The Bottomfisherman's Code Of Ethics

[Catch-All]

The Bottomfisherman's Code Of Ethics

Rule # 1 - "thou shalt not give out any depths or spots online in a public forum"

I myself have been guilty of coming real close to violating the above commandment. But when I realize what I've done, I go back and edit/delete my posts like a labrat hitting the food pellet bar. I also cut off my beer supply for a couple of hours as punishment.

I think most of us deepdroppers and bottomfishermen here agree that if every Tom, Dick and Harry knew where to go for snapper, grouper or tilefish, then the offshore spots we frequent would get overrun with slob fishermen who keep everything. I've seen them, "if it's got scales it comes over the rails." Pretty soon the nice fishery we've all picked at over the years is decimated and there are no fish left for any of us to catch.

When I first started deepdropping, I had friends tell me in person, PM, email or cell (never online) just general stuff like "if you're going for grouper, try this general location using this type of gear and move around & experiment until you find where they are." Or they'd say, "Catch, if you want tilefish, you gotta find the mud. I would start at xxx feet of water and then move outwards 25 feet deeper at a time until you find where they are." I might be a DumbSwede Squarehead but even I knew that was code for "I'll give you a tiny idea where to go and what to use but you gotta take it from there and EARN IT."

THat's why you'll see me posting stuff like, "we went to Tiley Town and got them at xxx feet off Stuart Inlet about xx nautical miles off." At the same time I'm making a joke of it by typing a bunch of x's, I'm also putting the non-hardcore fishermen on notice that they have to earn their deepdropping knowledge just like we all did. I look at it as sort of an initiation thing.

I don't look at it as an elitist attitude. I look at it this way: if you make deepdropping a process where you have to earn & learn your knowledge thru trial, error, experimentation and time on the water, then that person becomes a true deepdropper where they care about the resource and don't overfish a spot (grouper & snapper) or depth (golden tileys). The process culls out the lazy, slob fishermen and they can fish somewhere else. Someplace like Seaworld.

Howzabout we all try to refrain from giving out depth and gps info online and shoot each other the info via PM/email/cell? And if we see someone going out of bounds or getting close, we keep it offline and politely tell them via email/PM/cell?

I'm not perfect. I just went back and edited a few of my posts too. But I'm a realist & admit my mistake and promise to be more careful in future.

Catch

[Fish Dad]

Good post. Totally agree about the GPS #s but do you really think depth gives anyone much of a clue? I did say in my Norfolk Canyon report , 850 feet for golden tiles but the Canyon is 8 miles long by 4-5 miles wide and their is 850 feet certainly at every point along the walls but also many ridges and such from the briney depth. A guy would have a heck of a lot miles to drop on to figure it out. I'll take that number to my grave.

I do worry about folks getting my number while I'm fishing but I guess if they are out there and they see you bail a golden tile, there is not much you can do keep them from getting your number short of sinking their boat.

[Catch-All]

Fish Dad - I see your point about fishing for Tiles at the Canyons. But here in South Florida the Tile fishery is much different. THere are no steep dropoffs where Tiles hang out. Between the first Shelf dropoff and the deep one, it all gradually slopes from 200 to 2000 foot over 18 miles or so.

The tilefish colonies don't move north to south down here so much as they move east to west as the water temps change. Also, as you know they prefer mud/marl and there are distinct bands of it offshore at varying depths.
THat's why mentioning what depth they are in down here will be a dead giveaway to a lazyass slob fisherman where to begin his drops. THen all they have to do is drift far enough and they'll eventually run into a colony and put a hurtin' on it.

As for boats coming by while I'm fishing to save my numbers? I actually don't mind that too much (assuming I'm not anchored!). I reckon they're already out pretty far like I am and they're offshore guys like me too. So they're already putting in the time on the water and earning their knowledge. In comparison, the lazyass slob fisherman sits at home waiting for a well-meaning deepdropper to post online where the fish are and only then does he get off his ass, borrow/steal his neighbor's electric reel and go fishing.

Catch

[Harry Klauber]

The last time I checked, and correct me if I am wrong, if you put a hurt on any tilefish colony you are also breaking the law!! Mighty tight limits on those goldens but I know that we all know that!

[Catch-All]

Harry - that's exactly my point. If we post too much info on here, giving away depths and exact locations, then the lazyass slob fishermen that are out there will go to the local Tiley Town colony and will put a hurtin' on it. Why should we help them out?

Having said that, the Big Picture is that any large-scale overfishing that's been done has been done by the commercial bottomfishing industry, not by us recs. They're 96-97% of the Snowie and Golden Tile fisheries, we're at only 3-4% of the total fishery.


Catch

[Fish Dad]

I gotcha. So it's not a code of ethics for bottom fishing. It's a code of ethics for golden tile out of florida. That's a little different than all bottom fish worldwide.

[Harry Klauber]

Originally Posted by Catch-All

Harry - that's exactly my point. If we post too much info on here, giving away depths and exact locations, then the lazyass slob fishermen that are out there will go to the local Tiley Town colony and will put a hurtin' on it. Why should we help them out?

Having said that, the Big Picture is that any large-scale overfishing that's been done has been done by the commercial bottomfishing industry, not by us recs. They're 96-97% of the Snowie and Golden Tile fisheries, we're at only 3-4% of the total fishery.


Catch

Am I correct in thinking you are referring to the commercial guys as the "lazy ass slob fishermen"? Unless you mean dumb ass recreationals will break the rules and they are the lazy ass slob fishermen the only way to catch any amount of most bottom species is to be commercial - correct? If I am correct that your lazy ass slob fishermen handle is being given to commercial fishermen then I think you owe commercial fishermen an apology. While we don't argue that they take the great majority of any resource they particiapte in their lives are anything but easy and their work is nothing but hard! They might be slobs but they are anything but lazy! I've done it and you choose it strictly because of your love for the sea and fishing, not for the big bucks that everyone thinks you are making.

[Uncle Buck]

No... he's talking about the weekend warrior rec fisherman that deep-drops only a few times per year on numbers he acquired from friends or the internet. 'Lazy' is referring to not putting time into locating fish on his own.

[WhItEoUt 23]

Isn't that what this forum is for to share information with fellow fishermen

[PURPLE FEVER]

Originally Posted by WhItEoUt 23

Isn't that what this forum is for to share information with fellow fishermen

Yes and I think that catching needs to give up his numbers

[catching]

When we hit the MOB the machine started smoking and we lost all the Data Like I said we were just lucky

[Tuna Devil]

Give em up B!tc#.

[catching]

Ok we caught it in 1800 feet while for Swords

[Tuna Devil]

You told me it was by the wave in 1600 next to that patch of weed.

[miamiangler1]

Catch-all is right ... but as catching has said in the other post .. tecnology has come a long way ... guy`s that have there setups with radar can get your numbers while passing by in their boat .. just put the curser on your boat that`s on their screen .. push a button ... BAmmm got your numbers ..Remembered it form when I was at BMC with Shawn ... we passed by some guys(Bahamaian`s) fishing on a shallow reef ... took two sec .. got the numbers and returned few hours later to check out the area!

But Mark , you are right ... took me 2 months running around till I was in the game ....part was a (depth finder that didnt read the bottom) .... part of it was some help from the forum thanks to Poolman , gaitor and of course Catch-all

[Tuna Devil]

Shawn,

Did you feel that?





Geez Willie.

[CaptKen]

I can understand where your comming from, I fished today with a buddy that is an unreal bottom fisherman, He came on my boat with his GPS and made me turn mine off so I wouldn't be tempted, We went on the reef for some nice yellowtails, then moved out to the deep for some vermies,yelloweyes and groupers, He was so secretive he would shut off my depth finder so I couldn't get the depth to go along with some landmarks. He didn't even need the depth finder, He would say drop and we were right on !
Took him years and I can appreciate not wanting to give them up.
Tiles, unreal, could have filled the boat, hit a few and quit. Save some for next time.

[kyle]

Originally Posted by Catch-All

The Bottomfisherman's Code Of Ethics

The offshore spots we frequent would get overrun with slob fishermen who keep everything. I've seen them, "if it's got scales it comes over the rails." Pretty soon the nice fishery we've all picked at over the years is decimated and there are no fish left for any of us to catch.

That person becomes a true deepdropper where they care about the resource and don't overfish a spot (grouper & snapper) or depth (golden tileys).


Catch

Slob fisherman who care about a resource don't throw small tiles back after there already dead in search of a bigger one.

If a true deepdropper cares about his resource you've got a long way to go

[WhItEoUt 23]

Originally Posted by miamiangler1

Catch-all is right ... but as catching has said in the other post .. tecnology has come a long way ... guy`s that have there setups with radar can get your numbers while passing by in their boat .. just put the curser on your boat that`s on their screen .. push a button ... BAmmm got your numbers ..Remembered it form when I was at BMC with Shawn ... we passed by some guys fishing on the reef ... took two sec .. got the numbers and returned few hours later to check out the area!

But Mark , you are right ... took me 2 months running around till I was in the game ....part was a (depth finder that didnt read the bottom) .... part of it was some help from the forum thanks to Poolman , gaitor and of course Catch-all

But it was very nice to have some one point you in the right direction.