On Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:20:07 -0400, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:



In my experience, I always explained the rules ahead of time - WAY
ahead of time. On my boats, market fish were the keepers - any trophy
fish was to be released as (1) the larger fish are almost always
breeders and female and (2) a picture of the fish along side the boat,
a certificate by me would be issued and I have a contact who does high
quality replica mounts for a very reasonable price.

That's my view on this.
But that captain either didn't think about of the heat he was going to
take, or didn't care, else he would have laid down the rules up front.
It was an unusual catch, and put him on the spot.
According to the article, from the captain:
"It is regrettable that such a magnificent fish had to be taken to
shore to be weighed to verify a record, but in these situations it is
the angler's decision," said Aston."
Maybe he will change the rules for his clients, and maybe not.

Now having said that, what I would have done is try to convince the
client not to land the fish - just settle for one hell of a story,
some pictures and maybe offer to pay for a mount if that's what the
client wanted.

Reminds me of the Oak Harbor Shark Tournament a few years ago. Two
guys hooked up with a 1,300 lb Tiger shark off Martha's. They had no
chance to win the tournament because they couldn't make it back to Oak
Harbor in time to weigh in, but they took the shark anyway for the
record. I was out there the day it happened and to tell the truth, I
felt ****ed off that they took this beautiful predator out of the
ecosystem just for the record.

That was bull**** in my book.

One final thought - we, and I mean all tournament fishermen, need to
reevaluate the landed tournaments and go towards the X series
billfish and shark tournament model - on board judges who film,
document, measure and tag all catches which are then released back
into the eco system.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :)

Sounds like good practice.
The photo in the link I posted reminded me of the old Hemingway
and Teddy R. big-game hunting photos where they had a foot on a dead
rhino or elephant. Or the buffalo slaughtered and left to rot.
Killing for the sake of killing.
Better to wrestle them things. Then you can feel proud, or maybe just
stop feeling anything at all. Depends on who wins.

--Vic