Chris Morejohn: Fishing under sail

Do we eat a lot of fish while out sailing? Well the answer is , sometimes a lot but most times only when we want to. Catching fish today in a lot of the worlds oceans is not what it once was for me growing up on the water. The worlds oceans are really under human pressure. I will fish when under way if the weather is good so that my crew will eat the fish I catch and not be too sea sick to take a pass on on it. We sail without refrigeration so what we catch has got to be eaten in 24 hours. I like dried raw fish but going through the process of drying it and then watching me eat it makes most of my crews squirm. When I troll lines astern my method is to put out three lines of three different lengths with the shortest just out 35' and the longest at the end of my bubble stream from the rudder. I like all my lures to be popping out of the water every few feet. This I belive makes them look like scattering flying fish with the bigger fish not having the time to really get a good look at what's up. As a young kid sailing in the Pacific I used to want to catch every thing and the biggest thing I could. Today I just want a fish that we can eat in a day so I use small 20 lb treble hooks that will bend out if a big fish bites. My hooks get bent a lot but those fish will have learned a lesson and live another day. Catching big fish and trying to relaese them is a death sentence to them. Too much trauma and handling.

The biggest fish I have landed on a hand line to date was a 200 lb Blue Marlin while on a delivery trip. We were sailing off the coast of Dominica at daylight when the Blue struck. After an hours time I landed the fish and winched it up the stern of the catamran I was delivering. I then headed into shore and found some Dominicans fishing out of a small canoe and gave them the fish . They were very happy.

We kept 20 lbs to eat. That was the last time I put out a rig that will land just about anything.

Fish on ! Most times we hook a couple at a time as the school goes by.

Skipjack tuna the best for tasting like a steak if broiled right.

A Skipjack tuna as we drift away from the lee of Maderia

The four of us consumed 68 lbs of tuna felays in 18 days sailing to Barbados .

Schoolie Dolfhin .. Perfect size

Early morning tuna in the Cape Verde islands. We like to have broiled tuna steaks for lunch and dinner. Then pressure cook the rest with it staying sealed in the pressure cooker till the next day and then make the best tuna salad ever. Then we lay off fishing for a few days.

We have extra fish ... Get on the VHF. And see if anyone wants some.

Breakfast , lunch, dinner and a weeks worth of fish jerky for me! I soak the fish in Soy sauce overnight then hang to dry during the day bringing down below at night to stay dry. Takes two days and is then good to go. This I chew on during my watches. No kissing Rachel till this is all eaten though.