Play with others, you essentially need to have a crew who can bucket when needed, steer the ship, fish, look for shipwrecks while sailing and lower the anchor so you don't take holes when fishing.
Unless you're going to do them all, you realistically you need at least 2 people as you want to have someone who can look for shipwrecks while the other person is controlling the ship. I'd suggest a third so you can have someone bucket and repair the ship as you take random holes. After you find the ship, you need to anchor and then start fishing. I'd still suggest 2+ people as lightning can be a cruel mistress. The last issue you will have is getting enough time to get the fish on the line. Make sure you have the correct bait(worms) and then make sure you reel in before other fish bite. Just go for the Blackcloud which is Black/Tan with a white light.
TLDR:
- Get enough supplies to repair/heal from lightning
- Get 2-3 others so you can navigate and fish timely
- Chase the storm and keep a lookout for the birds in the sky signalling a shipwreck
- Fish and pray that lightning doesn't strike while fishing