Light Drifting is a technique that even the less experienced can enjoy. Once again, the Garmin ambassador Antonello Salvi will be our guide with his precious tips. “You don’t need expensive equipment. A 3-meter big game rod, a reel with a 15/20-pound fixed bobbin and a median of about 7 meters between the main fishing line and the 2-meter terminal (0.35-0.40) can be enough. For bonitos, an additional braided fishing line of 10 cm positioned before the line is highly recommended to prevent breakage”. It is essential to get a zone where the bluefish is commonly found or where our instruments signal its presence . “In this case, a Garmin Panoptix can be very useful. It is a transducer that can be dropped in water in order to study the presence of fish all around your boat”. Chumming is essential in this technique.
You only need a 3-4/0 hook, a pair of scissors, some elastic wire and some fresh sardines. The first step consists in cutting the fish just before its tail and put it on the hook. Finally, use some elastic wire to sew everything, taking care to camouflage the hook. “You can drop a gauze filled with some minced sardines or throw chunked sardines in the water. Every time you see them disappear behind your boat, you have to chum again since your bait have to be positioned in the chumming wake. Let your line follow the stream while calculating the speed of sardines in order to understand the real force of the stream. Please use some 5/10-gram leads in order to prevent your bait from sinking faster than your chum. If there is no stream, you don’t have to drop the anchor; if the stream is very strong, you’d better to do that”. At this point, you only have to wait, adjusting the depth of your bait so that it can always follow the chum. Typical preys are bluefish, mackerels, chub mackerels, horse mackerels, tuna, bonitos. Please remember that red tuna fishing is not allowed.
