Retrieval methods?

[burgerchow1]

Ok, I've got a new aqua craft motley crew. Wondering what is the best way of using my retrieval boat Proboat PT 109 to hook up a flipped boat and tow it back to shore. Thinking of some kind of floating grappling hook attached to the stern of my pt boat. How do you pros do it?

[RandyatBBY]

I use a indoor hard ball tied to a Spin Cast Reel sometimes called "Closed Face" reel with a 20 pound test line to throw over the boat at close range. my favorite.

[burgerchow1]

What if your boat is far away? 20lb test is hard to cast accurately far away

[Lockk]

What if your boat is far away? 20lb test is hard to cast accurately far away

Probably not hard to cast if your lure is a........hardball!!!!

[T.S.Davis]

I have a blow up raft I throw in the thruck but honestly wear a life jacket if you use one of those.

[RandyatBBY]

I used the search box and found these Retrieval methods too
http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...rieval+methods

http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...rieval+methods

http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...rieval+methods

[detox]

Indoor hard ball? What is that?


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[electric]

Or..you tie the fishing line onto the retrieval boat, motor it out to the stranded boat and then reel both of them in with the your fishing pole. This is just like casting a tennis ball out there, except you just drive the fishing line out to the boat to be picked up.

[RandyatBBY]

Indoor hard ball? What is that?


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It is a soft ball with the weight and size of a hardball.


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[JIM MARCUM]

Here in San Diego we use a tennis ball zip tied to a strong fishing line leader. But, using 20# test mono with my setup I can only cast about 50-60 yards. To be able to cast out 100+ YDS, I used a large syringe to fill the tennis ball 1/2 full of water, 25# test braided fillament that at 25+ pound rating is the same size as 8# mono & a spinning reel on a stiff saltwater spinning pole. Check it out at your local fishing store. JIM

[burgerchow1]

thanks for all the recommendations. Still not sure a ball is going to work grabbing a boat. The other day, a buddy flipped his widowmaker and the stern sank so only the bow was showing out of the water, almost like a buoy. We had a tennis ball, but no way we could get it around the small footprint of the buoy.
I'm thinking maybe pulling a small smelt fishing net behind my PT 109 and snagging any boat. ( PT 109 is pretty big and has lots of power with its dual engines )

[marko500]

I use a grappling hook towed by a Vac-u-tow boat. I made the hook with three pieces of wire epoxied inside of a piece of brass tube with a small screw eye on the end. The brass tube then is inside of a piece of foam tube or a cylinder shaped fishing bobber or float. I put a short piece of very small silicone tube on the end of the wire hooks to stop it from scratching the boats.
Just go out and circle the stranded boat and tow it in. Has not missed yet. For rescues in close we use the fishing pole with the tennis ball.
You could always tow the hook behind the PT-109.
If you want me to post or send a pic let me know.

Mark

[RandyatBBY]

When the boat has had the stern sink so only the bow is showing out of the water, almost like a buoy. It is very hard to hook on the the boat. If a line is used on a retrieve boat and you run it around the boat and back to shore then you can slowly reel in the boat. If it does not have a deck cleat the line may slip off.

[RandyatBBY]

One of the guys also have a rod that expands to about 15 feet that has two fishing hooks on the end to reach out and hook the boat and pull it back to shore.

[burgerchow1]

yeah, that's why I was thinking of hooking a small smelt net ( about 6 feet square) to a boom, and using my pt109 to tow the boom around the dead boat, hoping some of the netting should catch it. Like a drag net, but I'll have floats at the top so it drags around the dead boat.