Circle Hooks- Tell NMFS What you think

[Captain Jay Kavanagh]

Please, everyone take time to make a comment on the circle hook fiasco.

You can email them to: 0648-AV25@noaa.gov

Here is what I wrote, feel free to copy and change as needed, just say something to them.

Now is the chance!

here is what I had to say.....

March 20, 2007

National Oceanic and Atmospheric
NOAA/NMFS HMS
Management Division, 263 13th Avenue
South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701.

RE: Comments on Proposed Billfish Circle Hook Rule


This letter is in response for NMFS requests for comments on the Proposed Circle Hook Rule.

I am strongly opposed to the rule requiring the use of non-offset circle hooks with natural bait fished in Atlantic Billfish Tournaments.

In North Carolina, the traditional and historic method of fishing for Blue Marlin, utilizes heavy tackle, natural bait and lure combinations fished with J hooks trolled at a faster speed. This method, fished much like an artificial bait, utilizing little or no drop back on the strike, does not deeply hook fish and does not significantly cause high post release mortality.

After much study, trial and error, in my professional opinion, to utilize a circle hook in this current method of natural bait / lure combination fishing would be extremely problematic.

NMFS has a history of maintaining Historic Fisheries, and the implementation of this rule would end a traditional and historic heavy tackle-natural bait fishery in North Carolina.

In my experience, circle hooks are highly effective when utilizing natural baits without a lure (naked) on light tackle (under 50# test main line and under 80# test leader). This fishing is commonly referred to as “Dink Baits”, and is effective in targeting white marlin and sailfish.

Furthermore there is little data to support the rule targeted at our heavy tackle, lure/bait blue marlin fishery in regards to post release mortality. In my experience, Blue Marlin post release billfish mortality is very low utilizing heavy tackle with J hooks on lure/bait combinations.

It is highly likely that tournaments in North Carolina would evolve into a strictly artificial only (lure fishing) event, where as this would be the only way to effectively target Blue Marlin.

It is my experience, Lure Fishing has a higher rate of post release mortality due to the fact that most lures employ large swinging double hooks that often cause damage to the eyes and gills of Blue Marlin. I have personally witnessed blue marlin caught on lures that were hooked on a lure and the two hooks set were impaled in the fish in such a way that it closed the mouth of the Blue Marlin during the fight, essentially suffocating the fish.

This method of Lure Fishing is often more damaging than single hook natural bait fishing and would be allowed under the Proposed Circle Hook Rule.

Enforcement of the rule would also be problematic, as Tournament Operators would be the enforcement agent of the proposed rule.

Furthermore, recreational billfish mortality is an extremely small portion of overall billfish mortality. Billfish in general would be better served by targeting an area of higher billfish mortality rather than the statistically insignificant portion of post release recreational mortality.

As a professional Sportfishing Captain, fishing in billfish tournaments, and as a Tournament Operator, I appreciate the delay in implementation of the proposed Circle Hook Rule.
A reasonable alternative that would work for our method of fishing and result in decreased recreational billfish mortality would be to require circle hooks only on light tackle natural baits commonly referred to as “dink baits” but continue to allow the use of J hooks on heavy tackle lure/bait combinations.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Proposed Billfish Circle Hook Rule.

Sincerely,


Captain Jay Kavanagh
Bite Me Sportfishing
http://www.fishbiteme.com
252-995-3035 home
252-996-0295 mobile / boat


__________________________________________________ ____

Think we could make this a "sticky"

Also there are some public hearings.
Show up and let them know what you think.

The final
The hearing locations are:
1. March 27, 2007 from 7 – 9 p.m.
Worcester County Library, Snow Hill
Branch, 307 North Washington Street,
Snow Hill, Maryland, 21863.

2. March 28, 2007 from 7 – 9 p.m.
Broward County Library, Main Library,
100 South Andrews Avenue, Ft.
Lauderdale, FL 33301.

3. March 29, 2007 from 7 – 9 p.m.
Carteret Community College, Joslyn
Hall, H.J. McGee, Jr. Building, 3505
Arendell Street, Morehead City, NC
28557–2989.

[Captain Jay Kavanagh]

important shit here fellas, make your voice heard!

[Dave Sikorski]

Jay-

That is a very well written letter. Thanks for sharing it. I spent the last 10 min tying and deleting my e-mail to them. I have so many thoughts in my head I wasn't sure how to get it all on paper. I'll be sending out my opinion before the day is over.

Thanks for information.

I VOTE FOR A STICKY IN ALL FORUMS.

-D

[S.P.F.1]

I'm a charter captain out of Stuart, Fl.. As you all know we have a great circuit of sailfish tournaments. I used to be strongly against the mandatory circle hook rule, but after using them exclusivly for the last three months(trolling), I can assure you that they are equally as good as the old 9175 that we all used and loved so much. Being a professional fisherman for the last 15 years, I was very set in my ways. After a little trial and error and error again we finally found what works best for us. Since mid Dec., between Fl and Isla Mujeres Mex., we have released over 400 sails on them and won a small handfull of tournaments. Our star anglers, a pair of brothers 13 and 15 (not old enough to have any bad habits) were able to perfect the circle hook technique. Just slow everything down a notch and I think you will all be pleasantly surprised. I would say, good anglers can expect to maintain their 75-90% averages. And it seems as though you can use the drag a lot more (without pulling hooks) once the fish settles down. I can see why the N.C. boys dont want it and definately Islander Lures, it does take a great Blue Marlin bait out of the spread (unless you don't mind losing a $22 lure every bite). I feel that for release tournaments circle hooks are a plus, for kill tournaments piontless, and for the fishing as a whole, how can you argue anything other then it is better for the fish. Their are plenty of alternative baits to a blue and white Islander or a Cindy Lopper. Also we rigged quite a few baits old school way ( with the hook on the ventral side of the bait). Give that a shot, it still works. If any of you guys want to ride a day and see how we do it on the Boneshaker, give a call or check out the site.
Scott Fawcett (772) 263-0904
P.S. That was a well writen letter, but there are only a few tournamets a year that we have to worry about. Fun fishing will remain the same and on tournament days it is still a level playing field. Also a good point was made about double hook rigs, they should not count in tournaments either, unless both hooks are retrieved back from the fish. I, as a mate and a capt. am terrified of the free swinging 12/0. Above all, be safe and have fun.

[Deep C]

S.P. F.
I think you're missing a couple points here. The circle does not work well with any combo... Have you stopped to think about the combo lure makers and the financial impact it has on them? I'm one of them. The ruling forced the layoff of all my guys and the closing of my factory. I still make tuna and blue marlin lures but that process is slow, not very profitable, and only a fraction of what my business was with the combo class...
I use circles for our sails no problem but I also do blues and whites elsewhere. The combo CAN NOT be used effectively with a circle because the head of the lure forces the mouth of the fish open WIDER than the gap of a circle when pressure is applied at hook up time. Blue marlin pile on baits and go away. Though the approach is from an angle the bite is usually from directly behind and momentum carries them forward in many cases. For a circle to work properly the bait must be dropped back to and basically pointed away froom the boat. The blue doesn't read the rules though and frequently just goes back down where the hook cant set. Whites and dinks can be fished like our sails but again for the reasons outlined above with combos, they are next to impossible.
Then the other issue we all should have a problem with is the Government interfering with competition fishing at all. It would be like EPA telling NASCAR to slow down because ite "enviromentally friendly". More and more rules constraining our ability to have an enjoyable sport has already pushed several away from fishing. More rules will only continue to make our industry less enjoyable til it collapses.
Ihave no problem if a sailfish tournament SELF imposes a rule for circles. Its a different thing when other species and styles are involved and the govenment MANDATES having to use them when they did no research on the effectiveness .

[S.P.F.1]

I would not recomend fishing a combo with the circle hook behind the lure. As far back as 6 years ago I saw the Crew of the Reel Tight pitch baiting Blues in St. T. a Mold Craft Super Chugger with a circle hook in front. It seemed to work fine for them in the Boyscout. Also we use color often with circle hooks. I would say any one who feels that a circle hook can't be used effectively with a skirt or lure is just not rigging it correctly. Like I said Islander will not benifit from this law come tournament time, or any expensive lure company, do to the fact that (like I said no one wants to sacrafice a 20 some dollar lure on every bite). But we all will benefit as good fishing continues. Octopuss or squid skirts work well as do pretty much any soft head lures. Like I said in the previous post trial and error and error again, but we did find rigs that work. I definately am fortunate to fish 200-250 trips a year. I lets me do a lot of testing. Keep trying you will find a way that works for you. People will continue to buy your lures, I am sure they're great. Most of your sales are not tournament oriented anyways. There are far more charter days and fun days then tournament days. If they close the fishing down all together like they tried to do a few years ago then it will really hurt the companies. The better the fish do the better you'll do. Look at this as an oppertunity to be on the frontier. You could make the first circle hook friendly lure. Or at least a more friendly. This is your big chance take it and run. I tried to fight it, but it's better for all of us.

[Deep C]

Scot
We also fish about that. Our Combo score is 0-112 over three years of testing. I sent five hundred lures around the world to thirty different top shelf boats and 18% hook up rate from Costa Rica was the best we could attain. No the people aren't buying and practicing with stuff they cant use in tournaments. About 80% of that class are purchased by tournament teams. Sales off by almost $100,000 since the inception of the rule.

In closing I'm taken back by how many people have been sucked in by the hype that they are that much better. One private study showed a marked difference in survival after a short period based on 20 fish. The NMFS study had interaction with over 2000 fish. The incident rate for badly hooked fish was .49 (J hook) vs .47 (circle hook) in drop back scenarios between 5 and 15 seconds where realisticly most peopl fish. Thats only 2 out of a 1000 more likely to be impacted by J over circle. The place where that was really upside down was in drop backs longer than 15 seconds where the rate was bad for J. I don't know many who drop back 15 or more seconds.
No study has been done to determine at all with combos yet they were lumped in with the meat arbitrarily. I see no long term study for effect of circle hooks. A buddy asked if I ever caught a fish with a circle in it. If half of the fish we catch down here were released with circles how come my answer is no there, but I do catch a half dozen or so a year with j hooks in them. Almost all circle caught fish are released with that hook in the mandible of the jaw.
There has been one study on giant tuna that shows that the quality of bluefins recovered with circles was poor. No fat, emaciated and inflamed jaws so bad that the fish could not feed... Food for thought.

[S.P.F.1]

I'm actually good friends with a captain who my have provided some of that blue fin data. I agree. All I am saying is that if your ratio is 0 -112 over three years you need to give your lures to me and my friends. First off 112 blue marlin bites in three years is not much to go on.Thats a three month season in St. Thomas. Once you find the right way to rig them I am sure you will be a lot happier. My boss owns Finest Kind tackle store and catalog. Send some stuff to me and I will experiment for you. We are on our way back to the Bahamas as soon as we finish the Wold Sailfish Championshid in Key West In April. I can assure you I can give a few lures to my mates and friends and they will be able to rig them combo style effectively. I'll send you some pictures and hopefully you can open that part of your shop again. Keep in mind, my agruement is that lures can be used in conjuntion with circle hooks, nothing else. Thanks
P.S. If the Blue Fins couldn't eat how did they catch them?

[Deep C]

I do that many bites in a month at Chub but my whole spread isn't made up of them. Since that bait hook up is so bad I have basically dragged it as a teaser... We have run on my boat 20 different rigging variations through those 112 bites. Our J hook rate on that bait is about 70-75%.
The other boats have employed a couple dozen variations on top of that. Not like we havn't been trying. I've got my box loaded with twelve new experimental styles that we will run our practice day at Chub this year with...
You mentioned above "you do not suggest running combos with circles" unfortunately for me and my fellow manufacturers that is the public sentiment. What really hurts is that that bait raises more fish by double than any other one I have ever dragged. I design stuff for my own use in tournaments to win with. I've got a strong success rate myself. Most of which was produced by the four models in that class that I make ...
Tournaments are supposed to be about dragging the best thing you can for the biggest or most things you can catch. The rule levels the playing field to the point of making tournaments really nothing more than a lottery...

[WhiteMarlin]

Scott's a damn good fishermen! Send him some!