploying your trolling rig is a sure fire way to make the wind blow.

 

[Seth]

Fishing from sailboats

Back in the day (way back), we would use several light spinnaker sheets (1/8" low strech) through a snatch block on one of the stern cleats and lead the sheet to a winch. We used a variety of conventional hooks/spinners/lures (something shiny is good!), and usually a 24" steel leader, which was attached to the 1/8" line.

We would secure a piece of bungy cord between the fishing line and the stern pulpit so we could see the change from under trolling load to having one on the hook.

When the bungy stretched out and we had one (usually Tuna'Wahoo/Mahi Mahi), we would grind it in on the winch, yank it aboard, smash it on the head with a winch handle:0, and be eating ceviche in 10 minutes (while putting the steaks/filets in the ice box).

We ate a fish every day on the delivery of Grand Illusion (SC 70) from PV to LB.

Good times.

 

[steven]

had a rig like that off the stern of my old 27 while drifting downwind in the Keys. Pulled up the ugliest eel I had ever seen. So now I use a fishing pole.

 

[beachologist]

Just finished Boca Ciega Yacht Clubs Mack-N-Gnaw race. Lots of Spanish Macks caught and one King. Good eating had by all back at the club.

 

[tyrguy]

Salmon

2 years ago on the "Bridge to Bridge" race from Astoria OR to Newport OR, we had just put up the spinaker and threw out the hand lines with some plugs and hoochies when we started catching the silvers then we hooked a nice Chinook. We had to stop fishing or take the beer out of the cooler to make room, so we made the right decision and lit the BBQ up and had fresh salmon and a few beers before dark with fish leftover for breakfast and some to take home after the finish.