From the Bridge  
By Bob Woodard, Jr, Club President

The San Diego Marlin Club celebrates our 75th anniversary in 2006. We are proud to be San Diego's oldest and most renowned fishing club. Our annual awards dinner this year will also be a reunion for all members past and present to celebrate this anniversary. The dinner will be on February 4th at the Bali Hai restaurant. Be sure and get your reservations in ASAP as there is limited seating and we expect a big crowd.

Over the last 75 years sportfishing has changed greatly. With the technology we have now, we are better able to manage the fishery we all love so much. We owe much of this to the research performed by scientists at NOAA and the Pfleger Institute of Fisheries Research. Many thanks to all the fishermen who have tagged Marlin over the years to give the scientists the information necessary to conduct their studies.

Here are a couple of examples of information learned by billfish tagging. Kenny Hughes skippered the “INNOVATOR” aboard Jim Jenks "OCEAN PACIFIC" many years back and tagged the first Marlin to cross the equator. Previous to this, it was not known if the fish could endure the trek across these warm waters. Also years ago fishing with my father aboard his boat the "CHRISTINA LYNN", we tagged a fish off Pyramid Head at San Clemente Island which was caught months later 400 miles west of Hawaii. With the invention of Satellite Tags we are now able to track individual fish for up to months at a time. This has taken the research and understanding of all pelagic fisheries to another level.

Speaking of tagging and or releasing fish, the one thing that is for sure is that the less stress and time it takes to release a fish the more likely it will survive. So when you’re releasing billfish do it with class. There is nothing worse than seeing a photo in a magazine of some yahoo holding a billfish over the transom of a boat or out of the water in any manner prior to releasing the fish to get a glory photo. Then in the caption they have the nerve to say the fish was released in good condition.

With the information, our new studies have shown us that this additional and unnecessary stress is exactly what kills fish post-release. So if your going to take a fish out of the water go ahead and kill it, you probably already have. When you see these types of photos, sound off to the editors of these magazines and let them know it's not right, in fact it is an insult to the entire billfish conservation movement.

Happy New Year!!! Hope to see all of you at the Bali Hai.


Best regards,
Bob Woodard Jr.