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NEWSLINESVictoria
shines after
the blow
Heavy winds throughout March
made it almost impossible to
prospect Victoria’s swordfish
grounds off Mallacoota and Lakes
Entrance, but by early April the
winds abated and it wasn’t long
before the reports of big swordfish
began to emerge.
Lakes Entrance local angler Matt
Porter and crew scored a whopping
season-opener with a 196kg on
their first trip out.
Steve Taranto’s Home Strait
team followed on from their great
form last season by releasing four
swordfish up to 180kg during the
first week of April. Visiting from
NSW, George Lirantzis and his
team aboard Side Effect scored
five strikes over a three-day trip,
releasing an estimated 70kg sword
and boating one of 130kg.
May, June and July should see a lot
of new boats and anglers entering
this new fishery. Marine biologist
Sean Tracy will be deploying six
pop-up satellite tags on swordfish
over the coming months to continueThe US recreational billfish fishery is limited to
a total landing of 250 individuals of Atlantic
blue marlin, Atlantic white marlin and Atlantic
roundscale spearfish combined. Western Atlantic
sailfish are not included in this limit.
In mid-March the US agency responsible for
management of their Atlantic billfish fishery, the
National Marine Fisheries Service, released its
estimate that the total number of recreational
billfish landings in US Atlantic waters during 2017
was 125 fish, just half of the amount allotted. This
total includes 58 Atlantic blue marlin (down from the
87 reported in 2016), 61 Atlantic white marlin (60 in
2016) and six roundscale spearfish (down from the
22 reported in 2016).
The numbers were aggregated from a variety of
sources, including self-reported angler reports from
the Highly Migratory Species (HMS) non-Tournament
Recreational Swordfish and Billfish Landings
Database, as well as tournament landings from
the Atlantic Tournament Registration and Reporting
system, catch card reports from North Carolina
and Maryland, and individual billfish intercepted by
the Large Pelagic Survey and Marine Recreational
Information Program. Estimates may change due to
late reporting.Victorian anglers have
enjoyed great game fishing
through autumn, with
swordfish to 200kg and
southern bluefin tuna to
more than 100kg already.According to the National Marine Fisheries
Service, only 125 Atlantic billfish were
landed by US recreational anglers in 2017.his research on the movements and
post-release survival of swordfish in
Victorian waters.
Victoria has emerged as Australia’s
primary state for Autumn game
fishing, with an excellent tuna
fishery on its western boundary,
and swordfish aplenty in the Bass
Canyon off its eastern coast.
Schools of southern bluefin tuna
have turned up off most of themajor ports to the west of Victoria,
and several jumbo bluefin of more
than 100kg have been caught off
Port Fairy and Portland. Casting
stickbait lures into the feeding
schools of smaller fish has proven
very effective, as well as trolling
traditional skirted lures.
If the weather allows, there is still
an exciting season ahead.- Richard Abela
Total US Atlantic billfish landed in 2017