spp.) are popular, as are balao, or ballyhoo 

 (Hemiramphus and relatives), mackerel 

 (Scomberomorus), barracudas (Sphyraena), dol- 

 phin (Coryphaena), rainbow runner (Elagatis 

 bipinnulatus), jacks (Caronx spp.), tunas and 

 bonitos (Thunnus, Katsuwonus, Euthynnus, 

 Sarda), squids of several genera, flyingfish (Ex- 

 ocoetidae), and artificial and rigged eels 

 (Anguilla) and eel skins. Artificial lures trolled as 

 baits are locally popular, including rubber squids, 

 sauries, mackerel, bonitos, halfbeaks, and eels. 

 One of the largest restrictions to the development 

 of sport fishing for billfish in new areas is the 

 guarantee that an adequate, continual supply of 

 fresh bait will be available, and at a reasonable 

 price. Anglers and skippers have been reluctant to 

 use preserved or artificial bait, in spite of the high 

 billfish catches obtained by commercial longliners 

 using salted or dried bait (squids, sauries, mack- 

 erel, which are not even trolled), or the probable 

 inability of billfishes to distinguish between trolled 

 baits which are fresh or preserved in Formalin. 



It is important to note that anglers using exper- 

 tise, boats, tackle, bait, and navigational equip- 

 ment which are minimal in quality probably will 

 catch fish, but that the quality of these facilities 

 and expertise is directly proportional to angling 

 success. A rule which might be applicable to bill- 

 fishing is that the more you spend the more you 

 catch. 



Finally, it should be stressed that billfish angling 

 is very inefficient. A few captains troll a single 

 bait, while most troll four (two outriggers with 

 skipped bait and two baits trolled slightly subsur- 

 face from "flat-lines") or six (four outriggers and 

 two flat-lines). These baits are being trolled at or 

 within a meter of the surface; hence, the billfish, 

 which normally are subsurface feeders, may not 

 see these relatively tiny baits, especially if the sea 

 surface is rough, or if visibility is poor due to 

 clouds or turbid water from various causes, and 

 under such conditions the chance of catching a bill- 

 fish therefore becomes less. This method is in con- 

 trast to the relatively successful commeicial long- 

 line which fishes from near the surface to over 150 

 m beneath the surface and which entails up to 

 60-75 km of longline involving up to 2.000 hooks. 

 That the angler may catch more billfish when none 

 appears at the surface has been shown in numer- 

 ous angling tournaments by the intrepid and non- 

 conformist anglers who dared to drift a bait at 

 50-100 m. Those who did occasionally won the 



tournament (and within the confines of IGFA 

 rules), yet were suspect and outcast because of 

 their devious ways. It may be concluded that while 

 billfish captains and anglers are usually quite suc- 

 cessful, most seldom attempt to try new ideas 

 which will deviate from past tried and true methods. 



SIZE OF CATCH 



It is interesting to speculate on who catches the 

 largest individual billfish, using what type of lure, 

 under what conditions, and where. No data are 

 available to compare the efficiency of sport and 

 commercial fishermen using trolled baits versus 

 longline per hook. Clearly, longlines are more effi- 

 cient because they fish at the depth where billfish 

 feed, and because there are more hooks fishing at 

 that depth. Yet we do not know if a cleverly 

 rigged, surface-trolled mullet, fished at the sur- 

 face will catch more fish per unit effort of hook. 

 Similarly, data are unavailable to determine wheth- 

 er a longline or angler-trolled bait catches larger fish. 

 There is no evidence either way that the very large 

 billfish — those above 500 kg — are more or less able 

 to break the hook or gangion (drop-line) on a 

 multiple-hook longline rig, versus whether they are 

 easier to fight and land on a single hook. This con- 

 troversial question is open to serious discussion, 

 for it is equally meaningful to the commercial or 

 sport fisherman who wants large fish. If only large 

 fish are available to the longliners yet they cannot 

 be landed because they snap the hook or gangion, 

 then there is no point in fishing for them, and 

 therefore areas reportedly harboring large fish 

 could be avoided. Conversely, the angler is usually 

 not interested in large numbers of small marlin, 

 and would tend to seek those huge marlins which 

 can be hooked, fought, and landed which take ad- 

 vantage of the "give" in monofilament or Dacron 

 line, the bend of the rod, and the captain's ability 

 to determine the fight which the fish will be able to 

 offer. 



Data are needed on all billfishes caught by the 

 angler. Possibly, only small fish are released, so 

 that the scientist obtains a biased estimate of the 

 size of the angler catch, whereas fishermen who fish 

 commercially for billfish retain all fish. Examina- 

 tion of taxidermists' records, however, do not sug- 

 gest differential release of very small or very large 

 fish, although very small billfish (less than 5 kg) are 

 uncommon in anglers' catches because of the large 

 baits trolled. 



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