Swordfish Club Meeting JULY 15th

[NightCrawler]

good points TC.
I'll tell you one thing, if I spent thousands $$$ on a gear permit and a product lic and now some mexican king fisherman could pick up a GC
permit for 50 bucks and start selling Swordies I would be pissed!!

[bajakian]

Originally Posted by Tunachaser

I agree with Burt on this one. I think most of this hype is BS scare tactics - very similar to the "Remember the 70's Don't Let It Happen Again" deal a few years back that most of us ate up hook line and sinker. I don't think this is as big of an issue as some are making it out to be.
In order to get the Gen Category permit, the rec guys would have to re-register their boats as commercial, change their insurance, etc, etc, etc and I honestly don't believe that most will go through that process/expense. There will be a few, but most will quickly find that it's a ton of work for very little money.
As far as guys coming down from the NE or coming in from other areas, I don't see that as being a cost effective move, from a business stand point. I know some of the local bouy guys and there are a significant number of nights where they are barely able to cover their expenses and some times they aren't even able to do that. They do have really good nights from time to time, but that is the exception more than the rule.
As far as this "crowding" teh 50 line. . . The 50 line is much less crowded now than I have seen it in the last 4-5 years, especially at night. I've been out on weekend nights recently with very few boats around, where just a couple of years ago we would have a hard time trying to find a clear spot to set up on a weekend night (sometimes even during the week).
I think that the Gen Cat Permit might help us get a bit closer to the quota, as I do believe that some of the local commercial king/snapper guys will get in on the action, but I honestly don't believe that this will "flood the market with swordfish" nor do I believe that this will "flood" the 50 line with a bunch of new folks trying to make a buck off of Swordfishing. I honestly believe that most who try to "make a living" off of Swordfishing will quickly find that it is a lot of hard work for very little money and just covering your expenses on a nightly basis can be difficult. Just my .02

I agree TC. Wish I could be at this meeting but I will be out of town.

[CaptKen]

Originally Posted by Tunachaser

I agree with Burt on this one. I think most of this hype is BS scare tactics - very similar to the "Remember the 70's Don't Let It Happen Again" deal a few years back that most of us ate up hook line and sinker. I don't think this is as big of an issue as some are making it out to be.
In order to get the Gen Category permit, the rec guys would have to re-register their boats as commercial, change their insurance, etc, etc, etc and I honestly don't believe that most will go through that process/expense. There will be a few, but most will quickly find that it's a ton of work for very little money.
As far as guys coming down from the NE or coming in from other areas, I don't see that as being a cost effective move, from a business stand point. I know some of the local bouy guys and there are a significant number of nights where they are barely able to cover their expenses and some times they aren't even able to do that. They do have really good nights from time to time, but that is the exception more than the rule.
As far as this "crowding" teh 50 line. . . The 50 line is much less crowded now than I have seen it in the last 4-5 years, especially at night. I've been out on weekend nights recently with very few boats around, where just a couple of years ago we would have a hard time trying to find a clear spot to set up on a weekend night (sometimes even during the week).
I think that the Gen Cat Permit might help us get a bit closer to the quota, as I do believe that some of the local commercial king/snapper guys will get in on the action, but I honestly don't believe that this will "flood the market with swordfish" nor do I believe that this will "flood" the 50 line with a bunch of new folks trying to make a buck off of Swordfishing. I honestly believe that most who try to "make a living" off of Swordfishing will quickly find that it is a lot of hard work for very little money and just covering your expenses on a nightly basis can be difficult. Just my .02

Very well said !
They all want you to feel sorry for them on the 15, 20 or 30 grand that some dropped on the liscense, Remember this, when they were first issued they were $100.00, bad busniess desisions are made every day, Would you buy a job for 20 grand ? some bought up 5 liscenes hoping they would reach a 100 grand, The smart ones rent the liscense.

[Tunacious92]

This wouldn't be bad, this would be real bad. Ofcourse this will change the mindset of Rec fisherman; history proves this. I distinctly remember when these so called Rec guys (who now own Com. Permits) were hardcore against Longliners. Commercial is Commercial no matter how you look at it. Why did there mindset change? Because they realized that with a couple nice fish i can make a couple thousand dollars in a day or night.

And yes, the Com. daytime guys are better than the avg Rec guy...obviously. BUT, the gap is narrowing and it will continue to do so because everybody has a big mouth. There are no more secrets, or atleast not many, especially compared to a year or so ago.

As for the overcrowding issue, I was out yesterday(mind you a wednesday). I had my radar on 3 mile range, 14 boats! This isn't night fishing where boats are scattered at different depths. Everybody fishes the exact same "holes". That number will increase drastically which will only cause more safety issues as well as the amount of braid and weights tangled on the bottom

The fact that Rec fisherman now are going through the trouble and danger of selling fish thru someone elses permit proves that it is enticing and has an impact on the mindset of these types of people. There used to be a clear line separating a "sporty" and those other guys everybody wants to talk badly about(commercial guys); not so much anymore.


And to the point that there are alot of people doing it already illegally so lets just legalize it so they aren't breaking the law and we get to keep some quota while we are at it. I guess we should just legalize the buying,selling, and use of drugs too. Great idea, lets bail out the people breaking the law so we fill our quota by one more percent. Lets make drugs legal to save the cops time and taxpayers money? hope that analogy helps!


Nobody will agree with me on this, but if the quota is the big issue, they should right what they did to the longliners years ago. They got screwed hard and are still getting screwed to this day. We are not filling our quota because most of the longliners are gone. Why should they have to bend over backwards with gov't tracking devices, bringing observers, safety b.s, turtle seminars, etc etc etc. This is there livelyhood and has been for years. Yet we want to let joe blow have the same priveleges they do for under 100 bucks???

[Ron.38 Special]

I am purposely not posting any further comments,

But, I'll bet I have some at the Club meeting.

Ron

[weekendbender]

When I first heard about this at the big sword club meeting at IGFA a few months back I admit I was interested. But as a rec guy who loves fishing and does pretty well with the swordies, I have no desire to sell my fish, re reg. my boat, lose out on sea tow and change my unending passion for swording into an occupation. I bet a lot of rec guys will agree with me on that. The rec guys that will go through the process to gain the permit, spend the money etc will realize very quickly that it is a losing proposition for themselves. And the number of them that can actually pull it off and make money at it will be less than a handful. The rec guys thinking about this will be at a huge disadvantage when you think about the time they spend on the water fishing, gear, ice, rough nights, lack of daily knowledge compared to the buoy guys, wear and tear on the boat etc. By the third skunked trip they would be out.

I look forward to being at the meeting and hearing more on this topic.