Offshore fish

Offshore, the landmarks are no longer on the bottom but on the surface. A current line where two water masses meet, a change of colour, a drifting weed raft, a working flock of birds: each marks a concentration of food, and therefore of predators. These signs move from one day to the next, and searching takes up a good share of the trip.

Water temperature plays the part that contour plays inshore. A single degree over a few hundred metres is enough to create a boundary that life lines up along, and many large species follow those lines rather than any fixed position. Isolated banks and wrecks, where they exist, concentrate everything else.

It is also the fishing where preparation counts for most. Weather checked until the last moment, range, safety gear aboard and tackle properly maintained: offshore does not forgive guesswork, and a trip cancelled in time beats a day wasted at sea.