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Date: My thoughts on Grouper Regs
Date: 31 Mar 2008
Time: 22:32:51 -0500
For what it is worth: My Take on Proposed Grouper Regulations Grouper are the bread and butter of offshore fishing in my neck of Florida, Steinhatchee -- the “Big Bend” area on the northwest coast. The new proposed recreational grouper regulations, a three month closure (Jan 15 through April 15), aggregate bag limit reduction per person from five, in which one may be a red grouper, to three in which only one can be a gag, and the enforced use of circle hooks. This seems to be a regional pseudo-governmental knee-jerk reaction to the Magnuson-Stevens Act with a political agenda based on some weak science at the beginning and some crunched statistics dumping out the rear orifice. That statement was my personal thoughts. Those ideas are being more and more confirmed by others, in writing, as suspensions are coming to a head that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), our natural resource servants, have altered data to meet their management agenda. Roy Crabtree is the regional administrator with Big Brother “tremendous power”. Anyone can contact Roy at HYPERLINK "mailto:roy.crabtree@noaa.gov" roy.crabtree@noaa.gov. Be forewarned, Crabtree will most likely not to respond to your contact, he has historically failed to contact others in a timely fashion who were involved with the national government regarding the grouper fishery in the Gulf, state agencies tied to their state grouper fishing industry, the elected local person representing regional interest or those from local coastal towns, but who were well informed on issues or simply the majority that has questions in regard. I am hands on in the recreational grouper fishery more than most people. I should be, since my sole source of income is offshore charter fishing. It may sound as if I am upset about all these changes because it will negatively impact my income. There is some truth in that, but it is not the core of the issue. If I thought for one moment that my fishing activities harmed a fishery that was already in distress I would restrict myself and welcome regulations. Doubt me? I already do it with sheepshead. My boat limit is five sheepshead per person and large egg-laden females are released. The state regulation of fifteen sheepies is ridiculous. Killing fish during their spawn puts a bad taste in my mouth; it is something no one should be proud of, but that’s a rant I don’t have time to get into for the moment. Except for the year after Katrina and Rita when grouper were apparently blown to Texas (it was the best grouper year in recorded Texas history), the grouper fishery in the Northern Gulf seems to be great, better than anywhere in the rest of the state. As a matter of fact, the grouper fishing in the fall of ‘07 was the best I had every experienced! Limit catches of large grouper where caught quickly and mindlessly, leading to a fine predicament of what to do for the rest of the day. Believe it or not, when the water clarity was pure, we would toss bait overboard, watch it sink to the bottom and gaze at grouper, milling around on rocks, eventually one would swim over and eat the free food. It was that crazy. Now let’s assume some things, hopefully not making an ass out of you and me in the process. The grouper fishery is far better in the Big Bend area than other areas of the Gulf, meaning our local assessment doesn’t depict the overall state of affairs. The scientist fully understand the natural cycle the grouper population flows in, and in general, the grouper population is down due to the activities of man not just a natural temporary decline. Changes are required to better manage the grouper fishery, ease over-fishing, and adjust the harvest to a sustainable catch. That is an honorable charge. For the sake of prudence, we must take in to consideration that fishing is a 7.5 billion dollar industry in Florida and saltwater fishing, in particular, makes up 5.2 billion dollars of that pie, incidentally, fishing is the largest single money pie in the state! To put that in perspective, if 5.2 billion single dollar bills were laid end to end it would take 342 continuous days of driving at 60 miles per hour to reach the end of the money line! Unless I could pick it up along the way, I couldn’t afford the gas money for the trip. Approximately, two million Florida residents have saltwater fishing licenses and 885,000 out-of-state licenses are sold. These figures do not include the many people who go fishing on charters because the captain or charter company purchases an annual license that covers them. Furthermore, the fishing industry involves many people, such as those who make or sell aerators, catch or buy bait, clothing outfitters, dock builders…zinc manufactures. The point is saltwater fishing is very big deal to many people. Nonetheless, the sake of the grouper fishery takes precedence over the money issue, always. The fishery is priceless, but the numbers validate the necessity for good judgment from those people who can make major changes and solid facts are required before rattling the cage. Moreover, if brash, broad spectrum management changes are required to fix the problem, then it very well indicates past poor management. People weren’t doing their job well in the past and others pay for their mistakes in the present and future. Changes may be needed on the other side of the fence as well. Now let’s look at things pragmatically. Reducing aggregate bag limits from five to three fish per person will reduce recreation catch by 40%. That is simple math. And I, for one, am OK with that change because three nice grouper is a good catch and there are other fish in the sea to bend the pole. Bearing in mind that three is a small number of allowable fish, bickering over whether they are red or gag is trite. A sorting process will harm more grouper than harvesting the first available of any species. Three, legal grouper, of any species is the limit. That is simple enough for all to understand while reducing total overall harvest by forty percent. Now for where the rubber meets the road, this country is in recession. Doubt it? Talk to anybody trying to make ends meet. Folks don’t have the disposable income they used to have. With the exception of the elite, everybody is in the same economic boat. You pick any market and it is down. Even Wal-Mart ain’t counting money by the ton like in the past. What does this have to do with grouper fishing? That fifty to one hundred dollars isn’t being as readily dropped into the economy to go riding the river, lake or grass flat for a one day weekend fishing expense of a small boater. Now think about pumping two hundred dollars of fuel into the tank to run offshore for grouper, plus other expenses such as bait, ice, tackle, food, sunblock, drinks and any other something-something that Mrs. So-n-so doesn’t know about. Private boats are going to be dry longer because Joe Angler can’t justify dropping three bills plus to go offshore. In addition, some aren’t going to divvy up the cash for a charter trip, even though the individual cost is less than footing the bill on your own boat. Remember, recreational fishermen pay the entire bill to go have fun on the water. Unlike commercial fishing were the cost of doing busy is passed on to the consumer. In a nutshell, the expense of fuel is going to save more grouper than law ever will. Grouper harvest would be, conservatively guessing, 25% down due to the price of gas alone. Dove-tail a forty percent bag limit reduction with the expense of fuel and the harvest of grouper is down at least 50% without question. That should more than make up for the lack of previous mismanagement in the grouper fishery from the recreational side of the matter. The issue of a three month closure seems mute taking into account the aforementioned scribble. Besides, weather protects the fish for the most part January through March. My charters are cancelled due to weather 50-70% of the time during that time period. Scrubbing the first half of April only serves to piss people off. Prolonging “cabin-fever” makes people grouchy. What would be the purpose of preventing folks from spending money on fishing when they are primed to do so? After winter, the fishing economy needs the spring boost state-wide could. It is best to look a gift horse in the mouth rather than turn the horse the other way, right? Now the topic of circle hooks. When used correctly they work. The majority of the time, a circle hook is hung in the corner of the fish’s mouth and prevents gut hooking. But allow me to be sensible. Inside of sixty foot of depth, my fatality rate of any released fish is less than 1%, period! Gut hooking is just one of many reasons fish don’t survive release. Excessive or inappropriate handling kills more fish than gut hooking. I’ve seen many people squeeze the life out of fish just posing for a photo. Outside of sixty foot of depth, the major fatality issue is the bends, fish bloat, lack of pressure release or whatever you care to call it, but it has nothing to do with the type of hook employed to catch the fish. Fish fatality has everything to due with how fast the angler brings the fish to the surface and how many are fish caught in those depths. It ain’t the hook. My fatality rate is less than 2% at 70-90 feet, the deepest waters I fish in. In terms of grouper fishing shallower waters, such as the Big Bend, the circle hook requirement is no less than a bully Big Brother flexing muscle because of lobbying misguided/misinformed conservationist. I write that knowing I’m one to hug a tree every now and then (remember the sheepshead blurb?). I have thousands of J hooks in stock for grouper fishing. I purposely bought bronzed hooks rather than stainless steel because I give a hoot for the fish I depend on and bronzed hooks eventually corrode away out of foul hooked fish. The circle hook ruling makes my premeditated purchase of ‘fish friendly’ hooks a poor investment. I, as many others, do not have time to use up our stock piles. In hind sight, I/we should have bought a gross of toilet paper to wipe up the mess dumping on us. Now the crux of the matter, you can’t jerk on a circle hook and catch a fish. I know others, as well as myself, who love the precise moment when you get to yank and set the hook in a fish. It’s one of the parts I most look forward to. It is the shock to the bull that lets the fish know I’m there and the bout begins. Setting the hook is the ringing of the bell for the epic fight. Fishermen are like fighters pumped for the ringing of that bell. Circle hooks quell the bell. For the love of fishing let the bell ring. One more thing, some may feel there is a parallel between the stringent recreation grouper regulations and the net ban. In other words, the commercial netters took the ultimate hit now it is the recreational anglers turn to take a hit. That is an easy analogy to make, but before forming words, roll these fundamental differences around in your mind before pouring a thought out your mouth. First, the mortality rate for targeted or non-targeted fish for the most inane or negligent recreational saltwater angler is less than 10%, conservatively. However, nets are rough on fish, regardless of species, and the mortality rate is high regardless of how careful the netter handles the catch because they can’t be prophylactic due to design. Second, even if the recreational fishing method is as simple as soaking bait on the bottom, and the angler is fishing for ‘whatever comes along’, each fish, regardless of species, will be handled individually, prerequisite of fishing technique, and expeditiously, if the angler cares to continue fishing. On the other hand, the purpose of a net strung across a creek mouth or set to encircle a school of fish is to take all fish, regardless of species, to be sorted in bulk and the only handling many fish get is a hand squish to get their remains through the mesh. Nets are more efficient than hooks to catch fish that is why they were used commercially. However, nets are far more indiscriminate in catching fish than recreational anglers using single hooks and therefore are, by definition of indiscriminate, more environmentally harsh. And last thought, recreational anglers are trying their best to catch mature fish of whatever species and most anglers target fish that are up towards the top of the food chain. The fish catching method can be selective to some degree or even to a high degree. Nets, shrimp or mullet for example, kill billions (recall the pert near year long money drive), of juvenile fish. Juvenile fish can be singles amongst millions of fry that survived natural fatality and predation, only to be swept away, in mass, by a net not intended towards them. Those flipping slivers of unrecognizable glassy fish, juvenile fish valued later in their life span by both commercial and recreation fishermen, washed off the netters boat, would have never been threatened by recreational endeavors. Thinking about it, many, if not most, recreational anglers will never encounter a juvenile grouper, for example. The point is, nets dicker, unintentionally as it may be, with the base of the food chain, a place a recreational angler doesn’t even consider fooling with. Anyway, the previous paragraph was just an afterthought to keep matters on the same page. Confusion can be used as a manipulative tool to try and blend an apple with an orange. In conclusion, for those given the privilege of influencing or passing regulation, please exercise simple commonsense. The plight of the grouper fishery is worthy of serious contemplation. First, in terms of the fish and secondly, in terms of those who seek them. A regulated 40% reduction in harvest coupled with economic restraints should due the trick for the immediate fix. A reasonable person would think so. Thanks for taking your time to read this. Take care of yourself and your tackle. Capt B. My advice is to go often and visit many localities. Kill no more fish than you require for your own eating, and do that in the most scientific manner. Charles Bradford
Date: Funability
Date: 22 Apr 2007
Time: 00:39:05 -0400
Funability Six grown men were hook and line fishing for bait fish one morning and having a ball doing it. Maybe it’s because I do it so often but I didn’t get how they were having so much fun catching fish no bigger than a child’s hand. “Well, guys I think we got enough to go fishing” I said hinting it was time to wander off the horizon. “Captain can we keep doing this for ten or fifteen minutes longer?” I was asked. “John, over there, has not only the biggest but the most and I can’t let him win in both categories” I was informed. They were actually keeping up with quantity and quality of each bait they caught. “OK, I’ve got ya’ll on a timer of fifteen minutes. Gentlemen start baiting your hooks” I said sounding like a NASCAR announcer. I couldn’t bring myself to be the party fart. Catching bait is a short-term bit of fun first thing in the morning. It is a brief morning wake up/warm up ritual and breaks up the boat ride somewhat. But these guys proved to me attitude is the prerequisite to fun. The little fish were simply an excuse to laugh a little. So many times I have focused so intensely to catch a huge red fish on the incoming tide, a bragging size cobia off the markers, or dig a limit of grouper off some far away rocks that, whether or not I caught the fish, I wasn’t that happy at the end of the day because I wasn’t allowing myself to be happy over most of the day. I was too intent on just that one thing, that I squeezed the fun out of everything. Recreational fishing is supposed to be recreational. Similar words in a thesaurus are fun, entertaining, leisure, spare time and frivolous. It is a shame if we set special time aside for... spend hard earned money on... and invite select people to join in an activity designed to be fun, then turn around and pressurize ourselves, and often times others as well, to the point that if things don’t turn out exactly as we imagined then the whole trip is a bust. That is not giving an excuse not to fish as hard as you want. The point is, with the right attitude you can fish as hard as you wish, relax and have fun with those you are with, and enjoy the day with whatever may come along. Here are some tips, from experience, on putting a little more fun in the day. An ounce of prevention: Take a half hour or so and make sure the boat and tackle are in good working order. You don’t want to wait until the boat ramp to find out the battery has died since the last time you took the boat out, corrosion has knocked out an electronic or bilge pump, the grease has set up like cement in your reels, your fishing line is as brittle as fried hair, your hooks or lures have formed a chunk of modern art, your left over lunch or bait from the last trip is still waiting for you to open the box of mystic odors or other unwanted surprises. No one is going to be happy if they went through all the motions to get there only to have to return home due to a preventable issue. Proper attire: I had a young man show up dressed in a black hat, black long sleeve shirt, and black denim 3 X long pants, black socks and black shoes and if I had to venture a guess as to the color of his drawers I’d say black. He was making a fashion statement of some sort, but it was July in Florida! Before we left the dock I took him to the side and explained his clothes were going to make him very uncomfortable. He looked at me like I was very uncool. At 11:00 am I looked at him and he was very uncool. Always bring appropriate layered cloths and light weight rain gear because regardless of season the weather changes over the course of a day, sometimes drastically, and you need to be prepared. The point is if you’re sweating bullets or freezing your toes off, you are not comfortable. If you’re not comfortable it is difficult to have fun. Know your limits (it has nothing to do with fish): If the weather is real bad don’t go! If the offshore conditions are poor, too much for your boat and/or abilities don’t go! If someone has the slightest thought that death is a real possibility today, they are not going to have fun fishing. Live to fish again on a pretty day (just call in sick to work). Limits also apply to your crew. You might be willing to bound through a three foot hard chop for an hour and a half to have a shot at a grouper but if the grand kids or grandma are riding with you today, sea bass and grunts are your ticket to happiness. If the there is somebody new to the game onboard, five minutes of special attention at the beginning can eliminate a major backlash later in the day. If the crew is fresh to the offshore experience, then an elaborate trolling spread will only lead to the most complicated knot of lines ever seen on your boat complete with some of the macrame wrapped around your prop. No one wants to feel like an idiot because they screwed up what appeared to be a simple task. There have been times when I felt like an idiot and I’ve never been happy feeling that way. If you keep pushing people to do things on a boat they are not familiar with and they screw it up once or more they will feel bad. Bad is the opposite of fun. It is OK to push a little to teach something new, but in general, conform to the crews fishing level. Teaching opportunities: Teaching is far more than saying “do that”. Teaching means explaining with some show-n-tell. Most folks don’t mind learning some things as they go along, whether it is showing how to bring the anchor onboard without etching their memory on the hull of your boat or putting on a live bait without killing it before it enters the water. A good attitude and patience from the teacher will make most say “that’s easy, let me try it.” Learning something new adds fun to any experience. Yelling or showing anger makes things un-fun quick. If someone doesn’t get the trick the first time, smile and take a free do-over. Go with the flow: I’ve been traveling along and seen Spanish mackerel or bonito blowing up on bait pods. I turned the boat towards the fracas and that half hour to forty five minutes turned out to be the most fun part of the entire day. If you happen to see an opportunity for fun, by all means take it. It is a gift. Don’t let the pursuit of food rob you and others of a good time. A screaming bonito on light tackle is a hoot. It is fun to catch and fun to watch being caught. It can also make great bait in the near future, which means more fun. If someone gets caught up in pink mouth grunt fever, by all means let it ride for twenty minutes more. Grunts are great to eat and can also make great bait in the near future, which means more fun. Scale down for fun: Speaking of pink mouth grunt, the saving grace of many an offshore trip, they are fun to catch. They are even more fun to catch if you do it with trout gear. The same principle applies using large spinning tackle for kingfish, cobia, amberjack and even grouper. After all, if fish didn’t fight back we’d lose interest in catching them using hook and line. Putting more fight in the fish by using lighter tackle puts more fun in the fishing. Try it, you’ll like it. Keep the kids in mind: Scaling down the tackle is appropriate for children. Imagine taking a kid bowling and forcing them to use the sixteen pound ball only. The next time you take them bowling the kid is going to think about how heavy the ball was and how much work it was to play the game. They aren’t going to think it was fun. Sticking a heavy bottom reel and rod in a little ones hands is great for a photo op but institutes a bunch of work just to keep it steady in their small hands. A shorter, lighter weight combo would be more suited and bring the fun back in the game. Also, in terms of children, they have the wonderful ability not to distinguish between fishes. There are no trash fish. If it wiggles and pulls, it is the best fish in the sea at the moment. This fact should take some pressure off the skipper. Variety is the spice of life: I love an all day grouper dig but there are days when I’d just as well pop over here for some sea bass, then over there for a few dozen grunts, then take a chance at a wreck for cobia, barracuda, amberjack or shark, then troll for kings and grouper enroute to a grouper hot spot. One way to think about variety fishing is you didn’t by all that fancy tackle only to reduce the use down to an 8/0 hook, a sinker and a hunk of dead bait on the bottom. The ocean is an amazing can of mixed nuts don’t be the one who picks out only the almonds. A mixed cooler leads to succulent sampling at the diner table as well. It is a win win style of fishing. The Kodak pole: I can’t count the number of times the best fish of the day came from using the Kodak pole. The Kodak pole produces the fish you want your picture taken with. The Kodak pole can overwhelm your boat with fun and surprise excitement any time it is used. So what is this Kodak pole. An unattended pole with a free lined bait off the transom while you’re busy bottom fishing. You may set it out many times without getting a sniff but that one time when the line screams off towards the horizon and an over grown king, cobia or grouper snatches it down will make all the past efforts worthwhile. It was proven itself over and over to be the pinnacle point of fun in a day of fishing. Hint: If you can get a blue runner use it for bait and don’t forget to have a piece of wire leader. Break up the boat ride: Long boat rides are boring. After you lose the tree line it all looks the same. Unless the crew can sleep, play cards or entertain themselves for awhile, riding more than an hour at a shot gets boring. I try and keep the boat rides to around forty five minutes at the most. It keeps the boredom factor down. I like to do a fifteen minute fishing stop. If the fish are there great, you didn’t run over fish because of some wild deep water idea you had. If the fish aren’t there settle in for another run and do the same thing. If you feel the need for more depth, another thirty minutes should get you all the further you need to go on a day trip. Remember to try and do the same thing on the way in or you’re looking at a two or more hour ride home. This hopping offshore plays well with the variety fishing method. Also remember, just because so and so caught fish the equivalent of a two hour boat ride doesn’t mean they fished all the water enroute to where they ended up catching fish. Fishing is the fun part, the ride is the necessity. Music tames the savage beast: Satellite radio, marine stereo system or a Wal-Mart $20 boom box adds music when things are happening hand over fish or when there happens to come the ‘great lull’ in action. Bring some music that you and the others would enjoy hearing. I’ve had a tune come on the radio that had me dancing around the deck like the first white man to find rhythm. Actually, some people thought I was trying to stomp on a roach but I was having a moment of fun. Music is fun, bring it with you. Listen to people: I’ve been offshore so much of my life that, at times, I forget that other may feel somewhat uncomfortable going so far away from land. They have strong concerns about the boat, the motors, the weather, the safety equipment and the sanity of a captain they see stomping invisible roaches on the deck. If someone is worried, they aren’t going to have a bunch of fun. Be easy with them and don’t make the first leg of the journey too long to let worry pile up on them. Let them have time to become more comfortable with their new surroundings or lack there of. If they tell you they don’t want to go very far offshore, then don’t take them there. Sometimes it just takes a couple of stops before they’re telling you to “let it rip”. Then show them the best you got. Do not ignore your obsession: Plan a trip for your level of fishing obsession with people as crazy about fishing as you are. You can’t keep the horse in the barn all the time. Some trips aren’t meant for those who don’t want to grip and rip like you want to. If you are like me, I need a good day of hardcore fishing. I need to drop big baits to big fish and have them try and pull my arms out. I want to feel blown out when the line wraps the cleat at the dock. Exploring new areas is a passion of mine. Spending an aimless day in search of is rewarding enough for me. The fish are the bonus. Fishing is fun. Love it and pass it on. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Take care of yourself and your tackle. Capt B And when he struck his first cod, and felt the fish take the hook, a kind of big slow smile went over his features, and he said, “Gentlemen, this is solid comfort.” STEPHEN VINCENT BENET (1932)