how far will u go without radar to find fish - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

jonnyfish · 08-04-2009, 05:46 PM

help mate a charter this morning to block island. blasting out in pea soup condition is no fun, but right after the center wall the visiblity got better. saw no one tailing us, only doing 28-30 thank god for radar. got to the grounds and saw nobody. started fishing and the fun began. it was dodge boat time. there were boats coming out of nowhere, we saw them on our radar but was hard to move when we were on fish. saw lots of misses and close calls.how far would u go to find fish and oh yeah lots of fish today....

numbskull · 08-04-2009, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonnyfish

help mate a charter this morning to block island. blasting out in pea soup condition is no fun, but right after the center wall the visiblity got better. saw no one tailing us, only doing 28-30 thank god for radar. got to the grounds and saw nobody. started fishing and the fun began. it was dodge boat time. there were boats coming out of nowhere, we saw them on our radar but was hard to move when we were on fish. saw lots of misses and close calls.how far would u go to find fish and oh yeah lots of fish today....

You say the visibility "got better"......but you also talk about "blasting out in pea soup condition". Running 28-30 kts by radar in dense fog is the sign of an inexperienced (or recklessly stupid) captain. Hopefully that is not what occurred.

Gary · 08-04-2009, 11:18 PM

I dunno, anything over 10 in pea soup is f*ckin retarded. I go quite far without radar, I trust my compass.

piemma · 08-05-2009, 03:38 AM

From Warwick Cove I have been to Anawan is pea soup. I usually have enough tracks layed down that I can follow one back and forth. I usually stay 10 knots as I don't have radar and I am more worried about what I'm gonna hit than anything else. There is a lot of crap floating in Narragansett Bay.

Once Joe P and I were headed down the Bay and we saw something floating just under the surface off Hope Island. We cruised over and it was an 8' pram submerged but still floating with just the top of the gunnels showing. Yeah, you hit that baby at 30 knots and you will know it!

SweetD · 08-05-2009, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary

I dunno, anything over 10 in pea soup is f*ckin retarded. I go quite far without radar, I trust my compass.

Does your compass show you where the other boats are in the fog?

That's the real worry...

CaptMike · 08-05-2009, 10:21 AM

I worry more about other boats not seeing me than anything else.

JLH · 08-05-2009, 11:21 AM

I wouldn’t go far at all in pea soup fog, probably wouldn’t even leave the dock. I’m pretty comfortable navigating with my compass and GPS at night but don’t have a lot of faith in other boaters. There will always be another day to go fishing.

srt44116 · 08-05-2009, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SweetD

Does your compass show you where the other boats are in the fog?

That's the real worry...

Hell ya its stupid. 28-30 thanks down right nuts.

Roger · 08-05-2009, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptMike

I worry more about other boats not seeing me than anything else.

Same here.

Inshore I use my chartplotter to stay out of major channels. Heading out to Block Island, I get concerned that I'll come between
a tug and a long tow. That dipping hawser would be pretty tough to see in the fog.

Gary · 08-05-2009, 09:18 PM

If I had a compass that allowed me to see other boats........., what I was getting at is I don't travel at any speed in fog. and listen carefuly

jonnyfish · 08-06-2009, 07:52 PM

yeah, 28-30 when there is a football field in front. hell when the fish is waiting gotta get there. just wanted to see who had the balls and brains. many would say there is another day. traveling at 28-30 is not reckless when u can pick thru an area of fog and run for it. oh this was also a chartered with paying customers by the way. being reckless was not our choice of the day.

RIROCKHOUND · 08-06-2009, 08:06 PM

@ 30kts, in 100yd viz, you have 6 seconds of visibility. (44ft/sec)
If someone or something pops out, I'd like more than that to react..
brains and balls means knowing when to use #1 and have #2!

srt44116 · 08-06-2009, 10:11 PM

6 seconds, and someone calls you in the aft of your vessel and you turn you head for 1-2 secs, now you only got 4 seconds to react to the guy drift fishing in front of you. Mabe i like to be extra safe but paying customers or not there is no price on safty.

numbskull · 08-07-2009, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonnyfish

. hell when the fish is waiting gotta get there. just wanted to see who had the balls and brains. many would say there is another day. traveling at 28-30 is not reckless when u can pick thru an area of fog and run for it. oh this was also a chartered with paying customers by the way. being reckless was not our choice of the day.

Brilliant. Obviously you are new to this and full of yourself for catching fish in conditions you think would scare away weaker souls. News for you, friend, guys have been traveling a lot further than Block Island to fish in dense fog for many years......without radar/ loran/GPS. Those tools make it simple to get where you want to go.....but they also make it simple to eff up big time. Radar IS NOT RELIABLE at short range (particularly at high speed) as small targets disappear in close due to gain and sea clutter filters. If the moron captaining your boat hits someone (as happened on Pollock Rip in identical circumstances several years back, killing one man), he will face charges of criminal negligence, jail time, and large civil penalties. That you can and did do it does not change the fact that it is wrong, irresponsible, illegal, and blatantly stupid. That you should fail to recognize this and actually be proud of it portrays a different measure of your "brains" than you apparently intended.

I suspect your captain was much more responsible than this, the visibility was better than you appreciated, ran his charter at a safe speed, and it is more your inexperience (gee whiz isn't this really cool we fished in FOG!) that is showing here.

piemma · 08-07-2009, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by numbskull

Brilliant. Obviously you are new to this and full of yourself for catching fish in conditions you think would scare away weaker souls. News for you, friend, guys have been traveling a lot further than Block Island to fish in dense fog for many years......without radar/ loran/GPS. Those tools make it simple to get where you want to go.....but they also make it simple to eff up big time. Radar IS NOT RELIABLE at short range (particularly at high speed) as small targets disappear in close due to gain and sea clutter filters. If the moron captaining your boat hits someone (as happened on Pollock Rip in identical circumstances several years back, killing one man), he will face charges of criminal negligence, jail time, and large civil penalties. That you can and did do it does not change the fact that it is wrong, irresponsible, illegal, and blatantly stupid. That you should fail to recognize this and actually be proud of it portrays a different measure of your "brains" than you apparently intended.

I suspect your captain was much more responsible than this, the visibility was better than you appreciated, ran his charter at a safe speed, and it is more your inexperience (gee whiz isn't this really cool we fished in FOG!) that is showing here.

GREAT POST!!!!!!!!