Sport Fishing June 2019

FINALLY, REAL HELP FOR FORAGE SPECIES MIGHT BE IN THE OFFING VIA NEW, BIPARTISAN LEGISLATION KNOWS AS THE FORAGE FISH CONSERVATION ACT. The old maxim that big things come in small packages could be said of some very small fish. But while herring, sardines, anchovies and shad are individually minuscule, each species as a group packs quite an ecological punch. Put simply, without them, we’re screwed. For a great many coastal predators, certainly including many of our favorite gamefish, these schooling baitfish provide essential forage and serve as vital building blocks in the ocean’s ecological pyramid. That fact would seem to qualify them for intense management scrutiny, yet the truth is something else. Critical forage species have been lost in the shuffle since the nation’s primary law governing ocean fisheries—the…

Off shore trollers can be separated into three categories: those who slow-troll, those who troll fast, and those who troll for wahoo. Comparatively speaking, that’s like driving your vehicle through a lunchtime Chick-fil-A parking lot, driving on an interstate, and driving in the Daytona 500. High-speed trolling for wahoo is faster than ever, in part because of new lures, improved tackle, and faster, maneuverable boats. Anglers also have realized that they really can’t troll too fast for wahoo, which rank among the fastest fish in the ocean. “I usually troll for wahoo at 14 to 17 knots,” says Capt. Cory Burlew (goddesscharters.com) of Deerfield Beach, Florida, who has fished for wahoo for 30 years. “When I first started, we did 8, 9, 10 knots. Thirteen knots was the big number…

To target wahoo out of Southern California, many anglers book trips on multipassenger long-range boats to fish Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. “Most anglers head south on a seven- or eight-day trip or longer to reach the wahoo areas,” says Steve Carson, a Penn and Rapala pro staffer from Carlsbad, California. “In some warmer years, the wahoo have been a little closer. From 2014 through 2016, Oceanside (California) was ground zero for wahoo.” Carson says the boats run about 450 miles to a series of volcanic islets, known as Alijos Rocks, and to an area known as the Ridge. Wahoo typically can be found there from July through December, but he adds that the best months to catch the fish are probably September and October. When fishermen trolling lures hook wahoo from…

THERE’S ABSOLUTELY NO MISTAKING THE OPAH FOR ANY OTHER FISH. INHABITING MOST OF THE WORLD’S TROPICAL AND TEMPERATE WATERS, OPAH ARE MESOPELAGIC, FOUND IN THE WATER COLUMN FROM 150 TO 1,500 FEET. THEY’RE NOT COMMON AND ONLY RARELY CAUGHT BY ANGLERS; A WORLD-RECORD 180-POUND, 12-OUNCE OPAH WAS CAUGHT ON A SALAS JIG IN THE PACIFIC OFF NORTHERN BAJA IN 2014, BUT THE SPECIES REPUTEDLY REACHES 600 POUNDS. OPAH ARE ENDOTHERMIC, WITH A HEAT-EXCHANGE SYSTEM FROM GILLS TO ARTERIES THAT KEEPS BLOOD, HEART AND BRAIN AT A TEMPERATURE ELEVATED WELL ABOVE AMBIENT WATER. THEY’RE CAUGHT COMMERCIALLY IN LIMITED NUMBERS, SOMETIMES MARKETED AS MOONFISH. TARHEEL STREAMERS Q My granddaughter saw these fish off my dock. No one seems to know what they are. Do you have any idea? Chuck Hindermyer Little River,…

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 fluorescent-yellow 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, FL 32789. SF FISH FACTS EXPERTS NORTHEAST Mike Fahay, Sandy Hook Marine Lab, New Jersey SOUTHEAST Ray Waldner, Ph.D., Palm Beach Atlantic University, Florida GULF OF MEXICO Bob Shipp, Ph.D., University of…

Protection from the sun’s dangerous rays is vitally important for anglers. Not only do we spend more time outdoors than most people, we’re on the water, which reflects those rays back at us, as do fiberglass boat decks. Applying sunscreen to exposed body parts is an essential part of avoiding sunburned skin and skin cancer. Many fishermen wear hats and long-sleeved shirts with an ultraviolet protection factor of 30 or 50, and they’ll put sunscreen on their face, ears, legs, and the tops of their hands. What brand of sunscreen often doesn’t matter to them, but they tend to prefer products of 30 to 50 SPF, which stands for sun protection factor. UPF relates to clothing or fabric, and SPF to topical lotions. However, recent trends in sunscreen formulations, along…