Salmon fishing while sailing, or from a sailboat?

[Seagirt]

I have a dedicated power boat for fishing but can't seem to fully compartmentalize when it comes to sailing and so I also fish from my little 25' C&C. Mostly I jig for salmon or anchor for halibut and haven't bothered mounting downriggers on her or trying to troll under sail. There has been lots of good information given about fishing under sail or under power but I'll add that the style of fishing you'll need to do depends on where you are on the island. As you probably know, in some places the salmon (especially chinook) are typically 100-300' deep, 8nm from shore, and require downriggers with 18# cannon balls but in other places the salmon are 20' deep, close to shore, and a simple sliding 8oz weight or diver will do the trick. Mooching is a style that produces big salmon near the surface, but the speed required is slower than downrigger fishing and would be hard to achieve consistently under sail.

A big concern of mine when fishing from my sailboat is taking care of my catch. If I'm on a multi day sail I have to eat what I catch as I do not have the ability to freeze. This means releasing larger fish. When I'm sportfishing from my powerboat I have lots of ice with me, a big cooler, and I get the fish home as quick as possible to process and vacuum pack and freeze or to can. If you are able to deal with a lot of fish and you plan to make specific trips to stock up on fish then you will want to pursue setting up your boat for fishing. If you just want to enjoy fresh fish while cruising than I'd forego the downriggers and extra gear and follow the more simple fishing advice already given on this thread.

Also, you'll earn yourself lots of friends by sharing fresh fish at the anchorage.

I'm looking forward to hear how things work out for you, good luck!

[Seagirt]

If you find your speed is fairly quick and you have trouble keeping in that 2knot range you can fish using gear that is meant to be used at quicker velocities. Plugs (which naturally dive), certain spoons, x-raps, hoochies on longer leaders, and even anchovies on teaser heads can be fished faster than 3 knots. I once hooked into lots of coho while trolling a buzz bomb at 6 knots (during a return trip on the auxiliary motor when the main motor kaputzed) but had trouble landing them at that speed.

[Mithril Bham]

Originally Posted by Maka

Lots of ways to fish with a Sail Boat.
I like to use the dingy where I have two rod holders mounted in the seat.
No gaff, net only from the inflatable dingy for obvious reasons.

Good idea

[Lepke]

I was a commercial ocean salmon troller. Speed is most important. Somewhere about 2-3 knots, BUT there are currents, sometimes opposing currents at different depths that effect how fast. Salmon boats have large poles, mine about 30' long at 45° out. To find the speed, the boat is slowly fishtailed. If salmon come on the outside pole you're too slow and the inside pole too fast.

The easiest time to catch salmon is between dark and dawn. Their eyes don't dilate. So at night they're on the surface and as the sky brightens and the sun rises, they go deeper. Many times in the dark as I was throwing out my salmon gear, I would catch fish. Unless you're using bait, color is the 2nd most important. A colored spoon that works one day probably won't work the next. As a fisherman, I carried hundreds of spoons, hoochies (plastic squid), plugs and so on. Green spoons, green & white, white, white and blue, blue and green and so on... Enough of each color for about 40 hooks. Some fishermen I knew used only brass spoons that were kept in a cleaning solution anytime out of the water. It worked for them. Bait was the best overall solution for me with flashers and dodgers to attract the fish and some hoochies. Spoons I used in desperation or on reports from others.
I'd be happy to share an info on salmon trolling or tuna anyone might want.

[EmeraldCoastSailor]

I am not experienced in catching salmon from a sailboat but I have caught a ton of fish while sailing single handed. I have never figured a good way to get a lure deep consistently so just about all have been caught on top water. Sorry I am not very helpful but I share your thought of a "trip out on the water is made better when catching fish for the smoker".

[Toaster]

Originally Posted by Seagirt

A big concern of mine when fishing from my sailboat is taking care of my catch. If I'm on a multi day sail I have to eat what I catch as I do not have the ability to freeze. This means releasing larger fish.

Yes, we would catch a big fish and by the time it was onboard, we'd realize it was 'uge, and since it was exhausted anyway (hence just become food for sea lion / seals), we would eat salmon for breakfast, lunch and dinner for several days. Salmon curry is amazingly good. Thin slices of salmon fried and served on toast with coffee. Without a big freezer, just eat it fast. Then you don't want to fish again for two or three weeks, maybe longer. We never did catch and release, seems wasteful.

[SVLastTango]

After spending 20 years sailing and fishing in Puget Sound I can tell you we caught more fish on our sailboat then we ever did own our powerboats.

typically we used a shorter rod for ease of use 30lbs test line to a pink lady plainer. Then about 3' of 50lbs test to a green and silver flasher. Then about 4' to a artificial squid or hochie. We also crabbed and shrimped from our sailboat as well. Always a great time.

[kenpickard]

Not in light wind
Or simply reduce sail to troll
I do it all the time

[rbellmore]

Salmon fishing from a sailboat is something that took me a bit of time to get a hang of. A few lost rods and some wounded egos later I seem to have catching salmon in Puget Sound under sail down.
The key is to use a down rigger and depth finder. You must look act, and behave like a fisherman if you want any chance at fish in the south sound. I made a wooden "fishing transom" which I store under my boat. When I want to fish I simply insert it and use it as my tie in for the depth finder and down riggers (I personally did not want to punch holes in a sailboat to install all the stuff you will need).

I have caught Salmon at speeds as low as .5 kt all the way up to 4.5 kts. The "best speed" seems to be about 2.5, but that depends on if you are running with or ageist the tide. The proof is in the pudding. Put your flasher and lure in the water down about 1 to 3 feet. Speed up and slow down the boat until the flasher switches from the "role" to the "spiral".

I often find I use just my main, and ditch the head sail all together. But then again I'm on a J24 so going to fast is always my problem.

I attached a picture of my homemade "Fishing transom" in case you decide to go down this path.

[pdxsailordiver]

Rbellmore
How deep do you run your down riggers?
Thanks

[rbellmore]

If you see a bait ball on your depth finder fish one line through the middle and one at the base of the ball. The theory is Salmon strike from the bottom up so the bottom of the ball would have the most and largest salmon. If you are out and you can't find a bait ball and your fish finder is just showing bottom then troll about 3 feet off of the bottom. There are always some Blackmouth laying on the bottom. Fishfinders can't find them.

[alctel]

Oh I love the detachable fishing transom! Great idea!

I lived on my boat for 5 years in Victoria and used to salmon fish all the time from it, including in winter. I had two electric downriggers (overkill if you just fish in summer when the fish are higher in the water but a lifesaver in winter when they are ~200 foot down).

When fishing under sail I just tended to use the foresail and rolled it in and out till I was going around 2.3 knots, though you have to take into account the current. It's easier to do with a speed through water gismo.

I went up the central coast this year and North of hardy you don't even need downriggers - keep a couple of rods rigged with slipweights, mini flashers and spoons/hoochies and when the wind is light toss em out. Helps to keep you amused during light winds.

The hardest part of the whole thing is following the fishing regs - DFOs website is a horrible mess. There is an app called FishingBC which makes it a lot easier but be sure to look up BEFORE you catch anything what you are allowed to keep. And also get good at working out what salmon type it is!

Basic rule of thumb, sharp teeth means its a coho/spring, no teeth means its a sockeye(rare to catch unless you are going for them), a chum or a pink. for secondary ID, very distinctive white strip down gum means its a coho not a spring, spots on tail means a pink not chum.

If you get a pink try to slap it on the BBQ that day - delicious same day but their flesh breaks down faster than other salmon so they don't keep as well.

And after you catch them, cut the gills and taildrag them for 10 minutes to bleed them and then gut/chill them ASAP. Makes a HUGE difference!

[Seagirt]

Alctel gives great advice and sums things up well. Except I wouldn’t risk tail dragging the salmon and losing it to a seal or sealion.

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Maka

Lots of ways to fish with a Sail Boat.
I like to use the dingy where I have two rod holders mounted in the seat.
No gaff, net only from the inflatable dingy for obvious reasons.

Good advice [emoji106]
If the fish are biting, then it doesn't matter what platform you are using, but to really increase your odds, the tender with a small motor will increase your odds dramatically, especially when the sun is up and you are fishing tide lines and near the reefs.

Did professional salmon sport fishing for 7 years with up to 28 guest in 14 small boats all over BC and SE Alaska with the mothership.

This is what consistently works:

Medium sized frozen herring, beveled cut for slow or fast roll depending on species you were after.

Two single hook rig to harness the bait with the trailing hook super sharp and left to freewheel at the fork of the herrings tail.

Fish change of light and tide changes following just off the tide line and you catch.

On 3 or 4 day packages...all my guests flew home with their limit and of a high average weight.
Unless the blackfish were around [emoji20]

[APWTryfan]

Just built a mount for Scotty downrigger on new to us C&C33. Within 5 minutes of dropping of Sarah Point (Lund BC) we caught a 12 pound winter spring at 180 feet. In the next 3 days we filled up on prawns and red snapper!