A surprising number of lesser-known fish have crazy, unlikely names. If you take a deep dive into the International Game Fish Association list of world-record game fishes you’ll stumble on true head-scratchers — some fish names sound flat-out ridiculous. It’s hard to resist sharing these with other, inquisitive anglers, so in the last installment, we looked at the pink happy and Darwin’s slimehead. Here are a couple more with oddball names.

What’s important to understand is that we’re talking about common names that are official and recognized in the scientific community. Every fish has one such name. For example, Coryphaena hippurus is a dolphinfish. But dolphinfish are called many different nicknames, including dolphin, mahi, mahi-mahi, dorado, and even “dodos” (anglers in SoCal tend to abbreviate fish names by eliminating a syllable or two). Then, dolphin also have nicknames for different sizes, including peanuts, schoolies, slammers, plus others. The goofy names below aren’t just a local or regional moniker that stuck. These are the species’ actual names.

The Forkbeard Fish

The forkbeard (Phycis phycis) doesn’t look particularly bizarre, but this deepwater dweller — a type of hake, which explains its cod-like appearance — does boast elongated pelvic-fin rays that extend downward from its chin, just behind the gills. Each fin branches near the bottom, hence the “fork,” no doubt offering effective feelers while the fish remains just above the bottom. The forkbeard is found in the Northeast Atlantic, usually in 300 to 2,000 feet, and rarely caught by anglers. It is, however, a popular commercial fish. In the British Isles the species is known as the “sweaty betty.” I am not making that up.

The Slobbering Catfish

I caught one of these and it dribbled all over me! Okay, I did make that up. The slobbering catfish (Brachyplatystoma platynemum) don’t slobber. So how to account for the name? Apparently, local fishermen considered the long, flattened barbels extending from their mouth to be reminiscent of strings of drool. I don’t really see it, but whatever. In any case, these cool cats inhabit the deepest channels of big, fast-flowing rivers in Brazil and in areas of Colombia and Venezuela, where they prey exclusively on smaller fishes. While not evaluated by the IUCN’s list of endangered species, apparently they have been severely overfished commercially.

The post Funny Fish Names: Forkbeard and Slobbering Catfish appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

From inshore to offshore, from fresh to salt, Sport Fishing Expeditions is your gateway to the world’s most sought-after gamefish.

When I see a fish listed by a name so unlikely I wonder if it’s a prank or joke, I’m immediately intrigued. What is this fish? And it seems that there are a surprising number of fish with crazy, unlikely names – even in the International Game Fish Association’s list of world record game fishes. It’s hard to resist sharing these with other, inquisitive anglers, so here are a couple to start with. (We may offer more, as part of an ongoing series, in the future.)

It’s important to understand that we’re talking about common names that are official and recognized in the scientific community. Every fish has one such name. For example, Rachycentron canadum is a cobia. It’s variously known in different areas as ling or lemonfish, but it has only one accepted common name: cobia. So these crazy names aren’t just a local handle that some yokel made up and it stuck. These are the species’ actual names.

Pink Happy (Sargochromis giardi)

The IGFA all-tackle world-record pink happy: 5 pounds, 6 ounces, from the Upper Zambezi River in Zambia (1998).

If your buddy said, “Hey man, I’d really like to get some pink happys today,” you might reply, “No way: I don’t do drugs.” But he would be referring to a species of fish, not feel-good pills.

The pink happy’s name derives not from its customary smile, but because it belongs to what are known as haplochromid cichlids, which gives rise to a number of other happys — the rainbow happy, green happy, Greenwood’s happy and others. The pink is found in rivers of southern Africa, notably the Cunene, Okavango and Zambezi rivers. The name can be misleading not only because these fish have no sense of humor but also because they’re not, well – very pink (except during spawning time). They’re a drab grey brown. Go figure.

Darwin’s Slimehead (Gephyroberyx darwinii)

The IGFA all-tackle world record Darwin’s slimehead: 7 pounds, 8 ounces, from the Norfolk Canyon off Virginia (2008).

Based on the name, one can imagine anglers offshore complaining, “Ugh. Another damned slimehead. Don’t even bring that in the boat.” That would be a huge mistake.

Its name notwithstanding, this deepwater dweller is superb eating. They’re actually a commercially important fish but — surprise, surprise — you won’t find them marketed as “slimeheads.” After all, it’s hard to imagine someone’s spouse saying, “Oh, and honey, pick up a couple pounds of slimehead while you’re at the store.”

Rather these bright red-orange fish are more often called roughies or big roughies, a name associated with topnotch, expensive fillets. And in fact they’re very closely related to the well-known orange roughy. Slimeheads live in depths of 600 to more than 1,500 feet in the tropical and temperate Atlantic, western and central (but not eastern) Pacific and Indian oceans. The species derives its name from mucous cavities atop its head. Be that as it may, if you don’t want that slimehead, I’ll take it!

The post Funny Fish Names: Pink Happy and Slimehead appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Mechanical lip-gripping devices are popular among anglers as a means to avoid sharp teeth, weigh fish, and hold fish for photos. While lip-grippers can reduce handling, which can remove a fish’s protective slime, research shows that they often do more harm than good, especially when fish are held vertically.

How Lip-Grippers Injure Fish

A 2007 study at the Cape Eleuthera Institute in the Bahamas assessed the effects of a lip-gripping device on bonefish. Ten fish were held vertically in the air for 30 seconds, and 10 fish were held horizontally in water for the same amount of time. The results were undeniable.

The research article published in the scientific journal Fisheries Research stated, “the lip-gripping device caused mouth injuries to 80% of bonefish restrained in the water and 100% of bonefish held in the air, always when fish thrashed while being held. Some of the injuries were severe (40%) and included separating the tongue from the floor of the mouth, creating tears and holes in the soft tissue of the lower jaw, and splitting the mandible.”

In the study’s control group of bonefish, which were held only with bare hands, only one fish showed signs of injury, which was minor inflammation inside the lower jaw, likely from the hook.

According to the study’s lead author, Dr. Andy Danylchuk, Professor of Fish Conservation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Bonefish & Tarpon Trust (BTT) Research Fellow, these types of injuries could impact a bonefish’s ability to feed. “It’s easy to visualize how severe injuries to the mouth can impact handling prey, like crabs and shrimp, not to mention force bonefish to channel energy to heal wounds and fight infection,” said Danylchuk. “Although we didn’t document any short-term mortality (less than 48 hours), if we care about the future of bonefish, anglers shouldn’t use a lip-gripping device when handling them.”

Hold Fish Horizontally Not Vertically

Another study was conducted in 2008 on barramundi, a prized gamefish native to northern Australia that anatomically resembles a snook and can jump like a tarpon.

Australian researchers held 21 barramundi of varying size above the water for 20 seconds with lip-grippers, 10 vertically and 11 horizontally with a hand supporting them. The results resembled the bonefish study’s findings. According to the research article in the scientific journal North American Journal of Fisheries Management, “All fish held with lip grippers and receiving no additional support had small holes in the membranes of the lower jaw, compared with 81 percent of fish that were held with lip grippers and supported by a hand.”

The researchers concluded that the holes in the lower jaw membrane could impede the ability of barramundi to feed, since the holes could “reduce the effectiveness of the sucking action” the fish use to capture prey. Additionally, the study found that lip-grippers can cause internal injuries: “X-rays showed that lifting fish with lip grippers altered the alignment of the vertebrae, which did not return to normal after 3 weeks.”

How to Handle a Fish for Release

“The best way to release a fish is to limit how much you touch it, limit the time the fish is out of the water, keep your fingers away from its gills, don’t hold the fish vertically, and use barbless hooks,” said Dr. Ross Boucek, BTT’s Florida Keys Initiative Manager. To promote bonefish catch-and-release best practices, BTT launched the Save the Slime campaign last year. The guidelines, such as limiting the fish’s exposure to air and handling it without sun-gloves, apply to numerous other species, both fresh and saltwater.

If you want a photo of your trophy catch, do the fish a favor and refrain from holding it vertically in the air with a lip-gripper. Instead, Boucek advises keeping the fish partially submerged in the water, or holding it horizontally above the water with wet hands for no more than 10 seconds.

And if you need to know the weight of your catch, measure the fish’s length and girth while it’s in the water rather than weighing it with a lip-gripping spring-scale. With those two measurements, you can determine the weight of your catch by using one of the species-specific weight calculators widely available online, including for bonefish and tarpon.

Taking steps to minimize our impact on the sport fish we catch benefits not only the individual fish we land but the recreational fishery as a whole. So next time you’re on the water, use the tips and techniques mentioned here to help ensure a healthy release for your trophy catch.

The post The Truth About Lip Grippers and Holding Fish Vertically appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

From inshore to offshore, from fresh to salt, Sport Fishing Expeditions is your gateway to the world’s most sought-after gamefish.

In a marine environment, everything is controlled by the rising and falling of the tides. The flooding and ebbing covers, or reveals, underwater real estate, creating a different habitat every 15 minutes. It is this constant movement that dictates every facet of marine life, both aquatic and terrestrial. It affects everything from invertebrates to fish, and even certain bird species.

What Are Tides?

Simply put, tides are the rising and falling of the ocean’s waters. In North America, and most areas other than a small swath of the globe centered around the equator, we experience semidiurnal tides. This means we have a high tide twice a day. In our region, this translates to a high tide approximately every 12 hours and 25 minutes. This is because the tide’s greatest influence is the moon, and the moon rotates about twelve degrees a day, or about one rotation a month. Therefore the tidal day is 24 hours and 50 minutes, as opposed to the 24 hours of the solar day, thereby accounting for the differences in tidal peaks on a day to day basis.

What Causes Tides to Occur?

Tides occur because of the gravitational attraction between the Earth, moon and sun. The Earth’s gravity creates centripetal force, pulling inward on its surface. But at the same time, the centrifugal force created by the spinning of the Earth is pushing water outward and the moon’s gravity is pulling up on the Earth.

Although this force affects the entire globe, the terrestrial parts of our world are too dense to move in any way we can sense without sophisticated instruments, but this movement is very pronounced on the water. There is a high tide on the side of the Earth facing the Moon, due to the moon’s gravitational pull. But there is also a high tide on the opposite side of the Earth, which is related more to the centrifugal force created by the Earth’s rotation than the moon’s gravity. 

Twice a month, the Earth, moon and sun move into alignment. When the moon is opposite the sun, we can see it in its entirety — a full moon. When the moon is closest to the sun, we can’t see it; this phase is known as the new moon. When these two events occur, the sun’s and moon’s gravities work in concert with one another, causing an unusually high, or spring, tide. Spring refers not to the season, but to “jump” or “burst forth” as this type of tide seems to. On these days not only is the high tide higher than normal, the low tide is lower. Spring tides are typically 20 percent higher than average.

When the sun and moon are at right angles to one another, they create an especially weak tide, known as neap tides. The term neap is derived from an antiquated word meaning “inactive.” Neap tides have extremely low ranges because the sun is pulling water away from the high tide created by the moon.  These tides occur during the first and third quarter of the moon. They are usually 20 percent lower than typical tides.

What is a King Tide?

You may have heard extraordinarily high tides referred to as King tides. This term grows more popular each year, and denotes higher than normal high tides that occur during full and new moon phases, also known as a spring tide.

Why Are Tides Lower in Winter?

There are seasonal variations with our tides. Again, this relates to the sun as well as the moon. In the winter months our hemisphere features lower highs and lower lows. This occurs because the Earth is in an elliptical orbit around the sun. That is, it isn’t always an equal distance away. In the summer, the Earth is in aphelion, meaning its orbit places it farthest away from the sun. Therefore it has the least pull on the Earth, having less effect on tidal bulge. In the winter the Earth is in perihelion, being closest to the sun. Thus the sun has a greater effect, flattening the moon’s influence.

What is Slack Tide?

At the top and bottom of the tidal peaks there exists a short interlude called slack tide. This is the brief period when there is little to no tidal current. So the water appears to be standing still until it begins to ebb or flow again. These periods are typically very short, only lasting about an hour.

Of course there are other factors that can slightly alter the timing of tides. While there is high tide approximately every 12 hours, this can be hindered, or sped up, by a strong wind. For instance, if there was a bay with an inlet facing to the west, an east wind would hasten the water exiting the bay. Conversely, a west wind would slightly delay the peak of low tide. A strong wind can also alter the height of a tide.

Why Do Some Areas Have Bigger Tide Swings?

Why do certain areas have a larger variation in tidal heights? For instance, why does the Long Island Sound have a swing of 7 to 11 feet while the Atlantic oceanfront has a range of 4 feet and only about a foot and a half offshore? The answer is surprisingly simple and lies in variations in geography. It’s not the volume of water that changes; it’s the size of the container. It’s like putting 10 milliliters of water in a 25 mL container versus putting the same amount of fluid in a 100 mL container. The levels are higher in the smaller container even though it’s the same quantity of liquid.

These changes in geography are also responsible for the slight variations in the peak times of a tide. While a bay may be large and open, it could have a narrow bottleneck at the entrance. Therefore it takes longer for that expanse to fill and empty. Water always seeks its own level, so the interior of the bay will attempt to reach the same level as the surrounding waters.

Tides and Fishing

What does this all mean to the average angler? Although it represents just a small piece of the huge puzzle we call fishing, paying attention to tidal flow can lead to more successful outings. Although the preferred tide cycle to fish varies from species to species, the movement of bait along with the flow of water can stimulate the urge to feed.

Most of our favored game fish are strong swimmers, so the currents created by these forces typically have little effect on them. But many favorite prey items lack the stamina to fight these currents, so these gamesters will set up in an area that will flush bait to them like trout pointing upstream picking off mayflies. Flounder will set up in the down current side of a ridge, staying just out of the flow while allowing bait to float by just overhead. Redfish will take a position at the mouth of a tidal creek and enjoy the smorgasbord that is flushed out of the marsh. Blackfish will choose a hole on the up-tide side of a piling enjoying the crabs that wash by.

In addition to all this, the tide can also alter the mood of predatory fish. That is it can turn the non-feeding, or neutral fish, on by providing an influx of bait streaming past them and creating a sense of urgency. Those same fish that were spread out across the flat lazily finning about during high slack will sense the dropping water levels. Perhaps the water level will drop so significantly that a fish’s favored boulder field will be high and dry, forcing them and their forage to be concentrated in a deeper trough creating a feeding frenzy. If you pay close attention to the tides, and its effects on gamefish, you’ll experience more bends in your rod.

The post How Do Tides Work? appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

That remote pond you scouted on Google Maps holds more than largemouth bass and crappies. The same can be said for that isolated marsh you hunt on public lands during the season.

A new study found that out-of-the-way wetlands, disconnected from larger lake or river ecosystems, are fantastic at trapping pollutants such as nitrogen and phosphorus. In fact, they’re twice as effective at protecting downstream waters when not connected to those downstream waters, according to the study.

The official term for these of types of waters are called geographically isolated wetlands (GIWs). Unfortunately, GIWs are often the first environs destroyed because of increased development or agriculture. In turn, more nitrogen and phosphorus are produced in areas that once captured it.

“If pollutants aren’t caught by small wetlands, then they’ll run into our lakes, beaches and eventually impact our supply of drinking water and ability to use the beaches for recreation,” said Dr. Nandita Basu, an Earth and Environmental Sciences professor at the University of Waterloo.

Basu, Dr. Frederick Cheng, and other researchers used computer modeling to study 30 years of satellite imagery from across the United States to determine how 3,700 wetlands were filling up and draining as a function of seasons and climate. Next, the goal was to show in what way “hydrologic dynamics can increase nitrogen retention estimates by up to 130 percent, with greater retention magnification for the smaller wetlands,” explained the study.

The researchers found the retention effects were more pronounced in semi-arid systems such as the prairies in North Dakota, leading to 1.8 times more retention, compared to humid landscapes such as the North Carolina Pocosins, with only 1.4 times more retention.

“Being disconnected can actually be better because they are catching the pollutants and retaining them as opposed to leaking them back to the stream waters,” said Cheng, first author of the study and currently a postdoctoral fellow at Colorado State University.

All wetlands act like sponges, sucking up and absorbing water from sudden events such as heavy rainfall, hurricanes or snowmelt. Wetlands provide natural flood protection, as well as improve water quality, provide habitat, increase biodiversity and trap carbon.

In Florida, the Army Corps of Engineers and South Florida Water Management District recently broke ground on the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir. The new 10,500-acre storage reservoir and 6,500-acre Storage Treatment Area (STA) will capture polluted water — filled with large amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen from sugar farmers, animal feed and human waste — from Lake Okeechobee, storing and cleaning it before allowing the water to flow south to the Everglades.

The project, championed by fishing captains and anglers, will significantly reduce harmful Lake Okeechobee discharges to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers on Florida’s east and west coasts, areas that regularly make national headlines for red tides, seagrass losses, algae blooms, fish kills and manatee deaths. Just as important, Florida’s Everglades will once-again receive clean freshwater, where it once flowed naturally and is vitally needed to survive.

The post The Power of the Pond appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Tournament angler Jacob Moore’s bass wasn’t noteworthy for its size or length. But its color? That’s a different story. Moore was tournament pre-fishing Virginia’s James River, near Chippokes State Park, when he hooked a 16.5-inch golden largemouth bass. The catch immediately went viral across social media. Was Moore’s bass piebald, albino or maybe even radioactive?

 “Golden largemouth bass are extremely rare and most anglers have never seen them, let alone heard of them before,” said Alex McCrickard, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources Aquatic Education Coordinator. “The fish is a product of a genetic mutation that alters the skin pigments called xanthism. Yellow pigmentation dominates in xanthism, as you can see in Moore’s golden largemouth.”

Moore took a couple photos of his unique catch before releasing the bass back into the water. But he’s not the first angler to catch a golden largemouth bass, and he likely won’t be the last. Anglers, with the pictures to prove it, have caught “golden” largemouths in Florida and Ontario, Canada, among other places.

What is Xanthism?

The yellow to orange-gold coloring that defines xanthism is a rare condition in nature, although it has been documented in a surprising number salt- and freshwater fish species. Sometimes, just parts of a fish are xanthochromic.

“Xanthism is caused by a mutation that depresses the presence of [black-pigmented] melanophores, thus allowing the [yellow-pigmented] xanthophores to be expressed,” the American Fisheries Society explains. “Generally, skin color in fish has a genetic base controlled by one or several genes, but may also be influenced by factors such as behavior, disease or physiological stress.”

The aquaculture industry has used xanthism to create golden trout, tilapia and catfish. Species such as smallmouth bass, peacock bass, crappie, gar, angelfish, triggerfish, narrow-barred Spanish mackerel, tripletail, barracuda and longfin yellowtail have all been observed in xanthic yellow. Of note, palomino trout are not xanthic; that unique species is selectively bred in hatcheries to express a leucistic mutation. 

Studies have shown that fish in xanthic colorations are easier for predators to spot and kill, possibly explaining why xanthic fish are so rare. So keep an eye out on your next fishing trip for that yellow- to orange-colored fish that definitely shouldn’t be those colors — the catch could be one in a million.

The post Rare Catch: The Weirdest Looking Largemouth appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) first proposed a rule in December 2022 requiring specialized descending devices or venting tools to be onboard any boat targeting reef fish in state waters. In February, the FWC approved the rule. The new rule applies to all anglers, no matter if they’re catching fish for dinner or releasing fish. In addition, the recently approved regulation requires anglers to use the descending device or venting tool if a fish exhibits signs of barotrauma — they can’t just keep the tool stored on the boat.

Survival of released deep reef fish is a state and federal management priority in South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico waters. When reef fish such as snapper and grouper are reeled up from deep water, they can suffer pressure-related injuries known as barotrauma.

Such injuries in fish could show as a stomach protruding out of its mouth, bulging eyes, bloated belly, distended intestines, or the inability to swim back down to deep water. If not treated properly, barotrauma can be deadly to reef fish.

Specialized descending devices and venting tools, when used correctly by anglers, help released fish avoid barotrauma and survive to get back down to their deep reef homes. More and more, descending devices are preferred over venting tools. The FWC describes descending devices as weighted instruments capable of releasing fish at a depth that’s sufficient to recompress expanded gas and help fish recover from the effects of barotrauma.

Venting tools are sharp, hollow instruments that allow gas to escape from an over-expanded swim bladder, allowing fish to survive. Since the venting tool punctures the fish, anglers can accidentally poke the wrong part of the fish. In some cases, a puncture can also lead to infection for the fish.

Barotrauma mitigation tool requirements already have been adopted in Gulf and Atlantic federal waters, reports the FWC. In Gulf federal waters, anglers may use either a descending device or a venting tool that is rigged and ready for use. In Atlantic federal waters, fishermen are required to have a descending device that is readily available.

The post Florida Approves Mandatory Venting Tool Use appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

In freshwater, there’s no more prized gamefish than the mighty muskellunge. Muskies grow big, fight like banshees, and have an impressive set of teeth. Because their stomachs are so large, muskies can eat baitfish or other pike up to two-thirds of their own body length. To add to the dreamy-eyed mystique, they are considered among the most difficult freshwater fish to tempt into striking artificial lures.

University of Illinois researchers studied muskies to learn what makes them strike. It’s fair to say they answered the question, “Why are muskies the fish of 10,000 casts?” They learned plenty about the toothy freshwater predators, including great insight for those who pursue them.

“Our results clearly show [catching] muskies is not random,” University of Illinois professor Cory Suski said, in a news release. “There are behavioral traits that predispose these fish to capture (aka being caught by anglers). We need to use best practices to try and protect those traits and keep those individuals around so we can keep fishing long term.”

Studying Muskie Behavior

Suski and grad student John Bieber evaluated 68 young muskies in university lab tanks before releasing the fish to an outdoor pond. In the tanks, Suski and Bieber noted muskie behavioral profiles, such as aggression, activity, boldness and exploration. After the muskies were released into the pond, they fished the pond every day for over a month to learn more about the fish.

“After 35 days throwing our whole [lure] arsenal at them, every combination of time of day, lure, and casting style, we can verify muskies are indeed the fish of 10,000 casts,” reported Bieber. “We only caught seven fish. In addition, we saw catch rates decline very rapidly after the first several days.”

Muskies are dedicated sit-and-wait predators, says Bieber, meaning they often wait under a log, in dense weeds, nearby some other structure, or just hang along favorable bottom until prey comes within reach.

“Then, they’ll burst out to take the prey,” he adds. “The ‘exploratory’ muskies won’t strike because they are roaming around a lake trying to find shelter or get more comfortable.”

How to Target Muskies

Bieber points out that if an angler goes around a lake casting randomly, that’s not a good plan to catch a muskie.

“You have to get your lure perfectly in the face of a muskie of the appropriate behavior type, likely [one] that is sedentary and poised to attack, to be able to initiate a strike,” Bieber reports.

He believes fishermen should target the less aggressive and less exploratory muskies in a population. That’s the best opportunity to trick a muskie into biting a lure. The less aggressive and less exploratory muskie traits actually make those fish more likely to strike lures, which almost seems counterintuitive. Therefore, the researchers point out, anglers and fisheries managers should pay extra care not to harm fish with these characteristics, so the muskies can reproduce and disseminate such traits.

Catch and release is key to improved muskie fishing, according to Suski. Landing fish quickly and releasing them carefully is vital to minimize impact on muskies, making sure they survive, passing on desirable “catchable” traits for anglers.

Why are Muskies so Hard to Catch?

“They’re sedentary and they hide, so you have to cast where they are,” Suski states. “And we have anecdotal evidence that these fish seem to learn when anglers are around and actively avoid lures. Then there’s the historical context. Years ago, people would harvest muskies. If they were taking vulnerable fish out of the population, then you just have hard-to-catch fish left today.”

The post Why are Muskies the Fish of 10,000 Casts? appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Have you ever wondered where swordfish travel day and night when they’re not hanging out at your favorite deepwater canyon? Gray FishTag Research tagged three swordfish in 2021 and documented some surprising movements of the deepwater species. If you’re not familiar with Gray FishTag Research, their efforts make up the world’s largest cooperative tagging program, relying on recreational anglers to help track and tag fish. All the data collected is shared with anyone interested for free.

Swordfish Tagging Results

One satellite tag was fitted to a 53-inch, 65-pound swordfish caught by Capt. Nick Stanczyk on the Broad Minded off Islamorada, Florida, on Feb. 9, 2021. More than seven months later, on Sept. 10, 2021, the tag released from the swordfish about 70 miles east of Fernandina Beach in Northeast Florida — far north of where the fish had been fitted with the device. The swordfish was tracked free-range swimming for 213 days up Florida’s Atlantic Coast.

The innovative tags used to track swordfish are called a “MiniPAT.” A MiniPAT is a pop-up archival transmitting tag designed to track movements and behaviors of fish. Depth, temperature, light-level and other data are collected in the onboard memory. Then on a preset date set by a researcher, the tag releases from its fish, surfaces, and uploads information to satellites for recovery.

A second MiniPat was tagged to an 80-inch, 240-pound swordfish on May 1, 2021, by Capt. Chris Koulouvaris, 38 miles off Ft. Lauderdale. The sword roamed open water for 242 days, before the MiniPat tag released from the fish on Dec. 29, 2021 less than 40 miles from the Cayman Islands.

Capt. Bouncer Smith, off Fort Lauderdale, fitted a third MiniPat on a 120-pound, 72-inch swordfish on May 1, 2021. The sword was tracked by satellite for 180 days before the tag released offshore Nova Scotia, Canada, on Nov. 3, 2021. That’s one heck of a distance to swim, covering the entire US Atlantic Coast.

Swordfish data learned from the tagging research is valuable to scientists studying the species. It also helps fish regulators better understand how to apply rules, especially if the data show swordfish don’t stay near a particular state’s coastline or even country. In total, all three tagged swordfish in 2021 showed just how far they roam. Whether they headed toward the Caribbean, Mid-Atlantic or as far north as Canada, the swords didn’t call one place home for long.

Full Moon Swordfish Activity

The Gray FishTag Research team verified that most swordfish travel from the surface to the depths in daylight and darkness — Atlantic swords head to the bottom during daybreak and ascend to the surface at dusk. That’s the traditional movements, we as anglers, can expect from swordfish.

Research also showed that water temperature likely plays a role in where swordfish live. Swordies don’t like hot water (although there were instances where swordfish were recorded basking at the surface by the team).

During a full moon, swordfish act a bit differently. Researchers learned that swordfish moved into slightly deeper depths during a full moon. The fish maintained a depth of 50 to 300 feet even at night, and lived within 300 feet of the bottom during the day due during this particular moon phase. That makes one wonder, do both light and temperature affect the up and down movement of swordfish in the water column? well, the recreational tagging data definitely suggests it.

The post Where Swordfish Roam appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Gamefish are kind of like guys. Most pursue three basic things: comfort, food and, every now and then, reproduction. Combine all three factors at one location, and you’ll find a crowd.

Now, think of oyster bars as one place that crowd congregates. Or better yet, think of an oyster bar as a hangout for everything from shrimp, crabs and small fish looking for a hiding spot, to gamefish like snook, trout, redfish and flounder hoping to morph that safety zone into a snack bar.

An oyster bar’s topography features potholes, drop-offs, shallow areas and points. In fact, the average oyster bar offers a litany of components that create feeding stations and ambush points for all inshore saltwater gamefish.

On high tides, a shallow sheet of water covers the bar just enough to allow shrimp, crabs, mullet and other small fish to seek safety atop the sharp shells. As the water falls out, those crustaceans and baitfish must push into deeper water, inviting instant Armageddon.

Fishing oyster bars is tidally relevant. When the water falls, target the edges and drop-offs where gamefish post up, looking to ambush prey. Jigs, spoons and shallow-running plugs stake their reputation on mimicking that food chain.

Set up on the edges or down-current side of the structure to work those baits with the tide. Snook, trout and flounder usually feed along the drop-offs and shell points, while redfish work completely around the structure, even on the up-current side, as they look for food moving off the exposed oysters.

Currents that sweep past the bars push sand and mud toward each end of the structure, creating shallow points. Cast a topwater plug or prop bait toward the points, or swim a shad-type soft plastic with the current flow.

As the tide rises and crests the bar, throw a topwater plug or unweighted, weedless soft-plastic jig, jerkbait or swimbait directly on top of the structure.

Expect the extreme tides typically encountered around full and new moons to exacerbate these fishing scenarios. Higher tides mean more water stacks atop the bar, allowing the predators to feed at will over the oysters. Extreme tides also ramp up the current flowing over and around the oyster bar, so expect gamefish to utilize the edges for an ambush.

Oyster bars not only support an array of food and gamefish, but they also work to clean the water and improve visibility. So, while anglers view them as feeding stations, their main ecological purpose lies in maintaining the water quality and providing a starting point for the next generation of mollusks to perpetuate the species and grow the habitat.

Oyster Rebirth

Did you know that a single oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water each day? Think 95 2-liter soft-drink bottles, and one single oyster drinking it all. That makes an oyster bar a vital component of our coastal estuaries.

Unfortunately, in almost every estuary, oysters are declining, whether from overharvesting or poor water conditions. Cue Yamaha Rightwaters and Charleston-based Toadfish, manufacturers of eco-friendly fishing products.

Yamaha supports efforts such as the Billion Oyster Project in New York (which replants oysters in the Hudson River) as well as a citizen-science oyster-seeding initiative in Texas. Toadfish donates a portion of every purchase to an oyster-restoration fund.

These projects create new reefs and improve damaged ones by utilizing reclaimed oyster shells from local restaurants and other sources. Volunteers collect and bag the shells and strategically place them where oysters are in decline. The shells attract oyster larvae floating in the water and eventually form living reefs.

More than 200,000 square feet of oyster reef has already been rebuilt from Toadfish’s program alone. Here’s to a few million more.

The post The Amazing Anatomy of an Oyster Bar appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.