sportfishery. In Destin, sailfish had been caught as 

 early as 1955, but the first white marlin was landed 

 in 1959 and the first blue marlin in 1962. In 1964, at 

 least 33 marlin (blue and white combined) and 98 

 sailfish had been caught. The early history and de- 

 velopment of the sportfishery for billfishes in the 

 northeastern Gulf of Mexico was reported by 

 Siebenaler (1965). 



Boats of various characteristics are used in the 

 sportfishery. Boat lengths vary from less than 20 ft 

 (6.1 m) to over 60 ft (18.3 m). Either gas or diesel 

 engines are used. The number of lines fished from a 

 boat may vary from two to four; however, most 

 boats fish four lines, the two outer lines generally 

 trailing out from outriggers. Most boats also use 

 "teasers," devices trolled at short distances astern 

 to attract fish. Soft drink bottles, bunched-up 

 strands of colored nylon or other synthetic material, 

 and other devices are used as teasers. Generally, 

 two, one on each side of the stern, are used. 



Analyses of data on sportfisheries for billfishes 

 are rare, probably owing to lack of record keeping. 

 The best analysis made to date was of the sport- 

 fishery for sailfish off Kenya during 1958-68 by Wil- 

 liams ( 1970). Data from a sportfishery for billfishes 

 combined with data from the commercial fishery 

 were used by Strasburg( 1970) for his analysis of the 

 Hawaiian fishery. A report to anglers by Nakamura 

 (1971) presented the results of an analysis of data 

 kept by the New Orleans Big Game Fishing Club 

 for the area off the Mississippi River Delta during 

 the period 1966-70. A subsequent similar report for 

 anglers for the year 1971 was expanded to include 

 the northwest Florida area (Nakamura and Rivas, 

 1972). 



Our report presents the results of studies made 

 on the sportfishery for billfishes in 1971 in the 

 northeastern Gulf of Mexico. This study was initi- 

 ated in 1970 at the Panama City Laboratory (known 

 then as the Eastern Gulf Marine Laboratory) of the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service in Panama City, 

 Florida. Much data were provided to us by 

 sportsmen and boat captains and members of big 

 game fishing clubs and charter boat associations in 

 New Orleans, Mobile, Pensacola, Destin, and 

 Panama City. 



SOURCE AND TREATMENT OF DATA 



Two distinct areas were fished (Fig. 1). One was 

 the area off South Pass at the mouth of the Missis- 

 sippi River. This was fished by members of the 



New Orleans Big Game Fishing Club. The other 

 was the area offshore of northwest Florida. This 

 was fished by boats out of Pensacola (both the 

 Mobile Big Game Fishing Club and the Pensacola 

 Big Game Fishing Club), Destin (Destin Charter 

 Boat Association), and Panama City (Panama City 

 Charter Boat Association). Because these two 

 areas did not overlap, we separated their respective 

 data in our analyses. 



The data supplied by sportfishermen and boat 

 captains were recorded on logs (Fig. 2). The New 

 Orleans Big Game Fishing Club had a chart of the 

 South Pass area on the reverse side of its logs, while 

 the other clubs and associations had a chart of the 

 northwest Florida area on the reverse side of their 

 logs. 



The charts of the two areas were divided into 

 10-minute squares (Fig. 1). Each square was al- 

 phabetically and numerically labeled, so that loca- 

 tions of fish sightings and catches could easily be 

 identified. Bottom contour lines were also drawn on 

 the charts. The New Orleans Big Game Fishing 

 Club also added compass headings on its chart. In 

 most instances, the anglers drew their tracks from 

 the start to the end of fishing on the charts and 

 marked the locations of fish sightings along their 

 tracks. 



The kinds of data recorded on the logs (Fig. 2) 

 included dates and hours of fishing; areas fished; 

 locations and times of raises, hookups, and catches 

 by species; baits used; water color; surface condi- 

 tions; and boat characteristics. Morphometric and 

 biological data were obtained on specimens after 

 obtaining permission from the angler or boat cap- 

 tain. The only biological data presented in this re- 

 port are sex ratios. The morphometric data are pre- 

 sented in another paper (Lenarz and Nakamura, 

 1974). 



Our analyses were made for blue marlin, white 

 marlin, and sailfish. Data for all three plus uniden- 

 tified billfish were combined for billfishes in gen- 

 eral. In some instances, we made analyses only for 

 total billfishes, as data by species involved very 

 small numbers, or zeros. 



Three distinct events occur while billfishing: 

 first, a t'lsh is raised, that is, a billfish comes up to a 

 bait from below, or comes over to a bait from a 

 lateral zone, and while the fish may investigate one 

 or several of the offered baits, it may or may not 

 take one; second, the fish may be hooked, and it 

 may be fought for varying lengths of time, and sub- 

 sequently, either lost or boated; and third, the fish 



70 



