Virgin water

[Flatdog]

Ok here is the scenario," dream world" you have just won the lotto and bought a trans- oceanic long range game boat.
Now your on a long haul across the Pacific Ocean Or Indian Ocean, water depth 10k ft, troll speed 8-10 knots, it's deep real deep, what spread would you put out? Ring the changes yes that's a given, big? small?, a mix?
Deep, wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwb, slowdown?
What makes me ask the question is met a french, Blow boater that sailed from India to South africa, Port Elizabeth a few years ago, he just ran a Kona head off heavy wire from the back of the Yacht for food on the trip, long story short they got hammered by a storm and had most of their sails blown out, I happened to be down that part of the world and helped patch the sails , was invited aboard the 60+ cutter with the most beautiful canoe teak transom rail , which had a terrible axe wound, in line with a winch, when asked what it was the skip told me that they were half way across the Indian ocean and a fish took the lure, started to pull the Yacht backwards and they started to take water, Phillipe who was no more than 5 foot tall takes over at this point as he was the man on the winch , say's that after 3 mins of being dragged backwards the winch with steel cable to the lure got jammed and they could not give slack, the fish then leaped from the ocean at the transom, the eye was the size of a dinner plate and was at least 8 meter's long with the tail still in the water, thats 25ft, A fire axe was used to cut the cable hence the axe wound in the transom hand rail, this all took place halfway across the Indian ocean..... 10,000 ft water?
So what would you run that deep.

[Captain Michael Buffington]

Ok here is the scenario," dream world" you have just won the lotto and bought a trans- oceanic long range game boat.
Now your on a long haul across the Pacific Ocean Or Indian Ocean, water depth 10k ft, troll speed 8-10 knots, it's deep real deep, what spread would you put out? Ring the changes yes that's a given, big? small?, a mix?
Deep, wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwb, slowdown?
What makes me ask the question is met a french, Blow boater that sailed from India to South africa, Port Elizabeth a few years ago, he just ran a Kona head off heavy wire from the back of the Yacht for food on the trip, long story short they got hammered by a storm and had most of their sails blown out, I happened to be down that part of the world and helped patch the sails , was invited aboard the 60+ cutter with the most beautiful canoe teak transom rail , which had a terrible axe wound, in line with a winch, when asked what it was the skip told me that they were half way across the Indian ocean and a fish took the lure, started to pull the Yacht backwards and they started to take water, Phillipe who was no more than 5 foot tall takes over at this point as he was the man on the winch , say's that after 3 mins of being dragged backwards the winch with steel cable to the lure got jammed and they could not give slack, the fish then leaped from the ocean at the transom, the eye was the size of a dinner plate and was at least 8 meter's long with the tail still in the water, thats 25ft, A fire axe was used to cut the cable hence the axe wound in the transom hand rail, this all took place halfway across the Indian ocean..... 10,000 ft water?
So what would you run that deep.

but I would ask them what kind of mushrooms they ate before the 25' marlin started towing the sailboat backwards

Mike

[DropinBack]

and i pull hooks with 30 pounds of drag and they dont when they are dragging a 60 footer...

What pound leader were they using to drag that thing backwards?

25 foot marlin? wouldnt that be over 5,000 lbs?

[The Codfather]

I do alot of trolling from cargo ships, including trans-ocean juorneys. There is not much out there, its pretty much a desert. The occasional marlin, and rare mahi, but I almost never see schools of tuna or catch wahoo unless we pass over some kind of seamount or by an island. >300 miles from shore, I almost dont even bother. You could troll a dozen lines for a week and not catch anything.

Most people including myself use mainlines 500-1200lbs breaking strength and at least 300lb mono leaders. Marlin are just a pain in the ass, you have almost no hope of landing one (although I've heard of it done). The ones I've had on snap the line like its a rubber band. When I see one I try to pull the lines in before it can muckle on.

Alot of people just put lines out and check them every few hours, or leave them overnight. Sometimes there is a fish on, and sometimes there is not. We drove past a school of tuna+mahi so thick I picked it up on the radar, but I was on the bridge to relieve the other mate for supper, and as soon as he came back I ran to the stern to find a mahi on each of my 8 lines, and only landed two.

I've also trolled from sailboats and while a marlin would probably be a bit more managable there, a fish dragging it backwards sounds like a good story.