i recently bought my first RIB and am in the process of fixing it up. my brother and i fish in the columbia river from my hard boat. i live in portland oregon close to the pacific. here's a picture of a hefty sturgeon someone else caught right in the columbia last week. you can only keep them if they're between 42 and 58 inches like the one i caught in the second picture. the other one's way too big. they guessed around 300lbs.
so are RIB's any good to fish from? what do you guys fish for where you're from? we fish for chinook and coho salmon too. i'm already trying to figure out where to attatch the pole holders
The western coast of the UK is pretty wild as it faces the open Atlantic.
In winter cod are the main species - nice sized ones being 20 - 40lbs. Conger eel are fairly common - some as big as 110lbs. Also monkfish and skate grow pretty big.
In the summer Bass are the best fish to catch and also plenty of mackrell which are quite small. If it has been a very warm summer we can get Blue sharks coming into our waters - up to about 200lbs - although our waters are too cold for them to be any threat!!!
You can get all sorts in British waters - Sturgeons have been caught but belong to the queen - it is an old law and I don't think she would be too happy with a smelly fish landing on her doorstep!!!
An example of bonkers British laws - the bloke caught it in swansea - my home town - offered it to the Queen and was told to do what he liked with it.
Apparently you can catch them and kill them - do what you like - but if you sell it you are breaking the law!!!
As to freshwater stuff there is Salmon and trout along with pike and various others - not really a freshwater man myself!!!
sea fishing in the uk is thankfully still pretty much unregulated but freshwater is a different matter - all sorts of different seasons and licences etc needed!!!
Sturgeons are pretty amazing. Every so often a sturgeon is caught from either the Red or Winnipeg Rivers here in Manitoba. Around here they can get to about 250 lbs. Probably the most commonly caught fish around here is the Northern Pike. Here is a nice one that my neighbor caught from my SIB this past summer.
Got my pole holders on the back of the seats/ nice as it gives some clearance over the outboard to avoid snags.
17gall live bait tank for the "chovies"
Bay Bass are our mainstay ,as easy to catch for my young boys. (Not too keen on venturing further afield yet!)
cheers dal
Generally speaking, we don't fish from ribs, although there are no particular reasons why you shouldn't. I suppose the reason is that if you are a keen sea fisherman in the UK, there are probably many more suitable and cheaper hardboats available. I owned a RIB once complete with rod holders, which was a bit odd as it was a Pascoe race rib and ran at about 60-70 mph. Hmmmmm...
I fish all the time from my RIB on the Columbia, Oregon Coast and have even gone up the the west side of Van Isl. Trolling, anchor fishing, rock fishing, crabbing...the RIB works just fine.
I also really enjoy the novelty of trolling around in my RIB among all of the red neck "sink if they swamp" Aluminium jet sleds. I even get a few catcalls about being in a rubber raft until they notice the yamaha 115 4st on the stern. I usually ask how hard it was to take the Coors label off their boat.
When we troll for salmon we use down riggers or jet divers and typically keep it to 3 rods. 2 each side and one directly off the stern. When we use down riggers we built a special board to mount them. It is pretty simple.
When trolling with the RIB the bow can be diffiicult to keep on course if it is windy. The downriggers off the bow fix this problem.
Another recent addition was hydraulic steering. This makes all the difference for crabbing and hovering over a spot at Buoy 10.
One downside is that my stern isn't big enough for a kicker. We could use an electric trolling motor for up river on the coast. Otherwise I usually swap out my 19 pitch prop for a 17 and my main motor trolls down just fine. It can be a little fast for upriver coastal but on the Columbia it just fine. You could take it a step further and put a 15 on but make sure you watch your rpm's.
Another thing is be prepared for is Law enforcement visits. Bigger RIB (anything over 12') are such a novelty in the NW that it never fails when we see a local law enforcement RIB they always come by to chat and see our setup.
My boat is all white accept for some red stripes. Sometimes we see folks scramble for their PFD or hide their beer cans when we cruise out to a fishing spot.
It won't be the same as your fiberglass boat. There are several purpose built fishing amenities on your boat (looks like an arima) that you might miss fishing off the RIB.
Send me a PM if you want to hook up to see what we use.
thanks tony. that's pretty funny with the coors sticker thing. i don't believe i've ever seen a RIB out fishing among all those jet boats. in fact, they kind of turn their noses up at fiberglass boats including my arima. and that's a very capable boat. they'll probably dig the sportjet on my RIB though
i'll definately get in touch with you soon to check out your boat. i'm scrambling to get mine together now. you can shoot me a pic of yours if you want sometime at savearoof@aol.com.
I fish from mine on a regular basis. We have a fish in Cornwall, which is in the far South West of the UK for you US members, called the Pillock. It's a hybrid cross between a Pilchard and a Pollack. These are tricky things to catch. I find the best bait is Pasty dipped in treacle. It has to be locally mined Cornish treacle. My favorite is from the Goongumpus Treacle mine which is located on the North coast near Pooganooga. These Pillocks can grow to up to 10 pounds, but the best eating are around the 3 pound mark. I like to fillet and smoke them. Shaved railway sleepers are the best in the smoker as the creosote gives a nice tangy flavour.
I've done a little fishing aboard my RIB this year. I love it, especially whilst I was Plaice fishing off the Blocks (off Southsea, Portsmouth) and listening to the footy. Portmouth basicly helped Southampton (arch enemy) get relegated and caught a flatty just to make my day.
__________________
Andy
Looks Slow but is Fast
Member of the ebay Blue RIB cover club.
I fish from mine on a regular basis. We have a fish in Cornwall, which is in the far South West of the UK for you US members, called the Pillock. It's a hybrid cross between a Pilchard and a Pollack. These are tricky things to catch. I find the best bait is Pasty dipped in treacle. It has to be locally mined Cornish treacle. My favorite is from the Goongumpus Treacle mine which is located on the North coast near Pooganooga. These Pillocks can grow to up to 10 pounds, but the best eating are around the 3 pound mark. I like to fillet and smoke them. Shaved railway sleepers are the best in the smoker as the creosote gives a nice tangy flavour.
some of your Pillocks have made it up as far as SWANSEA now i believe!!!!
we have a critter like that here called a Snipe. it's a ground bird that can only be caught at night by hiding on all fours in the bushes with a paper bag. it's so much fun after tipping back a few cold ones with your buddies
Funny that you should say that Codders, coz' "Trolling" for Pillocks is the best way to catch 'em. About 3 knts is perfect. Any faster and the pasty falls to bits!
we have a critter like that here called a Snipe. it's a ground bird that can only be caught at night by hiding on all fours in the bushes with a paper bag. it's so much fun after tipping back a few cold ones with your buddies
I think that we have something similar. Hugh Jardon was telling me that he can often be found on Clapham Common on all fours at night, banging paper bags. I think he said "paper bags" ? Or was it paper boys?
Funny that you should say that Codders, coz' "Trolling" for Pillocks is the best way to catch 'em. About 3 knts is perfect. Any faster and the pasty falls to bits!
i think we reeled in our local pillock easily there ha ha love it
I think that we have something similar. Hugh Jardon was telling me that he can often be found on Clapham Common on all fours at night, banging paper bags. I think he said "paper bags" ? Or was it paper boys?
OI OI OI
havent been there for days now since one split on me!
but the snipe does sound fun, will have to try that
We do a lot of fishing from our RIB not all as good as the pic below . This was the largest of 5 Smoothounds we caught about 10 metres from Mill Rythe bouy in Chichester Harbour . We had been out off Selsey Bill but both succumbed to seasickness as it was very lumpy . As a last resort we tried at Mill Rythe and had our first bite within minutes . We were using peeler crab in about 5 metres of water . It was apt to catch a Smoothhound as our present rib is call 'Longdog' and the last one was 'Lurcher' . For those overseas the last picture is a Lurcher!
Or was it paper boys? 
