Pensacola Fishing Forum banner

Do you fish solo offshore?

8K views 47 replies 38 participants last post by  delta dooler 
#1 ·
I'm new to Destin and I'm buying a boat at the Miami Boat show. My intent is to fish solo offshore, trolling and bottom fishing. I'm looking for any advise to make thing easier for someone fishing solo.

A little about my planned boat:
I'm in search of a fuel efficient (marina fuel in Destin is $$$) 80% fishing 20% cruising with my wife boat. Something with Carolina flare, 24-27' with twin 150s that averages over 2.0 mpg.

Thanks for any advise!
 
#4 ·
You can do it, but be prepared!

We had a guy out of Gulf Breeze last year that was lost at sea. His boat was found off of the Mexican coast. He left on his birthday in the morning to go fish and never came back. He had a capable 30+ Boston Whaler. I don't think they ever found him.

At a minimum, I would have a wearable EPIRB, VHF radio, and some sort of auto ignition kill. Not the lanyard type, but a remote cutoff that kills the engines in the event you get pulled over board or fall over. Wearing a PFD of some sort would go without question. File your float plan and try to have a "buddy" boat to go with.

Cheers,

Bob
 
#5 ·
I have on a few occasions and there are plenty who do it, but I would much rather have someone on board for both safety and efficiency.

If you do go you need to file a float plan every time and be pretty specific on where you plan on going. You also need to have a handheld VHF attached to you and preferably an auto-tether that will allow you to roam freely on the boat and still activate the kill switch. Bring plenty of food, water and flares and a PLB
 
#13 ·
I've done it. It has it's dangers. All the above mentioned safety gear is a must.
Anything can happen. My friend was out 12 miles by himself. Hooked a good size AJ on a 6/0. While bowed over, the line snapped. The rod tip recoiled and smacked him unconscious. He woke up on the deck drifting along as he wasn't anchored. He still has no idea how long he was out.

Going solo is very peaceful, but I like having at least one other person to share the experience with.
 
#15 ·
X2 Welcome

I do it all the time. However i am not the sharpest knife in the draw.:yes:
I enjoy the solitude. But I tend to stay in pretty tight 20 miles or so is the limit.
I used to go to pelican flats, out of Cape Canaveral quite often by myself. On a a 21 foot Marathon cuddy with a 140 Merc cruiser
Seatow or the like is a must.
Very good VHF radio.
A Float plan.
The ability to stay calm things a little hairy.



Yeah I really do enjoy fishing offshore alone.:thumbsup:
 
#20 ·
I fished solo almost the whole time I had both of my boats and enjoyed the heck out of it. I started out trying to fish with someone on my boat but it was nearly impossible to find someone who just wanted to fish and shut the heck up. I would run out about 20-25 miles, find a good grass line and drift it most of the morning until I was well rested and relaxed enough to call it a day. Caught fish, had some peace and quiet and didn't have to rely on anyone else who would always be late, not have fuel money, forget to pickup bait, have to leave right away without helping clean the boat, would only call when THEY wanted something.........you get the picture. My only advise is have plenty of safety gear, make sure all the maintenance is up on the boat and always let someone know an approximate area you'll fish for the day. I looked at it like this, if it's my time to go there's not a thing I can do about it whether I'm fishing solo 25 miles offshore or sitting by my pool drinking a cold beer. My time is my time......until my time is done I enjoy what I can on my dime!! Good luck fishing!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hook
#21 ·
The guy from whom I bought my boat (I won't say what size) would run out to the cobalt water alone without radar or any of that stuff. I can see the exhilarating feeling, but it's not for me. I actually enjoy fishing around other people because they are always friends and I like sometimes to watch other people fish. Calculated risk, I guess.
 
#23 · (Edited)
Thanks for all of the advise everyone. Do captains and crew typically equally split fuel and fish? Also which is the more likely scenario:
1. Everyone has a boat but there's never enough buddies looking to fish.
2. Everyone wants to go offshore and there aren't enough guys with boats looking for a crew.
 
#25 ·
I had a neighbor that walked over every time I hooked the boat up. He knew I fished solo a lot due to my work schedule. He never offered to pay for anything, never brought lunch or ice or anything - but I told him to load up, because I would rather have SOMEBODY with me if things went bad - and they can in a hurry out there. The way I looked at it was I would have had to pay for a deckhand if he wasn't there.
 
#26 ·
301- there are definentley more people wanting to fish than guys with boats. Buy a boat and you will accumulate more "friends" than you will want. The hard part is finding friends with money, desire to help load and unload, and people who pull their own weight.
You are talking offshore which is a considerable amount of work. It may not seem like it at first because you are so excited about it. When the newness wears off, you will still love it (hopefully) but then you will really start to see "the work involved."
As for how to split fuel costs, you are the captain and that is up to you. I pay a little more than I ask of everyone else. I do this so that the others can afford to go as much as I want to go. Weather permitting I will go 2 days a week. I run about 50-60 miles round trip on average. It costs about $200 per trip. Most times with three guys. I charge them around $50 each on average. As you can see, this leaves me paying about 50%. If I charged more, most couldn't go as much as I want to.
 
#28 ·
+2 to everything that has been said so far. As a retiree (military) I tend to favor the weekdays for the solitude. I have invested in most everything to include; coastal offshore life raft, portable VHF radio, PLB, VHF radio that is plugged into my GPS for distress coordinates, automatic inflatable life vests, Sirius XM weather overlay and Sea-Tow as well as an extra days worth of meds/food/water. My final purchases for 2014 will be a satellite phone, an auto kill device, and a body tether. Normal offshore range is 20-30 miles in a single engine (300hp) 24' CC. I watch the weather and never venture out in anything more than 2-3' seas. As mentioned earlier if it's your time to go then so be it, but having the above safety equipment should keep the odds in you favor. Tight Lines!
 
#33 ·
fishing alone

this is a very interesting to me, since I go 95% of the time by myself. I bought a 2012 sea hunt gamefish 25 a year and a half ago, thinking that I would always have people to go with me. being from Georgia and being a retired fireman, I thought everyone would want to go. I only fish offshore 10 to 20 miles out. my wife won"t even go. I have been out about 60 times and had friends on bout 5 times. it is a pain to try and catch bait, I never anchor and end up spending a lot of time just getting back to my waypoint, time spent rerigging and cleaning the boat and equip., and a multitude of things that you have to do by yourself. tips to dock people, fuel (as said earlier, $200 a trip min., going 3 days a week). in the beginning I did not care if people went or not, I just wanted to fish. now I will beg anyone I know to go but they are not fishermen, they would rather go to crab island in destin. it gets old paying out the rear for everything. I have had ranger bass boats for the last 20 years before buying the center console, now I know what they mean about the hole in the water money thing. but I will keep on going till I sell this hole in the water cause I love to fish
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top