Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2021 i Salt Water Sportsman

We put our last issue of the year to bed at the equinox, when the sun crosses below the equator. By the time this issue hits your mailbox we might not be coming home in the dark, but will certainly be getting up before daylight. In response to the change of seasons, resident stripers are on the move in preparation for winter, flounder fishing peaks out and, in the southern reaches, anglers’ thoughts turn from tarpon to sailfish. And the holidays are also upon us, in yet a second year of pandemic living. Before moving forward, glancing back over our shoulder reminds us that, a year ago, we were watching Alaska as the Pebble Mine Project once again threatened the Bristol Bay watershed and one of the world’s greatest remaining…

OK, sure. This isn’t our first rodeo on the subject, and because there is a push for more, we will likely cover it again. For all of us who enjoy sport fishing, it’s important. It is about access to common-property resources. There is a big push to lock up 30 percent of all US waters and lands. In most cases, this will take away historic access to our resources, with the questionable idea that it will benefit all users and resources alike. At least some of that theory has been proven to be incorrect. This effort had a start with California’s Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) in 1999. The MLPA established a network of marine protected areas (MPAs) to preserve marine resources from intrusive human activities. What is “intrusive” might…

Vela 31 Cat Following the success of its 368 Cat, Vela Boatworks is ready to launch a 31-footer that promises a similar experience in a more compact package, with a shallow draft that rivals many bay boats. Vela puts a premium on the ability to take on choppy seas, reach the fishing grounds fast, and provide a smooth ride and a steady fishing platform, so the 31 Cat was designed with seaworthiness, speed, efficiency and stability in mind. The clean layout and ergonomically designed helm with touchscreen controls ensure easy, intuitive use, and the broad, uncluttered cockpit affords plenty of unobstructed fishfighting room. A large, aquarium-style livewell is strategically located in the middle of the transom for easy access, and its forward-facing window affords a simple way to monitor bait…

IT had been one of those days, but in an excellent kind of way. We had three live goggle-eyes splashing right on top beneath a kite, plus four more liveys—two swimming near the surface and a pair in the depths—and we would have been in deep trouble had we bet heavily on the kite baits. That particular day off Miami, Carl Grassi and I went 5 for 7 on sailfish, with the deep lines accounting for four of these fish. A surface flat line produced one fish, while the kite lines went undisturbed. Surface Visions While sailfishing is usually a visual game, what you don’t see just might make a day, especially a slick-calm one. Concentrating exclusively on the surface limits your potential. To ensure success either drifting or slow-trolling,…

THE SLIGHT TWITCH OF MY ROD TIP BARELY REGISTERED AS A BITE. In fact, the word “bite” doesn’t seem accurate. It felt more like the 8-ounce sinker shifted position on the bottom. “The bite is going to be subtle,” Capt. Dave Eng had warned me. Subtle, it turned out, was an understatement. Yet that slight twitch indicated the sucking bite of a sturgeon and the prelude to a struggle. Once hooked, there was nothing subtle about the sturgeon’s resolve. This was a fight, a tractor pull with a dinosaur. It wasn’t a monster, but it was a sturdy fish, a determined fish, a fish that challenged me. We were fishing just south of the Abernathy Bridge on Oregon’s Willamette River, where sturgeon of 6 to 8 feet are always a…

LENGTH: 24'8" BEAM: 8' DRAFT: 13" DEADRISE: 15 degrees FUEL: 70 gal. MAX HP: 400 PRICE: $85,000 w/power XPLOR BOATWORKS: xplorboatworks.com XPLOR BOATWORKS FIRST HUNG ITS PROVERBIAL HAT ON BUILDING TOP-ECHELON FLATS SKIFFS, AND AFTER EARNING A REPUTATION FOR QUALITY CONSTRUCTION AND INNOVATIVE DESIGN, THE COMPANY TOOK ON A GREATER CHALLENGE: BUILD-ING A VERSATILE, HIGH-PERFORMANCE BAY MODEL CAPABLE OF FISHING WHERE ONLY FLATS BOATS VENTURE, YET RUGGED AND SEAWORTHY ENOUGH TO TARGET OFF-SHORE GAME IN ALL BUT THE GNARLIEST CONDITIONS. The Andros X24 accomplished both goals. The cored construction and UltraX fiberglass-infusion technology ensure superior rigidity, strength and light weight; the hull design spells speed and fuel effciency; and the meticulous layout—with ample room for fishing, generous storage for gear, and a lengthy list of fishing features—is clearly the brainchild…

The ongoing battle to bring more water into the Everglades and improve water quality in estuaries on both Florida coasts faces yet another hurdle. Sugar growers recently sued to stop the US Army Corps of Engineers from using a reservoir being built south of Lake Okeechobee for storing and cleaning water. For decades, Lake Okeechobee levels have been manipulated to best serve agricultural interests, keeping levels high during the dry season to the detriment of water-starved marshes and Florida Bay, and flushing lake water to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers during rainy season. Loaded with nutrients from farm and stormwater runoff, such lake-water discharges have seriously impacted the previously thriving estuaries, triggering toxic algae blooms, and resulting in massive seagrass die-offs and fish kills. In 2019, sugar growers sued…

DJ Stilley 9, Louisiana Though a regular at his family’s fish camp in Dulac, Louisiana, DJ went fishing offshore for the first time in July with his dad, uncle and cousin. Fishing Gulf waters south of Cocodrie, he landed this hefty jack crevalle. Amelia Kern 5, New Jersey A SWS reader and avid angler most of her young life, Amelia tallied her first catch at age 4. Last summer, on the tournament circuit in Avalon, New Jersey, she managed to land this 22-inch flounder all by herself. Scarlett Irwin 7, North Carolina Ever since she got her first Barbie rod and tackle box, Scarlett has caught bream behind her family’s home in Round Hill, Virginia. Her first saltwater catch, this 2-pound whiting, came on a coastal trip with her grandfather.…

High-performance casting knots allow the smooth transitioning of long leaders onto and off reel spools, across reel-bail rollers and through rod guides. When casting to tuna, dolphin and billfish, long leaders prevent the main line from contacting fish and possibly parting. The Jersey Kid Ryan DeGraw excels at catching yellowfin and bluefin tuna on topwater poppers. He prefers leaders as long as 10 feet when he expects to tangle with big tuna, particularly bluefins. However, long casts are also essential. Using spin tackle spooled with 65-pound braid and 60-pound wind-on leaders, DeGraw achieves impressive casting distances along with smooth leader and knot passage through his tackle systems by incorporating the PR bobbin knot. Bristol Face-Off I’m a big proponent of the Bristol knot for joining a long leader to a…

Ask Craig Cushman which frequency you should use for your fish finder, and he will answer with an analogy from the audio entertainment world. As director of marketing for Airmar Technology—today’s leading supplier of transducers compatible with nearly all marine electronics brands—Cushman knows whereof he speaks. “When a car playing the stereo loudly approaches from a distance, you first hear the low-frequency bass notes, even with the windows rolled up,” he says. “Though you might not discern the melody or lyrics, the low-frequency bass notes boom through at a distance,” he adds. The same principle applies to fish finders: The lower the frequency—say, 40 to 60 kHz—the greater the depth penetration. Cushman continues the analogy by describing what you hear as the car gets near. “As the car comes closer,…

CLOSE Target a range of species by traveling less than 35 miles into the Gulf. OPEN Even in open water, many fish hang around structure. FOCUS Concentrate your efforts on oil rigs, wrecks and shrimp boats. We left Freeport, Texas, in the late afternoon and headed offshore to a deepwater drilling ship to look for tuna. We arrived after dark, but the rig lights had the surrounding water lit up like the sky on the Fourth of July. Blackfins were busting at the surface, attacking whatever forage was drawn near the structure by the bright lighting and, every once in a while, a big yellowfin tore a hole in the water in unmistakable fashion. ARMED with 8-inch Yo-Zuri Sashimi Bull Metallic poppers on spinning gear, we made slow drifts around the…

IN THE AFTERMATH OF HURRICANE IDA, the Category 4 storm that battered Louisiana’s coast on August 29, the Coast Guard received numerous reports of oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico. The most significant left a trail of crude oil about 11 miles long off Port Fourchon. Texas-based Talos Energy responded to the spill pinpointed in a lease area known as Bay Marchand, even though the Coast Guard confirmed the company’s equipment was not involved. Divers and underwater sonar scans found “several non-Talos-owned subsea pipelines that were likely impacted by Hurricane Ida, including a 12-inch-diameter pipeline that appears to be the source of the release,” the company said in a statement. Talos responders then installed a containment dome over the affected pipe that allows oil to be funneled to a…

When fuel prices rise, boating anglers seek an economic antidote—something to keep our passionate pursuit of fish more affordable. Today’s outboards deliver ever-better fuel effciency, but we can still find ways to stretch our dollars. “I don’t charge for fuel, so it all ends up on me,” says Capt. Chris Trosset of Reel Fly Charters in Key West. Trosset runs a Contender 35 with triple Suzuki 300s. “There are a couple of things we do that help. Really, it’s having a plan, and not overloading the boat in terms of fuel and ice.” Keeping the load light means removing gear that accumulates aboard over time. The remaining gear should be balanced to port and starboard. “Starting with a balanced load allows you to run without relying heavily on the trim…

Rock the Boat Featuring a compact design with anti-fogging display, the MS-RA60 marine stereo from Fusion Entertainment lets you stream music via Bluetooth with the Fusion-Link app, and allows for wireless control with the ARX70 remote or ANT-compatible smartwatch. There’s volume control for two audio zones, with Class D amplification to power up to four speakers, and a built-in tuner to access a wide range of radio stations. $1,099.99; garmin.com Real Time Humminbird’s Mega Live Imaging displays fish onscreen in real time as they move about at ranges of up to 150 feet. The system employs an optional transducer mounted on the shaft of a trolling motor and connects to a compatible Humminbird multifunction display. Mega Live Imaging won the Best Electronics category at the 2021 ICAST fishing-industry trade…

PINPOINT Finding the spot and depth where tuna are holding is step one toward success. PICK Select a lure best suited for the situation. PRESENT Work the plug or jig properly to make the most of its attributes. At the Triple Wrecks, 60 miles off the Jersey coast, the bow of Defiance, Capt. Brian Keating’s 36 Valhalla, was pointed toward total mayhem, an area where hundreds of bluefin tuna frantically trashed and splashed while pounding a baitball on the surface. Engines in neutral, the boat drifted toward the madness. I picked a spot on the outskirts of the feeding frenzy to cast a Savage Gear 3D Mack Stick. One, two, three twitches, then bam! The drag on my reel whined as line started ripping off the spool, and the rod…

LENGTH: 17'4" BEAM: 6'8" DRAFT: 7" FUEL: 22 gal. WEIGHT: 600 lb. MAX HP: 115 PRICE: $57,884 w/Mercury F60 YELLOWFIN: yellowfin.com THOUGH KNOWN FOR ITS PERFORMANCE OFFSHORE FISHING MACHINES, YELLOWFIN IS NO STRANGER TO INSHORE BOATS. FOR SEVERAL YEARS, THE BUILDER’S LINEUP HAS INCLUDED 21-AND 24-FOOT BAY MODELS, AS WELL AS A POPULAR 17-FOOT SKIFF, AND COMPANY PRESIDENT WYLIE NAGLER HAS AMPLE FLATS-SKIFF BUILDING EXPERIENCE ON HIS RÉSUMÉ. With the advent of new materials and construction techniques perfected in larger craft, launching a new and improved flats boat was only a matter of time. Enter the Yellowfin 17 CE (Carbon Elite), built with injected 1005 pure vinylester resin and composites, including proprietary Kevlar fabrics, E-glass and carbon in a quad-axis weave, resulting in a hull 17 percent stronger and 20…