Royce (1957) and Strasburg (1970) have discussed 

 the distribution and size composition of billfishes 

 taken by longline vessels in Hawaiian waters and 

 other regions of the Central Pacific. 



MECHANICS OF 

 THE SPORT FISHERY 



Sport fishing for billfish, as well as tuna, is 

 unique in its requirements for specialized and ex- 

 pensive gear. With few exceptions, the success of 

 an angler in finding, hooking, and landing a billfish 

 is directly proportional to the finding, fishing, and 

 maneuvering expertise of the captain and mates, 

 the overall character of the sportfishing vessel and 

 the quality and resolving power of its navigational 

 and depth-sounding equipment, the reliability of 

 the rods and reels, and the special know-how re- 

 quired of the captain or mate to make a dead bait 

 troll so that it "swims'" like a live one. The cost to 

 a banker from Chicago or a secretary from New 

 Orleans will still cost $100 to $1,000 a day, depend- 

 ing on where the billfish are sought and the 

 captain's reputation as a skilled "fish-getter." Of 

 course, the person who chooses to own a billfish- 

 ing vessel and maintain a captain, mate, and the 

 vessel's annual expenses will have to underwrite 

 costs well over the $100,000 mark. Exact data on 

 expenses incurred by billfish and tuna anglers are 

 not presently available. We are currently collecting 

 and analyzing these kinds of data as part of a sur- 

 vey of the billfish and tuna sport fishery of the 

 western hemisphere for the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service. In the questionnaires we mailed 

 to thousands of big-game anglers, we requested 

 confidential information on the various expenses 

 incurred in fishing for billfish and tuna. Most an- 

 glers happily complied, but some who did not indi- 

 cated that if they ever stopped to calculate how 

 much they spent they would never go fishing 

 again. Billfishing might thus be classed as the sport 

 of kings merely because of the cost. But the re- 

 wards are high, the excitement is tense, the 

 memories are forever, and an increasing number of 

 persons in the middle-mcome bracket are finding 

 ways to save their money for that dream trip to 

 troll off Hawaii or Bimini for that big blue. 



The most complete description of a 

 Sportfisherman — this being an inboard power boat 

 designed specially for offshore fishing — is given by 

 Rybovich (1965), and for detailed information the 

 reader is referred to this article. Sportfishermen 



are usually 36 to 42 feet long, and have numerous 

 specific features which are unique (Fig. 2). Among 

 these are the tuna tower, especially helpful in locat- 

 ing billfish or tuna, baitfish, or birds feeding on the 

 baitfish which frequently indicate billfish. Better 

 visibility from the tower permits the captain to 

 "bait" the fish, such as is done for swordfish and 

 tuna, by circling them with a trolled bait. The flying 

 bridge, from which the captain can maneuver the 

 boat while looking ahead or watching the angler and 

 the fish he may be fighting, has its own set of con- 

 trols. Outriggers have long been used to skip trolled 

 baits at the surface on the theoretical premise that 

 billfish will think that they are seeing their favorite 

 food — flyingfish — and will be irresistibly drawn to 

 them. In reality, billfish hardly ever eat flyingfish, 

 but it gives the angler a thrill when that rare stray 

 marlin comes up from the depths to see what damn 

 fool is dragging an estuarine mullet 50 nautical miles 

 offshore. The line from the rod and reel in the cock- 

 pit is fastened to a line from the outrigger tip by a 

 spring-release clip so that when a fish hits the bait, 

 it drops back. According to the late Tommy Gif- 

 ford, inventor of the drop-back technique, this gives 



1 ANTENNA 



2 TOWER OH njNA TOWEB 



3 TOWER OR TUNA TOWER 



4 FITING BRIDCE 

 3 COCKPIT OR lOWERCONTROl STATION 



6 OUTRIGGER 



7 OUTRIGGER 

 a FIGHTING CHAIR 

 9 TRANSOM DOOR 



10 BOW RAILS 



11 BAIT BOX 

 I? LADDER 



Figure 2. — Schematic diagram of a Sportfisherman (from 

 Rybovich, 1965). 



22 



