Fishing from a sib

[billows]

What are the experiences of fishing from a sib?How likely am I to puncture the tubes?I have a Yam 360s with wooden floor panels.Is it worth blunting the hooks with a file?Fish flesh is less tough than the PVC.What is the best tackle, rod or handline?

[willk]

It works well. Use a short boat rod, keep the hooks sharp, land your rig/catch in a fishbox. Use a blunt tipped knife (diver's knife). If you're worried, keep a small roll of lino on a length of skirting board sized timber and rolll it over the tube you're fishing. It's not necessary though. The fish flapping in the box will cover the boat and you with blood and scales, so I keep a priest in the box to dispatch 'em quickly.

[thornbackflound]

Originally Posted by billows

What are the experiences of fishing from a sib?How likely am I to puncture the tubes?I have a Yam 360s with wooden floor panels.Is it worth blunting the hooks with a file?Fish flesh is less tough than the PVC.What is the best tackle, rod or handline?

I have been fishing off sibs for years and had no probs,hard deck is better then an air one tho,as my weight and hook ,i got atleast some were to pace it down and not worry,just becarefull and use some savey

[LWman]

I also fish off mine quite a lot (its main purpose) and it works perfectly. I do fly fishing, float, ledger, pike fishing-can have v.large lures- Id imagine it would be pretty hard to hook into it unless your really careless. Rods are best, i think longer rods are best for keeping your end tackle away from the boat, but they can be a pain if not stored correctly- getting in the way of feet etc. Which is why i plan to make or buy a couple of rod holders to keep the out the way.
I think Willk's idea of keeping a small roll of lino would work great if your worried. Otherwise, as long as you dont do anything dumb you'll have nothing to worry about. I also have to say, you really do need to be organised.. Have one box with all your tackle in and youll be fine.

[thornbackflound]

you really do need to be organised ,Spot on ,i even have GPS fishfinder and rod holders on my 2,70 sib,got a routine to get the anchor up as well,have caught double figure smoothounds,and skate,i love sib fishing.

[LWman]

Yep i learnt that the hard way, went out with a really messy boat. It didnt ruin the day but it doesnt make things easy.

[m chappelow]

As everyone has said ,think for me the main points are to keep rods and tackle simple and to have a box or bucket where the fish can be landed into that way its not going to flap about and make a mess and theres less chance of a hook from a trace getting sticking into the boat .
one thing about an inflatable your near the water so in most cases you wont need gaffs or landing nets ,,,last year we had a bull seal chomp through the line and fish that my lad was landing ,talk about a fright ,straight up from the depths , brushed past me hand took the fish and line then went ,thing is it wasent much shorter than the boat .
made a Rottwieller dog look like bambi .
another lad from our club had one jump on the back of his boat and it bit the end off his rod.

[Pack Rat]

I've decided to go with single hooks only since barbs seem to snag anything if they touch it.



I also limit the number of lures I bring and where they go. I velcroed a waterproof box on top of one of my cat litter pails which sit in a milk crate.





I'm still tweaking my space. Here's a Youtube video. Obviously I need to get rid of half the stuff I'm taking out...but the name of the boat is "PACK RAT" afterall heh, heh.

P8130014.AVI - YouTube

[willk]

I have one of those clear boxes - a friend brought it back from the States - it's handy for personal bits and bobs 'cos you can see what's in it. The hinge pins aren't stainless though

It looks like you have put a lot of thought into the packing of Pack Rat - do me a favour please and pop a couple of pics on this thread - it might be useful for someone else

[squiddy]

Nice (GPS DSC enabled) handheld VHF there Pack Rat!

Same as mine!!

[kelson]

I had no problems fishing out of my PVC zodiac until one of my associates let his small catch flop on the tube with a treble hook in it's mouth. Two small pin holes resulted. Easy to patch but annoying. Don't get slack when pulling in smaller fish. Holes do happen.

Now I automatically call out "Don't hook the f'n boat" when anyone lands a fish. Heaven
forbid anyone gets crazy with my gaff landing a bigger fish!

[prairie tuber]

Originally Posted by squiddy

Nice (GPS DSC enabled) handheld VHF there Pack Rat!

Same as mine!!

Mine too.

The low free board and stability of SIBs provide a real benefit when landing a fish as compared to a typical aluminum fishing boat. Organization is absolutely key with any activity that uses awkward gear in a small boat. Some trial and error will help you get things dialed in. There are some very handy accessories available that can really help keep gear orderly in a SIB.

Scotty has some very innovative items that work great with SIBs They have universal mounts (including a glue-on mount pad for inflatable tubes) that work with rod holders, cup holders electronics holders, You can be very innovative with all of this gear.

There is a rod holder that Scotty makes exclusively for Cabela's (not on the Scotty website) called the Quickdraw Cabelas Canada - Search Store. I use this style with a simple modification that works fantastically for keeping your rod secure while underway. I made this modification by drilling a couple of slightly ovalized holes on the bottom of the inner plastic cylinder & screwing down 2 small soft rubber stops onto the top side of the outer 1/2 cylinder (which the innner cylinder clicks into). I also added some very thin soft rubber padding to the inside top ofthe inner cylinder. When the inner cylinder clips into the outer 1/2 cylinder, the rubber stops protrude through the ovalized holes in the inner cylinder and press up against the handle of the rod. They push the rod handle against the padded ceiling of the inner cylinder and hold the rod very securely.


I found that one of my local dollar type stores sells telescoping medium weight carbon fiber rods that seem to work just as as well as the 1 & 2 piece fishing rods. They are extremely handy and make going from one spot to another very easy.

I usually keep the fish on a stringer in the water if anchored in one spot, or even if slowly trolling, then bring them inboard into a plastic box with water when on plane. I would imagine that there are some collapsible PVC containers that are rectangular in shape that might be more handy when not in use than a rigid plastic box.