BajaNomad - Beer and Fishing

Beer and Fishing

Osprey - 7-3-2008 at 06:07 AM

Beer and Fishing

It has been said that where I live in Baja Sur is “A quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem”. We have a lot of c-cktail parties here. The men drink lots of beer. I don’t drink beer at my house but I always have it on hand for visitors. The only time I drink beer is when I’m fishing. Beer and fishing just seem to go hand in hand.

Lately I’ve learned that some of my gringo neighbors who I see at all the parties, drink with the best of us but they don’t allow any alcohol on their boats when they fish. None of them has seen the need to explain why and there might be many reasons, different reasons for different fishermen/boat owners. I can think of a few.

When I shove off the beach in my panga I usually have a couple of friends along and one or more ice chests for ice, lunch and refreshments. Most of the ice is for the fish I hope we can catch. An average trip is from 7 AM to about noon or 1 PM. I pack the chest(s) just before we leave the house with 2 or 3 beers a piece, some soda pop, some bottled water, our lunches.

I’ve never felt as though I was putting myself, my guests or others in any kind of jeopardy because we have 6 or 7 beers aboard my boat. I’m always at the helm, we have the normal emergency stuff and I’ve never been in any kind of real jackpot while in the boat, at sea, launching or hauling.

What do other Nomads do? What rules do you apply and why? Just curious.

805gregg - 7-3-2008 at 06:33 AM

I limit myself to 2 beers when on my boat, eithe fishing or surfing. I allow my guests to have their own beers because I don't need them to navigate or repair the boat. I know the sea can be a harsh misstress. I've been out in 40 knot winds with 40 ' seas off Oregon, no place for a drunk captain.

Russ - 7-3-2008 at 06:58 AM

I have to load my own cooler when I go out. I've counted on guest to bring the beer and have had nothing but "disaster at sea". When there is no beer the crew gets a little home sick and there's just no appeasing the captain. :saint:

vandenberg - 7-3-2008 at 07:06 AM

I usually keep a full bar on board, with Teguila, Bourbon, Scotch and Rum. And a couple of cases of beer of course. Two different brands to appease my companions. Not much room left for mixes, but who cares.

Limit myself on fishing gear for lack of space.
Never had anyone come home without a good buzz on.
Teetotalers usually decline my invite.
Now, what do you say Fishhawk :?:

Truth or fiction :?:

Diver - 7-3-2008 at 07:10 AM

I had to quit drinking a few years back so I'm always the designated driver.
Anyone need a captain; I fish for free !! :lol:

BirdDog - 7-3-2008 at 07:16 AM

Got room for me vandenberg?

Cardon Man - 7-3-2008 at 08:49 AM

Beer and fishing? Yes to both but not together. For one thing...drinking beer during the day kills my evening c-cktail buzz. But more importantly I feel that there are way too many things that can happen at sea. At sea you are out of your element in a big way... a clear head is critical to catching fish and getting home safe and sound for c-cktail hour!

Martyman - 7-3-2008 at 08:57 AM

I usually take a full thermos of coffee and then when that is gone i put on a smooth segway (sp) into cerveza with a coupla tokes to warm up the lures.

tripledigitken - 7-3-2008 at 09:10 AM

Agree with Cardon. Take it along, but I don't pull the tab untill the boat is back on the trailer or at anchor.

Ken

Osprey - 7-3-2008 at 10:26 AM

I guess I could have been a little more specific about where and how I fish. I use a panga with a 55 HP Johnson in the usually placid waters near the shore (out to about 15 miles) of the Sea of Cortez. I check the weather before I go out, take extra gas. I suppose one would have to be more careful, more ready to cope with problems in a smaller/lighter boat on the sometimes raging Pacific. You wouldn't see me with anything but Gatorade and Rosary beads if I was launching at Pt. Lobos near Todos Santos.

Cypress - 7-3-2008 at 11:43 AM

Beer on boats?

That's one of the major drawbacks of a small boat.

Less beer storage capacity.

woody with a view - 7-3-2008 at 12:32 PM

beer and fishing???

why yes, thank you. as much of both as possible, usually. but i'll just leave the captaining to someone else since my hands are full already.

Barry A. - 7-3-2008 at 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Cardon Man
Beer and fishing? Yes to both but not together. For one thing...drinking beer during the day kills my evening c-cktail buzz. But more importantly I feel that there are way too many things that can happen at sea. At sea you are out of your element in a big way... a clear head is critical to catching fish and getting home safe and sound for c-cktail hour!

I am with "Cardon Man" 100% for all the reasons he states.

Barry

fishbuck - 7-3-2008 at 12:43 PM

Funny, I was just thinking about this.
I'll be in Bola tomorrow and I guessing it will be hot.
I haven't been taking any beer my last few trips.
I only take bottled water. It's usually way to early for me to enjoy the taste of beer. And fishing can be somewhat athletic if the fish are big so I don't want the alcohol burning my muscles as I'm fighting fish.
As soon as I'm on the beach I like to enjoy an after beer. It's about 1-2pm by then and hot.
But I might not this time because as soon as I get back I'm jumping in my truck to head towards home. Last time I made it as far as Catavina before I sipped a tecate. It was cold and delicious!

[Edited on 7-3-2008 by fishbuck]

Cypress - 7-3-2008 at 01:51 PM

Jeez! No beer onboard? :no:

Sounds like a "Dry run". :biggrin:

Mango - 7-3-2008 at 03:05 PM

Alcohol and boating mixed together can be a real problem. I love to do both; but, really limit myself when mixing the two together. Usually a beer or two before I head out is all I will ever need. A beer or two on the water should not really be a problem for a passenger if the weather is good. However; due to the sun and resulting dehydration factor while boating.. treat each beer as though it were two(or twice as strong) since it effects you more on the water.

Years ago when I took some sailing courses my instructor told me that about 90% of boating fatalities are alcohol related. On a side note.. 90% of the time people abandon ship.. the coast guard finds the boat later.. just floating... So It goes to show.. people often don't make the best judgment calls during a boating emergency, just add booze and it just gets worse.

Oso - 7-3-2008 at 03:22 PM

Pat and Mike are fishing in a small boat when an odd-looking bottle floats by. Pat snatches it from the water and uncorks it. Naturally, a genie emerges.

"Ah, free at last!" sighs the genie. "Thank you kind sir, for your reward I will grant you one wish."

"Is it not three?" asks Pat.

"Wrong genie. Just one. Make it a good one."

"Ah well now, that bein' the case, I'd like ye to turn the ocean into beer."

"Granted." says the genie and with a poof the blue-green water turns a golden amber.

"Ye bleedin' idjit!" roars Mike, "Now what've ye done?"

"What are ye talkin' aboot, man? I've just gotten us all the beer we can ever drink."

"Aye that, ye fool. But now we'll have to pee in the fookin' boat!"

Cypress - 7-3-2008 at 03:26 PM

Oso!! :biggrin:

UnoMas - 7-3-2008 at 05:17 PM

I am either drinking or fishing and can't do both at the same time well :yes:

so I leave the booze at home untill later. Drinking two or three beers during the day is like taking half a $h*t.........IMHO......... :lol:

Osprey - 7-3-2008 at 06:01 PM

How elequent you are. Give us some more Larry the Cable Guy stuff.

Klondike_Kid - 7-4-2008 at 12:25 AM

I can't recall ever having alcohol on my saltwater boat. 99% of the time the seas get too lumpy before the day is over and when its finally time to pull anchor the horizon is sometimes disappearing in the troughs. By this time my "crew" is so green around the gills that the less they have in their stomaches the better off everyone is. I start to worry about them going head first thru the canvas shell opening when dumping their cookies as I'm trying to quarter four to six footers. Once their tanks are empty they pretty much sit still for the rest of the ride back to the harbor. Just something about that 2 stroke engine exhaust, 4 foot seas and pulling the anchor off the transom by hand from 160 feet down that makes them sensitive. Haven't figured that one out yet. :biggrin:

vandenberg - 7-4-2008 at 10:11 AM

Klondike Kid.
Isn't fishing fun. :?:

Remember a time I went out of Monterey with a troop of Orientals on board. Most all of them were sick before we got out of the bay. Made for a fun outing. :no:

Cypress - 7-4-2008 at 10:33 AM

Always have plenty of beer onboard. :bounce:

If the fish aren't biting it'll give you something to do and take your mind off the expense of a "water haul".

Klondike_Kid - 7-4-2008 at 11:09 AM

Around the saltwater fleet in Alaska, with so many land lubber tourists fishing that haven't been out in more than a canoe or inner tube, you could say Alaska is the testing grounds for every kind of gimmick and invention to prevent sea sickness. I've seen wrist bands, arm bands, ear patches, pills, seltzer water, eating food, don't eat food, eat certain foods and not others, and the list goes on. Fortunately many of these things have not worked and the halibut charters have not had any shortage of chum for a scent line while on anchor. As my brother put it many years ago while fishing a salmon trolling charter with my dad out of SF Bay to the Farallons, "half the boat was too sick to fish, the other half had it down pat....Puke & Reel~!" :lol:

There is some BIG ocean out there in that area.

Cypress - 7-4-2008 at 11:45 AM

Was fishing with a world class talker once. He would puke, wipe his mouth, then pick up the sentence right where he was before the puking episode.

BajaGringo - 7-4-2008 at 12:01 PM

Reminds me of a fishing trip many years ago with a friend who was so proud that he was one of the few who hadn't puked on that particularly rough day at sea.

I grabbed an anchovie out of the bait tank and swallowed it whole in front of him. He was able to hold it back until I described how I could feel it wiggling in my esophagus, all the way going down.

He and a couple of others were bent over the rail. I still enjoy giving him a hard time about that one...

Cypress - 7-4-2008 at 12:07 PM

BajaGringo,

That would be enough to make a possum puke. :tumble:

BajaKeela - 7-4-2008 at 12:09 PM

Baja Gringo...I laughed so hard I cried..You made my day..BIGTIME

BajaGringo - 7-4-2008 at 12:13 PM

I know. That was back in the day when I was young and stupid. Today I am just old and stupid. I still chase an anchovie down with a beer every fishing trip.

Some habits are just hard to break...

Skeet/Loreto - 7-4-2008 at 01:43 PM

How to prevent Sea Sickness!

As you start to feel "whoozy" eat several Saltine Crackers while eating 1/2 of a Grapefruit>.
Short Story: On my Departure from Treasure Island aboard a Ship loaded with 1500 Airman headed for Korea, and old Salt told me of the above remedy for Sea Sickness, which I tried and it Worked for all these years even after drinking 5 or 6 beers after catching a boatload of Yellow Tail or Dorado.

Skeet/Loreto

Tin=Can - 7-4-2008 at 05:41 PM

So there was one trip where Bill, Fred and myself launched the boat at 5:30 am at Shelter Island. One case of beer in the cooler and took off for La Jolla Kelp beds and no fish...back to Point Loma and ran out of beer at 8:30am. Went over to Anthony's Fish Grotto on the bay and climbed up a Tuna Sainer and went across the street to the liquor store and got another case of beer. This sort of trip went on all day, back and forth to the liquor store..and never got outside of the bay again...pulled the boat out of the water and 8:30pm. I'll never forget the image of Fred on the last beer run doing donuts in the boat in front of Anthony's Fish Grotto...screaming at some chick " You don't love me anymore!"...Never caught fish all day.
But drinking was a lot of fun. Good Times! Good Times!

Sallysouth - 7-4-2008 at 09:50 PM

The Rule to our fishing days have been: Launch the boat at first light of morning.Have the sammys made the nite before(preferably YT with avo and cheese), load the cooler with ice and beer.Make bait, and no one gets a beer before the first fish is landed!Thats my story(some of it) and I'm stickin to it. :bounce: