Killing Fish in Tournaments

[Questsportfishing]

and some dumb ones... I like the 600 points rule to 600+ lb's 'kill / take' rule...! Too many times we all don't see the reality of everyday fishing compared to commercial fishing!! let me explain a family that sits down to dinner they are having fish... WHO caught that fish by the way??? are we buying all our fish from tiwan? Honduras? Canadian fish ????? everyone trashes commercial fishermen anymore and sticks spotters / rules and regulations up their butt!!!! then we weed out boats because of some tree huggin' / tree eating / long haired / (but well groomed with water soap FISH FROM MARKET fed / drive my foriegn car (where they have factory's that I don't see) / numb-skulls that don't know life from a WII game mentality...) comes down to the dock and points a finger at a fisherman and says you killed 'IT' !!! this type mentality SUCKS big time to me !!!! a crew should have respect for the water, fish, fellow people, not throw their garbage in the water, should know not to gaff a fish to release it!, SHOULD KNOW HOW TO TAKE A FISH EVEN FOR A TOURNAMENT!!! ... THIS FISH SHOULD ALSO BE EATEN , donated you make the call.. I like marlin roast! I like Sailfish on a smoker I make some great tasteing dip! the first billfish I ever ate was a white marlin (cut thin and fried) ... look at the cost in power, paper, trash, clean up, gas used, and resources a golf tournament costs us...???!!! starts making sense huh? Now think about this.. Zane grey reef has long liners setting gear even today as I write this and you want to bust a crew or tournament for taking 4 on average fish on a 600+ / points deal??? make good rules and have fun! my opinion anyway but it's best to look at the whole picture!

[Captain Fred Archer]

I have no ax to grind in this discussion. I am an unabashed, unashamed, marlin hugger and have been for many, many years. We simply did not kill them on my boat. Swords and spearfish, yes, but no other bills. So, we didn't fish the marlin tournaments, which used to be all-kill.

I LOVE tournament fishing and have since my days as a tournament bass pro and I jumped all over tuna and wahoo tournaments, big or small and loved fishing them.

As far as all-release tournaments are concerned, with the exception of The Boy Scout, which is in St Thomas and not Mexico, it used to be that you had to pay the big entry bucks so that you'd be able to compete in what amounted to a token C&R division that offered up some tackle prizes - no money - no thank you.

Nowadays down in Cabo there are more and more all release marlin tournaments, which I think is a great thing. Only problem there is that some of those teams are pure machines, that catch over a hundred marlin a day! Yikes! I have buds who do that, but it sounds too much like work to me and I liked my clients squaring up on each striped, blue, or black marlin that we hooked and getting the most out of each fish, then carefully and safely releasing it.

Would I stick a potential money fish if I were in a kill tournament? Sure, but I'd try to make sure that it was truly big enough to be a winner before I did. Easy to say, I know, but not so easy to do. And my opinion means nothing here, because I never faced that situation.

I agree with the point about the longliners killing a helluva lot more marlin than we sporties, but I hasten to pass on the words of one I knew well. He said, "You know, Fred, those tournament guys that get all worked up about us fishing for money do the exact same thing, only the ones who get good or lucky at it get a helluva lot more money per pound for their fish than we do ours!"

I gotta admit, if you stop and think about it, he had a point.

Danged longliners!

Best in Big Game website & online store, www.fredarchersworldoffishing.com

[Fritz]

"You know, Fred, those tournament guys that get all worked up about us fishing for money do the exact same thing, only the ones who get good or lucky at it get a helluva lot more money per pound for their fish than we do ours!"[/B]

I gotta admit, if you stop and think about it, he had a point.

Danged longliners!

Best in Big Game website & online store, www.fredarchersworldoffishing.com

Fred, any comparison of the slaughter and numbers taken by the longliners and the billfish killed by sporties is ludicrous at best.

[Captain Fred Archer]

Fritz,

The point was not mine and it did not center on who killed how many...it was more about the money sides of the equation; intent, goals, and hypocracy as seen by the other side - a side that anyone who has read my novel, Grim Ripper, knows that I loathe and despise. However, I will not allow those feelings to blind me to the point he was making. I left out him saying, "$3,750 a pound for an 800 pound blue in the (tournament name not used but he was pretty much right)? Mister, that's a helluva lot more than the measly buck and a half a pound I get for one, if I can get it."

Now again, I don't dislike the longliners, I despise the indescriminate, "dirty" and destructive way that they fish. However, I also recognize that if we are ever going to get rid of them, we're probably going to have to get Joe Public behind us and in order to do that, we are going to have to have the answers to the commercial guys' stands, which among other things, will be "the pot calling the kettle black" one mentioned here.

As for me, I am actually a radical when it comes to longlining and many other forms of destructive commercial fishing. It is too long to post here, but there is an entire chapter on the subject in my Bigeye Troller's Bible, with the crux being that I am so radical on the issue that I believe that longlines and other forms of "dirty" commercial fishing should be banned and replaced by licensing any and all rod and reelers who would like to sell their catch to do so instead. It's a long, controversial chapter with some pretty hardnosed commentary, but it is what I believe, come hell or high water.

Finally, I am in no way bashing marlin tournament fishermen or adopting a "holier-than-thou" attitude when it comes to killing marlin or any other fish in tournaments. My rules on that are mine and mine only. I do not carry my marlin-hugging banner around, waving it and scolding others for their attitudes on this subject. No question that at times I try to convince others to release 'em all, but that is different than disrespecting those who take them in tournaments.

Now, catch 'em up and good luck to all, tournament or no tournament!

Da Hugger