Hate fishing, but gotta do it....

[SaucySailoress]

Hey there, I'm a Commercial diver, preparing to cast off in the spring and sail off into the sunrise on our other boat, a Kalik 40.

I hate fishing. I tried it a few times, both with HWMO and with customers who charter our boat for trolling and line fishing, but got all upset when they had to kill the fish, but I guess it's a skill I'll have to learn sooner or later. If I want to eat!

So far I have picked up some interesting pointers from you guys, and look forward to reading more!

[Ocean Breeze NL]

Welcome SS, in my neck of the waters fishing use to be for a living. Now it has been past down to fish for food so much so that very little fishing done is catch and release, although there are quite a few fishermen still doing it for a living. We ( family non fishermen ) are given ~4wks per year to catch fish although we have different seasons of fishing - Salmon, Lobster, Cod & Mackerel etc. When one season is over the other starts and so it has become a lifestyle. I had my son-in-law out last year doing some catch & release since he grew up on a farm and not the ocean and most of the locals couldn't get over that I wasted fuel for that purpose lol.

Enjoy the forum.

[swampu]

Saucy, When you drag a fish up from 60' or more unless you pop the bladder right your killing it anyway. Just don't kill sailfish, marlin or anyfish your not going to eat. The government is very good at telling us what we can or cannot catch so you should be fine. If you still can't kill em' just smash a few cats or dogs while driving and that will numb down your fear with the fish.

[SaucySailoress]

Originally Posted by swampu

If you still can't kill em' just smash a few cats or dogs while driving and that will numb down your fear with the fish.

Seriously? See that's the sort of awesome advice I'm here looking for... Perhaps you could just demonstrate and send me the video...

[Phil Fill]

That is exactly the reason we do not crab and fish as we have the kill them? The fish with their big eye looking right at you, and the crabs make a crying sound being boiled. And then you have to clean and cook them! Yuck! The few times we have gone fishing, we set the line/hook release so tight so it does not come loose that we drown them. Then when we get back to the dock we usually give them away.

[skipperdude]

Originally Posted by swampu

Saucy, When you drag a fish up from 60' or more unless you pop the bladder right your killing it anyway. Just don't kill sailfish, marlin or anyfish your not going to eat. The government is very good at telling us what we can or cannot catch so you should be fine. If you still can't kill em' just smash a few cats or dogs while driving and that will numb down your fear with the fish.

Popping the bladder will kill the fish anyway. Usually from infection. that thing that comes out of the mouth is actually the fishes stomach.

The right way to do it is to have a heavy led head jig with the barb filed off.
Hook the fish and send it down to where it came from.

Without the barb it will get off the hook and reports are a 70% to 80% survival rate for deep fish released this way.

This comes from a group of fish and game biologists here in Alaska doing studies on Pelagic and non pelagic rock fish. The fish were tagged released in this manner and then re caught.

Know your quarry.

SD

[Andy G]

Welcome to the wonderful world of TF SS, where men are men and the sheep are nervous.

Fishing seems to tap into the hunter gatherer part of our makeup, or to paraphrase Churchill(before RT Firefly does) 'never in the field of human endeavour have so many spent so much catching so little'.

I'd pack some lentils and cans of tomatoes for your adventure, just in case.

[Pau Hana]

As a meat eating, fish/shellfish/squid killing machine, I think the best medicine for you is to immerse yourself in your charter operation. As you said, you habe to eat out there....

[Steve]

Probably the vast majority of cruising folks out there never fish. This is supposed to be about fun, why do something you feel so strongly against? Bring enough food when you leave, the supply of good eating fish is not dependable even for experienced fisherpersons.
Steve W

[swampu]

Originally Posted by skipperdude

Popping the bladder will kill the fish anyway. Usually from infection. that thing that comes out of the mouth is actually the fishes stomach.

The right way to do it is to have a heavy led head jig with the barb filed off.
Hook the fish and send it down to where it came from.

Without the barb it will get off the hook and reports are a 70% to 80% survival rate for deep fish released this way.

This comes from a group of fish and game biologists here in Alaska doing studies on Pelagic and non pelagic rock fish. The fish were tagged released in this manner and then re caught.

Know your quarry.

SD

SD, I've attached a link to how we are told to do it. If we don't have the proper equipment on board we will be ticketed. Your method would require a tremendous amount of lead (most snapper going back are about 5# or so) they would all die here because of the sharks. 1 out of 5 coming up will be eaten or a bite taken out of them. I don't know how ya'll fish and I sure don't know how people in Kuwait fish. I know we have fished for lifetimes down here and i've never seen anyone send one to the bottom like you say. As for the op, if you don't wan't to fish don't, I know a few vegans or veggie's that won't touch em' but they don't get to the point they can't stand the sight of a fishing experience. Saucy, catch a amberjack or tuna and fight it with out a belt or help and when you get it to the boat you will strangle it with your bare hands, I promise.
Link as promised for the proper release of the fish
Venting - Catch & Release Fishing - Florida Sea Grant

[Marin]

Originally Posted by SaucySailoress

.....but got all upset when they had to kill the fish, but I guess it's a skill I'll have to learn sooner or later. If I want to eat!

The most common method is to use a weighted club made for the purpose and whack the fish hard in the head between and just behind the eyes. This stuns them immediately at which point you can bleed them (or not, depending on the type of fish). It is about as humane as one can make it. Letting them gasp and "drown" on deck is a terrible thing to do. The club method works on every fish from little trout to the fish pictured below.

[HopCar]

Hi Saucy, welcome to the dark side.
I have a cartoon in my office that shows an old salt kneeling next to his bunk as he prays "Oh Lord forgive me. I went out on a powerboat and liked it!"

[Codger2]

Originally Posted by Marin

. The club method works on every fish from little trout to the fish pictured below.

Attachment 16031

Where I fish in Alaska, the really big halibut (100-300 lbs.) are normally shot with a .410 with slugs. They can wreak havoc on the cockpit of a boat if taken aboard alive. We club everything else.

[Marin]

The halibut in the photo was 100 pounds. We used our normal method of gaff and haul over the gunwale into the boat. After stunning it we flipped it onto its back as in our experience this keeps a halibut quite calm if they revive. At that point we bleed it.

But if we were to catch one much larger than this we'd need to come up with a different method of getting it into the boat or we'd simply tow it back to port (about a 22-25 mile run). But we would most likely let a fish larger than the one pictured go. They're all females when they get this size or larger so letting them go helps rebuild the stocks. The hundred pounder gives us plenty of fish in the freezer for the year. We actually prefer them in the 30 to 70 pound range.

[Codger2]

I agree that the smaller Halibut are the best eating and that the really big ones are mostly cows. There seems to be a change, however, in the Alaska Department of Fish & Game's recommending that you let the "big Buts" go. They are fast coming to the realization that this practice does not improve the stocks as much as previously thought. With fishermen keeping all the small "Buts", it would appear that the males of the species aren't as numerous as once thought.

Pennsylvania and a few other eastern states have had similar thoughts on Buck only hunts. They are fast coming to the conclusion that to keep the numbers of White Tails down, more doe should be taken.

Wildlife managers are experiencing "new thinking" in their never ending efforts to achieve the right balance in maintaining the quality, numbers & size of various animals and fish. Halibut and the Eastern White Tail are examples of this.

[Marin]

Don't dispute what you say but BC is trying to rebuild the groundfish stocks that have been incredibly depleted over the last few decades. To that end they have published and posted their request--- not their requirement--- that all halibut over 80 pounds be released and they have reduced catch and possession limits dramatically over the last few years.

The possession limit is now two and only one of them can be of any size you want. The other one can not be any longer than about two feet which would go along with your "protect the males" comment.

[Hendo78]

Originally Posted by SaucySailoress

Hey there, I'm a Commercial diver, preparing to cast off in the spring and sail off into the sunrise on our other boat, a Kalik 40.

I hate fishing. I tried it a few times, both with HWMO and with customers who charter our boat for trolling and line fishing, but got all upset when they had to kill the fish, but I guess it's a skill I'll have to learn sooner or later. If I want to eat!

So far I have picked up some interesting pointers from you guys, and look forward to reading more!

You answered your own question in your opening statement.

"Diver" ...

Chuck a wetty on, some weights, grab a speargun and get wet. Put the spear through its head and buy the time you're at the boat it's dead. Easy peasy :-)

Sent from my iPad using Trawler

[kbad]

Iki Jimi spike the fish in the brain with a sharp spike, slightly above the eye level swivel it around a few times you will know when you hit it, quick and efficient when you learn how, bleed them, put it in a slurry of sea water and ice. I only take enough for a feed, release the rest, a release weight is mandatory to carry here in Western Australia if you are fishing. Works quite well had no issues with sharks taking them on the way back down.

[Peter B]

Originally Posted by Andy G

Welcome to the wonderful world of TF SS, where men are men and the sheep are nervous.

Fishing seems to tap into the hunter gatherer part of our makeup, or to paraphrase Churchill(before RT Firefly does) 'never in the field of human endeavour have so many spent so much catching so little'.

I'd pack some lentils and cans of tomatoes for your adventure, just in case.

Absolutely right Andy. I have to confess my last two attempts to fish while out cruising resulted in the only thing being caught was my wind turbine. Now you can see where it is in relation to the cockpit in the avatar pic. Can someone explain to me how a weighted line which started out down on the bottom, could end up wrapped round the wind turbine blades, but it has happened now, not once, but twice. Ok, I admit I get bored, and tend to set it in my rod holders while I fetch some refreshment, so I didn't see it happen either time. I managed to disengage it, by winding it back, and sacrificing some line, but my message is....don't bank on catching your food. Like Andy says...take enough with you.

[Andy G]

[QUOTE=Peter B;] "Can someone explain to me how a weighted line which started out down on the bottom, could end up wrapped round the wind turbine blades, but it has happened now, not once, but twice."

Well that's consistency for you.

Me, I love cooking fish, eating fish, but I just can't catch the dam things. Those Halibut are amazing. When I worked in the UK I cooked a lot of Halibut, good fish to work with.