what constitutes a miss?

[WhiteMarlin]

I like to count how many leaders come back with chaffe...if it's chaffed it's a billfish bite...
Obviously if the same fish jumps rod...it isn't two bites...

[Roddy Hays]

Well, the way I've always worked on the East side of the pond seems simple to me (it's also the way most guys this way do it, too).

You raise a fish when you see one in the spread and it does nothing. You miss or have a bite when a fish tries to eat something, and you have no hook-up. If the fish turns the reel long enough for a guy to grab the rod you have a hook-up. If it comes unbuttoned thereafter on the way to the boat, you lost the fish. Get the damn thing to boatside and you've caught it.

So your day might read, raised 8, hooked 4, caught 3. That's simple enough for me to be able to form some sort of statistical analysis at the end of the season.

To me, one fish constitutes one effort. If the fish eats three lures before hooking up, it's still the single statistic. For me the important part is how many you raise, and how many you catch. The first indicates the state of the fishing, the next indicates how well you're doing. Whether they miss or come off is pretty much beyond your control. When you ring a friend faraway, do you ask "How many fish being seen by the fleet ?" or do you ask "How many fish being lost ?".

Hell, if we're going to start counting a fish having three go's at a lure as two misses and one hit, then I'm going to go through my records and start re-writing all fish I caught twice as one only

[Double D]

5 minutes after lines in a sail comes in hot on the teaser. Switch him off to the pitch bait, and I manage to pull it out of his mouth a few times but the fish would not be denied and I finally got the hook in him.

After the release, I was feeling pretty good until the cappy says "good job, you are 1 for 5"

[Big Jay]

Miss: Anytime any boat within a 4 mile radius has a fish in the baits. You count that as a miss.

Last trip I had 47 misses and one hook up. Damn circles...going back to J's

[Squidnation]

Miss: Anytime any boat within a 4 mile radius has a fish in the baits. You count that as a miss.

Last trip I had 47 misses and one hook up. Damn circles...going back to J's

I honestly think some captains count it that way.

[Big Jay]

I honestly think some captains count it that way.

Hey like I said...I am no competitive tournament marlin fishermen. I really enjoy seeing them in the spread.

Anyone can yank a bait/lure away from a fish. If you "miss" a fish then basically he came up in the baits, took a pass or passes at them, then got fed up and swam off. That's why i usually say "We went 1 for 3" etc.

I will say last seasons NJ marlin fishery was some of the most amazing I've seen in years.

One trip we had at least 15 different shots at whites. I had never seen anything like it. We had multiples in the spread at one time. These fish weren't even window shopping. They would come in with absolute reckless abandon and we had a few blind hookups.