Jew Fish.....

[flyinghuntster]

:11: I guess you would need to BEEF up your leader line for those Manatees I would imagine that it would be alot faster than riding on a turtle!

 

[Hank49]

:11: I guess you would need to BEEF up your leader line for those Manatees I would imagine that it would be alot faster than riding on a turtle!

This is a true story. I was fishing for jewfish here in the lagoon and hooked a manatee. At first I thought it was a BIG jewfish as it started running off line really fast. My son pulled up the anchors and we started following it. I only had 30lb test line but when I put the boat in nuetral it kept pulling me along (22 foot deep V boat) It pulled us for close to a mile I would guess before we saw it's nose pop up. then it just slipped off the hook. It didn't bend or break anything. Belizean Sleigh Ride.

 

[Quetzal]

This is a true story. I was fishing for jewfish here in the lagoon and hooked a manatee. At first I thought it was a BIG jewfish as it started running off line really fast. My son pulled up the anchors and we started following it. I only had 30lb test line but when I put the boat in nuetral it kept pulling me along (22 foot deep V boat) It pulled us for close to a mile I would guess before we saw it's nose pop up. then it just slipped off the hook. It didn't bend or break anything. Belizean Sleigh Ride.

Keep the stories coming man.

 

[Curt Bowen]

Someone stated way back in this thread,that it was legal to spear Jewfish-its not, its not legal to possess them at all. Back 30 years ago when it was legal to get them, they werent as common as now, but we would not shoot them with a spear, just 12 gauge bangsticks. 38 specials and 44s would just make them mean. They may not be fast like a black or gag, but they are very strong and will take your speargun with them. They are very common now around here in Sarasota and all the way down to the Keys. Every reef holds many of all sizes. The bigger they are, the tougher they are. Meat and strength. Oh by the way this is not Curt, I didnt click his name off when I checked in. Steve.

 

[Quetzal]

Someone stated way back in this thread,that it was legal to spear Jewfish-its not, its not legal to possess them at all. Back 30 years ago when it was legal to get them, they werent as common as now, but we would not shoot them with a spear, just 12 gauge bangsticks. 38 specials and 44s would just make them mean. They may not be fast like a black or gag, but they are very strong and will take your speargun with them. They are very common now around here in Sarasota and all the way down to the Keys. Every reef holds many of all sizes. The bigger they are, the tougher they are. Meat and strength. Oh by the way this is not Curt, I didnt click his name off when I checked in. Steve.

Where?

 

[archman]

Jewfish protection is primarily limited to U.S. water only. You can fish for them throughout a great deal of the Caribbean... I think the commercial fishery in Belize may even be open still. Other commercial fisheries exist. They're hard to pin down... so many little countries.

 

[Curt Bowen]

Sorry, I meant in the U.S. I havent seen a whole lot in the Bahamas, and I have never seen any in the Virgins and Cozumel, I'm sure they are there, but I am sure they are commonly fished for where ever they are found, by spear or line. I suppose it is legal everywhere outside of U.S. Steve.

 

[Rick Murchison]

Hmmm.... reading through this thread I see some very interesting data...
Here's my experience, and what I gather from what I read here.
From the 60's until the mid 90's all my Gulf diving was from Alabama west to Corpus, and the Jewfish populations I saw were big and healthy into the early 70's. When I came back from the Navy in '88, the Jewfish were gone. Gone. The first one I saw was off Panama City in 1999; now I'm seeing them regularly, but there appears to be a sharp drop-off in size and population density between Port St. Joe and PC, and I rarely see one at all anywhere west of Pensacola. (I haven't been diving in Texas in three years so there may be some there now - any Texas divers with a report?)
From what Curt & others are saying it is apparent that the Jewfish has fully recovered in some areas; perhaps if we could more accurately define the population distribution we could get a limited season open in some places.
Based on what I see, right now I'd oppose any open season west of Port St. Joe.
Rick

 

[archman]

I've only done a few Texas rig dives myself, but no jewfish were spotted of any size. There were however fairly large black and warsaw groupers in the 100 lb+ range. There seems to be a trend for "1-2 big grouper" that sit on the bottom of platforms... unfortunately it also seems to be the trend to shoot these suckers on sight. I find that irritating, even when it's my friends doing it.

 

[Walter]

There will be no season on Jewfish until they've recovered in a much larger area. Right now they are plentiful off the SW Florida coast. In most other areas they are still pretty rare.