Innholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2018 i Salt Water Sportsman

The California legislature approved a bill to end commercial drift gill-net fishing and sent it to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature. Senate Bill 1017 phases out the use of mile-long nets that drift in the open ocean, compensates drift gill-net fishermen, and encourages a transition to innovative new fishing gear. Drift gill nets, 50 yards deep and up to a mile long, are nearly invisible and drift freely overnight in the ocean, ensnaring far more marine species than the fish targeted. Approximately half the catch ends up being discarded as unwanted, prohibited or protected species. Recognizing the indiscriminate nature of drift nets, the United Nations banned large-scale drift nets on the high seas 20 years ago. The U.S. prohibits drift nets of any size in the East Coast fisheries,…

New-age sonar systems are akin to live streaming video. Today’s fish finders and imaging sonar units create remarkable pictures of the underwater world. Yet for the most part, you are looking at what has already passed below the boat. Useful? Yes, of course. Anglers have used these systems for decades to find and catch fish. But you are not seeing things as they are, but rather as they were. That brings us to the next big step in fish-finding technology, known generally as live sonar. If a conventional fish finder shows the equivalent of a photograph, live sonar shows us streaming video. Those of us used to seeing sonar returns scrolling across a screen might have a hard time wrapping our minds around the concept of live sonar, but once…

We deployed our spread at dawn, just before reaching the first drop in the continental shelf, and within minutes the shotgun bait got mauled. Capt. Mark “Microwave” Chambers hooked the fish from the bridge of Reel Country and passed the rod to the cockpit, where the crew watched line evaporate from the reel. Chambers maintained course and speed, and one of the flat lines got hit a moment later. We had ourselves a doubleheader. Thanks to Luke Snedaker and Zach Davenport’s fancy footwork, a pair of wahoo, a 40- and a 30-pounder, hit the ice as the sun rose above the horizon. CAROLINA LINEUP Charter boats from the Outer Banks point to May, when the temperature of the water reaches the mid-70s, as the month when wahoo begin congregating in…

Marina Pez Vela offers a full range of services and accommodations for anglers, whether you arrive by boat, 90-minute car shuttle or a short-hop flight from Juan Santamaría International Airport in San Jose. Two- and three-bedroom villas (marinapezvelavillas.com) are available on-site, just steps from the charter docks and even closer to a variety of restaurants and shops on the property. Inshore and offshore charter arrangements are expertly tailored for the kind of fishing you want to do, from roosterfish, snapper and snook, to tuna and billfish, by iFish Quepos (ifishquepos.com), or you can book directly with individual boats: Big Eye II, Black Watch 32 (bigeyecharters.com); CaribSea, 46 Guthrie (caribseasportfishing.com); Pacific Fly, Maverick 43 (mavericksportfish.com); Frenzy, Maverick 43 (frenzysportfishing.com); Tranquilo, 57 Spencer (tranquilocharters.com).…

When it comes to predicting the future, experience is better than any crystal ball. Most times that Mike Griswold can sneak away from running a nice golf course south of Houston, he winds up fishing skinny water around Port Mansfield. During South Texas’ nine summer months, the topwater seatrout bite — his favorite — usually shuts down by midmorning. It doesn’t take long for direct sunlight to heat up water that, outside the Intracoastal Waterway, averages barely 2 feet deep for miles and miles in all directions. To beat that heat, Mike does a lot of his fishing at dawn, dusk and through long chunks of night. “I’ll ease out around 3 (a.m.),” said Mike, who skippers a boat that’ll get up and run in literal inches of water, “and…

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) recently made snook and redfish catch-and-release-only fisheries in areas severely impacted by the worst red tide bloom on Florida’s Gulf coast in years. The temporary measures apply to state waters from the northernmost point of Anna Maria Island in Manatee County to Gordon Pass in Collier County until May 10, 2019. Meanwhile, fishing regulations outside of those Florida counties remain unchanged. “We’ve seen the devastation to the snook and redfish populations in southwest Florida, and we support the catch-and-release initiative taken by the FWC,” says Brian Gorski, executive director of Coastal Conservation Association Florida, the organization that recently partnered with the FWC and Mote Marine Laboratory to tackle losses to southwest Florida’s snook population due to the red tide. The collaborating groups…

YOUR CATCH To send in your catch photo, email us at catches@saltwatersportsman.com. Got a piece of good news to share? Want to gripe? Like to see your thoughts on the pages of Salt Water Sportsman? Send your letters, manuscripts and any relevant comments to editor@saltwatersportsman.com or via U.S. mail: SWS Editor, 460 N. Orlando Ave., Suite 200, Winter Park, FL 32789. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcomed but will not be acknowledged or returned unless accompanied by an SASE. We are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. CUSTOMER SERVICE AND SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES: saltwatersportsman.com/cs or 800-759-2127. Outside the United States: 800-979-6828; Back Issues: 800-464-2819; Bulk Reprints: 877-652-5295, ext. 117.…

SeaVee has a new 32-foot center-console featuring an innovative cross-ventilated, twin stepped hull designed with offshore racing technology, using multiple lifting bodies and precise weight distribution to ensure the optimum angle of attack and maximum hull lift with minimum resistance, regardless of speed or sea conditions. The 322Z achieves the highest performance possible without dangerous bow rise or dipping. It’s also more efficient and stable at any speed, boasting precise handling and tracking. Anglers appreciate the large, insulated fish boxes forward, the optional box aft, and twin 40-gallon transom livewells with a pump system that eliminates aeration problems common in stepped-hull boats. The cockpit in the new Z model is the largest of any boat in its size, and the 322 offers several seating configurations, along with an oversize hardtop,…

Furuno offers a version of live sonar for recreational fishing in its DFF-3D system, but this function differs significantly from the Garmin Live-Scope and Lowrance LiveSight. The cross-section real-time sonar — one of many functions in the system — sweeps side to side rather than fore and aft, and it operates at 165 kHz for a range of 400 to 500 feet. Networked with Furuno’s NavNet TZtouch and TZtouch2 MFDs, the DFF-3D transducer sweeps 120 degrees in 3-degree increments with an 11-degree fore-and-aft beam width. A rate and motion sensor compensates for boat movements to stabilize the image. The cross-section real-time sonar function is designed for finding fish directly below and on both sides of the boat. Furuno’s DFF-3D, including transducer and black-box module, sells for $1,695.…

America’s most popular and longest-running educational seminar series on saltwater fishing enters its 32nd year in 2019. Opening in Wilmington, North Carolina, on January 5, and concluding in Port St. Lucie, Florida, on March 2, the tour visits Mobile, Alabama (January 12); Islamorada, Florida Keys (January 19); Providence, Rhode Island (January 26); Tampa, Florida (February 2); Atlantic City, New Jersey (February 9); and Anne Arundel County, Maryland (February 23). What It’s All About George Poveromo, host of George Poveromo’s World of Saltwater Fishing on NBC Sports and contributing editor for Salt Water Sportsman magazine, will headline the 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. seminars. He’ll be joined at each location by teams of top national and regional pros. Their objective: Cover in explicit detail the how-tos and where-tos of catching the…

ANCIENT RIVERS CARVED DEEP CANYONS INTO THE ABYSSAL PLAIN 10,000 YEARS AGO, WHEN EARTH’S WATER WAS TRAPPED IN MASSIVE GLACIERS, LEAVING SEA LEVEL 400 FEET LOWER THAN IT IS TODAY. Now those Ice Age river courses lie submerged as subaquatic canyons and seamounts. Where giant sloths and beavers once played, marlin, tuna, wahoo and dolphin have taken over. Offshore canyons bring pelagic species closer to shore, where anglers with the right strategy stand to score big. Bottom Up Lurking in the cold, dark water at the bottom of the continental shelf, huge grouper and tilefish, strange-looking barrel fish, and blackbelly rosefish haunt the steep cliffs and seamounts. Capt. Joe DelCampo has made a study of targeting deepwater bottomfish. In his years fishing Norfolk Canyon off Virginia Beach, he has covered…

Wellcraft’s new flagship, the 352F, is designed for the demands of big-game angling and built for the offshore realm. Its long list of fishing amenities includes massive in-floor storage, twin 80-gallon, macerated fish boxes, racks for 11 rods on the gunwales, 11 flush-mounted rod holders, a deluxe T-top with six vertical rod tubes plus two angled kingfish-style, 35-gallon aquarium-style livewell, smaller transom livewell with clear lid, bait-rigging station with sink and faucet, and a tackle storage center. The 35-footer also offers myriad comforts, like oversize bow seats/lounges with removable backrests and storage and an Orca cooler underneath, a forward console seat with built-in cooler, triple helm bolster seats, foldaway aft bench and jump seat, transom and portside doors, through-stem anchor roller with windlass, coaming pads, drink holders and USB ports…

A SERRATED HICKORY BRANCH. A RADIUS BONE WRAPPED IN 20-GRIT SANDPAPER. EVEN WITH GLOVES ON, THE TEXTURE OF THE SAILFISH BILL CAME THROUGH AS IF THE POLYESTER AND RUBBER WEREN’T THERE. First mate Marco Solano allowed the anglers on Frenzy this opportunity, a rarity for most charter operations. No one passed. I gripped the bill with both hands, breath running short from hanging over the gunwale. The feral strength of the 110-pound Pacific sail was palpable. Upon release, the dark blue and gold on its flanks disappeared first, the silver on its head the last thing visible. Then it was over. And then it started all over again. Yes, there is a high season (January through May) and a low season (June through October), but Quepos, Costa Rica, offers great…

TEST CONDITIONS WEATHER Partly cloudy LOCATION Charleston, South Carolina WIND South 20-plus knots SEA STATE Harbor chop/ocean, 3 to 5 feet TEST LOAD Two adults, 200 gallons fuel, 30 gallons water POWER CATAMARANS MAKE UP ONLY A FRACTION OF THE OUTBOARD FISHING-BOAT MARKET, BUT THE INCREASING POPULARITY OF WORLD CAT’S RECENT MODELS IS SUCCESSFULLY BRINGING THEM INTO THE MAINSTREAM. On the heels of last year’s introduction of the 280CC-X comes the builder’s latest broadside, the 296DC, a smartly designed dual-console model with the features to serve as both a great family boat and well-equipped fishing platform. The 296DC is based on a cutting-edge twin-hull design introduced in 2015, but with a new look courtesy of the molded-in accent lines and racier sheer. The fiberglass stringer system is bonded and glassed…

TEST CONDITIONS WEATHER Sunny LOCATION Lake Worth, Florida WIND Northeast 7 knots SEA STATE 1- to 2-foot chop TEST LOAD Two adults, one child, 65 gallons of fuel COBIA, A LEADING BRAND UNDER THE UMBRELLA OF THE MAVERICK BOAT GROUP, RECENTLY ADDED ANOTHER WINNER TO ITS LINE OF POPULAR CENTER-CONSOLES, THE 240 CC, A MODEL DESIGNED FOR THOSE INTENT ON CHASING GAME FISH WHEREVER THEY MAY ROAM. A real double-threat boat, this 24-footer boasts a 17-inch draft that enables anglers to venture into shallow bays, while the deep-V and 21.5-degree deadrise on the proven Cobia hull help it conquer a moderate chop and treat the skipper and crew to a comfortable run to and from their favorite offshore fishing grounds. Construction is 100 percent composite for maximum rigidity and minimum…