Sport Fishing November - December 2015

Not long ago, someone sent me a link to a video that showed an angry (some might say abusive) deckhand’s tirade against one of his clients out for a day’s fishing. The level of outrage is so over the top that, if I didn’t know better, I could think the angler had casually dropped a $2,000 rod-and-reel over the side. But I did know better. It was all about a banana. The video shows the boat quietly trolling blue water when the deckhand spots a hapless chap innocently eating a banana. The reaction is immediate: The mate launches into the kind of invective that would have a censor cutting words as fast as he could hit the bleeper, and then he grabs the banana from the man’s mouth and tosses…

DURING A HOT SEATROUT bite years ago along an Indian River Lagoon shoreline, I realized I had to start modifying my hard baits. The trout were biting on every cast, favoring dark-green lipless twitchbaits, and many of the specks were swallowing the plugs deep. Gut-hooking a trout destined for the fish box isn’t a problem, but I was fun fishing, and tired of performing time-wasting surgery with needle-nose pliers to safely remove treble hooks. That day I committed to finding alternatives to factory trebles. I don’t fault lure companies for selling lures with two or three trebles — it’s their job to make sure lures hook fish. But do you use your smartphone, computer or even your truck as it was when shipped from the factory? Or do you modify…

(Tetrapturus angustirostris) CHALLENGE OUR EXPERTS (And Win Up to 10,800 Yards of Line!) SEND IN YOUR QUESTION and any relevant photos of your mysterious catch or observation for our experts’ ID and feedback. If we publish your question, and you have a shipping address within the United States or Canada, you’ll win a 3-pound spool of Berkley Pro Spec ocean-blue or fluorescentyellow monofilament (1,000 to 10,800 yards, depending on line strength) or a 1,500-yard spool of Spiderwire Stealth braid up to 100-pound-test! Send questions and images via email to fish facts@ sport fishingmag.com (include your hometown) or via post to Sport Fishing Fish Facts, 460 N. Orlando Ave., Suite 200, Winter Park, FL32789. SPONSORED BY SF FISH FACTS EXPERTS NORTHEAST Mike Fahay, Sandy Hook Marine Lab, New Jersey SOUTHEAST Ray…

INSIDE THE TOUGHEST REELS that anglers rely on for their most strenuous fights are key mechanisms that don’t receive much attention: gears. Fishermen are quick to consider drag settings, bearings, line capacity and even gear ratios, but ignore details such as gear material and gear cut. The toothy, circular components determine how strongly and smoothly a reel turns, especially under strain in drawn-out battles. Lesser gears can feel like a wind-up toy, while superior gearing feels and acts more like a winch. A reel’s price is a strong indicator of what to expect from the gearing, but I wanted to know more. I asked top reel manufacturers about tooth cut, material, longevity and gear size. Some top companies were quick to protect their proprietary manufacturing processes, but others divulged more,…

1. STREAMLINED SAFETY Mustang has introduced two new personal flotation devices for 2016 — one for offshore and one for paddling. The Elite 38 (above), for offshore fishing and boating, blends light weight and durability with the highest buoyancy rating for commercial PFDs (38 pounds). The outer shell is reinforced with thermoplastic polyurethane abrasion patches. The Elite 28K comes with a MOLLE attachment system, commonly used in military applications. The 38 costs $327.63, and the 28K costs $301.42. 2. CUTTING CLOSE Tauten describes its new LineCutter as a highperformance tool that’s purpose-built to reliably cut high-strength braided line up to 250-pound-test. The cutter comes in two versions — the stainless-steel Limited Edition and the nylon Pro Elite. Both are equipped with a carbide cutting blade and a surgical-grade stainless-steel enclosure.…

Famous for its huge seatrout, Florida’s Indian River, near Melbourne Beach, produced this 87-centimeter (34.3-inch) spotted seatrout [A], pending as the all-tackle length record for the species. The existing record is 77 centimeters. Luke Ledbetter of Boaz, Alabama, released the fish after he caught it on live bait. A second pending length record has been submitted by Chris Wheaton of Fullerton, California, for this 102-centimeter (40-inch) California yellowtail [B] taken on a jig off Loreto, on the Baja Peninsula, this past June. The current record is 97 centimeters. The third pending length record, a 107-centimeter (42.1-inch) Atlantic snook [C], struck soft-plastic bait fished near Ubatuba, Brazil, by Maicon Saores of Huntington Beach, California. That edges out the existing record by about a centimeter. From the waters off Tokyo comes a…