I never knew this, but it kinda makes sense and is pretty cool. Any squids here done this?

Looks like a really good recruiting video....

I used to fish off the ship anytime we anchored and I had free time. Fished the Mediterranean, Carribean, Atlantic and the GOM. There were several of us "Squids" that did.

The video doesn’t go into much explanation about how you land a marlin off an aircraft carrier.

I have done it. On the amphibious ships there is a well deck and they have a big gate (easiest way to describe it) they can raise and lower to launch the equipment that the Marines ride to shore. That is what you see here in the cover photo before you play the video. I spent a little over 3 years on the USS Nashville LPD-13 and we used to troll every chance we had. The captain of the ship liked to fish and he always said what good is a big boat if you can't fish off it? So we had rigs for a dozen or so trolling rods and on days where the ship was just cruising around (something very common for that type of ship) we would break out the rods. Sometimes we caught a lot, sometimes we didn't catch anything. Any good eating fish (tuna, dolphin, wahoo etc...) went to the galley and were cooked up. Ate a lot of fresh grilled tuna on that ship.

The USN always has water around it so fishing is common. While I was in I caught and released 5 black marlin, biggest about 500 lbs. Good times, good career, good experience. I miss being underway despite being retired for over a decade. I would have no problem signing up for another hitch and packing my seabag if I could, but that phase of my life is over.

Did y'all actually have the fish preparted on the boat and eat them?

Never mind, I see MAC answered. "What good is a big boat if you can't fish off it," that's outstanding.

BTDT

Never got to eat any of the fish I caught.

Tonkin Gulf fishing wasn't so good, and had the downside of occasionally snagging a snake.

Big fish you land with a steel cable and weighted treble hook to snag 'em like a gaff and hoist 'em up.

Looks like some good R&R.

We used to have quite a few fish fry's depending on how many we caught.
Somewhere I have a picture of a few of us standing shoulder to shoulder holding up a stringer of snapper that touches the aircraft elevator on both ends. It was quite the haul and quite the fish fry.
I never fished underway as I was on the flight deck working. My rate was ABH (Aviation Bos'n mate) and I was an LSE (landing signalman enlisted).
Like MAC above I really enjoyed being at sea and flight ops. Hard, exciting, and satisfying work.
USS Guadalcanal LPH-7

Sounds that way. Thank you all for your service!

Not off a big boat, but when my brother was in the Marines he spent a summer on Afognak Island (I think, but it may have been a different island) as a combat engineer.... they were building roads or something but he got to do a TON of fishing/crabbing/shrimping on their off time.....I was jealous lol.

Fished off of a Destroyers many times

Haven't done it off a well deck, but I did quite a bit from the fantail of the New Jersey

I’ve seen guys do it but never did it myself.

We did have swim call one time on the Cayuga County, LST 1186. They lowered the stern gate for us.

Sailors caught Tarpon off the fantail of the LST Graham County in Guantanamo Bay and other fish including Barracuda in other areas of the Caribbean in the fall and winter of 1964/65. Marines didn't get access to the fishing equipment.

Why would they be excluded?

Uhhmmm....Kodiak maybe, but I don't think they've done much out on Afognak. The Coast Guard station on Kodiak is the largest IIRC.


Inter(intra?)service rivalry?!

I fished off the USS Paul F. Foster and her RHIB.
I caught a lot of Mackerel on light tackle. I witnessed a guy catch a 40-50lb tuna. Good times.

DMc, Don't recall exactly and it's been about sixty years but the way I heard it was there was a limited amount of fishing gear and the Navy Special Services officer or petty officer always had it either already issued or reserved for ships personnel. No one ever cared enough to make a stink about it. The attitude was this is their boat and they're going to run it the way they want. For the most part we were more interested in getting ready for the next port and getting off the boat than catching fish.

Jarheads tend to break stuff.

Did not know what the name of fish we were catching, didn't feel like experimenting
We just threw them back