which is more productive
In my opinion anchoring or drifting and feeding makes more sense than trolling if fish have been sighted
If no fish are sighted then trolling is more appropriate
what are your opinions Simon G
Hi Simon,
I think the consensus of our friends in the US of A is trolling using attractors etc to get the fish to the surface and then once located, chumming and castings into them using Diamond Jigs etc.
If you know an area is hot then I reckon anchor or drift and chum away for success. I reckon techniques will also be largely affected by this seasons fuel prices.
Skip
Skip and company, here in California, also know as the left coast of the US of A, our tuna waters are far too deep to anchor up. So we can drift in areas where fish are holding, and that generally has to do with the kelp paddies we have floating. Those kelp paddies vary in size, but they agragate the fish. Sometimes we'll catch tuna, yellow tail, and marlin from the same paddies. They drift a long way, attract and hold bait fish, and that attracts the pelagics.
unfortunatly here in the med we do not have kelp so we use fads (Fish Attracting Divices) which are mainly composed of palm leaves tied together with a big float or marker at the surface which are anchored to the bottom.
The only problem is that these belong to prof fishermen and they do not like people fishing around them (TO PUT IT MILDLY)
Beware of the 12 Gauge, you have been warned!!
Thats if they are in a good mood !!!!! ???
What's the 12 Gauge? The 12 Mile Limit?
One of these!!
Ouch! I see! I normally stick around the ones close by to the shore, in the 6 - 8km radius. Normally they don't bite much there.
most lampuki are found around the 35-50 mile region
thats where the shoals will be and fishermen will protect their good area with all means legal and not
Understandable......With all the hard work they take to put down all the FAD's....I might get aggresive myself If I where in their shoes.
Yeah but its still illegal! Call the AFM and report the boat/registration ok, but taking matters in to your own hands is still out of order. I heard this happen in the US, except the boat being fired upon, responded back an automatic assault rifle and just about destroyed the boat. I guess its a question of who has the biggest gun or something.
And another thing to point out, those 40ft fishing boats look slow, but they can make around 28 knots with all their engines, so they aren't slow.....
We should organise a Malta Fishing Forum FAD Area around the Gnejna/Cirkewwa area. 1 FAD each and we'll have our own fishing grounds!
Not a bad idea, I believe though you also have to pay a license fee per FAD, is this true?
I know there is what we call the "Tad-Dilettanti" FADS. I'm pretty sure not many pay for those! You can't put them everywhere though. The most tollerated area is the west coast apparently, from Filfla to Gozo. That's where I do most of my lampuki fishing, in the 12 mile radius of course. There is what is called the Sword Fish corridors where no CIMI's are allowed.
Actually the Tad-dilettanti are usually paid for by amature fishing clubs who set out their own 'Rimja'. But no one will say anything if you go to fish around these. However, the amature FAD's are usually not very productive. Are the fad's on the west coast usually more productive? I usually find the Gozitan ones to be good. But very dangerous. Got chased by a fisherman last year and I wasnt really fishing exactly by the fad!
Yeah unfortunately I'm not sure what too close is really....and you take a risk. We had some good success off the gozo ones, but not for Lampuki even though we were at one stage a good 30 miles out and still following a FAD line. Trouble is these boats have Radar which can see a good 15 miles, no doubt with a chartplotter they have marked where their FADs are and can cross corelate the info from the radar on the map. Well they can if they know how to use their equipment!
We make 40 knots if we need to run, but of course if its a F4 we aren't going to be able to do that speed. I think so long as you don't go right over them, they have no right to complain if you're 20 metres off. But if you lure a shoal away they won't go back to the FAD so I can understand a fisherman's position.
On the subject of anchoring and feeding or drifting and feeding, some idea's which may be of use.
Chumming the surface is fine to an extent, but you also want to get chum down below where the bigger fish are lurking. To that extent mix your chum in a bucket with sand, and roll it up into a baseball sized object, before deploying it over the side. The sand will start to disperse but the weight of the ball initially will take it down.
You can also use cans of cat food, or mackeral in oil, pierce the top of the cans a few times and hang them over the side at various depths. Dried dog biscuits (the round balls) apparently also work well for the surface.
Best chum is finely minced pieces of oily fish. Mince them fine so that you avoid feeding, but instead attract fish who can then feed off your bait.
Skip
i have a meeting with fisheries this week i will ask and let you know.
as far as i know you will be given an area where to put the fads.