BERMUDA FISHING

[Mr. Kav]

I just wanted to spread some information about bermuda's marlin fishing incase anyone is interested in catching a blue marlin. Bermuda's marlin is at its finest and should be looked into as a spot to try and visit. This saturday there were two GRANDERS caught in Bermuda. My friend who is the mate on the new "De Mako" bermudas newest fishing machine caught and released an estimated 1100 to 1200 lb blue marlin. This is the first grander caught and released in bermudas history. My friend told me that the fish was in great shape when it was released, it swam away unharmed and decided to give a 6 foot jump out of the water before it swim into the ocean depths. That is a real accomplishment and you don't hear to many people releasing granders. The other fish that was caught and boated was a 1199 lb blue marlin aboard the "Challenger" by Capt Alan Card and crew. I have a picture of it but I have no idea how to post it. I can e-mail to john if anyone is interested in seeing it. bermuda was and still is the place where the most granders have been caught in the atlantic ocean. Not bad for a place that only takes 1:45 minutes to get to.

[JohnR]

Mr K - shoot me the e-mail and I'll put it up... That's one heck of a fish and at least one went back in the drink....

It's interesting the amount of political clout goes towards a sport fishery that so few can access as the with the big billfish industry... Some issues I have with the RFA is that they push for the big stuff (sells more 50 footer sportfisherman) and not as hard for the little guy with just a measily striped bass...

[schoolie monster]

Holy crap! That's a cool shot. Unbelievable the size of some of these fish.

Saltwater Sportsman had a pretty gloomy article about the billfish statuses. Catch and release studies are starting to see if it works for billfish. Estimates are that 85% survive being caught... not too bad. Various studies have supported that, but they are in their infancy and have only included a few dozen fish.

However, they went on to talk about the numbers of fish that don't survive the longlining fishery and how longlines don't discriminate against sailfish and marlin.

Oh, back to that again. Estimations have swordfish and blue marlin stocks down 90%... pretty scary.

Its pretty cool that the majority of the recreational billfishing is now catch and release anyway.

[Mr. Kav]

schoolie monster, i know what you mean about the billfish stocks. Mostly I fish for billfish in bermuda and the marlin fishing is superb. But bermuda is a small place and do not have nearly the same amount of boats as say the bahamas. I think the bahamas has a seriously noticable billfish depletion situation. Like take Bimini for instance, they had a billfish tournament there this year and there were only like 3 fish caught ( all 100 lb fish) compared to about 10 years ago there were dozens of fish in the 500-600 lb class. Bimini used to be known as a great place for billfishing and has dramatically changed over the years. Granted Bimini is much easier accessable than bermuda and their allot of boats down there but in those tournaments they are killing any fish over 350lbs. i think the minimum should be much higher in some of those tournaments, maybe like 800lbs. I think the tagging and releasing program is a great way to bring these fish back. We are learning allot more about these fish, I have heard of four fish from either me or friends that were caught, retagged and released again this year. Well this is just my opinion and i am sure some of my friends wouldn't like my opinion here but that is just what i have been noticing.