Click for Northern Lights Click for YF Listing Service Click for Ocean Alexander Click for Cross Click for JetForums

Explanation please......

Discussion in 'General Sportfish Discussion' started by nossmayo, Oct 21, 2011.

  1. nossmayo

    nossmayo New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 1, 2008
    Messages:
    22
    Location:
    Plymouth UK
    As someone who resides on the coast of the English Channel, and never gets a close encounter with Sport Fish boats, I am somewhat mystified by how the outriggers on such vessels are deployed in the pursuit of prey.

    Could someone please explain (perhaps with photos or graphics) the processes, the gear, the protocols and the merits of a contemporary SF set-up and quite how you guys go about hauling in a big one.

    Perhaps, if the thread develops, we could widen the scope of the debate and contributors could tell us what it was like to go fishing with Ernest H. before things got all carbon fibre and complicated, but in the meantime - just what the hell is all that stuff for??

    Thanks.

    Rookie.
  2. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 29, 2008
    Messages:
    8,119
    Location:
    Miami, FL
    Short version... They deployed outward their tips probably 15' or more from the boat

    Just like a flag pole they have a halyard which instead of raising a flag, raise a clip.

    The fishing line goes from the rid to that clip and then back in water allowing the bait orclure to be trolled further outside allowing more lines to be used.

    When a fish bites, the line releases from the sprin loaded clip.

    But what do i know about fishing... :)
  3. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2005
    Messages:
    14,432
    Location:
    Fort Lauderdale
    What Pascal said, but the outriggers extend out at a 45 degree angle from the boat (vertical angle) or more. You also typically can run 2 or 3 lines off of each outrigger, at different lengths away from the sides of the boat.
  4. Manny

    Manny Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 26, 2008
    Messages:
    158
    Location:
    Puerto Rico
    That right there is the basic explanation of how outriggers work. There are several ways they could be rigged, just depends on the preference of the people fishing. My usual set up is putting up 2 lines and a teaser per outrigger. The teasers attract the fish and from there you hope the fish strike at one of the 4 lines that are cast, although a lot of times the fish seem to go at the teasers more often! Each line is anchored to the outrigger with a small clip that releases the line from the outrigger whenever there's a sudden jerk coming from the line, a clear indication that a fish took the bait. Once the line detaches from the outrigger, you pick up the rod and commence reeling in the fish. Like Pascal mentioned, it's a way to have more lines out at the same time, and personally I think they make the boat look good in addition.
  5. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 14, 2008
    Messages:
    11,205
    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    I've known a few who don't fish at all, but have them because they like the look. I've known some others who seem to specialize in bending them on bridges.:eek: Bottom line though is that the more lines you have out, the better your odds of catching. You can only have so many line off the stern before you start tangling. With riggers, you can have some line entering the water close to the boat with others further out. Another item you might find interesting is kites. Sport fishing is quite an science for some guys, from lures to baits to riggers & towers to the boats themselves.
  6. nossmayo

    nossmayo New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 1, 2008
    Messages:
    22
    Location:
    Plymouth UK
    Thanks guys.
    I shall spend the winter figuring out to set up outriggers off my 14' run-around in the hope of doubling my mackerel and sea-bass catch next summer!
  7. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 14, 2008
    Messages:
    11,205
    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    OK, maybe we should have mentioned that these are used for trolling not drift or anchored fishing.:D
  8. Bamboo

    Bamboo Senior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 19, 2008
    Messages:
    934
    Location:
    Palm Beach, FL
    You surely can use them while drifting or anchored to spread the lines away from the boat.
  9. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 14, 2008
    Messages:
    11,205
    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    Guess you could. You could probably also deploy them to add a bit of stability on a drift. Just never have. Somehow I don't see them going on his 14' runabout anyway though.
  10. Jorge Lang

    Jorge Lang Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 17, 2003
    Messages:
    298
    Location:
    Fort Lauderdale
    Many moons ago, I had an 18 footer with outriggers mounted on the T-top. While I can never compare that boat to the comfort of 70' Viking of a 54' Bertram, it was a lot of fun and those outriggers caught fish. I'm sure if the set up is right, a 14 footer could do the same.
  11. nossmayo

    nossmayo New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 1, 2008
    Messages:
    22
    Location:
    Plymouth UK
    Hi Guys,

    I wasn't actualy being serious about setting up a rig on my 14 footer. Sorry to have got you all excited! Thanks to my flippancy, that gulf between the US and the UK in terms of humour and irony and sarcasm just got a bit wider.....

    On a genuine note, I would be interested to learn how Hemingway and his contemporaries ran their boats and rigs. How far have we come in the last fifty years? or has it always been this way?


    Cheers.


    NM
  12. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 14, 2008
    Messages:
    11,205
    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    We've come about $10,000,000 but I don't think we've matched his excitement yet. I believe I read recently that his boat is a landmark in Cuba; that it had gone into disrepair, but has since been refurbished.
  13. Manny

    Manny Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 26, 2008
    Messages:
    158
    Location:
    Puerto Rico
    Aside from the boats, not much has really changed in the last 50 years in terms of how people fish and rig, although a bunch of new techniques for fishing have been developed, nothing has replaced the the traditional rod and reel. Hemingway's boat was actually revolutionary in its time in that it actually had a flybridge, something uncommonly used for fishing. Now a days, all sportfishers have a flybridge.
  14. rodsteel

    rodsteel Member

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2010
    Messages:
    67
    Location:
    Oregon
    Article about Pilar - there is a photo with the outriggers deployed:cool:

    Ooops - that is one of the "unmentionables" - just google "Pilar tribute to an old man"
  15. dennismc

    dennismc Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 29, 2009
    Messages:
    1,174
    Location:
    Vancouver BC
    Pilar

    Here at "Sportsmans" in Islamorada, there is a duplicate of the original Pilar, this one is the one that he "test drove prior to deciding on his own Pilar, quite the
    fishing/cruising craft
  16. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2005
    Messages:
    7,388
    Location:
    My Office
    Hi,

    There are a number of photos of the original on Facebook.

    Hemingway's Pilar | Facebook

    At the top of that page there is a link to what I assume is the story you tried to post here and got a string of xxxxxxxxxxxx's.
  17. Patudo

    Patudo New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2011
    Messages:
    17
    Location:
    Eastern Atlantic, South East Asia
    I've been told that French fisherman targeting bass by trolling do in fact use outriggers. If you troll for bass it's not difficult to see how being able to run a couple of additional rigs could increase your chances.
  18. Patudo

    Patudo New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2011
    Messages:
    17
    Location:
    Eastern Atlantic, South East Asia
    I'm quite fascinated by big game fishing in the old days and have read a reasonable number of the classic fishing books (Farrington, Grey, Hemingway on fishing etc). Big game fishing has changed out of all recognition in many ways, particularly in boat capabilities and fish-finding/navigational electronics, but every now and then you'll be struck by how little change in other aspects of the sport there has been. There is a good description in Hemingway of what today would be termed bait-and-switch fishing (raising a marlin on a trolled teaser, pulling it away from him and feeding him a bait). I suppose you could compare it to fly-fishing for trout - there have been advancements in tackle but the fundamental essentials of reading the water, presenting your bait to the fish and playing the fish remain the same as it was in the 1940s or 1950s. Most of the skills needed to fish for big game then, whether as skipper, crewman or angler, are just as relevant today.