Salt Water Sportsman October 2023

I took an online boater safety course the other day. New York state will soon require everyone who operates a boat and was born after 1978 to pass one. They’ve been requiring this of younger boaters for years, but up until now I’ve been grandfathered in. I may not be that old, but I’ve been boating my whole life. My dad started teaching me back in the early 1980s. My grandparents lived in Syracuse, New York, and rented a small cottage every summer on a big lake in the Adirondack Mountains. They kept a 17-foot aluminum Starcraft powered by a 75 hp Merc parked at the end of the dock among the lily pads. He’d put me on his lap and let me drive it in the mornings when we’d…

Florida is always hot in the summer months, but beaches have always provided a dependable respite from the cooker, especially on the Atlantic coast. Going forward, gamefish in the shallow waters of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary might have to find their own summer refuge. ¶ On July 24, a temperature sensor in Manatee Bay, north of Key Largo, measured a reading of 101.1 degrees Fahrenheit. In fact, the days of July 23-25 all saw water temperatures reach nearly 100 degrees. The station, monitored and maintained by the National Park Service, is located at the northeast corner of Barnes Sound, east of US 1. ¶ “This data was consistent with high water temps seen across Florida Bay,” says Allyson Gantt, chief of communications and public affairs for the Everglades…

The ongoing effort by marine conservation groups to clean up or phase out Southern California’s commercial set gill-net halibut fishery moved forward this summer when the state’s Fish and Game Commission’s Marine Resources Committee directed the Department of Fish and Wildlife to prioritize recommendations to improve data collection and minimize bycatch. The mandate requires the DFW to be ready with solid recommendations at the November 16, 2023, MRC meeting. ¶ Lending impetus to this directive were two reports, one by Oceana and the Turtle Island Restoration Network, the other by the DFW, both presented at the MRC meeting on July 20, 2023. The reports used existing bycatch data in the set gill-net halibut fishery, but offered differing data points and interpretations of the numbers. ¶ The Oceana-TIRN report found a…

If you’re planning to shop—and possibly plunk down hardearned money—for a centerconsole fishing machine this year, here are five features you should not do without on your new pride and joy. 1. ENOUGH POWER Whenever I write a review for a center-console with a nationally advertised price that includes a power package that’s inadequate, I add this advice: Don’t do it! Underpowering a centerconsole is the worst mistake a boat buyer can make. Not only will it struggle to get on plane, but also the helmsman will have a hard time maintaining a safe speed in rough water. You also will get hammered when you trade it in or try to resell it. Go online and find a review of a boat with the engine package you are considering or…

I appreciated Rip Cunningham’s article “Bad News for Bunker” in the August issue. As a fisherman of the Chesapeake Bay, Rappahannock River and Eastern Shore, I have witnessed the Omega menhaden fleet—airplanes and net boats—do a very efficient job of [catching] everything their nets surround. And they have done it for years. Apparently, they don’t care about the baitfish, but it is rarely pointed out that every fish caught inside their nets dies. As a recreational angler, I am limited in how many stripers, red drum, cobia, flounder, trout and bluefish I’m allowed to take. Why are they allowed to kill an unlimited number of them unchecked? ¶ Their netting game is like killing all the animals in a state park just to harvest a few deer. Easy solution: If…

While commonly taken by anglers in some regions, many are unfamiliar with the John Dory (Zeus faber). But the distinct appearance of this strange fish makes it tough to confuse with other species. ¶ There are only a few kinds of dories in the world, by far the most common and important being the John Dory. (And no, I could find no credible attribution for the odd name.) It’s found around the coasts of Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and areas of Europe. John Dory are laterally compressed—in a shape rather like a look-down—with deep bodies and large heads. Generally brownish, a large black “eye spot” at the center of each side is a unique characteristic. ¶ Particularly striking is the mouth, at least when fully extended. Then…