Taking Your Dog Fishing

What could be better than a day of fishing? How about taking man’s best friend along for the ride? I have to admit, in the past I haven’t been a big proponent of taking my own dog out on the boat when I’m headed out to fish. It just creates one more thing to worry about, and with my previous retriever a duck flying by could trigger a sudden catapult-like leap over the side – that dog was insanely birdy, and my training was not up to his talents. But recently we got a new pup. With my daughter home from school due to all the Covid garbage we ended up spending a lot of time the past few months fishing together, and quite early on she started asking if we could take him out on the boat with us.

It was a great experience for me, my daughter, and I’m pretty sure for the dog, too. Most important to me, it made every trip even more fun for my daughter. But this old dog did learn a few new tricks along the way. So while I heartily think you’ll benefit from it if you decide to take your dog fishing, consider:

• Get a harness as opposed to clipping the leash on the dog’s collar. Then when you need to secure the leash to the T-top or leaning post (for maneuvering into the slip, driving on the trailer, or doing other things that require your full attention) you won’t have to worry about the dog injuring itself if tries to go overboard.
• Keep a very, very close eye on the bait – especially if it’s on a hook. Most dogs, our pup included, don’t have nearly enough self-restraint to stop themselves from chowing down on those mullet chunks or shrimp tails. We learned this the hard way, when I turned around for just a second and a chunk of bunker disappeared from the cutting board.
• Bring extra water. It gets hot out there for us, much less a furry friend. They need water, and lots of it, often. We found that every 15 or 20 minutes, the pup was ready for a refresher.
• Train the dog to stay off dangerous areas of the boat right from the start. Failing to do so was one of the reasons I had issues with my last dog. He would get up onto the foredeck, where it was easy to leap off. We trained the new pup that the foredeck was off-limits from day one. By the third or fourth time he was on the boat, he got the message and stopped trying to step up onto it.
• Lenny Rudow