Above is a picture of one of the several short-billed spear fish we caught last year while cruising the South Pacific. We released this one unharmed although subsequently we have been told that they are very good eating.

Today I think I increase our odds for fishing on our cruising boat or at least as much as I have been able to glean from my two most trusted resources, "The Cruiser's Guide to Fishing" by Scott and Wendy Bannerot and "The Offshore Cruiser's Encyclopedia" by Steve and Linda Dashew, plus a half a dozen websites on the subject.

Consistent with my resources and with most cruisers, we fish for food not sport. I am sure a sport fishing enthusiasts will probably find our tackle selection overkill and perhaps not sporting. Although I would challenge any sport fisherman to land a good size fish from a sailboat while sailing in stiff breeze. There is no backing down on a fish, with a pair of massive diesels, to compensate for light tackle onboard a sailboat.

Actually with that last statement lies most of the challenge. How do you get an attractive presentation for the fish while maintaining enough strength in the tackle for enough hook ups to keep you eating fish. So far we have been on the lighter end of the spectrum and frankly have lost more fish and lures then we would like but do consistently get hook ups when the surface bite is good.

Well today I rigged both of our Penn Senator 4/0s with 80 lbs monofilament. This is still less poundage than my resources recommend but frankly it is a significant step up from the 50 lbs we used to use. In my limited experience the line strength is only part of the game. The hooked fish's tissue and bone strength plus the actual position of the hook in this tissue and bone is also important as well as the reels spool capacity and your ability to reduce speed for a given sail plan all need to be considered.

After a hook up we leave the rod in the rod in its holder until we get speed reduced as much as possible. Sometimes I adjust the drag on the reel prior to getting boat speed under control in order to prevent getting spooled (running out of line on the reel). However, this is risky because sometimes I manage to either break the tackle or rip the hook out of the fishes mouth. On my Penn reels the only effective way to guage the drag is to look at the rod bend, although this technique is frankly is subjective and dependent on my own excitement in the situation.