Food for thought......

[Another Grand]

96 boats in the tournament = around 500 baited hooks in the water.

500 = the approximate number of baited hooks on 1 longline set

I know some of you that were in the fleet looked around last night and thought, how is a fish going to swim through this mess to get to me. Imagine if there were 10-20 longline boats fishing in the straights......not subject to the weather like we are, not subject to angler error.

Puts everything in perspective doesnt it?

Anyways, just some food for thought..... We need to realize how great of a resource we have out there.

Johnny

[Beerman]

Yeah and if they are as good as boat #35, none would even be hooked but we had no angler ot tackle issues, but had a few other issues..lmao

[snooknreds2]

I was thinking the same thing

Also I want to find out the total weight of fish that were weighed, along with the sizes of any fish that got called in but did not show up to the scales. the top 5 fish alone were over 1000 lbs combined weight.

100 rec boats = how many lbs
1 LL boat = how many lbs

[mneptune]

Originally Posted by Another Grand

96 boats in the tournament = around 500 baited hooks in the water.

500 = the approximate number of baited hooks on 1 longline set

I know some of you that were in the fleet looked around last night and thought, how is a fish going to swim through this mess to get to me. Imagine if there were 10-20 longline boats fishing in the straights......not subject to the weather like we are, not subject to angler error.

Puts everything in perspective doesnt it?

Anyways, just some food for thought..... We need to realize how great of a resource we have out there.

Johnny

OH BOY, don't even get me started on that issue. Everyone that has read my input on this forum knows how I feel about PLL gear, (not the LL fisherman, just the gear that they use). I would hate to see our area fall under the same bullshit that existed years ago. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that it doesn't revive itself, not for our sake but for the resource itself.

As far as the Tourney, I went to the awards ceremony tonight. From my understanding, and I may be mistaken since numbers are still being tallied, there were 96 boats competing. Of the 96 boats, 60 brought legal fish on the deck. The winning fish weighed in excess of 340+ pounds with a couple of fish that were lost that would have have matched the winning fish.

Drew and his Mrs. put on a great tourney and we all need to give them their dues....

If we would like to see the resource thrive and all of us have the abitlity to paticipate in these great tournaments let us do what is neccessary to keep PLL gear out of all US waters.

[TOPPDAWG]

For Once It Was Good To See Zero Bouys Flashing In The Distance.---i Guess Everyone Traded There Bouy Gear For Rods On This Tourney

[Broadbill-Pro]

As long as you guys keep speculating what PLL destroy, lets consider the fact that of the 60 landed fish in that tournament, about 50 of them will never spawn and the 10 remaining will never spawn again. This is not considering the mortality of an unknown amount of unreported releases.

50 pups X 3,000,000 eggs =

10 slobs X 3,000,000 eggs =


I am not pushing the PLL agenda, but I will not allow you to believe your hands are clean..

[The BEAST]

Originally Posted by Broadbill-Pro

As long as you guys keep speculating what PLL destroy, lets consider the fact that of the 60 landed fish in that tournament, about 50 of them will never spawn and the 10 remaining will never spawn again. This is not considering the mortality of an unknown amount of unreported releases.

50 pups X 3,000,000 eggs =

10 slobs X 3,000,000 eggs =


I am not pushing the PLL agenda, but I will not allow you to believe your hands are clean..

Good Lord Vinnie, give it a rest. You talk as if the PLL only catch males or egg barren females. The biggest difference is that these 60 fish were caught on 1 tournament night that was calm enough for any size rec boat, NOT on only 1 PLL boat (of 13) big enough to fish the rough stuff almost every night.

Let's turn your scenario around now and multiply your math by 13.

50 pups X 3,000,000 eggs X 13 boats = OMG!

10 slobs X 3,000,000 eggs X 13 boats = OMG!

Now throw in the 300+ days a year variable of the PLL boats = INSANITY!!!!

WHO ARE YOU TRYING TO CONVINCE WITH THIS MORONIC COMPARISON?

Obviously yourself!

YES, you are trying to push the PLL agenda, as usual!

[bajakian]

Originally Posted by Broadbill-Pro

As long as you guys keep speculating what PLL destroy, lets consider the fact that of the 60 landed fish in that tournament, about 50 of them will never spawn and the 10 remaining will never spawn again. This is not considering the mortality of an unknown amount of unreported releases.

50 pups X 3,000,000 eggs =

10 slobs X 3,000,000 eggs =


I am not pushing the PLL agenda, but I will not allow you to believe your hands are clean..

I guess I dont get your point.

Is it that every swordfish caught should be released? Is it that there is no minimal sustainable harvest of the resource?

Or maybe that the tournament should encourage releases with a release trophy and minimum kill size similar to blue marlin tournaments?

Or are you saying that recreational anglers are slowly killing off the species and you'd like to help accelerate the process by longlining?

Or are you just trying to make something bad out of an apparently great evening shared by a bunch of recreational fisherman?

Which is it?

[LHPfish]

60 included releases.

[Nick C]

Originally Posted by The BEAST

Good Lord Vinnie, give it a rest. You talk as if the PLL only catch males or egg barren females. The biggest difference is that these 60 fish were caught on 1 tournament night that was calm enough for any size rec boat, NOT on only 1 PLL boat (of 13) big enough to fish the rough stuff almost every night.

Let's turn your scenario around now and multiply your math by 13.

50 pups X 3,000,000 eggs X 13 boats = OMG!

10 slobs X 3,000,000 eggs X 13 boats = OMG!

Now throw in the 300+ days a year variable of the PLL boats = INSANITY!!!!

WHO ARE YOU TRYING TO CONVINCE WITH THIS MORONIC COMPARISON?

Obviously yourself!

YES, you are trying to push the PLL agenda, as usual!

... well put.

[snooknreds2]

for my 420th post.....

I was thinking to use large scale events like this to slowly collect data (no matter how crude it is better than none) of LL Vs. rec

my whole thinking is that the tourney was equivalent to one long line boat. well how much total weight was caught and killed buy the rec tourney Vs. how much weight of a long line boat, theoretically on the same night. Of coarse it would be hard to compare the results but that is why it would be rough data collected over several years.

so if 1 large scale tourney = 1 LL boat hook wise
on an average night who catches more by catch, who has more "mud dart" releases" who has a better "bite to hook up ratio"

it may be the same number of hooks out there but use these large tourney situations to compare the effectiveness/ uneffectivness 600 rec hooks Vs. 600 LL hooks on one night.
Thought??....

[snooknreds2]

I guess it was fitting that i accidentally posted that twice?

[Uncle Buck]

I was thinking along the same lines as Johnny... but the opposite direction.

Approx 500 hooks in the water. 60 fish caught. About half legal to keep. That's only 6% efficiency, and with less than half over 100lb.

Doesn't seem productive to me.

[Broadbill-Pro]

I do not have the time to read thru all the post since my last, I am not against rec or commercial fishing, only making a statement that if you put a hook in the water you share the responsibility of conservation.

There are many members of this forum who accept that responsibility and then there are those who think they are immune to it. Simply put, all of our sh*t stinks, some more than others.

the comparison of that tournament being equal to one LL boat is idiotic, I could give 10 reasons why 500 LL hooks would have only produced a dozen fish. A consistant 5% CPUE on a PLL vessel is unrealistic. My personal recreational CPUE is well over 33% and I probably suck compared to the guys who fish every night.

Jim, As usual you twist the intention of my post. The intention was to remind Johnny that he has blood on his hands as well, not that he is worse than a LL'er.

[CaptKen]

Thank Gawd I feel sooo much better now that both of my 11 year old daughters fish were tagged and realesed . Now if one is caught later noaa may be able to help out a longliner with the info.

[Another Grand]

Vinnie,

You are wrong! I give your opinions much weight and have the utmost respect for you but you are the one that twisted my post to fit into your argument. My post is simply addressing fishing pressure. 500 hooks in the water = 500 hooks in the water whether you like it or not.

You twisted my post my friend....let me ask you where I ever said that I had clean hands. I will be the first to say that I send down every bait and bait every fish that I cant see like it is El Donkey Kong. Fish die unintentionally as a result of fishing, that is inevitable....and it is true for all forms of fishing.

You tell me when there are ever 96 boats rec fishing on a given night right out front. Its not happening man........so yeah you can argue that it may not = the same results as a ll set, sure whatever, no science behind it but go ahead and make the argument.

You are not a rec nor a commercial, that I would have to agree with. I consider you a lobbyist....as your participation on here reflects whether or not there are important decisions being made about the fishery. But regardless of what you are, like I said, I value your opinion when you are being legitimate and basing your arguments on facts, and not mere emotion.

I made a comment, I didnt intend to deface longliners or the gear, just simply wanted to put it into perspective so that people could understand what it would be like if they let the boats back in here. I apologize if you misunderstood and felt that you had to defend your people, but then again like I said, I am beginning to think that is your job.

Please dont twist my words, I apologize if other people's response was too harsh for you.......but it comes with the territory when you get on here and throw out some off the wall comments like you occasion do, and just did. The argument "if they can do, why cant we" is something that you would hear in a sandbox in preschool. It isnt even worth responding to. Please meet with your people and come up with some science and present us with hard facts suggesting the fishery can sustain such fishing and we are all ears. The problem is that you cannot because you know exactly what is going to happen.

Why dont you tell these people how Merrits used to be stacked to ceiling with cores after a single night of fishing back in the day....and then explain how even 200 rec boats fishing on a given night, even 500 for that matter....could compare.

Come on dude I didnt mean for it to be a debate, otherwise I would have posted it in the conservation section......

Johnny

[Another Grand]

In fact, we all have time.....

Give us the ten reasons

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

I am tired of you throwing out arguments and off the wall comments and saying that we dont have facts......lets see your facts. Make due on your word my friend.

I dont take this personal as some do.....I learn from people that know much less than me a great deal of the time. Come on, lets hear you reasons.....enlighten us

[Another Grand]

Double post

[RiskTaker]

Originally Posted by Another Grand

96 boats in the tournament = around 500 baited hooks in the water.

500 = the approximate number of baited hooks on 1 longline set

I know some of you that were in the fleet looked around last night and thought, how is a fish going to swim through this mess to get to me. Imagine if there were 10-20 longline boats fishing in the straights......not subject to the weather like we are, not subject to angler error.

Puts everything in perspective doesnt it?

Anyways, just some food for thought..... We need to realize how great of a resource we have out there.

Johnny

I just read this forum thread and I don't really want to participate in the direction that this thread is presently going but I would like to comment that there is PLL fishing going on in the Straights: it is on the the Cuban side of the EEZ.

I will agree that the total impact on fishing is a function of all the hooks put into the water, commercial and recreational alike, plus any other factors that involve fish kills and/or their removal from the sea.

With this comment, I would like to say that I read a very interesting National Geographic article, about the state of our oceans, while on vacation in Big Pine Key this week past. This is the type of FOOD FOR THOUGHT that I would highly recommend. Please read this Special Report article when you have a chance. I forgot the specific edition but I think it is one of the 2007 issues.

The article may paint a slightly harsh picture on the PLL fleets around the globe. But the end results are what they are. Although, the percentages may vary from who you talk to, but the overwhelming consnesus is in accord that there are too many fishing vessels fishing for too few fish.

We may be temporarily blessed with a resurgance of the swordfish stock in the western Atlantic and along our eastern shores of the USA. But we will seriously have to start considering how to conserve our fish reserves on a Global level of thinking and figure ways to put some enforcement bight in management decisions and get less commercial interest and more recreational and scientific diversity into ICCAT.

One of the Take-a-ways I got out of this article is the need for more global preserves. It seems that New Zealand has blazened the path of awakening and California is starting to follow suit. We recreational fishermen are going to need to start thinking in these terms soon, and start cominng up with some educated proposals in this very controversial issue.

I started to read an article in one of last years (South) Florida Sportfishing magazines about just how livid the Florida Recreational fishermen are exactly against Preserve areas ( as they were previously defined)

This is some real FOOD for thought that I would like to interject for the moment. I will post something better prepared in the future. But this could possibly get us back on track to work collectively, to ensure we preserve sufficient fish "in the bank" for our future generations.

Please read the Special report when you can and perhaps some good discussion may come from it, in our mutual best interests. It is important to focus on these issues and try to work together, and not rip us fishermen apart in divicivness.