each species have not been presented, as no par- 

 ticular ten-minute square was consistently high in 

 abundance. 



The biweekly periods 9 June-22 June and 4 

 Aug. -17 Aug. for South Pass, and 23 June-6 July 

 and 4 Aug.- 17 Aug. for northwest Florida were the 

 periods with the widest dispersement of fishing ef- 

 fort. Because of this, probably, these periods 

 showed the widest dispersement of billfishes. 



The '"Nipple," named for the curvature of the 

 100-fathom line in square C3 (Fig. 7) off northwest 

 Florida, is a favorite fishing site for big game 

 fishermen. It was not especially abundant with bill- 

 fishes. July was the month during which billfishes 

 were most abundant in the "Nipple" area. As the 

 season progressed, most of the high-abundance 

 squares appeared in the southern sectors in and to 

 the sides of the De Soto Canyon in squares F3, F4, 

 G3, and G4 (Fig. 7). 



EFFECT OF WATER COLOR 



Water color where billfishes were raised was 

 categorized as blue, blue-green, and green. The few 

 reports stating water color as "dirty water" were 

 excluded. 



The results indicate that the bluer the water, the 

 greater the abundance of all three species. As 

 shown in Table 11, the number of fish raised per 

 hour decreased and the number of hours to raise a 

 fish increased from blue to blue-green and again 

 from blue-green to green for each species, except 

 for sailfish. In South Pass, sailfish abundance was 

 about equal in blue-green and green waters and 

 least in blue water, whereas in northwest Florida, it 

 was about equal in blue and blue-green waters and 

 least in green. 



EFFECT OF SURFACE CONDITION 



Visible surface conditions under which billfishes 

 were raised were categorized as open water, lines 

 or rips, scattered grass, grass patches, and others. 

 The term open water was selected for surface con- 

 ditions when tide lines or rips, sargassum, and float- 

 ing objects were not present. Tide rips, tide lines, 

 and lines of sargassum were classed as lines or rips. 

 When sargassum was scattered over the surface and 

 not in large clumps, the condition was classified as 

 scattered grass. When sargassum appeared in 

 clumps or patches, the term grass patch was used. 



The number of hours fished in each category 



Table 9. — Numbers of billfishes raised and hours trolled by time of day, South Pass. 1971 



Time of day 



0600- 



0700- 



0800- 



0900- 



1000- 



1100- 



1200- 



1300- 



1400- 



1500- 



1600- 



1700- 



1800- 





0659 



0759 



0869 



0959 



1059 



1159 



1259 



1359 



1459 



1559 



1659 



1759 



1859 



Blue marlin 



1 



2 



13 



23 



28 



34 



28 



13 



22 



12 



12 



4 







White marlin 







1 



8 



13 



31 



26 



11 



28 



22 



7 



1 



3 



1 



Sailfish 







1 



2 



4 



5 



14 



4 



12 



4 



2 







1 







Unidentified 





























billfish 











1 



2 



2 



1 































All billfish 



1 



4 



24 



42 



66 



75 



43 



53 



48 



21 



13 



8 



1 



Hours trolled 



5.00 



94.50 



282.50 



384.25 



418.75 



434.25 



425.25 



400.50 



341.75 



253.75 



126.00 



52.75 



10.00 



Table 10. — Numbers of billfishes raised and hours trolled by 



time of day, northwest Florida, 



1971. 







Time of day 



0600- 



0700- 



0800- 



0900- 



1000- 



1100- 



1200- 



1300- 



1400- 



1500- 



1600- 



1700- 



1800- 





0659 



0759 



0859 



0959 



1059 



1159 



1259 



1359 



1459 



1559 



1659 



1759 



1859 



Blue marlin 



2 



7 



13 



31 



48 



60 



37 



39 



34 



12 



1 











White marlin 







16 



30 



75 



125 



124 



104 



82 



72 



18 



6 



1 



1 



Sailfish 



1 



4 



51 



108 



176 



132 



84 



72 



117 



50 



7 







1 



Unidentified 





























billfish 



1 



1 



3 



3 



5 



5 



5 



6 



3 



3 



1 



1 







All billfish 



4 



28 



97 



217 



354 



321 



230 



199 



226 



83 



15 



2 



2 



Hours trolled 



49.75 



140.50 



587.50 



1,069.75 



1,143.00 1.150.75 1,128.00 1,074.50 



953.50 



429.25 



111.75 



40.75 



11.25 



281 



