How to Prevent Seasickness when Fishing. Do you suffer from sea or motion sickness? I know this feeling very well. I am a keen fisherman who has suffered from seasickness for many years. It has become somewhat of a comical joke among friends who find it amusing. Does this sound familiar to you? You have planned a boating or fishing trip and are excited to hit the water. However, your day on the boat is ruined by seasickness, nausea and dizziness, and body temperature rises. Before you know it, you have forgotten all about the fishing and are clinging to the side of the boat, throwing up overboard.
This article will examine seasickness, medications that can help manage it, measures you can take to minimise it, alternative therapies and much more.
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Seasickness also becomes a mental challenge. For years, I refused to buy a boat or kayak, fearing that I couldn’t use them properly. I avoided fishing trips, anticipating that seasickness might ruin those events. I instead resorted to land-based fishing, avoiding some amazing fishing opportunities. Seasickness cannot be cured, but it can be managed. I have detailed years’ worth of medications and alternative therapies that now allow me to enjoy regular outings on the water without being compromised by motion sickness.
What is seasickness?
What is motion sickness, and why does it affect some people and not others? Motion sickness is caused by a continuous unnatural movement that conflicts with your visual perception. Basically, this unnatural movement has your brain and motion senses conflicted. Your brain senses motion, but your eyes see a still image. This generally causes dizziness, fatigue, and discomfort, leading to nausea and vomiting. People with inner ear imbalances seem much more prone to these symptoms. But the good news is that it can be managed. I have tested and trailed just about every remedy under the sun, and below will detail my success rates with medications, alternative therapies and general prevention.
In my experience, I have suffered the most seasickness when anchored up or when fishing offshore with large swells.
How to prevent Seasickness with medications
Below is a list of suggested medications that we have used to manage seasickness when boating and fishing. The results, price, and buying options vary, so testing and seeing which works best for you is essential. Always consult your doctor before taking any medication and do not use it if you have ever had an allergic reaction to any of the ingredients it is made from or if you suffer from any other medical conditions, take any other medicines, or are pregnant.
- Kwells
- 1300 SEASICK Tablets ( by ET )
- Travel Sickness Gel
- ProCalm
- TravaCalm original
- Avomine
- Meclizine HCI
As with all medications, take some time to read the side effects, consult your health professional about proper usage and risks, and follow the necessary usage guidelines.
Kwells helps prevent seasickness when fishing
Kwells, for me, has been really helpful over the years. Taking 2 Kwells 30 minutes before venturing out to sea has wholly changed my boating experience. I have now had countless trips with kwells without any seasickness. There has only been the very odd occasion where I felt mild nausea. To improve my percentages, I also made sure that I applied the general ways to avoid seasickness, as documented below. I really recommend it to anyone who suffers motion or seasickness.
This is an affordable and easily accessible option that did not cause me to feel drowsy, nausea, or dry mouth.
Escape travel sickness 1300 seasick ETS
Endorsed by Andrew Ettingshausen, the Escape Travel Sickness ETS was created by the team at Nile Compounding Chemist. They have a 1300 hotline and an online order assessment form where you can seek advice and have medication tailored to your symptoms. This has been highly regarded by many in the industry. I used these pills whilst spending a week offshore living on a mothership in New Zealand whilst kayak fishing the remote islands and suffered from no seasickness.
They were easy to order and caused no drowsiness, nausea, or dry mouth, so overall, I have had a very positive experience with them.
Travel Sickness Gel
The Green Dispensary Travel Sickness Gel was developed locally to replace a patch medication previously available in Australia. The Green Dispensary Travel Sickness Gel is fast-acting, easy to use and OK for adults and children. Travel Sickness Gel is readily absorbed through the skin and is supplied in an easy-to-use topical syringe. For quick absorption, apply gel behind the ear. It will start to work in as little as ten minutes and helps to provide 8 to 12 hours of control over the symptoms of motion sickness, including seasickness.
In our experience, this gel has worked well and helped prevent nausea. I often use it whenever fishing offshore. After using this gel, I always suffer from a very dry mouth, but it’s nothing too bad and does help greatly with sea sickness.
It costs $19.99; however, postage was $17.50, which was very steep.
ProCalm helps prevent seasickness when fishing
Your local GP can prescribe ProCalm. You take one tablet daily as required. It is made from Prochlorperazine maleate and can significantly help with seasickness. They have caused no drowsiness, nausea, or dry mouth, so overall, I have had a very positive experience with them. Procalm contains the active ingredient prochlorperazine. Procalm treats nausea, vomiting, and dizziness due to various causes, including migraines and motion sickness.
Travacalm helps prevent seasickness when fishing
I’m talking about the original Travacalm in the white and blue box for this. This is not the case with the other versions, which are more ginger supplements. I have taken Trava Calm Original in exactly the same fashion as Kwells 2 pills 30 minutes before hitting the water. However, Travel Calm didn’t really do anything to help my seasickness. In fact, I can vividly recall the taste of throwing up travel calm on many occasions, which weren’t pleasant. I do know others who have used it and had great success with both motion sickness and drowsiness. So, it might be one for you to test and see how it works for you.
Avomine helps prevent seasickness when fishing
Avomine is a small circular tablet often used by those in the Navy. These are known to make you quite drowsy so you generally take one tablet the night before going out to sea. These can be purchased directly from the chemist without a medical prescription. These are known to be great for seasickness, dizziness and vertigo but are also used for those suffering from high anxiety. I haven’t used these, but I wanted to mention it as I know others who have used them effectively.
Meclizine HCI 25 helps prevent seasickness when fishing
Meclizine HCI 25 is highly rated by many professional fishing operators I work with. Many of the major cruise ships in Australia hand these pills out to travellers who suffer from seasickness during one of the cruises. Several fishing friends use these religiously after an experience on a cruise ship. Their words are there is nothing that provides the same results. The only catch here is that it’s not readily available over the shelf in Australia but can be purchased online, even on eBay.
How to prevent Seasickness with Alternative therapies
There are also some very interesting alternative therapies available for motion sickness. After years of experimenting with them, I’m still unsure just how effective they are.
- Anti Nausea wristbands
- Ginger
Do anti-nausea wristbands help with seasickness?
I was recommended to give these a go by a chemist many years ago after having no success with travel calm. They were called Sea-Band travel sickness kits and sold for about 20 dollars for two wristbands. The science behind these wristbands is to provide medication-free nausea prevention. This is done by applying a small amount of pressure on your wrist’s Nei Kuan acupressure point via a plastic stud in the wristband. I was very sceptical of this concept at first but was very surprised that they somehow managed to work. For many years, I have worn these wrist straps, not knowing exactly how they work but confident that they are actually helping.
Does Ginger help with seasickness?
Another alternative therapy that comes up frequently is using ginger root as a herbal remedy. There is no scientific evidence to show that this works, but many naturopaths and herbal outlets will claim that it has calming properties that help digestion and prevent nausea feelings. These can be taken as pills, powders and drinks. I tried on many occasions taking ginger pills before venturing out and found they did nothing for me other than tasting horrible when being thrown up overboard.
General ways to avoid seasickness
The points below are things that I do for every outing to prevent seasickness when boating and fishing. When I skip one of these steps, I find that I’m much more prone to being seasick.
Preparation is the best way to prevent seasickness
Before preparing for your fishing trip, there are some fundamentals that you must follow to help manage motion sickness.
- Avoid going out in rough, choppy conditions with high winds and high swells. Watch the video below to learn how to predict marine weather conditions. Locally, there are helpful links, such as Meteye, for wind and swell forecasts.
- Develop good eating and drinking habits before going out to sea. Eat and drink lightly the night before, but enough to stay hydrated. Avoid heavy alcohol consumption the night before.
- Rig up your fishing gear before venturing out. The main reason for this is to avoid the need to look down. Looking down makes you lose your perception and encourages nausea. Tying knots and rigs while looking down and bouncing around is just bad news for motion sickness. When I have to do this, I then generally spend the next 5 minutes looking straight at something in the distance to regain my composure. I also dress freely to allow the fresh air to touch my skin, which seems to help immensely.
- Get a good night’s sleep the night before going on a boat. This is a must, as drowsiness accelerates concentration levels, dizziness and seasickness. They collide, and it’s not pleasant when they do. The best remedy is a good night’s rest before going out. This is especially true for those who suffer from inner ear imbalance or headaches.
- Where possible, it should be the driver of the vessel and not the passenger. Have you ever been carsick? Was it when you were the passenger or the driver? In all my experiences and those that I have spoken with on this topic, all agree that it’s generally when you were the passenger. It’s surprising, but the same logic does apply when you’re on a boat. I think for those with motion imbalance, by being the driver, you are gaining some level of control.
- Avoid staring at your sounder or mobile phone for extended periods of time while at sea. This will take your eyes off the horizon, which your eyes use as a point of reference to stay balanced.
- Pick a non-moving object in the distance. It might be a hill, a tree or a building. Keep this as your line of sight. Anytime you feel queasy, stop what you are doing and keep fixated on this line of sigh until the queasiness stops. This stops you from focusing on the constant movement, the root cause of seasickness.
- Invest in a comfortable and breathable life jacket. Overheating or feeling restricted can cause nausea.
Final notes from the author
I hope you enjoyed this article, How to Prevent Seasickness when Fishing. All this advice will be from yours truly, someone who has suffered from seasickness for many years. Boating is a great pass time, so hopefully, you’ll overcome seasickness with practice. For locals, Port Phillip Bay and Western Port are great fishing destinations. Here are some GPS hotspots to get you started. I hope you find this article useful and encourage you to share your feedback and experiences by emailing us at enquiries@fishingmad.com.au
