Ron@.38 Special

OK, here's the update on the NMFS meeting held Oct 3 in Ft. Lauderdale. NMFS Proposals: 1. Combine the HMS management pland with the Billfish managment plan.Currently we enjoy a separate plan for each giving billfish the attention they deserve. Most groups, The billfish foundation, RFA, IGFA, are opposed to comining the plans. 2.Mandatory circle hooks for natural baits in billfish tournaments. Not a lot of concern here. 3. Proposed no take of white marlin by end of 2006. No such a bad idea, but rec anglers are not the problem with the decline in white marlin. Stop the longlines in the breeding areas and this one will take care of itself. 4.250 marlin cap and a way to enforce it. Not so bad here, again its longlines not recs that cause the problem. 5. Definition of Bouy Gear. Bouy gear is a way to let the commercials exploit the swordfish in the protected nursery zone closed to longlines. Bouys are fished with one bouy and 2 hooks attached. They are drifted all night, and the swords collected as the sun rises. The plan allow 35 bouys for each commercial boat. We oppose this as no more than 10 bouys can be maintained in a way which limits impact on juvenile swordfish mortality. To our British friends. We have the Southeast Swordfish CLub down here which is arguably a group of the best swordfishermen in the area. We meet regularly to discuss regulations, fishing techniques, cathes, etc. We also spearhead the recreational stake in any new regulations proposed by our governing agencies. Like an earlier post, weather is bad, 8' seas, 20 knot winds, and a tropical depression to our South. We'll be watching the depression to see how it affects next week fishing. If the depression doesn't affect us, calm weather should prevail by mid week. Then we will be swordfishing again! As for the few posts yesterday, do you guys over there realize how many wet tee shirt contests, and Bikini contests go on on an average Saturday?

OK, so while the debate continues on us killing swords over here, a report from last nights fishing may shed some light on the quantitiy of swords off our coast here in Florida. Last nights trips by most boats was very short since a front moved thru and changed conditions from flat calm in the Gulf Stream to 6 foot seas in about 15 minutes. Most boats only fished a couple of hours but that was all that was needed last night. Most boats hooked up putting their first baits in the water. I was reports from about 6 boats and everyone had at least 1 swordfish. Several boats had multiple hookups and at least one boat had three fish and back at the dock in about 2 hours of fishing. This is what US style conservation can do for a fishery like the swordfish. We conserve, we release, we used areas closed to longlining to proptect the juvenile fish. We are all required to have a Highly Migratory Species permit from the government and we are required to report our catch with 48 hours to a Marine Fisheries hotline. We get a call back to get info like when, where, what bait, kind of hook, and fisht time. Then we are given a confirmation number to verify that we have reported our fish. The report system is mainly to comply with ICCAT reporting requirements. So last night was a great swording night off Florida but would have been better if the weather had not chased the fleet back into port early. In contrast, Thurs night had fewer boats, but most boats caught at least three fish. (That does not mean they kept the three fish!)

And the bite keeps going off. By the reports I have, I know of at least 16 swordfish boated in the last 36 hours off the coast of Florida. One boat I know of had 4 fish between 100 and 250 lbs in just three hours of fishing. Another had three fish in the saqme period and same size. Some were killed, some released. At any rate, if you want to catch a sword, find a cheap flight to Florida and hop on one of the charters that specialize in swords, and odds are very good you will pop your sword cherry!

BTW, you guys seem to have a very good forum going on here. Our two best fishing forums in the Southern US are www.floridasportsman.com and www.floridaswordfishing.com

While I know we stole you language, I'm not sure I understand the post above. Are you saying we cannot fight a fish with 38# of drag? On my boat we fight most large fish in the chair. The chair gives a better leverage, and you certainly can put 38+ #'s of drag on a fish. The particular fish I was talking about was fought at the max drag setting for the full two hours. When we got home, we scaled the drag with an accurate scale and it measured the full 38 pounds with a full spool of line and the reel cool. Hot reel will change that setting, and a less full spool during the fight would result in as much as 50% higher drag setting or more during the fight. Quite honestly I catch too many fish to lie about my catches or anything else related to my rig. The South Florida area knows of my skills and they are regularly tested out on the old swordy grounds. For you UK guys interested in this fishery, we catch them every month of the year with no real agreement on when to get the big ones vs smaller fish except the fact that many more smaller fish are around in the calm summer months. But, every month of the year produces a few slobs on the scales. Two weeks ago we had a three night run where many boats were fighting 3 or more swords a night, and doubles and triples do happen. Wed last week we caught three fish in a two hour period and were back at the dock less than 4 hours after we first sailed. (No we did not kill all three fish). Most of us do practice catch and release but we also usually keep a fish for the BBQ grill. From our local perspective, its hard to beleive that we need to release all of our fish when we had several boats with double digit catches last week. If you want to catch a broadbill, book a charter when you're headed to South Florida and you probably have a better chance at catching one than anywhere else in the world. I admit that most of our fish are under 150 lbs, but a 150 will whip your butt! And you could be the next angler with a monster. If you choose to release it, my hat is off to you. If you choose to keep it, enjoy the fish. Also, don't be so sure you don't have them in your backyard. Fish the techniques that are posted on the swordfishcentral forum and they should work anywhere in the world. Swordfish population is the healthiest of any large apex predator in the Ocean. Respect them, but enjoy them. (Probably more swordfish in the Ocean than all billfish combined)

I'm all for conservation, but the Greenpeace Ship Artic Star, should learn a bit about environmentally compatible vessel operation. Today as I write this, that ship is anchored off Ft. Lauderdale Florida, US with it's anchor snuggley place in the middle of a live coral reef! Wish I had time to put a diver in the water for pics.

OK, I'll try again to respond to some of the info in this thread. First, Swordfishing has always been a traditional commercial fishery. These are not billfish, they are quite different in many ways. Swordfish produce many more eggs in a season than any billfish and as such are able to commercially exploited in ways that billfsih could never be. Its great to see that your group is committed to C & R and most US anglers are also. In fact, we are limited to 250 marlin kills per year and that includes a traditional handline fishery for food in the Puerto Rico area where most of the recreational take comes from. We agreed to that limit to get concessions at ICCAT from other countries to promote catch and release of billfish which are bycatch of the longline industry. Longlines are where most of the North Atlantic kill comes from. South Florida anglers fought for and ultimately won a closure of the Straits of Florida to all longline fishing. This has helped not only thw swordfish population but more importantly the billfishery. We release 99% of all sailfish, and marlin. We will soon be restricted to circle hooks only in the billfishery, and will be prohibited from killing any white marlin. We are the most proactive country in the world when it comes to protecting billfish. No other member country of ICCAT has promoted billfish preservation like the US. We lead at ICCAT, and the entire world. Most third world fisheries for recreational anglers in this hemisphere were changed to a catch an release fishery for billfish by US lead and commitment. No other country has stepped up to the plate like th US has in this arena. Our swordfish population in the North Atlantic is at somewhere between 90 and 110% of MSY meaning we are at a population level which can support the current effort and catch of swordfish. Compare that to 19% for white marlin, and maybe 35% for blue marlin. BYW, the low numbers for marlin are due soley to bycatch by the commercial longline fleet while fishing for swords or tuna. It is estimated that the recreational fishery wil take something like 50 tons of the allowable 2000 tons of swordfish allocated to the US fleet. We are something like 27% stakeholders in the North Atlatic Swordfishery compared to Spain and Japan as largest stake holders. Our recreational swordfishery selectively takes the medium fish leaving the smaller fish to grow and reproduce, and the larger breeders mostly get away from rod and reel anglers. We are a very environmentally friendly fishery compared to most. We also have a commercial handgear fishery in this area which also takes a small percentage of the US catch. As for releasing a 500# fish: Most rod and reel caught swords over about 300#'s fight until death. We have fought a 322#er for over 9 hours one night last year and that fish could not have been released sicne if came to the boat dead after a great battle. These fish pull hard in this hot water but die quickly when they deplete their oxygen levels. In most cases, release of large swords is not an option. That may be different in colder waters but it doesn't work here. As far as posts here suggesting that the fish could have bee restrained in less time, we fought a 275#er two day ago with 38#'s of drag and it still pulled for nearly two hours. I agree that 350#'s of steaks from a 500# fish is a lot of fish, but I understand that it was spread around between several anglers. Still a lot of fish, but not wasted. Please look at this fishery for what it is, and respect the right of a recreational angler to kill a swordfish while the foreign longline fleet takes over 14,000 metric tons of fish annually from the North Atlantic.