Wait, what? A long liner is not considered fishing under the rules?
A long liner isnât trolling.
How would you classify it? Iâm not being facetious.
A long liner puts out MILES of line and comes back for it later. They donât tow it around.
Trolling is Uncle Jed and his drinking buddies dragging some lines behind their Boston Whaler.
Uncle Jed fails on 2 counts:
d) The term âvessel engaged in fishingâ means any vessel fishing with nets, lines, trawls or other fishing apparatus which restricts maneuverability, but does not include a vessel fishing with trolling lines or other fishing apparatus which do not restrict maneuverability.
Uncle Jed will not be showing the day shapes or lights for a fishing vessel or even have any idea what the heck they are.
Long lines are passive fishing gear. I.e. long lines with baited hook set to passively wait for fish to bite. Can be set near bottom, or near surface depending on species of fish targeted:
Copyright FAO.
Trolling is an active fishing method as shown by Capt_Phoenix and explained by yacht_sailor above.
PS> Trawling is the most common active fishing method for commercial fishing.
show me that in the colregs
Longlining?
Capt Pheonixâs depiction clearly not âUncle Jed and his drinking buddies dragging some lines behind their Boston Whalerâ. The rules are the rules so they are clearly not exempt but if that vessel had to make a full strop or 180, thereâd be some lines fouling the prop effectively impeding their ability to maneuver.
If they really have too much gear out to maneuver, then they should be flying the day shapes for fishing. Then they get to be a colregs fishing boat. They ALL think their lures and planer boards are special 
sure no day shapes its not fishing
Just follow the âBâs in the COLREGS: Part B, Rule 18 B - A sailing vessel underway shall keep out of the way of: a vessel not under command, a vessel restricted in her ability to maneuver, and a vessel engaged in fishing.
Rule 9 B - A vessel of less than 20 meters in length or a sailing vessel shall not impede the passage of a vessel which can navigate only within a narrow channel or fairway.
Rule 17 B - When, from any cause, the vessel required to keep her course and speed finds herself so close that collision cannot be avoided by the action of the give-way vessel alone, she shall take such action as will best aid to avoid collision.
9b brings back memories
a wafi took me to a hearing in a port captains office in the med as he tried to make me avoid him in a narrow channel that he was sailing at 90 degrees to, with lots of other traffic
Pulled out the rule book, and the room went quiet.
Agreed but Iâm not talking bout recreational trolling. If itâs reasonable to consider that a commercial vessel towing an array of lines and hooks (trolling) is going to be restricted in its ability to maneuver, why single out trolling as different from towing other kinds of gear: âThe term âvessel engaged in fishingâ means any vessel fishing with nets, lines, trawls or other fishing apparatus which restrict maneuverability, but does not include a vessel fishing with trolling lines or other fishing apparatus which do not restrict maneuverability.â
The clue is the very last bit of the last sentence:
does not include a vessel fishing with trolling lines or other fishing apparatus which do not restrict maneuverability.
So if I have an actual commercial fishing boat and I have so many lines trailing behind that I canât really turn or stop, then it seems like I can very much use fishing boat lights and shapes. This section of the rule seems directed at the 1001 20 foot center-consoles dragging some lures around.
Sure, those all apply and should be followed. Someone near where I live famously did not follow 9-B, a tanker ran aground trying to get around them, they got scared and swam several miles to shore, and then ended up being presented with a $350,000 bill for tug and diver services to get the tanker loose.
1 Like
Thereâs a difference between having limits on a vesselâs maneuverability and being legally âRestricted in the ability to maneuverâ.
A tug with a tow certainly may have limits on itâs ability to maneuver yet is not legally considered restricted unless itâs âseverelyâ restricted in the ability to deviateâŚetc.
A vessel trolling may also be limited to a degree but not sufficiently to consider them to be RAM.
That brings up a question - is trolling by definition not restricting no matter what you are towing? I read the sentence as it might or might not be, but it seems also valid English parsing to read trolling is NEVER restrictive.
Re the tugs: By tradition where I live the recreational boats tend to give them a wide berth, colregs or no. No one wants to get run over by one and then run over again by the barge 
- brings up a bad memory of towing a string of 5 boats and having someone turn in front of me and stop.
We also have another unoffical colreg where if a crab boat puts a crab bushel over their 32 point light, that means they are laying or retrieving traps and we go around them.
1 Like
This is also true with commercial vessels but this practice, along with giving other types vessels a wide berth when possible, is just a matter of good seamanship.
The maneuvering and steering rules only apply when risk of collision exists. Thereâs nothing in the COLREGS that prohibits taking early action to avoid a ârisk of collisionâ situation altogether.
Given sufficient sea room the vast majority of maneuvers to avoid happen well before that point.
2 Likes
a very important concept - many miss in my experiance -
2 Likes