Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2018 i Sport Fishing

INSIDE: DOMINE 18 DOLPHINFISH 18 SWORDSPINE SNOOK 19 DEEP IN THE DOMAIN OF THE DOMINE Q In the southern Bahamas, while deep-dropping off Little Inagua, we caught this fish on the bottom in 1,800 feet of water. I figured if anyone would know what it is, SF’s Fish Facts experts would. Pretty cool fish, though its white meat was soft. It had fangs very similar to those of a speckled trout. Capt. Pat Dineen Destin, Florida A Pat, your photos make a final identification a bit tricky, but based on those, it appears to be a domine, Epinnula magistralis. This rarely encountered species is quite similar to the American sackfish, Neoepinnula americana; both are members of the family Gempylidae, the snake mackerels. A primary means to distinguish the two is…

The midmorning sun revealed shadowy profiles of big snook in a wide sandy depression amid grass flats in the shallows of Florida’s Sarasota Bay. “Get ready,” Capt. Mark Liberman whispered as he set the Power-Pole shallow-water anchor to hold the Yellowfin 21 Bay some 50 feet from the school. I cast a suspending twitchbait and then worked it back through the sandy hole. My heart skipped a beat as one fish bolted from the school to chase the lure, but spirits fell when it stopped short and turned away, then disappeared with its schoolmates over the dark grass. A shot at a big snook was just a bonus on this late November day aboard Yellowfin Yachts’ newest model. We’d already enjoyed a fun morning catching seatrout and flounder. BAY RUNNER…

CAROLINA SKIFF DESIGNED its Sea Chaser 26 LX to do it all, the company says, whether that’s fishing, beachcombing or watersports — any adventure a family might desire. While it’s technically a bay boat, it also features sufficient gunwale height for family security. Standard features include twin forward locking rod-storage boxes, locking fiberglass hatches, undergunwale rod storage, coaming pads, a five-gallon-bucket locker and underwater LED lighting. Aft jump seats, with easy bilge access beneath, fold down to enhance the large casting deck, which also features a lighted oval livewell. A 25-gallon livewell resides in the foredeck, and a third, smaller well fits beneath the forward console seat. Notable options include a 6-inch jack plate, electric trim tabs with indicator panel and a nine-gallon freshwater tank with shower nozzle. Top options…

If you could take a week off to fish one place in the world that you’ve always wanted to try, where would it be? I put that question to 10 big names in the world of sport fishing. Most of these guys are all about been-there-done-that, but each ticked off one place he’d not yet fished but wanted very much to try. What follows are their 10 choices. (You’ll note that nine spots are listed since two anglers listed the same place.) A thumbnail look at each spot will give you a bit of information in case the same sort of fishing adventure sounds good to you. But plan on dropping some coin: None come cheap, as the bulleted items for “Cost” reveal. Figuring “$$$” to be under $8,000 for…

SURREALISTIC CAR COMMERCIALS: DRIVER DIALS A KNOB ON HIS DASH AND HIS PICKUP TRUCK PRECISELY AND SKILLFULLY BACKS HIS TRAILERED BOAT. GUY PUSHES A BUTTON AND HIS LUXURY VEHICLE PARALLEL-PARKS ITSELF — HANDS-FREE. That same kind of abracadabra control has come to boats, and it’s beginning to have a significant effect on fishing. Anglers can crank their outboards with the touch of an app button, from halfway down the dock, and once aboard spin away using a light touch on the joystick control. Outboard and steering-system manufacturers have even created a one-push command to employ a virtual anchor so anglers can jig up bait around a buoy or drop rigs to a wreck or reef without constantly jockeying for position with the throttles and wheel. Guys can ask their engines…

The latest fishing report said so, right there in print: The hot lure du jour was a white bucktail. This seemed rather hard to believe. Haven’t bucktails been obsolete for decades? If these specks and stripers would hit a white bucktail, wouldn’t they go after a white plastic shad with just as much enthusiasm? Fast-forward a few days: I’m casting to the points and guts of the marsh islands of Tangier Sound in the Chesapeake Bay, with my go-to plastic on the end of the line. Despite the light breeze, promising current and good reports of late, I’m drawing a blank. Then I remember: white bucktails. BUCKTAIL VOODOO Of course I have a few bucktails in my tackle box — most anglers probably do — so I find one not…

1. WIDE OPEN Furuno has expanded its solid-state Doppler radar to include new open-array configurations. The NXT radar series features pulse compression and Doppler frequencyshift- sensing technologies. Designed for use with TZtouch and TZtouch2 displays, the NXTs come with a target-analyzer feature that changes the color of fast-approaching targets to red. Stationary targets, land or slow-moving vessels show up as green echoes. The arrays are available in 3½-, 4- and 6-foot sizes with 2.3-, 1.9- or 1.4-degree horizontal beam widths. Captains can see targets as close as 30 feet and as far as 72 nautical miles. The array sensors cost $5,400. 2. TOUGH UPGRADE PlayAction Braid Products says it has re-engineered the internal design of the popular Marauder high-speed trolling lures, improving durability. The throughwire process was changed to make…

Did you know that there’s a tiny little gyroscope in your smartphone? Your drone has one too. That gyro enables stable flight for copters and allows your phone screen to rotate. Now, that miniature motion sensor can be found in the newest 3D sonar transducers, enabling stabilized, more realistic bottom returns. “It’s smaller than a pinkie nail,” says Jim McGowan, Raymarine’s marketing manager. “The challenge we have for measuring anything with 3D — whether sound energy or radar — is having a steady reference point to measure from.” BY DEFINITION For Raymarine’s new RealVision 3D and Furuno’s DFF-3D sonar units, both introduced in 2017, and for Garmin’s Panoptix allseeing sonar, which debuted in 2016, that has meant adding a tiny gyro to the transducer. Raymarine calls this an AHRS, or…

You might feel super confident that your fish boat will always remain self- sufficient. So, you ask yourself, should I join an organization that offers on-water towing and other assistance, much as AAA does for motorists? Consider this: The cost of an on-water tow back to port by a commercial provider averages about $700 per incident, according to BoatUS. Compare that to the annual cost of $149 to $179 for an at-sea towing membership and the ramifications become clear. You can pay upfront and go fishing with greater peace of mind, or gamble that you won’t break down. But if you do, be ready to pony up. The farther out you fish, the more it will cost to bring you back. “The meter starts from the time the operator leaves…

I LOVE THOSE RARE WINTER DAYS WHEN EVERYTHING COMES TOGETHER: CALM SEAS, LIGHT WINDS, BRIGHT SUN AND GIANT BLUEFIN TUNA CRASHING SCHOOLS OF CHOPPER BLUEFISH ON THE SURFACE. On just such a bright March day, I was standing on the bow of Wasabi, a classic Carolina charter boat, 40 miles off the coast of Hatteras Island, North Carolina. “Not yet!” Capt. Kenny Koci hollered from the bridge. “Wait for it!” Koci is way over 6 feet tall, bald and bulging with muscles. I felt like I had Sasquatch sitting on my shoulder. “Not yet!” he repeated. The boat slowly moved toward the melee. I held an oversize spinning rod I had armed with an oversize popper. Since we already had a bluefin in the box, I had removed the hooks…

I was first among our crew of six to arrive at the marina in St. Petersburg, Florida, or so I thought. My test boat, the Scout 380 LXF, glimmered in the morning light, with a trio of metallic-gold Yamaha F350 outboards painted to match the dazzling accent color of the epoxy-infused double-stepped hull. “That’s some bling,” I murmured to myself while admiring the boat’s classic lines. Presently, James Pate, Scout’s southeast sales manager, emerged from inside the center console of the 380. “When did you get here?” I asked, slightly startled, as I boarded via the swim platform and transom door in the starboard quarter. “Last night,” Pate answered. “I slept in the cabin. It’s pretty comfortable.” COMFY COMBO That didn’t surprise me at all; Scout has built a reputation…

ON ITS WEBSITE, Everglades touts an effective saying: “Luxury is not an option.” The company’s new 335cc was built to reflect that, from its enhanced bow seating to the lavish fold-down transom bench, the convenient side boarding door and the high-tech Fusion/JL audio system. At the same time, Everglades pays homage to anglers, with a large console and hardtop, bigger built-in coolers and fish-box storage, and a sophisticated bait-prep and tackle-storage area. The pressurized 37-gallon livewell comes with a clear acrylic lid and stainless friction hinges. Other standard features include 30-amp under-gunwale power ports, an outrigger package with 18-foot poles, underwater lights, a fiberglass hardtop, SeaStar Optimus electronic power steering and a hydraulic windshield. Options include a 12-volt air conditioner, an upper station, eight hull colors with hardtop-underside color matching…

LITERALLY A CONTINENT AWAY FROM CAIRNS AND ITS FAMED GREAT BARRIER REEF FISHERY, I DISCOVERED ANOTHER AUSTRALIA, AN AREA OF WELL OVER 100 SMALL ISLANDS OFF THE SOUTHWEST COAST WHERE ANGLERS TRY FOR FISH WITH NAMES LIKE BALDCHIN GROPER, DHUFISH AND SPANGLED EMPEROR. The quality of fishing must be noteworthy for anglers to venture into these islands — and they do — where winds often sweep in with gale-force intensity, where there are no accommodations or facilities of any sort, and where the nearest port is the Western Australia coastal community of Geraldton (roughly between Perth and Exmouth), more than 40 miles across the Indian Ocean. The Abrolhos are in fact unusual in many respects, including their geography, at a confluence of tropical waters from the north and a cooler…

Gusts to 25 knots out of the southwest stacked 2-foot waves atop 3-footers. What should have been a beautiful late fall day was quickly becoming a misery trip as torrents of salt water blew over the bow with the frequency of a punk-rock drumbeat. My wife released her white-knuckle death grip on the console rail just long enough to punch me in the shoulder. She started to yell what surely would’ve been an expletive when she was cut short by a curtain of Chesapeake Bay brine. “Trust me,” I shouted over the wind blast. “Three more minutes of this and we’ll be in the clear.” By “in the clear” I meant that we’d round Point Lookout into the lee, and the wave height would drop by two-thirds. I certainly didn’t…