The importance of current

A couple days ago I went fishing with a light-tackle guide in southwest Florida's Estero Bay near Fort Myers.  It was the only day that both of us were free, and the blustery weather of the previous few days had calmed down to manageable proportions.  It was foggy when we set out, but the vaporous skies were pretty much irrelevant because we weren't planning to sight-fish anyway.  The idea was to target shorelines, channels, sandy troughs, and oyster bars with live shrimp, pilchards (white bait, on the west coast), and threadfin herring.  The only caveat was that tide charts showed only a very slight variation -- a matter of a few inches -- between the high and low that day -- "a one-tide day", as the guide put it.   

That one-tide day proceeded to wreck our fishing.  It didn't matter what location we chose -- moving water was nowhere to be found.  For most of the day, all we managed to catch was a very small snook, a couple ladyfish, and about a half-dozen catfish. Not even a jack, which as we all know, is really weird.

Finally in late afternoon, we stopped at a dock near Fort Myers Beach where you could actually detect minute ripples wrapping around the pilings.  Eureka!  Current, at last!  Casting threadfins underneath a large yacht, we got cut off probably a half-dozen times -- most likely by big snook.

When the tide began to slow, the monstrous snook refused to abuse us anymore so we went to a small mangrove island with a trace of tide sweeping through the sandy trough surrounding it.  Here, I actually caught and released a slot-sized snook.

And that was it for the day.  No more runs, hits, nor errors.

It's true what they say on television that the best day to go fishing is any day you can.  So keeping that in mind, you can  at least learn something from not catching any fish.

Really huge wahoo.......story by Tony Albelo

New

Bahamas

Tournament Record Wahoo

January 20, 2008, West End,

Grand Bahama

,

Bahamas

– “Karma.”  That was the word of the week at the second installment of the Bahamas Wahoo Challenge at

Old

Bahama

Bay

. It seems that this tournament is susceptible to karma… good karma in particular.  See, last year the tournament committee needed a ride to

West End

due to a boat issue.  They also needed a boat to help transport all the t-shirts and bags over.  “Nothin’s Wild” volunteered to shuttle the committee to

West End

and “Wake Up Call” agreed to transport the shirts. What were the results?  Well, “Nothin’s Wild” weighed in a 95-pound behemoth and won the tournament plus $48,000 dollars and “Wake Up Call” took home second place and $18,000.  There is that good karma we are talking about.  But that was last year.

This year, karma reared its beautiful head once again.  On day one, the team “Triple Chief” was headed for the docks with some nice fish when – silence hit them.  Their motors shut off and they realized that their sled was out of fuel.  The call for help was received at the docks while the weigh-ins were in full swing.  “Zephyros” heard the call and volunteered to take the stranded team some fuel and help their fellow anglers.  This deed would not go unpaid.  The teams that did make it to the docks on time weighed in some impressive fish including a 52, 57, and 60 pounders by “Savanna Lynn.”  This was good enough for them to take the lead after day one.  Right on their tail was “Ocean Alley” followed by “Knot Guilty.” 

Day two saw brisk winds and choppy seas, but the teams would not be deterred by the conditions.  All the teams headed out for a difficult day of fishing.  Slowly, but surely, the teams returned to the docks; each one of them a little earlier than they hoped.  Although early arrivals usually mark slow fishing, this was not the case.  The teams coming in were weighing some monster wahoo.  First to hit the scales was “Ocean Alley” with a pair of nice fish at 35 and 49 pounds.  This helped propel them into second place. Leg one’s winners “Top Vee” dragged up two giants at 48 and 69 pounds. That’s two tournaments in a row with 69-pound wahoo for the “Top Vee” crew.  But there was quite a rumble down the docks.  Things looked very active over by “Zephyros.” That’s right, the gas-toting heroes from day one had something nice in the boat; something really nice.  When this beast was lifted onto the docks, the crowd gave a collective gasp.  This fish looked as if was missing some sort of Naval markings.  This fish was huge. As it was dragged up to the weigh-station, everyone knew it would be special.  It was heaved onto the scales and it tipped it at 104.75 pounds!  This is the largest wahoo taken in any Bahamian tournament ever!  Just as if were written by a striking screenwriter, the heroes from day one were rewarded with a record-setting fish and $17,000.00.  Although this was the fish of a lifetime, it did not help the team in the “Overall” category.

The Overall Winner was “Savanna Lynn” who kept their first day total of 201.19 pounds with only four fish.  That’s an impressive average of over 50 pounds per fish!  Second place went to “Ocean Alley” with 198.30 pounds; just three pounds shy of first place.  And “Svengali” took home third place with 166.51 pounds.  Overall the tournament paid out over $70,000 in prizes.

The series is led by “Top Vee” with 222.27 pounds and followed by “Savanna Lynn” with 204.03 pounds.  The series champion is tallied by taking the teams heaviest two fish from each event and totaling the six-fish weight. 

Swordfish....we can take more than we think, but should probably stifle ourselves.

Imagine my embarrassment yesterday when I received a phone call from Islamorada daytime swordfish pioneer Vic Gaspeny informing me that my swordfish story that appeared in the Sunday Jan. 6 Miami Herald sports section incorrectly stated the recreational bag limit.  I had written in my article that recreational swordfishers are allowed to take 1 per person up to three per boat.  Vic said he was pretty sure that regulation had been recently changed, and asked me to double-check. 

My embarrassment turned to shock today when I reached NOAA public affairs specialist Monica Allen, who informed me that the bag limit changed as of July 2007 to one fish per person per day, up to a maximum of four per boat for recreational anglers; a maximum of six per boat for charterboats; and a maximum of 15 fish on headboats.

Allen  said that no news release was ever issued announcing the regulations change.  Indeed, when I Googled "swordfish recreational bag limit", all that came up were the old regs.  It wasn't till I searched the hmspermits.gov site that the new rules came up.

I don't know about you, but that seems like an awful lot of swordfish to be taken daily by supposedly recreational anglers.  Too many, it sounds to me.

Yes, yes, I've heard every tired argument about how the U.S. hasn't fulfilled its ICCAT quota since the mid 90s and if we don't catch it, it will go to other countries whose longliners and netters don't follow the same environmentally-responsible practices mandated here, such as circle hooks, live release of marlin and sailfish, etc.

But let's get real.  As Key West captain Kenny Harris put it:  "If not fulfilling the quota means less dead swordfish, then don't fill the quota."

I think we all know what happens in the case of a 28-foot open-fisherman that manages to bring in four 200-pound swordfish.  For one thing, there isn't enough ice or cooler space on board to keep the core in edible condition.  For another thing, do they  really know enough people (friends or enemies) to which to donate all that meat?  Of course not:  most if not all of that fish is being sold illegally.

And, even worse,  these outlaw 28-foot sportfishing guys  are not even contributing to fulfilling the U.S. quota because they are not reporting their landings to NOAA as required.   So, even though the fish is sold for consumption, it has lost most of  its value.   It's still dead; still removed from the gene pool; still counting little toward the economic value of South Florida's booming recreational fishery.

So don't be a bit surprised when the two-boat longlining study in the closed areas of the Straits off St. Augustine and the Charleston Bump concludes next year, and the longliners start clamoring to get back in.  At least they  honestly admit they are commercial fishermen.