Sport Fishing January 2017

The politics of fisheries management is, arguably, not so different from the politics of the U.S. Constitution or any religious bible in one regard: How one interprets a given passage or phrase can vary and often does depending upon an already established point of view. Case in point recently: the announcement by NOAA Fisheries with new guidelines — called National Standard 1 — for the act that governs the nation’s fisheries laws that will provide fishery managers with a more flexible approach to protecting fish stocks. “Wonderful!” exclaimed those who are part of the recreational-fishing community. “Dreadful!” exclaimed many with environmental nongovernmental organizations. The revision to the nation’s fisheries law — the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act — is the first such change. It’s variously a risky mistake or…

WHETHER CASTING A JIG or live bait, West Coast anglers are some of the best off shore conventional casters I’ve ever seen. Experienced slingers out of San Diego, Dana Point, Long Beach and other popular ports launch surface iron with a star-drag reel 100-plus yards to blitzing yellowtail. Possibly even more impressive, they cast delicate live baits (as small as 4 inches long) away from a drifting or anchored boat using conventional gear filled with braided line of 65-pound-test or heavier. Because of the nature of headboat fishing off the SoCal coast, anglers have mastered distance casting to catch tunas, yellowtail, wahoo and dorado. And because fishing is often shoulder to shoulder along a rail, anglers require lightweight conventional gear with high drag pressures to prevent losing fish to friendly-fire…

INSIDE: 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, FL 32789. SF FISH FACTS EXPERTS NORTHEAST Mike Fahay, Sandy Hook Marine Lab, New Jersey SOUTHEAST Ray Waldner, Ph.D.,…

FOUL-WEATHER GEAR CANÕT just be an old jacket you crush into a ball and throw inside your boat hatch. Well, it can, but you’ll likely find yourself soaked if you ever actually need it. And that drenching isn’t because you stored your jacket haphazardly, but rather because you’re relying on timeworn, cheap technology that doesn’t hold up to anything heavier than a sun shower. So why not make the jump from the old to the new? There are plenty of dependable, durable, waterproof rain jackets today, especially with so many diff erent brands available. Also recognize that many jackets have matching bibs, and proper protection for your legs is often necessary in colder weather. The comfort level of a soggy fishing trip versus a dry one can be a world…

1. THE X FACTOR Furuno says its DRS6AX X-Class radar brings a refined 6 kW open-array option to NavNet TZtouch and TZtouch2 multifunction displays, while pushing the boundaries of performance for typical marine X-Band radar units. For anglers, X-Class introduces a new bird mode that picks up fl ocks at various ranges without manual tuning. You can also monitor the movement of individual birds using the Echo Trails feature. The X-Class optimizes the pulse length to deliver more power-on-target than previous DRS radars, Furuno says. The gearbox costs $4,565; antennas are available in 3½-, 4- and 6-foot lengths and cost $830, $1,175 and $1,675, respectively. 2. FINESSE SUCCESS Shimano’s new Stradic CI4+ reels now incorporate an asymmetrical Magnumlite rotor, which makes the spinners even lighter than before. The four CI4+…

For Southern California anglers, 2016 will go down as the year of the big bluefin: Witness this 213-pound, 9-ounce Pacific bluefin tuna [A], pending as the 30-pound record for Tom Pfl eger of Newport Beach, California. The fish took a Gummy Flyer off San Clemente Island this past August and required 2 hours, 10 minutes to land. A 36-pound, 6-ounce lingcod [B] on any tackle is a good fish, but James Seegraves of Otter Creek, Florida, bested this beast on fl y tackle; it’s pending as the 16-pound-tippet record (the current record is 34 pounds, 1 ounce). The angler, fishing near Seaward, Alaska, this past August, landed the fish in only 10 minutes. Pending as the all-tackle record is a 9-pound, 3-ounce mirror dory [C] caught off Japan by Hiroshi…