Tie to Gear or Drift at Night? What say you

[canyongear]

I haven't started a thread in awhile..a discussion ensued the other day about overnight chunking and the inevitable what to do...

Do you tie to long line or lobster gear or just drift?

I have my opinions on this action and will weigh in later..

Certainly, it is sensitive since commecial guys spend a ton on gear..however not a night spent out in the Canyons I have never just seen boats drifting especially if it is any sort of snot..

chime in on the how to if you do..or why and reasoning why you don't..

[Banshee]

My overnight trips out of OC we just drift. You have to move a few times but no big deal. Tying up to gear is asking for trouble, it wrecks havoc on the lobster pots , plus you never know when those guys come around.
Your options are drift or buy 1800 feet of anchorline and 100 feet of chain.
JW

[canyongear]

Allright, I will get this started..

This is certainly a quandry when your 60-100 miles offshore and the "bite" is on in a certain area. There is a sense of security too..Captain and crew..however, at least one preferably two people should be up and alert at all times.

If it is "on" , the bite that is, on the edge which is more often than not, the weather and seas play a big role in this decision, which im sure your all aware of.

We feel that trolling into dusk/dark is imperative and have had phenominal bites at that time of day/night..including billfish and bigeye.

If the weather is crappy and we feel the area worked during the day warrants the check in for the night we will do so, howerver with the utmost respect for the "gear". Mark a flyer spot on your GPS or two or three..why..dusk turns to dark and flyers in rough weather are not easy to find, and others are in the area that need to check in too. Having a backup is alwasys the key..trolling in a tighter area at dusk keeps you close to the Days Inn of choice and easier to find at dark if you get into a fish that lasts into the darkness. Can't tell you how many times we have spent searching for a flyer due to the reasons above and not doing the same.

Here is what I mean..

1. Always and I mean always have floating poly yellow line as your teather, either 3/8 or 1/2" with enough rode to equal 10X the length of the boat your on.
Reasoning and deployment, poly stretches and takes any strain off the gear your tieing to in normal to mild snot. HUGE REASON..it floats..stays out of the running gear.

We loop, to the gear. Never tie to it. Several common sense reasons for this, easy release and easy to connect upon hookup with the flyer. Easy release in case of a problem, big fish, cranky boat bearing down and in the am when your ready to troll. I have seen and witnessed to many boats running gear tangled in cutoff rodes that were tied to Flyer and left with X feet floating or floating under the surface with the tide just waiting to snag a wheel of the boat the didn't see it or got too close trolling a flyer.

2. Back..up current to the flyer this process really take 3 men who have done it before to do it safely..getting chit wound up in the wheels in snot is life threating and a real PIA..

3. The rode should be prepared well in advance of the backing down operation. We place a man on the bow..and ties off the bitter end..OUTSIDE OF THE BOW RAIL, another man keeps it tight while the backing down flyer guys grap the flyer and thread the other end of the rode thru a loop on the flyer. Trick: Get some cheap caribeaners big ones use them to attach..saves fumbling in rough seas. This requires timing and teamwork, and a properly coiled rode on the deck. The flyer tag is passed to the bow man and is secured. Two men carefully feed the free line out as the cappy swings the wheels and boat port or starboard as the tide has worked and pivots the nose into the flyer as the rode is deployed. Bow is better the worse the seas, safety is key at this point for the bowman. Usually bow to a midship or forward cockpit cleat works fine in calmer seas. So now you have one big loop which is 5X the length of the boat. If it really blows up we GET OFF THE GEAR and drift troll using the boat to keep the nose in the snot. Not fun or easy in the late PM..or just quit for the night and drift.

3..Knots are check on the bow and one or two men make sure the bowman gets safely back in the pit..never taking eyes off him..

4. As the flyer is released from the boys at the stern..a zip lock bag with a $20.00 bill is duct taped up nice and high..for the commercial guy.

5. If a commercial is steaming at you during the wee hours with lights blaring..we always get off the ball no matter what..a quick radio call of ..thank you! is usually protocol, most ofter never answered but im sure appreciated.

6. You must keep someone up and awake at all times..stories I won't go into. Suffice it to say, bad things can happen for alot of reasons when someone is sleeping on one boat and another is awake without much sleep and working hard to make a living.

We knew alot of guys who long lined or long lined lobstered and asked their opinion of this practice..the answer was never positive..

However, they would concede that the fellows who respected their gear didn't piss them off just irritated them for renting it without sharing ...therefore the $20.00 started..

There are no rules..just common sense..respect the gear..act responsibly and take care with a little gratitude, may make the overnight checkin alot more pleasant..

I wrote this not to encourage this practice, but if you do it, at least respect the commercial guys gear by doing it the way they actually told us would do "less" damage.

And remember, this is one dangerous manuever 100 miles from shore..rehearse and have the right gear to do it..50 foot dock lines ain't cutting it..buy a 500' roll of 3/8 poly it ain't that much..do it right..

[waterman482]

I haven't started a thread in awhile..a discussion ensued the other day about overnight chunking and the inevitable what to do...

Do you tie to long line or lobster gear or just drift?

I have my opinions on this action and will weigh in later..

Certainly, it is sensitive since commecial guys spend a ton on gear..however not a night spent out in the Canyons I have never just seen boats drifting especially if it is any sort of snot..

chime in on the how to if you do..or why and reasoning why you don't..

I can't believe you would even post such a stupid question!

First of all tying off to commercial gear is illegal

Second of all you are screwing with someones livelyhood and ways of supporting their family.

Third of all tying off to comm longline gear achieves nothing since it DRIFTS! so you would be drifting along with the gear just like you would be if you weren't anchored only now your tied off to something that is also drifting with the current!

[canyongear]

Umm..your wrong I said long line lobster gear or long line gear.

If you think for one minute 90% of the guys on the edge at night aren't tied off to a flyer your whacked..and you didn't read the post.

I didn't encourage it..It was posted to maybe keep a guy out of trouble or wrecking gear..

if you didn't get that..your just here to piss on a thread bud.

Perhaps a reading or comprehension couse may be in order..Waterman..you know this is done all the time..is it worth someone dying over? because they didn't know how or safely do it?

Not to mention the number of boats who we personally know who have had wheels fouled in rodes attached to gear where they were just cut off and left to drift..50' 100' under the surface after they get weighed down with seagrowth..

dont' be a tool ..your smarter than that.

[Bert Rodgers]

Have you asked permission of the owner to use his gearr for mooring? If not you have absolutely no right EVER to tie off on someone's gear. Period, end of discussion!

Bert

[sportfishingusa]

I can't believe you would even post such a stupid question!

First of all tying off to commercial gear is illegal

Second of all you are screwing with someones livelyhood and ways of supporting their family.

Third of all tying off to comm longline gear achieves nothing since it DRIFTS! so you would be drifting along with the gear just like you would be if you weren't anchored only now your tied off to something that is also drifting with the current!

just add a 50ft "wheel" line.. lol when they back downwhoops!! right around their wheels!!lol

tieing off is idiotic..

if your spendin thousands of dollars to go offshor spend the money and get the damn anchor,line, and chain

[Double D]

I prefer to anchor. Why?

1. I can fish where I want
2. Don't have to join the rat race to find a pot
3. Don't have to worry about the landlord coming in the middle of the night
4. Its the ETHICAL and LEGAL thing to do

Yes, it takes an extra half hour in the am to retrieve the gear. Don't be lazy, use your anchor

[seapower]

If it was your gear the post may not be the same. The guy's with the gear out there you are using for a mooring bouy are out there making a living, you're out there playing. Big difference in my book. How about the same guy's go into your tackle shop, throw down a $20.00 and leave with a box rig's, they'd like to "borrow" for the next trip? Same thing. Stay off the gear!!!!
Having spent the majority of my working life on the "gear", it strikes me as a double standard. Been to way too many user allocation "meeting's" to only sit and listen to the "rec's" piss and moan about the "commercial's" (not saying for a moment that your one of those guy's). Now you the (rec's) want to tie off on my gear. Kinda rub's me the wrong way. You wanna play?, then play. I use a sea anchor myself, pretty simple system and it work's. One more time, STAY OFF THE GEAR!!! Frank

[Bert Rodgers]

If it was your gear the post may not be the same. The guy's with the gear out there you are using for a mooring bouy are out there making a living, you're out there playing. Big difference in my book. How about the same guy's go into your tackle shop, throw down a $20.00 and leave with a box rig's, they'd like to "borrow" for the next trip? Same thing. Stay off the gear!!!!
Having spent the majority of my working life on the "gear", it strikes me as a double standard. Been to way too many user allocation "meeting's" to only sit and listen to the "rec's" piss and moan about the "commercial's" (not saying for a moment that your one of those guy's). Now you the (rec's) want to tie off on my gear. Kinda rub's me the wrong way. You wanna play?, then play. I use a sea anchor myself, pretty simple system and it work's. One more time, STAY OFF THE GEAR!!! Frank

Excellent post.

Bert