Boatless Fishing Forum, Reports, Info

It seems flat line fishing at night at anchored on 4 hour party boat is a little bit frustrating experience to me.
I can't see anything at night, which makes it worst...it seems I have to rely on the feeling of line tensions...
It seems fishing line is very important.
I respect those skilled regulars... They catch at least twice more fish than I could catch.
I think their skill has been built up over the years.
They don't use leader line. They always hook the fish at mouth. They cast out but somehow avoid tangles.
And they understand well under-water currents (double currents)... I think my biggest problem seems that somehow I let too many line out so I don't feel the bite. Or I let the fish run too long and it spit the hook.

Throw me some good tips.

Don't need to see the line, just watch the line coming off the spool as you feed it back. When it starts peeling off quick, close the bail and reel.

1/16, 1/32, bare hook depending on current

Pretty much all what leadslinger said. Not sure why it's harder to do it even if it's at night.

Usually when all else fails, I break out the big-dong rig and get some of the big muttons that are hanging out underneath the yellowtail school.

If you re not fishing the stern and in the chum slick you can let line out til kingdom come and those on the stern will out fish you every time. Thats why i dont like party boats and peoples beer coolers get hit up the regulars are always on the stern.

On 99% of party boats if your not a regular and can't reserve the stern your time would be wasted flatlining. It not difficult I watched you do it on gulfstream. Visual is not really important it more about feeling when the tail is taking off with your bait. Understanding the current is important and not too difficult Because even if your on the stern you need to know where the chumslick is flowing as saltydog said because outside of it and the tail bite is minimum. As for line im not too sure I've done about the same with and without flouro leader.
What hooks/sinkers/jigs you using

Thank You for all the good tips...My problem seems that once the line started peeling off, I took too long before closing the bail and reeling...
I am used to circle hook and probably my line had some slack so that when I felt the line peeling off, the fish already has been running long enough to spit the hook.
(I should've closed the bail as soon as I felt it)

The difficult part was how to avoid tangle. I got tangle 3 out of 4 because people cast over others' lines. My spot wasn't stern but many people come over to my side because current wasn't flowing straight from bow to stern due to wind.

If everyone just drop their jig without casting (like drift boat), tangle would've been manageable. But everyone is casting out jig...I guess to catch fast current so that I can catch more fish??? but not really, one guy catch fish and the rest got tangled. At night, because I can't see which directions of my line and others, I just can't avoid tangles.

get a stern spot or dont bother going. thats y gulfstream is good even though u gota wait in line u got the good spot. plus on days theres few ppl its awesome. sea king has a very wide stern so 9 or 10 people fit and rarely crowded but its further down south. one day we both dont have to work we will go and come back with 30 yellowtail

kblue wrote:Thank You for all the good tips...My problem seems that once the line started peeling off, I took too long before closing the bail and reeling...
I am used to circle hook and probably my line had some slack so that when I felt the line peeling off, the fish already has been running long enough to spit the hook.
(I should've closed the bail as soon as I felt it)

The difficult part was how to avoid tangle. I got tangle 3 out of 4 because people cast over others' lines. My spot wasn't stern but many people come over to my side because current wasn't flowing straight from bow to stern due to wind.

If everyone just drop their jig without casting (like drift boat), tangle would've been manageable. But everyone is casting out jig...I guess to catch fast current so that I can catch more fish??? but not really, one guy catch fish and the rest got tangled. At night, because I can't see which directions of my line and others, I just can't avoid tangles.

Were you in the head? You got one job man! Watch the line, when it goes faster flip the bail. Most times if the fish grabs the bait for that long it'll be gut hooked, don't let so much slack go out. Just watch the chum slick and feed it out at the same pace.

I don't get the casting part, then again I stay from shitshows

Got it