Offshore fishing in Charleston really heats up in April and May each year. People who do not fish offshore are amazed when I tell them how crowded it can get when you are fishing offshore early in the season. They cannot understand how you can run 50-70 miles out into a wide open ocean and run into a crowd of boats. Once you explain that everyone is looking for structure or favorable water temperatures and many times these conditions can come together in rather small areas, they understand. This is particularly true with tuna fishing. Not only do tuna school up in tight areas, but they are also a fish with incredible vision. More than one angler has complained of the frustration of seeing tuna jumping everywhere and not being able to catch them.
One strategy that anglers employ to try and entice tuna into biting is to drop the lines way back away from the boat to keep the boat away from the schooling fish and allow the lines to run through the fish when they make a sweeping turn. When you drop lines way back you need more room to operate your boat and this combined with fishing in a crowd is a recipe for a different kind of fishing. Everybody wants a shot at the fish so they will try and cut it as close as they can to other boats. This results in lines getting tangled in other lines and lines ending up in people’s props. While this will not go away as more and more people join the ranks of offshore fishing, a little consideration and common sense will go a long way. Paying attention to the boats around you and looking at the pattern they are running and giving plenty of room when passing behind them. When in doubt, give a little more room. Not only is running over someone’s lines aggravating to them, but you can also end up with a nasty mess of monofilament on your prop. Next time you find yourself in a crowd remember to use your manners.
Andy Pickett,
CharlestonFishing.Com</font id=“blue”>