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Setting up a Sail boat for Game Fishing?


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Im a keen game fisher, anything from mahimahi to yellow fin tuna and I love jigging for kings etc.

Is there any reason why you cannot setup a yacht with outrigger poles etc?

One thing I notice a lot of the yachting vloggers on the net make the mistake of is keeping under sail while trying to fight a marlin. Get the sails down, get the engines chasing the fish providing the swell isnt up.

Ive always wanted to give up a power boat and set up my yacht for game fishing. A marlin board truely becomes invaluable as does an insertable game chair. 

Has anybody set their yacht up purposefully for this reason?

The speed of a yacht under way is the perfect speed typically for trolling lures. It just makes more sense than running engines at low RPMs, which no matter the engine, is generally not healthy long term. 

Im thinking you would want to have your sails out, as simple as possible to drop at a given moment. This is where the deck hand would come in invaluable. Would using a reefed up main sail be the easiest sail to drop when fish on?

The much lower cost in fuel would also mean I get out almost every weekend. 

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One thing I notice a lot of the yachting vloggers on the net make the mistake of is keeping under sail while trying to fight a marlin. Get the sails down, get the engines chasing the fish providing the swell isnt up.

 

 

 

For a start, you'd need the right rudder setup I'd imagine.

 

Reversing my boat, and a lot of other keelers at anything over 2knts its a herculean job. Large rudders dont like reversing for the same reason planes dont fly backwards 

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Had a mate up at Tuts that used game fish of his Lotus 10.6. Caught a Mako when motoring down on his own from the BOI to Tuts. Lay on the cockpit floor with his feet braced against the transom.

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I’m no expert in game fishing, no real knowledge at all. But why would you need outriggers when you have a mast?

Couldn’t you set up effectively flag halyard style lines up to the spreader tips, and the outrigger clips to the halyards, allowing you to pull them up to spreader height? I guess you would have less separation than actual outriggers, but less ugly and far less expensive.

 

Weather you could use reefed sails or not I guess would depend more on the wind speed, wind angle and desired boat speed, more than what’s easy to drop. Likely freely running slugs would be your best friend in getting the main down quick, and a furling head sail. Furling main too maybe for that matter.

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I did a bit of gamefishing in my younger days -35 ft Shark cat of the west coast and 15 ft centre console in the Indian Ocean.

 

You can catch fish in a yacht but I wouldn’t say they are great platforms- it takes a while to stop the boat, clear the gear then you need to back down (nightmare with a keel).

 

Rigging everywhere restricting movement, stuff in the cockpit etc.

 

You need to pull at 9 knots, ideally directly into the wind, circle fish sign and when a 200kg plus blue hits you need to react quick.

 

Can you catch gamefish under sail from a yacht ... yes, and i’ll He towing a small jet head around this summer cruise just in case a yellow fin has a chomp.

 

Would you seriously set up for it? Nah.... buy a Vindex.

 

Also under around 8 knots you’ll loose tonnes of gear to Mako’s.

 

If you want go Sailing buy a sailboat. If you want to go fishing buy a fishing boat.

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Don’t need outriggers

We just run two rods off the aft quarters and two bungees in close, some times an extra shotgun off the bridle on the backstay.

That’s enough gear to clear when it happens.

Caught 15m of Mahi-mahi in 17 days crossing the Atlantic

Hooked up on 12 marlin and got 6 to boat between Panama and Fiji

Problem is they are too big to do anything with, so like to target tuna, wahoo and Mahi-mahi then lures out until we have eaten it.

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I saw a Cat in Tahiti last year that had a lot of custom additions for serious game fishing including outriggers , a custom steering station right at the back of the hard top overlooking the cockpit which gave them great visibility , and rod holders galore . They were hardcore fishers and had spent quite a lot adapting their boat for their passion and to be honest the extent they went to would probably limit their resale options.

    Generally - yachts are at a reasonable disadvantage compared to a motor boat -(especially in a breeze) when hooking up but with a rehearsed drill you can increase those odds.

  Our procedure was furl jib/genoa , round up  while starting motors and lay to while dealing with the fish but if you are doing 7-8 knots at the time of the strike there is definitely increased odds of losing the fish by the time you have everything sort of under control!

    Cats I think are better laid out and easier access to dealing with fish over monos .  Trying to land a marlin on a mono would be bit of a mission and you would need good gaffs and crew.

  We landed 2 marlin (and hooked at least 2 more ) last season in the Pacific  however our general hook up to landing ratio of all strikes would have been less than 50% -less as the conditions got rougher.

As Jon mentioned things like bungees help

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Our mono is 5m wide so almost a multi

We have found our landing ratio improves if we let the fish run and don’t panic striking the fish.

Furl headsail, clear other lines and start motor and turn up either close hauled or a bit higher

Then strike the fish, it takes some doing just letting the reel scream, but if you can get a big belly in the line before you start fighting the fish then it’s working against that and your much more likely to have a tired fish at the stern.

Equally we had a wahoo follow the boat and we had it at the duck board in minutes or less, I got a quick rap on the leader, it saw me then

Well, ended up with some groves in my hand down to the bone almost, they reminded me to slowdown and put a glove on for quite some time to follow.

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For sure letting a fish try to move tonnes of boat does the work for ya, just need to be careful not to pull the hook if going too fast, what you say about the head sail etc is spot on imo. let it tire, then get the engine on and haul the tired fish in, hopefully before a big mako gets her.

 

Im now looking at a trailer weekend sailer, corsair 880. plenty of room for the weekend and big enough to sail the hauraki and possibly up north. just and idea at this stage. it gives the Mrs the multi hull she needs as she will puke on any mono hull. its a bit of a lightweight option, but $50k and they are a lot of fun.

I can see them being tri rigged for Marlin etc quite nicely.

I use big shimanos with heavy IGFA Dacron. Definitely not going to be a line snapping fault. Maybe trail 2 teasers out as well. Coming up to Albacore season they are caught in the boat load.

If I get the trailer tri, I will have a small galley and chiller, but I will also have a massive ice box with salt ice for the weekend. Never a slaughter but i take back what I will consume over the period in between getting out or not. A nice big Blue Beakie out toward GBI would be nice, smoked, feed a lot of friends as well as family. Yum, due for a dose of Mercury :-)

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Thanks all for the tips and stories, all those dolphin fish and beakies are just waiting.

 

Im not 100% sure on the trailer 880, but the benefit is I can drive it wherever I like and launch. Being a tri they are nice and safe and stable. Not something id want in a 4 metre swell and 30 knots, but watching the weather and sticking to NZ islands we should be ok for weekenders.

They have a surprising nice cabin for a trailer tri.

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