Fishing under Sail ?

I was reading the thread about registering Hobie AI's and it reminded me of a fishing trip out of Monterey, on a friends sailboat, many years ago. From that experience I've always been under the impression that you can't fish / troll from a sailboat unless the motor is engaged. That a vessel has to be "powered" to troll for Salmon etc.   Is this true or just a bad recollection?

If this is true, an easy loop hole might be to claim you were peddling as well as sailing and thus "under power."

do you mean legally as in DFG ruules? or a simple "can it be done"

Legally - DFG

I scanned the DFG book and didn't see any definition on trolling....let alone that it had to be under some sort of propulsion.

1. TROLLING is defined as angling from a boat or floating device that is making way by means of a source of power, other than drifting by means of the prevailing water current or weather conditions.

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/oceansalmon.asp

1. TROLLING is defined as angling from a boat or floating device that is making way by means of a source of power, other than drifting by means of the prevailing water current or weather conditions.

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/oceansalmon.asp

I knew it had to be there. So moral of the story...tap the pedals every so often!

drifting by means of the prevailing water current or weather conditions.

Isn't sailing - by means of weather conditions?

It's been a long time, but I thought the reason was motor noise.  A quite sailboat is less likely to scare fish and therefore gives some sort of unfair advantage. Other than old time pictures of Schooner fishing - a la Captain Courageous, I don't remember ever seeing commercial boats or sail powered sports boats fishing while under sail.  With the price of gas, and the thin margins commerical fishermen sometimes operate under, wouldn't it make more sense to sometimes fish under sail - if it were legal ?

Yep - tap the pedals.  Sail to the fishing grounds and take it from there

the lack of noise sure couldn't hurt. Chuck got his WSB while on the move a few months back

With the price of gas, and the thin margins commerical fishermen sometimes operate under, wouldn't it make more sense to sometimes fish under sail - if it were legal ?

Maneuverability, speed, speed adjustment, solo operation. stability in a beam sea.....you lose alot of that with a sailboat. Seems completely impractical.   


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It's completely legal to fish while sailing.
The real quandry arises when targeting salmon...if you don't have a motor and you're moving along @ 3kts due to prevailling wind...are you required to use barbless circle hooks? (Or can you simply use barbless j-hooks because you're moving along due to the wind harnessed by your sail...and thus, not drifting w/prevailing wind). Lol, sorry!

It's completely legal to fish while sailing.
The real quandry arises when targeting salmon...if you don't have a motor and you're moving along @ 3kts due to prevailling wind...are you required to use barbless circle hooks? (Or can you simply use barbless j-hooks because you're moving along due to the wind harnessed by your sail...and thus, not drifting w/prevailing wind). Lol, sorry!

yeah, that's one of the problems..the other is if you are in certain MLPAs which allow trolling for salmon and pelagics, but you're not under "power"

It's completely legal to fish while sailing.
The real quandry arises when targeting salmon...if you don't have a motor and you're moving along @ 3kts due to prevailling wind...are you required to use barbless circle hooks? (Or can you simply use barbless j-hooks because you're moving along due to the wind harnessed by your sail...and thus, not drifting w/prevailing wind). Lol, sorry!

When your sailing, in the eyes of DFG you are under power and trolling not drifting so 2 barbless j hooks. If your sail is completely reefed, you are drifting and should be using barbless circle hooks.

Does it become a problem to explain to the DFG that "this one was caught on the j hook while trolling" and "this one was caught on the circle while mooching"?  Or does it really matter at that point?  I guess what DOES matter is catching your alternative species BEFORE the salmon, correct?

   Thanks!

~Bill

Well I think you need to put everything on an even playing field. The whole reason you have to register them is because any vessel the is not human powered ie. row/paddle is supposed to be registered. Thus considered "under power" when sailing.  I even had to register a little 8' pram if I put an electric motor on it... When they describe the definition of mooching, they are only refering to the drift created by prevailing winds or tide. Not harnessing it in a sail for increased speed and power. When you are moving faster or in different directions from all other boats you are obviously under some sort of power.