wrote in message ...

On Fri, 04 May 2012 15:54:33 -0400, X ` Man
wrote:

On 5/4/12 3:47 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 04 May 2012 15:17:34 -0400, X ` Man
wrote:

On 5/4/12 2:52 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 04 May 2012 13:31:00 -0400, X ` Man
wrote:

On 5/4/12 1:09 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 04 May 2012 12:39:56 -0400, X ` Man

I don't do much fishing anymore. I do, however, think it is more
sporting than hunting. There's nothing sporting about seeing an elk
or a
moose a few hundred yards away and then shooting it with a high
powered
rifle and scope.


How is that any less "sporting" than sitting in the lounge of your
sport fish, sipping a cold drink, waiting for a tuna to hit one of
the
ballyhoo you are trolling?
The mate probably rigged the bait and struck the fish. All you did
was
reel it in.



Well, it is less sporting because fishing for big pelagics is a lot
more
dangerous than shooting a moose or an elk, but I'm not a fan of that
sort of "hunting," either.

It is basically the same as the canned hunt you are talking about on a
game ranch and I am not sure where the danger is ... unless the boat
sinks.

I wasn't making a comparison to a canned hunt but to "regular" hunting,
and if you've never been aboard a boat targeting 500-pound fish, you
have no idea of the dangers involved...that have nothing to do with the
boat sinking.

What dangers? We are not talking about Alaskan crab fishermen here.
How many recreational fishermen are killed every year? (tossing out
the ones who just get drunk and fall out of the boat)


You mean, other than being pulled overboard by a fish, being bitten by a
pelagic, falling and hitting your head, arm strain, neck strain, back
strain, being impaled with large fish hooks, stabbed by knives, sun
poisoning, and heatstroke, among other things?

I am sure that pales in comparison to the number of hunters who fall
out of tree stands, drown in freezing water, get attacked by the
animal they are hunting, get bit by snakes, get shot by other hunters
or just shoot themselves. They still have all of those exposure risks,
knife injury risks and strain injuries trying to drag that elk out of
the woods. I suppose we could get some kind of numbers but I don't
care that much because they are probably meaningless.

You are still ignoring all the fishermen who are simply bottom fishing
off their dock. (probably analogous to shooting squirrels off
porch)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harry probably has not fished for big fish. Especially East Coast fishing.
they fish out of fighting chairs, where they are strapped in and have heavy
duty reels with set drag. I fish for tuna out of San Diego. We do stand up
fishing, no chairs, just a fighting belt. I have caught 100# tuna and never
felt that I was going to be pulled overboard. The drags on the reels
prevent the excess pull on your body. Even with 150# test line, you are
only going to feel maybe 35# pull. The line drag from the water will add a
bunch of drag to the line, but not to the reel. My last fish was 96# and
with about 350 yds of line out it took near an hour to land the fish. That
is with 65# PowerPro and 50# mono topshot. Probably 40# Flouro leader.
You are beat after the fishing landed, but still not feeling like you are
going to be pulled overboard. Big Marlin in Cabo are a fighting chair fish,
so still pretty safe except for stupidity.

On 5/5/12 12:13 AM, Califbill wrote:
--

Harry probably has not fished for big fish.

You would be wrong, though I haven't done so in a long time.