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How is the Mac for fishing? Is there enough room in the cockpit? Has anybody used downriggers much? Is there enough room on the gunnels to mount them? (Then remove them when not in use, of course.)

Just curious as I'm looking into the Macs. I know it is not a fishing boat but, occasionally...?

Thanks for your input.

jda

I took an avid fisher-friend out on the intercoastal waterway the other day on my 26X and it worked out reasonably well. I removed the boom and bimini so we would have better access to the stern and more room for casting. We both wound a couple of casts around the rigging but got past that quickly.

If you anchor, the boat moves around a lot which isn't the best if you are bottom fishing. Casting and using a bobber works fine. There was plenty of room for two but more might be a problem if everyone wants to cast.

We left early and my friend really appreciated the egg omlette and hot coffee I made. During a brief downpour the cabin provided a much nicer shelter than his 16 foot open boat.

I bought a rod holder and nice trolling rod from West Marine a few years ago that clamps to the port stern pulpit. Works great. I only tried it a few times and really was not paying much attention to it. I never tried a downrigger so the lure would go airborne a bit more than is probably optimal, since I guess the fish are in the water not the air. I was in a shallow bay with lots of eel grass. the lure would get fouled pretty frequently with grass, ice bags, chip bags etc. Gets old pretty quick. Only caught a couple small fish not worth mentioning, but it is neat to hear a strike and the buzz of the line going out.

My daughter (last July when she was 5) loves to fish off the back of the Mac while I sail. She had a lot of fun catching this cat on a spoon with a heavy weight on the line. Wind was kind of low that day so we were going pretty slow keeping it on the bottom. She didn't care that it was a catfish in the least.


If I ever had time for some serious trolling, there is plenty to catch out there. Why cast off the back of a boat...

Nice fish!!! How'd it taste?

jda

We released it right after the photo..it swam away. She just catches 'em just for sport.

That picture says it all Dimitri - when my kids and I are drifting up the Hudson on a spring, summer, or fall day..

all is right with the world...

I have used my for offshore fishing alot! I plan on going to sail so if nothing is pulled in its still a win -win situation. I pull 2 lines at a time-any more than that and you just get them all tangled as there is not enough beam to spread them out. I thought about outriggers and actually have an extra set but it seems there was nowhere to put them and they would just get in the way all the time-not counting the trailerability besides if you are alone or with one other person all it takes is a bunch of schoolies and your hands are full of rods and sails. When a fish is on I usually heave to the boat and deal with the fish. While trolling here in East Central Florida I usually pick up a ton of barricuda-a fun fight but worthless, Kingfish (Mackerel) but are oiley and loaded with mercury so I only keep one every so often. Bonita will hit every now and then, as well as Dolphin or Mahi Mahi. It is a bit of pain to store a gaff and gaff one and drag him in between the rudder and outboard without wrapping the leader aroung something back there. Oh yea-one tip-always close your companionway while fishing as I once gaffed a barricuda and slung him in pretty good that he came off the gaff and ended up on the cabin floor. Retrieving him has no fun as I ended up gettting bit by his thrashing around and getting too close to the business end of the fish. After he was gone it looked as if there was a murder scene in the boat-blood was everywhere! Fishing in the river can have its own problems like the swinging at anchor, or rigging. Did a bit of deep water bottom fishing and it did well but it took work-one to keep the boat in place with the motor and 2 to fish and they were busy with the beeliners. Also took one nice grouper that way. Trolling is fun because its really just sailing interupted with moments of fishing..

I would be trolling in Lake Superior near Duluth so I don't think I will have to worry about baracuda. Just looking for Lake Trout! When trolling do you just use the main motor? It must go slow enough. And there must be room on the gunnels to mount the downriggers. Is that right?

I'm not a hard core fisherman but if I could fish, sail, and/or motor in this boat it seems like a winner. Especially if I can protect myself from the elements in colder weather with a heater in the cabin and full protection in the cockpit.

Hear in Buffalo I sailfish. I sail with the genoa furled in heavy winds without the motor up and out of the way when we get a fish on I just pull the genoa in and deal with the fish. Once boarded I start back sailing. We kill the bass this way because of no motor noise. For my downrig units I took pvc pipe cut to size, drilled two small holes in the sides and used the plastic ties to fasten them to the rear rails. They are nice for fishing rod holders while troling or while not using the poles. What could be better sailing and fishing at the same time, while enjoying the sun and a cold beer and having the kids or friends with you. Life just doesn't get any better.
Ken

I also sail while fishing, depending on the wind is what depends on the sails that are out. As for a downrigger I tend to use the downpplaners as they are cheaper and easier to stow. I have used the motor to troll before but prefer to sail, but if there is no wind then i will use the motor.

A couple of ideas to help with fishing under sail....
having worked out a bit of a system for this now....I learned a couple of things... If you have a rod holder on the back of swing part of the seat then you have to have second in another location for landing the fish.(The angled in deck ones seem to be what I am leaning toward,,, when I can get around to figuring out if I want to cut more glass)..since I swing the seat up to land them. the rod holder on the the back of the seat is easy to tend, and clears the bimini easily., and also is where I mount my kettle. But landing anything larger than a small trout requires walking back on the transom...

2nd thing for all you northwest sailors that crab,,, a moderate amount of POB (person overboard ) and docking practice can be obtained by sailing in to hook your crab pots.... nothing like trying to approach close enough to hook the float, douse sails, reduce momentum, lift the pot, steer, go back to sailing, not hit the boat with the steel pot... and then somehow argue with and get the legal crabs in the bucket.... singlehanded.... I am sure it was a comedy to watch me.

The other thing that helped was bungees that hooked the tackle box around the pedastal....


Someday i might graduate to trollling with the motor...

:macx: I have been fishing the Sea of Cortez from my 2000x for 2 years now without a downrigger and have had no problems. We have caught dorado, tuna, caught and released two marlins, two sailfish.
we have a system of one person holding the rod with tension, also the back of the others belt, while one person hangs over the side and releases the fish. Its a little hairy but so far the fish seam to let us without thrashing about. We haven't tried pulling the fish in the stern due to our
gas cans being stored there. The gaff is a mess and I will be buying a
large net soon. We lay towels down on the rear seats and clean the fish right away, filet, bag, and put on ice right away. Last year we caught a 6' shark, trolling on the surface, my friend didn't want to lose his lure, so
we lasood it tail first and tied it up out of the water to the side, it bashed
around so bad I thought it would stove in the fiberglass, but it held up,
after it dieed, we cut it up, it was the best, tasted like pork. Trolling at
3700 rpm or sailing, we have still been able to catch fish in the Mac,
best all around Baja boat yet!!!!!!

We have occasionally trolled on Lake Erie on our 26X with 3 lines, no downriggers. We use reef runner and deep diver lures on planer boards.

There is a guy here somewhere with a great website of all the amazing fish he has caught off his X in Alaska. He has a pic of a 200 pound barndoor halibut hanging off the side of the cockpit. His name escapes me, but his boat's name was "windmusher".
Rolf