Doers Size Matter?:
Small Boat Trolling Issues

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Background

Finding

Attracting

Catching & Fighting

Misc & Conclusions

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Here are some thoughts on ways to help you catch and fight the fish you get to the boat.

Here in Southern California, offshore fishermen carry large amounts of live bait in addition to the lures that they troll. Our Offshore Products 3-scoop tank is a large tank for a sub-30 ft hull, but small in comparison to the dozens of scoops of bait carried by large sport fishermen or party boats.

What are small boat alternatives to carrying large amounts of live bait?:

• Chunking (or cubing) - Chumming with pieces of cut bait to hold fish near the boat.
  
  courtesy Hutch-Wilco
  
  
  
• Berley buckets - Commonly used in Australia and New Zealand, these are buckets with holes in the bottom that mount on the transom. A long-handled chopper or masher is used to grind / chop / mash dead fish, squid, shrimp, or other yummies into a trail of fine pieces that flow behind the boat. Enough to get the fish active, but not enough to fill them up .
  
  
• Frozen chum buckets - Take some oily fish, grind them up, add some extra fish oils, and freeze into a plastic bucket. To use, cut/drill some holes in the top, and hang the bucket over the side on a rope. As the block melts, it puts out a chum slick similar to a berley bucket, but with less work. However, the attractiveness of frozen chum versus the fresh ground (sounds more like coffee than dead fish) is up for debate. Common in Southern California.
  
  
• Packaged Dry Chum / Fish Oils - Similar to the frozen chum buckets, but freeze-dried, and less messy. More commonly used on the US East Coast.
  
  
• Catching bait as needed - One good thing about the ground fish chumming methods mentioned above is that they often attract medium-to-large baitfish into the slick. Drop a Sabiki rig or other bait-catcher over the side and load up the tank, or use as needed. If the bait school disappears while catching bait, you better get a bait in the water with a hook ASAP.
  

In all offshore fishing, the boat may be used to regain line and to change pressure angles on the fish. Because a small boat is more maneuverable than a large boat, it can be a much more effective fish fighting tool. Peter Pakula's website (http://www.pakula.com), and his article "Small Boat Handling Tactics" contain some great examples on tactics for fighting fish with the boat.

On large boats, the usual practice is to fight the fish while driving in reverse ("backing down"). This is done because on large boats, the angler must stay in the cockpit, which faces to the rear. More rarely, the boat will fight the fish off one side and with the boat running forward.

On small boats, backing down can have disastrous consequences. It is more effective to have the person in the bow, or next to the captain, and move the boat forward towards the fish while fighting it.

Since most small boats do not have any kind of fighting chair, standup tackle is the norm. In small boats, anglers with heavy standup tackle have to be especially cautious when strapped into a harness. One slip, and you could end up being towed to the bottom (see Part II of our article on Safety). This is less of an issue with large boats, or skiffs with deep cockpits and/or high railing.

courtesy Rupp Marine

In some cases, people have mounted regular fighting chairs to the front casting decks of skiffs. The main problem with this approach is getting the fisherman to the chair safely. If the person is trying to hold a rod with 10 - 20 pounds of drag while moving around a rocking boat, lots of bad things can happen.

Another alternative to a fighting chair is the Pole-Setter from Rupp Marine. Originally conceived as a way to allow the angler to set the hook without removing the rod from the holder, some anglers found that the rod holder can also be used to fight fish in lieu of a harness. Ths is not IGFA legal, but can get the job done in some cases without requiring the angler to have to pick up the rod.