We
came across a mention in a book on Ocean Crossing (a subject upon which we are
swotting madly as we go, hoping to discover what we are supposed to be doing out
here) that flying fish make excellent bait. Now that we are in the right
latitude to collect several of these smelly little fellows in the scuppers every
morning, we thought that we should carry out some field research on the subject
and now have pleasure in reporting our findings
Firstly, you need a flying fish of exactly the right dimensions. We have
had best results with fish of exactly 21.50 cms in length from the tip of the
nose to the middle of the V of the tail. Any longer and they don?t fly well when
dead, but any smaller and they catch only fish too small to make a good meal for
the crew. The second critical factor is the setting up of the wings to make it
fly properly. It is a bit like trimming the wings of a paper dart, only rather
more messy. You have to open up the wings as far forward as possible, but to
exactly the same on both sides, otherwise it will not fly straight. Think of a
swing wing jet with one wing at a different angle to the other. It would fly round in circles, with
predictably dire results. Asymetric
flying fish do the same. You can do
this with fine whipping twine when you can prise some away from the hardworking
ship?s sailmaker. Next you have to
set up the angle of attack of the wings. This again is critical. It seems that
the right angle is 23 degrees to the horizontal to make it fly properly. Less
than 20 degrees and it will dive into the water and then dive and act as a
paravane, slowing down the boat, which makes the skipper even more irritable
than usual. More than thirty degrees and it will fly up in the air like a kite,
start overtaking the boat, then stall and tangle itself round the backstay or
worse, which is guaranteed to make the skipper even more irritable.
Having
set up the beast in this manner on a suitable tackle ? a 20 kg line and a light
wire leader, you then tow it behind the boat on a rod (necessary to get the
right height of tow for take off ? think of launching a glider) so that it just
reaches the front of the second wave back.
The
next important factor is to get the boat speed right. We have found that 8.5 to
9 knots is about right. At that speed you will find that the late flying fish
will fly beautifully from time to time and will also dip into the water from
time to time, thereby faithfully mimicking the live version in a most convincing
manner. Any slower and the fish will not fly, thereby being useless as a flying
fish, slowing the boat down, and making the skipper even more irritable. Any
faster and it spends too much time in the air, rendering it of little use as a
fishing bait, even if the skipper is happier.
If
flown in this recommended manner, flying fish are undoubtedly superb bait. We
have had spectacular results, reaching our EEC daily quota of tuna with ease.
The only problem is that we are catching more than we can eat, so are filling up
the freezer, and, I fear, making the boat much too heavy. Something has to go
overboard, and I fear that it may be me, having done little of use on the trip
so far except to conduct this research and prepare this little paper for
posterity.
I
propose to hide in the fo?csle and hope the skipper will fail to notice my
absence until we run out of tuna! Then I will come into my own again!
Nick
Blandy
Angling officer, Yacht Ria.