Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2016 i Salt Water Sportsman

An analogy appears in the adage, “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” Substitute “change” for “truth,” and you get the idea. The first time I fished Cabo San Lucas, the striped marlin were customarily abundant, but the local culture lacked stewardship in this tremendous fishery. Several boats in the fleet sported marlin tied across their transoms. Persuasive talking convinced our captain that we didn’t want our fish hauled over the covering boards for photos, the accepted procedure. But old dogs can learn new tricks. In March I revisited Cabo, and the evening before we fished, going over our game plan, the captain and mate made it clear they were un willing to pull billfish out of the water;…

1 Madison Aristy 9, New York Madison enjoys fishing of all kinds, but surf casting is her favorite. Suited in a pair of oversize waders and a dry top, she cast a weighted swimbait into the bay and landed a handful of striped bass. Madison firmly believes in conserving fish populations for anglers everywhere and chooses to always catch-and-release. She looks forward to every spring season in New York where she frequently fishes with her family. 2 Vincent Hauser 6, California Vincent has been fishing with his dad and grandpa since he was a toddler and enjoys every aspect of being a saltwater angler. He fishes the kelp beds with his dad whenever he gets the chance and looks forward to cleaning his catches at the end of the day…

YOUR LIFE MAY JUST DEPEND ON IT. An emergency is not the time to realize you should have replaced your life jackets. Not only are life jackets required by law, they can also save your life. Picking the right kind for you and your family is imperative, but you can’t just get ’em and forget ’em. The middle of an emergency, when you actually need them, is not the time to realize the stitching has rotted, the zippers have seized, or the strap buckles have broken. There comes a time to update or replace your life jackets. According to Tom Dardis the U.S. Coast Guard’s recreational boating safety outreach coordinator, The Coast Guard and Underwriter’s Laboratory are in the process of updating the labeling standards for life jackets. A new…

Troy Bowman, from Bulls Gap, Tennessee, made the catch while fishing with Capt. Chip Michalove of Outcast Sport Fishing 3 miles off Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The pair spent nearly four hours battling the huge shark before finally tagging and releasing it. “We hooked into this big lady at 2:50 p.m., and it took so long to get her to the boat that the anglers on board had to use the lights of their cellphones to illuminate the tagging process,” Michalove says. The charter captain added that they weren’t sure how big the shark was initially, but that after a blistering run, she jumped and was clearly the largest ever caught aboard his boat. “After an insane battle, we got her boat-side and took a DNA clip from a…

1. Tackle Time Capable of holding eight StowAway boxes loaded with lures and terminal tackle, Plano’s new M-Series tackle bags give anglers more choices to ensure a successful day on the water. Available in 3600 and 3700 sizes, the bags incorporate impact-resistant and waterproof bases, and they feature a total of eight zippered pockets and four slip pockets to keep your gear secure but easily accessible. $59.99, $79.99; planomolding.com 2. Light Weight Shimano now makes it easier than ever to cast light lures with a baitcasting reel by adding the first compact size to its popular Curado series. Available in two gear ratios (7.2:1 and 8.2:1) in both rightand left-hand retrieves, the new Curado 70 weighs a mere 6.5 ounces and features a durable Hagane body design along with Shimano’s…

Materials: 1 - sheet 1/2- or 3/4-inch plywood 1 - 8-foot two-by-four 16 - 2-inch screws 4 or 5 - casters with 3/4-inch mounting screws 1. Cut plywood into two matching pieces of 36 by 36 inches or 48 by 48 inches 2. Lay out the hole pattern, allowing enough space to accommodate reels (factor in the handles, which are often sizable on spinning and offshore reels). 3. Clamp the two sheets of plywood together and drill the holes through both with a hole saw. 4. Measure from the bottom of the reels to the end of the rod handles and then subtract 2 inches. 5. Cut four two-by-four risers to this length. 6. Screw the risers to the plywood. 7. Finally, screw the casters to the bottom, one on…

You can’t talk about beam angles without mentioning transducer frequencies; they are related. MATCH THE TRANSDUCER BEAM ANGLE TO THE STYLE OF FISHING Determined to under stand why, my investigations led to the transducer and, more specifically, its beam angle. The Airmar B60 for conventional sonar on my boat offers two frequencies — 50 and 200 kHz — that broadcast on a beam angles of 45 and 12 degrees, respectively. The narrow, 200 kHz mode beam angle painted underwater structure and fish in crisp detail. Yet when using 200 kHz off shore, I saw virtually nothing. As I was to learn, that’s because it was like looking through a straw. Fast-moving species, such as tuna, prove difficult to detect on sonar in the first place, but a wider perspective helps.…

1 DISTINCTIVE FLAIR Striper 270 CC Striper’s new 270 Center Console maintains the customary flair, deep freeboard and assertive stance that speak fishing. The one-piece Fibercore hand-laid composite stringer system provides a solid ride with minimal vibration. Two 12-gallon bluepainted aerated livewells, one in each corner of the cockpit, flank standard 34-gallon port and starboard in-floor fish boxes. To the port and starboard of the massive center console, deep in-floor storage keeps gear accessible but out of the way. Optional fold-down bench-style seats to port and starboard seat two and stow up and away along the cockpit’s hull side to create a thigh pad when fighting fish. The helm is protected from the weather by a standard fiberglass T-top with a rocket launcher, spreader lights and outrigger mounting pads. Length:…

CONSERVATION PARTNER BASS PRO SHOPS CHANGING THE RULES TO FIT THE GAME The stock status is determined in relation to the spawning stock biomass target or the “goal posts.” What he saw was an application of personal experience as scientists tried to set biomass targets for species. He recognized that “each generation of fisheries scientists accepts as a baseline the stock size and species composition that occurred at the beginning of their careers and uses this to evaluate changes.” This phenomenon has been happening for a while, and it is more of a human reaction rather that an act of commission. I have been aware of this concern for a number of years because I have been around for a while (some might say too long). It is my feeling…

Live bait is often the key to success, but procuring enough for the day without sacrificing much fishing time can be a challenge. That is, unless you can get baitfish to gather within reach of your cast net or sabiki. Capt. Jay Withers of Port Charlotte, Florida, counts on live pilchards, threadfin herring and pinfish to produce consistent action for his charter clients. Here the guide shares his recipe for the instant chum he uses to draw the bait he needs. The main ingredient is Purina Tropical Fish Starter/Grower Chow, which Withers buys at a feed store in 40-pound bags. The product is also available in 9-pound buckets (approximately $27) and 1½-pound bags (approximately $7) at pet-supply stores and online. He carries a 2-gallon bucket full of the powdered fish…