Jewfish. April 2018

[Spear One]

I was pretty sure they were not going to allow any harvest. They may revisit it somewhere down the road but I will be quite shocked if they ever open them. It’s just too hot of a topic politically and socially.

[jfjf]

I was surprised they even took it upon themselves to look into it. There just wasn’t enough scientific data to change the law, but they did make a change outlawing our
Preferred gear type - they had enough data to do that - with respect to triple tail.

I suppose the culling of jewfish will be continued by those that feel that they are too aggressive and too prevalent.

[diverlen]

Let's keep the jewfish fully protected. I love seeing them and they mostly do not interfere with my spearfishing.

[Marcus]

Pftt

[CatDiver]

Saw what had to be 350-400 lb one on a natural ledge in 40 feet of water yesterday. I may have spent a little too much time checking him out until he thumped me twice. Now I’ve heard goliaths and other grouper thump but this was a whole other level. Funny thing was on video you can’t hear it at all. But it silenced out everything else on the video for a second. Crazy

[jfjf]

Yeah the go pro must have an audio filter, because even power heads do not sound loud.

[Mikel_24]

I am SO glad we don't have to deal with fish that big here wherer I fish... I have seen a few videos of these jewfish stealing speared fish that almost seemed like a joke.

Why are they protected in the first place? Are they too scarce? I don't think so...

[Mendicant]

I was doing some further research, and I found this article. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/loca...209873644.html

"Scientists also doubted the idea that the slow-moving fish would run down an angler's catch and said stomach contents show the fish eat baitfish or crustaceans."

The scientists don't think they can steal your catch. That is comforting.

"It’s not a fish that’s going to put in a lot of work to catch its prey," said Gil McRae, director of the FWC's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.

Don't worry about it guys, they are lazy and won't come after your fish.

[jfjf]

I think the idea they are putting forth is that they do not typically prey upon the species we normally target, but there ain’t nobody dumb enough to say they don’t opportunistically target hooked or speared fish- at least in areas where significant fishing pressure exists

I’m convinced it is a learned behavior to target speared fish

[Surface Tension]

They are plenty of them even well north of Port Canaveral. What a joke.

They are a safety concern for me and I will act accordingly.

[diverlen]

Originally Posted by jfjf

I think the idea they are putting forth is that they do not typically prey upon the species we normally target, but there ain’t nobody dumb enough to say they don’t opportunistically target hooked or speared fish- at least in areas where significant fishing pressure exists

I’m convinced it is a learned behavior to target speared fish

Jim, I agree 100% with you.

[Spear One]

Originally Posted by jfjf

I think the idea they are putting forth is that they do not typically prey upon the species we normally target, but there ain’t nobody dumb enough to say they don’t opportunistically target hooked or speared fish- at least in areas where significant fishing pressure existsI’m convinced it is a learned behavior to target speared fish

I agree Once they get an easy meal or two from Divers they quickly learn to associate all divers as a “food source” and will then follow Divers waiting for the opportunity to steal an easy meal.