[rollon]

Originally Posted by frigate chaser

After getting skunked, without even a slashed bait, or a line cut by sharks for the past four months, I have been wondering about the state of the fishery off Dade County. It concerns me because our sets for swordfish have not seen a drought like this, and I am starting to wonder what variables have changed. Adjusting bait depths, glow light placement, drift lines in the gulf stream - starting to go mad. All this gear, strategy, and sonar technology is not being used by longliners in the Caribbean, yet they seem to be catching fair numbers (maybe using 900 hooks off Suriname gives them a better chance). The point is that my theory of a seasonal movement - more or less - may be a possibility. If that is not the case, it worries me that the entire fishery is being overexploited.
Is there anyone on the forum that could possibly point to some data indicating that this is not the case? It seems to me that swordfish are heavily harvested in many areas of the Western Atlantic such as Georges Bank and the Hatteras area. Anectodal reports indicate that some large size swordfish have been harvested in these places in the last few years, which would make me guess that the average size of landed swords has not been skewed downwards due to intense fishing. Does anybody know if the swordfishing off of Cuba has contributed to the decline (is anbody monitoring the quota)? Or maybe I am just a damn poor fisherman?

its not you bro - its the commercial fishermen fishing them to the brink again - happens when they can make a buck or 2.
R