Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
What I want to know is can you troll for pelagic species off the stern
of that thing? You know, really big marlin? :)

I actually did that once - Army transport to Panama for a joint
training exercise. Ever the fisherman, I had a big Mitchell spinning
reel and some heavy dacron line. One of the Army Quartermasters found
a piece of wood on the ship that looked like an old railing - rigged
up some guides out of nails and went fishing.

Didn't catch anything, but the Army types thought it was pretty funny.
Even the Captain came down to take a turn on the reel. :)

I think I have a picture of that around here in the old timey files -
I'll see if I can't find it.


Yep. Can't do it in transit because those things MOVE... generally 20+
knots. But when the ship is on station and just hanging around, it would
be possible to troll off the fantail. Not sure the carriers ever hang
around going slow, they are too valuable & vulnerable a target... makes
the Navy nervous. However if they did, you could. It would a problem
standing so high above the water... you'd probably be at least 50' up!

The tin can I was on spent a lot of time making slow circles waiting for
something to happen. Fishing off the fantail was quite popular. I don't
recall any marlins being dragged aboard, but did see a few dolphin and a
lot of sharks. Delicious.

DSK

On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 14:23:29 -0500, DSK wrote:

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
What I want to know is can you troll for pelagic species off the stern
of that thing? You know, really big marlin? :)

I actually did that once - Army transport to Panama for a joint
training exercise. Ever the fisherman, I had a big Mitchell spinning
reel and some heavy dacron line. One of the Army Quartermasters found
a piece of wood on the ship that looked like an old railing - rigged
up some guides out of nails and went fishing.

Didn't catch anything, but the Army types thought it was pretty funny.
Even the Captain came down to take a turn on the reel. :)

I think I have a picture of that around here in the old timey files -
I'll see if I can't find it.


Yep. Can't do it in transit because those things MOVE... generally 20+
knots. But when the ship is on station and just hanging around, it would
be possible to troll off the fantail. Not sure the carriers ever hang
around going slow, they are too valuable & vulnerable a target... makes
the Navy nervous. However if they did, you could. It would a problem
standing so high above the water... you'd probably be at least 50' up!

The tin can I was on spent a lot of time making slow circles waiting for
something to happen. Fishing off the fantail was quite popular. I don't
recall any marlins being dragged aboard, but did see a few dolphin and a
lot of sharks. Delicious.

My Dad commanded a DE during WWII and used to fish off the stern all
the time - I saw some pictures his Exec took of them cod fishing
before picking up a convoy.

When he was transferred to the Pacific on a Tin Can, he told me he
never really had time.

Later,

Tom

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:



My Dad commanded a DE during WWII and used to fish off the stern all
the time - I saw some pictures his Exec took of them cod fishing
before picking up a convoy.

When he was transferred to the Pacific on a Tin Can, he told me he
never really had time.

Later,

Tom

Which brings me to my story ....

I was also stationed on a DE for part of my Navy "experience". It was
of mid-50's vintage and had been retrofitted with a new passive sonar
system that was towed behind the ship, listening for subs. This duty was
about the most boring time you can imagine because the ship spent weeks
at a time trolling the sonar at 7 knots, day in and day out.

So, one Sunday afternoon during "holiday routine" a couple of friends
and I decided to fly kites off the fantail. We had decided on a previous
cruise that this would be a great idea, and it was .. the kites flew
perfectly. Being the young smart-asses that we were at the time we
decided to attach a small flasher light to each kite, stolen from some
life vests. The kites carried them aloft with no problem, but you
couldn't see the lights in the daylight.

Bored with this after a while, we tied the lines to the rail on the
fantail and forgot about them.

Later that evening I had a watch to stand. I happened to step into the
Radio Shack to find all kinds of excitement. An Operational Immediate
message was about to be transmitted that contained items like:

"Negative signature of object on radar despite re-calibration and test"
and
"Object follows all course changes"

I knew then I was in deep ****.

Eisboch

On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 15:01:22 -0500, Eisboch
wrote:

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:



My Dad commanded a DE during WWII and used to fish off the stern all
the time - I saw some pictures his Exec took of them cod fishing
before picking up a convoy.

When he was transferred to the Pacific on a Tin Can, he told me he
never really had time.

Later,

Tom

Which brings me to my story ....

I was also stationed on a DE for part of my Navy "experience". It was
of mid-50's vintage and had been retrofitted with a new passive sonar
system that was towed behind the ship, listening for subs. This duty was
about the most boring time you can imagine because the ship spent weeks
at a time trolling the sonar at 7 knots, day in and day out.

So, one Sunday afternoon during "holiday routine" a couple of friends
and I decided to fly kites off the fantail. We had decided on a previous
cruise that this would be a great idea, and it was .. the kites flew
perfectly. Being the young smart-asses that we were at the time we
decided to attach a small flasher light to each kite, stolen from some
life vests. The kites carried them aloft with no problem, but you
couldn't see the lights in the daylight.

Bored with this after a while, we tied the lines to the rail on the
fantail and forgot about them.

Later that evening I had a watch to stand. I happened to step into the
Radio Shack to find all kinds of excitement. An Operational Immediate
message was about to be transmitted that contained items like:

"Negative signature of object on radar despite re-calibration and test"
and
"Object follows all course changes"

I knew then I was in deep ****.

ROTFL!!!!!! Oh man, that's funny.

Later,

Tom

Eisboch wrote:
..... I happened to step into the
Radio Shack to find all kinds of excitement. An Operational Immediate
message was about to be transmitted that contained items like:

"Negative signature of object on radar despite re-calibration and test"
and
"Object follows all course changes"

I knew then I was in deep ****.

Now *that's* funny. Do you mind if I forward this to one of my Navy
buddies, who was an electronics tech?

Regards
Doug King

DSK wrote:
Eisboch wrote:

..... I happened to step into the
Radio Shack to find all kinds of excitement. An Operational Immediate
message was about to be transmitted that contained items like:

"Negative signature of object on radar despite re-calibration and test"
and
"Object follows all course changes"

I knew then I was in deep ****.


Now *that's* funny. Do you mind if I forward this to one of my Navy
buddies, who was an electronics tech?

Regards
Doug King


Help yourself. Maybe he was one of my kite flying friends.

Eisboch (ex-ET1)