Side of boat, rod?

[merrittboy1]

We noticed an interesting pattern this year. We fish different rods, mine 9ft, but use the same flashers and same teaser heads. My rod would outfish others easily. Would even change sides to test, no kidding the rod would still out catch. Could it be how one person baits anchovy over another? Not a true scientific test but we had some good laughs. I hate to get rid of this old rod! Lol. Do guys notice when fishing two or more rods that one side catches more than other?

 

[Rain City]

We noticed an interesting pattern this year. We fish different rods, mine 9ft, but use the same flashers and same teaser heads. My rod would outfish others easily. Would even change sides to test, no kidding the rod would still out catch. Could it be how one person baits anchovy over another? Not a true scientific test but we had some good laughs. I hate to get rid of this old rod! Lol. Do guys notice when fishing two or more rods that one side catches more than other?

Port Side hits 3 out of 4 times on both boats I've owned. Thought it was kicker vibration going through the rod but the new boat the kicker is on the other side.

 

[John s]

My son and l where over fishing Bamfield for the weekend. I fish the port side of the boat all the time. And my son fish’s the starboard side .This trip my son out fished me . We run the same rods and reels so that can’t be the issue . I would put on the same thing he was using and it didn’t help. Just one of those trips. Then there are trips where my side of the boat is hot and gets most of the fish . A it doesn’t really matter , it’s just great being out there fishing with my son .

 

[bigdogg1]

The side with the plug wins.

 

[dmurph]

The roll in a particular anchovy could definitely make a difference. My boat will often have one side or the other the gets most of the action.

 

[Oly1]

I would think that given the circumstances above that there could be a few variables that assist in catch rates. If the same gear is used and the angler changes sides of the boat to see if that makes a difference, what if the setback from the wire is different? The closer lure (less setback) could make a difference as fish see that lur first. If the fish are spooky then the more setback, farther from the wire, could make a difference. Same lures, same boat speed but slightly different lengths from release clip.

There are way too many variables to say that Port or Starboard makes the difference.

Oly

 

[triplenickel]

If you were trolling in a loop the same direction all day I could definitely see one rod doing better than the other just because of speed differences in the turns. I often get hits on the inside rod as we speed up coming out of the turn.

 

[Goathorns]

Nothing like vigilance out on the boat. Why is one side working better, or not at all.
On some boats it seemed to me that Starboard works best.
I remember having an afternoon where a gold helmet chovie was doing all the catching, 4 nice mature fish, and all port side could come up with was a runty little half sized one.
I would often take a S.S. wire brush to any and all zincs I could access on that or all sides of my boat. None of my zincs were tied together so I figured one was higher voltage than the other.
As Murph says, the roll is critical also.
Ahhh, the mysteries of fishing.

 

[Birdman]

The roll on your bait can be absolutely crucial at times, and I've certainly seen the 1 side gets all the bites routine despite fishing bait on both sides. Frankly a lot of guys are terrible at rolling bait and/or they don't check and change it often enough.

 

[BarryA]

Or clockwise vs. counter-clockwise bait spin depending on if tied by a lefty vs. righty. Or maybe the fish are approaching from the shoreline and see one side of the boat first. Or the fish are lefty/righty. Mind blown!

Too many variables, if there weren’t it wouldn’t be fun.

 

[tightlines]

Don't overthink it - its just variance. Have you ever played roulette and its hit red 13 times in a row? The fish don't know what side of the boat they are biting bait wearing plastic glow helmets on and strange wobbly flashers... How big is the sample size? 200-2000 fish? Hardly enough

 

[merrittboy1]

If you were trolling in a loop the same direction all day I could definitely see one rod doing better than the other just because of speed differences in the turns. I often get hits on the inside rod as we speed up coming out of the turn.

I definitely have noticed this. I fish port because I operate the boat. Most turns are to port side. I can see that being a factor.