Wooden boats raise more billfish?

[PeterPalmieri]

Long story short. Talked to an expert on fishing billfish on the fly. Down in guatamala the lodge only runs Merritt, Rybovich and whiticar.

Said IGFA did a study don't know all the details but 8% of the boats that entered their billfish tournaments were wood but won 60% of the tournaments.

Anyone know More details?

[PeterPalmieri]

More on day one of my trip to the fly fishing show in NJ.

I went to a seminar with Andy Mill an Olympic skier turn world record holding tarpon fisherman. Learned how to apply a real 12 lbs of drag using an 11 wt fly rod and 20lb class tippet.

Also spent an hour with Jake Jordan who's the expert on billfish on the fly. I got the full rundown on raising and teasing in billfish on the fly. And how to fight them.

Fun stuff to keep me busy in the offseason.

[PeterPalmieri]

Regarding my original post I just remembered they run a few game fisherman too

[In Memory Walter K]

Peter- Have done the Billfish on a fly in both Panama and Guatemala and once they have that fish teased to the stern of the boat, it's almost guaranteed they'll hook themselves on the fly. They are so angry that the teaser is gone, the slightest movement of your fly will get them hitting it going away. Uncle Vic on one of our Panama trips had a friend with him who wanted to try so he asked me to take him with us on the fly boat. His excitement had him pull the fly away from the fish every time he went for it. That fish came back on the fly five times before it got hooked! If you have the skill to land a decent Striper on a fly (and I know you do), you can take a 110 pound Pacific Sailfish. My suggestions for any first timer would be, check every connection and knot, and use a 30 lb tippet for your first few fish.

[In Memory of Vicroy]

Its pretty hard to argue with the B31 as one of the top fish raising boats ever produced....in fact, probably THE top production fish raiser.

There are some obvious reasons starting with the sheer simplicity of the boat and the fact its easy to keep running with no gimmick crap. And the hull is seaworthy to say the least, so it fishes more than most.

After many trips to TSL and watching how they run their B31s day in and day out, and catch huge numbers of fish, all of the above become even more obvious. And yes, they have the facility to keep a fleet of a dozen or more running.

The key that many may miss is TSL's complete standardization of everything - from the layout of the boats to the placement of the lunch box and beer opener. Any mate can operate on any of their boats, and yep, they are real good at it.

I've owned and operated wooden and steel boats and they are a total pain in the butt. Glass don't rot or rust. And a B31 don't squeak either. The pretty little hi dollar Merits, etc are fun for those who like to show some flash.......but frankly my B31 is about as foolproof as a boat can get.

Now the 122 foot Mary P. has a couple of features I could live with.......

UV

[Thums Up]

Peter,

Woods boats in general do raise more fish.....but you can't swear by it. I was on tha whiticar in Treasure Cay Bahamas and it is a great boat.... also the Release (Rybovich)when it was in Stuart. But, two of the best fish raisers ever are the 37 merritt which I believe all but one were glass and the 31 bertram. I not a bertram owner, I have a version of an L&H that I am re-doing myself. So, no bias here.

On a side note, Not a fan of Guat.. You'll spend a week locked up like a prisoner except on the boat. Not fun. I am biased here... Go to Costa Rica or Panama. Better fishing and better environment. Not to mention safer. You have to remember they are all salesman in a tough econ..

As for Jake really nice guy. Fished with him when he was a tarpon guide in the Keys, Marathon I believe never fished with him again. Fished the Keys dozens of times since.

[Tony Meola]

Peter

No one really knows why one boat will raise more fish than another. Even the same tow boats.

When we first got our 31 back in 75 we used to run to the Canyon with another 31. We had Mercruisers he had Chryslers. Only Difference in the boats was that ours was built in 75 and his around 1967.

We would Troll side by side Maybe 100 yards apart and I would raise 2 fish to his one. In fact one day, we kept raising fish and he had none.

Now some would say I rigged baits better, etc, etc. Don't think so, he showed me how to rig baits and was at the game a lot longer than we were. Was it the Chrylsers vs the MerCruisers. We will never know.

Unfortunaetly he passed at an early age and that 31 wound up down in Wildwood some place. Hopefully redone and still chasing fish.

[Stephan]

Pete-

I don't know jack about raising billfish but I've had enough wooden boat types pass through my spread to have learned a couple of things.

If you are in the presence of a wooden boat owner, especially a big wood sport fisherman - just agree... Don’t go into any data or discussion of facts. That guy has justified a wooden boat. I mean some decisions in life like piercing your peter or betting on the Giants could be understood with enough synthetic stimuli; but a wooden boat? That poor guy is dancing with the devil and even if he takes a lead like Ginger Rodgers its not going to turn out well.

Don't forget - His boat is busy destroying itself RIGHT NOW and then things get worse when he uses it. Where we live, guys like that need a shop to keep the boat inside during the winter because the season isn’t long enough to maintain it and use it too.

A wooden boat owner thinks he looks like:

When he looks like:

(Anybody… anybody…)

[conchy joe]

Touché !

[In Memory of Vicroy]

Perfectly put.

Can't remember if it was on this site years ago or somewhere else, but there was a guy in Kona who had a B31 with 6B Cummins that was a fish catchin' monster. All of a sudden it quit raising fish. Long story short, turns out one of the engines had something loose in it, a sleeve maybe (don't think 6Bs are sleeved, but something) and the noise was scaring the fish away. He had the motors overhauled and the boat went back to being its old rishy self.

Those of you who have fished with me on AJ know I'm a fanatic about syncro-ing the engines, all the time. I am lucky to have an ear for one rpm out of whack and will remind the unfortunate helmsman at the time of it early, loud, and often. When the two 6BTAs come together the whole boat gets this "happy sound" and fish just come running to see her.

UV

[Marlin]

I think the wood thing has a little to do with the success of raising fishI once was an egg harbor dealer and the wood boats were definitely quieter than the Clorox bottle models that replaced them, wood seemed to absorb the sound,the fairness or lack of stuff protruding from the bottom may have something to do with the minimal white water a lot of boats create, my rybo has 1 thru hull, the head thru hull fitting, all other intakes for water are inside a sea chest which is faired into the bottom, the transducer is flush on the bottom of the keel, the struts are recessed and faired,the rudder stuffing boxes are flush and fair on the bottom, the trim tabs are recessed and faired , the shaft sinks are bullet shaped to miniimize turbulence ,the rudders have internal bonding,no external sinks ,the end result is a clean slide thru the water,the rybos and meritts are built as fishing machines,we never play the radio or run the Genset when we fish in serious tournaments,keep the engines in sync. The bottom of my b31 is no where as clean and creates more whitewater, v hulls do that,we still are able to raise fish