First solo offshore and a couple of fish.

[tenzing]

With the regulars offline yesterday I decided it was time to bite the bullet and take the seafarer out solo .
Have had some work done on the trailer recently to help make driving on a bit smoother. Grand Marlin did his usual top job ( Thanks again Pete).So I did a bit of prep work on Saturday to enable the single handed on and off.
I took some Ausfish advice for the launching (rope to rear cleat) then drive forward to release). My Deckie gave me a great hint for the retrieve. I put a piece of conduit into a fixed female section on the front of the trailer that touches the front of the anchor when the boat is all the way on. I could then tell from the cockpit exactly how far I had to go.
I then put a hook in the side of the conduit about rail height which held up a rope attached to the safety loop af the towbar , and just popped the hatch open and tied her off on a front cleat, turned off the motor and climbed down(nervously) and pulled it up tight with the winch.
I got a few funny looks when I got the conduit out but it worked a treat.
Thanks Tim for the advice.

As for the fishing, Left Scarby very early so as to have a bit of ramp to play with, and got out to the cape pre dawn. ( got to another light-free boat - great fun when you have the only set of eyes)
Placcies over the shoals, and jigged a mark for nil result.
Decided to troll on the way to another mark and look for bait on the way, and found good shows within minutes.

Managed to pick up two nice snapper in a couple of drifts on light gear (12lb fluoro wind on and 1/4 and 3/8 jig heads,) using rainbow trout snapbacks from the bargain bin at my local tackle shop.Both fish on the drop.
I pre tied the sea anchor to the bow .I would not have gone up there in the slop alone) and stored it in the spare bait tank aft and that slowed me down enough to use the lighter gear. Dont know why I havent used it much it works a treat .

I had a quick jig on another reef for 1 legal pearlie then headed home.

The conditions were ordinary at best with 15 plus and sloppy seas.
The only downside was the washing and filleting solo too. ( and of course the fuel pump!)

snapper went 76 and 70 ( just as well its not September yet )

Cheers
Brendan

[Tim Hutchison]

Nice fish looks like no more bait for you 3 good snaps in two weeks on sp
Cheers Tim

[tenzing]

Yes Mate I,m Starting to go over to the dark side, It smells nice over there too.
BTW love the new file management function. No more friggin aroun resizing photos
Cheers
Brendan

[outwide1]

Hey brendan,bad idea tying a para anchor on the bow mate.Very dangerous as it could pull the bow of the boat under.
Look forward to seeing what others comments on this are.Just something i was taught not to do.
Nice fish otherwize mate.
MICK

[trueblue]

Hey brendan,bad idea tying a para anchor on the bow mate.Very dangerous as it could pull the bow of the boat under.
Look forward to seeing what others comments on this are.Just something i was taught not to do.
MICK

How do you figure that? First thing to be done if you get caught in severe (emergency situation) seas and lose propulsion is to get a drogue or sea anchor out off the bow on a long springy line, to keep the bow into the seas which is your only chance for keeping the boat afloat.

if anything, use of a para anchor off the bow is totally 'right'.

Hanging a sea anchor off the stern is dead set dangerous as waves can wash into the boat very easily and swamp it. Lots of people do that for fishing purposes, as many also hang the para off the side of the boat, but must do so with an eye on the conditions ready to pull it in if required - still hazardous though.

good fish there Brendan - bit worrying about these new regulations, going to be quite a few people going out and coming home with one snapper each if they have a good spot

[outwide1]

Why in the world would you tye it off the front while fishing,its used to slow the drift of the boat over the surface of the ocean when its being blown along (we do fish from the rear of the boat.),so you can have your lines in the strike zone longer.It is pointles off the front.We have run it off the stern for 10years and never had a problem,i can always trip the thing or at worst cut it,like to see you cut it off while its up the front.lol I would like have some input from a highly regarded offshore skipper like Bill corten on this subject.

[tenzing]

Hi Outwide
Para anchor is designed originally to be deployed from the bow to keep the vessel nose in to the waves/swell.
If you fish placcies it is preferable to NOT have them floating quicker astern. It keeps them in the zone longer. It is the opposite for bait of course as this has the bait coming back away from the stern.This is what I have personally found useful anyway.
As a safety issue though, where do you attach your anchor??
Not a problem

cheers for the reply

Brendan

[tenzing]

OW,
Just re read your post. The retrieval line is tied from a rail in the cockpit, the mainline only is tied off from the bow.
Even single handed you can launch it easily , and dead set you can have it back in in seconds.
I cant see why you need to in a hurry except if you were to drift near an anchored boat.
In any case its quite a safe option and can be set up before setting out.
I hope for some input on its fishability with plastics from others.
Brendan

[trueblue]

Why in the world would you tye it off the front while fishing,its used to slow the drift of the boat over the surface of the ocean when its being blown along (we do fish from the rear of the boat.),so you can have your lines in the strike zone longer.It is pointles off the front.We have run it off the stern for 10years and never had a problem,i can always trip the thing or at worst cut it,like to see you cut it off while its up the front.lol I would like have some input from a highly regarded offshore skipper like Bill corten on this subject.

Hey OW, I agree with you about fishing as I often run my para anchor off the stern as well depending on what sort of fishing I am doing. I also agree with Brendan that sometimes for fishing the best place for the para is off the bow.

My comment was simply in respect to your incorrect statement suggesting that it was dangerous to run the para anchor off the bow - far from it - the safest deployment for all vessels is from the bow. There are many survival stories where the only thing that saved a boat and crew was a para or other sea anchor off the bow to hold the bow into the seas. The para anchor if deployed correctly will certainly not pull the bow under. Big trawlers and yachts etc use massive para anchors for this purpose, many times they use a para anchor with a diameter that is wider than their boats overall length!!! For rec fishing we are using toy para anchors by comparison, where the para width is usually no more than a third of the boats length.

As Brendan says, any properly deployed para anchor can be back in the boat in a matter of seconds when the retrieval line is made available in the cockpit.

For offshore sea survival emergencies in a failed vessel, number 1 priority after a headcount is to deploy the sea anchor off the bow to get her nose into the seas / wind, regardless of the sea state severity.

Fishing is a personal choice where to deploy it, but with recognition and understanding of the potential dangers associated with deployment from the stern or beam of the boat.

any suggested potential dangers about deployment off the bow may be related to deployment with too short a rope.

[Greg P]

I always deploy it at the stern as well for fishing. I like to see where it is at all times especially when the wind is really dictating your drift direction offshore rather than current. Plus with the hardtop and clears up my boat will always tend to go bow first when wind is greater than current. I am not of fan of cold water swimming to untangle it from the leg so I want to see it at all times. I agree 100% if you have engine trouble or stuck in big seas etc then deploy from the bow but if you have a bout that cant drift without filling at the stern with a para anchor deployed - well I question if you should be out in those conditions.

Anyway each to their own - if it works for you great. It makes no difference in relation to casting placcies IMO - just casting a different direction.

[scoota]

Think about it Greg, the para anchor won't be under the boat as I first thought...

Thanks for the tip Brendan when using soft plastics.

Had the shute tied off the stern today for good sucess on soft plastics but we were using baits on other rods as well.

Plastics outfished bait 2 to 1 and all good size fish...

Scoota...

[tenzing]

what area did you fish scoota?

[tenzing]

Just had the most tender fillets I've ever tasted!
Wifey is a little Margaret Fulton.
Recipe is in the recipe section
Brendan
http://ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?177033-my-wifes-new-snapper-recipe

[trueblue]

sounds like a great feed there Brendan