Do you like to fish and already spend time on the water? Have you ever thought about fishing from a boat rather than from the shore? With a boat you can fish waters that shore anglers cannot access. If you fish from a houseboat, you can fish right from your dock, and literally have a line in the water within minutes of finishing breakfast!
You will have to adapt to new ways of thinking and fishing since houseboating is unlike bank fishing. The boat moves, there is limited space to work with, and gear that works great from the shore can be a pain on the deck. The next section will address these things and more.
Fishing from a houseboat
Houseboats can provide great platforms for fishing in canals and slow moving rivers. Houseboats can give fishermen access to water where fish such as pike, perch, roach and bream like to reside. The Best Fishing Spots You Can Reach by Houseboat provides some suggestions. Staying moored in one location gives you the opportunity to fish the same area and get familiar with what the fish are biting on.
Houseboats have their limitations. Fishing larger bodies of water can limit the benefit of fishing from a houseboat. That’s when a fisherman starts to think about needing a second boat, and Do You Need a Fishing Boat if You Already Own a Houseboat? comes into play. If you’re still undecided about fishing boats and houseboats, check out Fishing Boats vs Houseboats.
Techniques
Fishing from a boat offers two main options: anchoring or drifting. Anchoring is used when bait fishing because it allows you to fish over specific spots that you know produce fish. Drifting is more effective when using lures because you cover a lot more water and it is better when targeting predators. On a moored houseboat you’re already more or less anchored so it’s more a case of where you moor. Our boat fishing techniques article and boat fishing bait and rigs article will help with what to use on the end of the line.
Tackle
Sources agree that shorter rods are easier to work with on a boat. Where boat rods generally range from 6 to 8 feet, a traditional bank rod can be 12 feet or longer. Longer rods cast further, but the trade off isn’t worth the hassle when there’s a cabin roof and other folks around. For more information, check out Best Fishing Rods for Boat Use. You don’t need much else to start with. What Fishing Equipment Do You Actually Need? is worth reading before you spend anything.
Another issue is storage. Rods stored on the roof get stepped on. Fishing tackle stored on the deck gets lost over the side. Fixes for these issues are covered in Storing Your Fishing Tackle on a Boat.
A rod rack would relieve a lot of problems for you in the long run.