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Skishing, a combination of fishing, swimming, and water skiing, was created by Paul Melnyk of Long Island. “It’s actually swim-fishing,” Melnyk says. “But ‘swishing’ just didn’t sound right to me.” Wearing a wetsuit and flippers, Melnyk demonstrates skishing by swimming out into open water. About 100 yards from the shore, intentionally in a riptide and buoyed by his wetsuit, Melnyk casts his line from the crest of a four-foot wave.
Melnyk says skishing is a stealthy way to fish that adds an element of danger to what is normally a peaceful and safe sport. A strong riptide can carry skishers father from the shore than they should go, and the possibility drowning is certainly a reality.
Melnyk discovered skishing by accident when, fishing from a rock, he was pulled into the ocean by a 40-pound fish. Melnyk says at first he was frightened, but he quickly started enjoying the experience. There also is the possibility of catching a big and powerful fish that gives the skisher more of a ride than intended. And there is the possibility of sharks. “I’ve seen fins and been bumped by them,” Melnyk says. “But they don’t mess with me because I show no fear.”
During the demonstration, Melnyk caught a small striped bass, only about eight pounds, that he reeled in and released, but he says he has caught fish up to about 50 pounds. Other unconventional fishing strategies include kayak fishers, who look to catch a ride by catching large fish off the shore of Nantucket, Mass., “noodlers” who dive into rivers and stick their arms into holes they hope are occupied by dog-sized catfish, and fishers who use bows and arrows on the Illinois River to catch Asian carp that jump high out of the water when agitated by the sound of boat engines. Read more
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