Progress report summarizing the reef fish sampling, PCB - Earthjustice

composed of two 125 pound test pieces of monofilament line twisted together along
their length. At the end of each of the 15 twisted one foot leaders or ganglions was
attached a circle hook, about 13 mm from point to shank. Attached to the end of the
terminal 15 th triple swivel was an iron curtain sash weight of about eight pounds.
Circle hooks were used to allow multiple fish to be self-hooked and brought to the
surface upon retrieval. The bandit rigs utilized hand cranking of the drum to
retrieve fish but bandit rigs can also be hydraulically or electrically powered. The
bandit rig gear was used as a secondary fishing gear on the first sampling trip along
with the chevron traps but was not used in any later sampling efforts. Rod-andreel
gear was used to a limited extent but unsuccessfully on the first trip.
I (D) (5) Transition to Hook-and Line Sampling
Rounds # 3 through # 8
Beginning with Sampling Round #3 and intended to continue through to the end of
the monitoring study, the Oriskany Reef monitoring efforts transitioned away from
restricted chevron trap commercial fishing gear or “bandit” fishing gear to the
exclusive use of hook-and-line rod and reel sampling. Hook-and-line sampling using
the traditional hand-held rod-and-reel was expected to more closely reflect the
general catch composition of recreational fishermen using similar equipment on the
Oriskany Reef. Additionally, utilizing at least 13 hook-and-line fishers, the
required target sample minimum of 30 legal size reef fish caught by hook-and-line
could be achieved more rapidly than with daylight chevron trap operations.
The rod-and-reel outfits that FWC purchased for the first and second sampling trips
to augment chevron trap activity were typical of the equipment used by the for-hire
offshore reef fish bottom fishing charter vessels and private recreational fishers off
Northwest Florida. The rod-and-reel gear were Penn Senator 4/0 Model 1134 open
faced hand cranked reels with a 3.25:1 gear ratio fitted to a 6.5 feet long fiberglass
fishing rod. About 350-400 yards of forty pound test monofilament line was spooled
on to the reels, though charter fishing reels sometimes used 60 pound test
monofilament line. Attached by a 75 pound test #7 barrel swivel to the end of the
40 pound test line was a ten foot long 30 pound monofilament fluorocarbon leader.
One to three circle hooks from 10-16 mm (point to shank) were attached to the
leader. A typical two-three-hook rig used three Eagle Claw 4/0 (15 mm point to
shank) non-offset, non-stainless steel circle hooks, each attached to a loop extending
about five inches from the main 30 pound monofilament terminal leader. One hook
is attached to each of the loops which are spaced at 20 inch increments along the
terminal leader.
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