Fishing in the Fog.

W

Willyjim

Member
I'd be interested in hearing any advice about fishing in the fog. I tend to stay close to shore when it's foggy. I'm not worried about finding my way with either my GPS or my compass. I'm more worried about being hit by another bigger, faster boat that can't see my 16 footer. And during coho season, close to shore isn't really the place to be...

Does anyone have any words of wisdom about fishing in the fog safely? Or how to predict when it's going to be foggy. I know it requires high humidity, but other than that, it's seems to be hard to predict.
 
Yes, don't go out unless you have radar. Ever gone out thinking it'll break in an hour and 7 hours later you're still in it. Its too unpredictable. If do get caught, the safest thing to do is have other people and you look out with/for you and have the right technology.
 
Yup. Stay in if you don't have radar. Pretty scary reading some guys posting on here along the lines of "fun running through the fog, glad I have GPS".....GPS won't stop you from running into or being unaware of someone who may run over you. I'd rather fish another day than gamble the fog and other un-equipped boaters.

After transiting 60 miles of ocean in pea-soup fog 2 years ago my radar instantly became one of the most valuable pieces of gear on the boat.
 
Willy,

I assume were talking about Sooke. You can predict fog somewhat... The dewpoint is the temp when water will saturate from air. So today I believe the dewpoint for Sooke is 12C.... If you look at Gordon's weather station right now it has been below that pretty much all day and is now going away...Temp is just starting to rise...From webcam it is clearing up... (good for me I may go out)..Tonight the temp will fall and it will form again.. That dew point will fluctuate depending on weather etc.. You can get dewpoint from local forecast and check gordons weather station on BWD.

Safety in fog... I would get a good radar reflector and mount it as high as you can.. I would also make sure you experiment and turn off all electronics and try navigating to where you want to go with your compass. Also use the ranges and buoys to get you home.. Sooke entrance is an excellent example. You need to be confident not just relying on electronics.. Everyone who fishes in fog should realistically be able to navigate home just using a compass and local knowledge. A real boating course such from your local power squadron teaches all of this.

As for other boats..unfortunately thee are a lot of good operators ( guides/commercial operators included) that are awesome.But in that area there are a majority of reckless individuals... Some will just do 25-30 knots in fog as they insist they have radar... I see close calls tiem and time again..Seems strange to me as our own rescue guys will use caution when going out and the radar they have is way better than most... Just be vigilant... When I go out at entrance I go slow... As for coho fishing I would recommend not going to far out as you don't have radar and the last thing you want is a freighter on top of you...

I still really wish they would make the sooke/vic area mandatory for a compass and reflector...Its extremely useful to have those on board...
Hope that helps..
 
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Yup....radar, radar, radar.

We were in English Bay on a beautiful sunny day last winter doing some fishing/crabbing. It was sunny right along West Van but socked in through the middle of the harbour, couldn't see the other side. We were trying to get through and avoid the freighters (at anchor) and there was one moving, we watched it on radar staying well clear.

Well....he decided for some reason to abort heading into Burrard Inlet and did a full 360 on the proverbial 'dime'....it was pretty hairy for us as we could see him on the radar and were in the prop wash (freighters throw out a good wash....we weren't right on his butt)....yet visibly blind. Could hear the engine CLEARLY....trying to figure out WTF he was doing and given his quick redirection we were quickly on Vancouver traffic listening to what was going on. Have been in fog a ton of times....but with a freighter doing maneuvers like that it was hairy enough even with radar.....GPS....you'd have been a sitting duck essentially with vertigo trying to figure WTF was going on.
 
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BTW I don't fully agree with stay home if you dont have a radar... I estimate nearly 80% sportboats don't have radar and navigate fine. A lot of the stupid moves I have seen are guys with the radar.

In Sooke if you don't like fog you might want to take up golf LOLOL.

It really depends on you area..Like Pippen posted above he is in mainland..Very heavy commercial traffic and they fish around that... I would agree that situation I would have one...or just not go out when its foggy.
 
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I have fished in fog lots of times without radar in buddies' little boats. We stayed very close to the sandy shores off Otter. At times, tides can be strong, visibility is almost zero..boat drifted down to Muir Creek instead of Otter. Nowdays, I don't fish in the fog unless the boat has a radar. Safety comes first, I guess!
 
If the captain is looking at the radar; who's really looking out the window to see if the route is clear.
 
Just for thought-if you are using radar while fishing make sure you are trolling on your main engine and not the kicker-power usage with the radar and riggers is quit high and few kickers supply enough power for running radar and riggers. Could flatten your batteries.
 
Thanks for the great replies! I've seen many a post on here from guys out fishing in the fog and thought maybe I was just being overly cautious. I don't think I'm ready to invest in radar. Maybe a reflector... SpringVelocity, great tips on how read the weather info. Sooke is where I've been going for the coho lately, but I live in Esquimalt and just haul the boat to wherever looks good.
 
sammyslabber said:
If the captain is looking at the radar; who's really looking out the window to see if the route is clear.
Click to expand...

You really don't have to keep your eyes glued to it like a 13 year old checking Facebook. ;)

In saying that....if not alone tell your partner to help with a set of eyes and stop checking SFBC on their smartphone or looking for radar apps in the App Store. :p
 
I camp on the fraser sometimes and early in the morning it can be foggy, I've seen a couple scary close calls between boats from my tent on the shoreline with jetboats trying to get out ahead of the crowds. I am installing a couple White LED spot/flood lights on my boat as a winter project as I think they are easier to see than the red/green nav lights if I do get caught in the fog.
 
Small boats don't show up worth a darn on radar....just saying
 
I have fished in the fog with radar and I hate it. I go out on the water to relax not stress and worry about things. I also see way to many non radar guys flying around to make me feel comfortable.
I have done some stupid I have a GPS trips in my early years and now when I look back I'm happy I'm still here totally stupid.
 
I run a colour furuno nav net, range down to 5 miles in areas I know there are going to be boats fishing , running at 12-15 mph in the fog. UNTIL I see a target then I slow down. Small boats show up no problem. Usually i move offshore and travel outside the boats, then troll into fleet. It's good to run on radar when it's not foggy so Ya know what to expect when it is. The biggest problem I've had are guys running fast on a GPS trac in the fog when I'm fishing, definitely a pucker moment when they blast by. Always been a big problem in Sooke and a bigger problem on the west coast. It amazes me that guys run their boats so hard, yet they would never run their car or truck like that. Just my 2 cents
 
I installed an AIS system which shows most ( not all) commercial ship traffic with current position and current direction marked by a dotted straight line on the GPS screen. It has proven invaluable in Georgia Strait when sudden fog descended and ferries were an issue...also great on West Coast VI for freighters and commercial fishing vessels...except those turn the AIS off as some crab boats do. Not a perfect answer but one more valuable tool in my opinion.
 
Years ago I was almost run over by a commercial troller in the fog off the Tin Shed. I was dead in the water having just played a couple of nice Coho. With my kicker idling I didn't hear the other boat until he came out of the mist about 40 feet away coming straight at us. I put the kicker in gear and just barely cleared his stabilizer chains as he had the poles down. I looked up into the wheel house as he passed behind us....he was head down in the scope of his radar. Me passed us never knowing if not for me hearing him at the last second he would have run us down. He was doing about 8 knots at the time so it would have been a hard hit.
 
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