That the ocean’s most advanced and highly developed swimming machines are also among the most popular of game fishes with the world’s saltwater angling enthusiasts is hardly a coincidence. As anglers, we have tremendous respect for the spirited fighting qualities of tunas — difficult to release, should we wish to, because they truly will fight their hearts out when hooked. So what is it that makes tunas the über-fish of our oceans? The more we learn about our favorite game fish, the more fascinating they are.

Are Mackerels Tuna? What Are True Tunas?

Tunas are part of the family Scombridae, which also includes mackerels, large and small. But there are tunas, and then there are, well, “true tunas.” Two groups (sometimes known as “tribes”) dominate the tuna clan. One is Thunnini, which is the group considered true tunas, characterized by two separate dorsal fins and a relatively thick body. The 15 species of Thunnini are albacore, bigeye, black skipjack, blackfin, bluefin (three species: Atlantic, Pacific, southern), bullet, frigate, kawakawa, little tunny, longtail, skipjack, slender and yellowfin.

The other tribe is Sardini; these tunas — the dogtooth tuna and several species of smaller true bonitos — are somewhat more mackerel-like (notably with a more elongated body and a row of sharp, conical teeth).

How do Tuna Swim so Fast and Hard?

Sport fishermen know that when they hook a large tuna, they’re in for a long, drawn-out, relentless battle. Nothing characterizes tunas more than their powerful, tireless swimming. In fact, these fish have no choice but to swim endlessly: As explained more thoroughly below, they’re ram ventilators, meaning forward motion is required as they move with mouth open to force water past their gills.

Most fishes, such as groupers, snappers and jacks, can remain motionless and respire by opening and closing their mouths to push water through their gills. Tunas have lost the ability to do that (even if they could, such small pushes of water wouldn’t offer their large gills the tremendous flow they require to supply their systems with oxygen). A suitable motto for tunas, then, is “swim or die.”

How tunas have evolved to move efficiently through the water is reflected in their design, both externally and internally. Of their fusiform body shape (tapering fore and aft), Sport Fishing Fish Facts expert Ben Diggles says, “Their almost-perfect hydrodynamic shape minimizes drag with a very low drag coefficient,” optimizing efficient swimming both at cruise and burst.

And these torpedoes are perfectly streamlined, their larger fins fitting perfectly into grooves so no part of these fins protrudes above the body surface. They lack the convex eyes of most fish; rather, a membrane covering tuna eyes remains flush with their heads, maintaining a surface with minimal drag. Keels and finlets in front of the tail provide stability and help reduce the turbulence in the water ahead of the tail.

Unlike most fishes with broad, flexible tails that bend to scoop water to move a fish forward, tunas derive tremendous thrust with thin, hard, lunate (moon-shaped) tails that beat constantly, capable of 10 to 12 or more beats per second. That relentless thrust accounts for the unstoppable runs that tuna make repeatedly when hooked.

As with other fast-swimming fishes, a primary limitation on top speed for tunas is cavitation, which at high speeds can slow them and even damage fins. (Cavitation is caused when negative pressure forms tiny air bubbles, which then collapse and form shock waves. Cavitation can damage the metal in propellers — and cause lesions in the fins of fish that swim “too fast,” such as tunas.)

Why Is a Tuna’s Meat Red?

While many of the characteristics that account for the tuna’s remarkable swimming ability are visible externally, some of the most astonishing adaptations are internal.

Certainly, that includes their extensive aerobic red muscle. Many fishes are ambush predators, relying on bursts of speed to feed but swimming slowly otherwise. Their bodies are mostly filled with white muscle — glycolytic fibers used in infrequent burst swimming. Tunas employ far more red muscle; their oxidative fibers prove ideal for long-haul, constant swimming without fatigue. Also, red muscle is full of myoglobin, which stores oxygen in the muscle tissues, for use as needed.

With so much red muscle demanding that much more oxygen, tunas’ gills — their organs for respiration, of course — are huge. For example, a tuna has seven to nine times more gill area for its size compared to relatively sedentary trout. And, not surprisingly, you’ve gotta have heart: Moving great amounts of oxygenated blood through their bodies requires tunas to have far larger hearts than most fish. Not only that, but another way tunas have advanced beyond most fishes — which have a constant heart rate — is their ability, like mammals, to vary their heart rate, maximizing efficiency.

Can Tuna Warm Their Bodies?

Arguably the most striking and sophisticated adaptation we can’t see — but science has revealed — is the ability of larger true tunas to heat certain areas of their bodies. They do this through what are known as the retia mirabilia (“wonderful net”), an ingenious counter-current vascular heat-exchange system. Basically, parallel veins and arteries exchange blood, allowing tunas to conserve metabolic heat via what is called regional endothermy, warming their red muscle tissue, brain, eyes and viscera well above ambient water temperatures.

This regional endothermy gives them the same metabolic advantage that Homo sapiens and other mammals enjoy. In fact, tunas couldn’t sustain the swim-or-die lifestyle nor be the relentless eating machines they are without that higher metabolic rate, allowing them to swim longer and faster, their brains and eyes to function better in cold water, and their viscera to digest more quickly and efficiently.

Further demonstrating the brilliance of their plumbing, larger tunas can shed excess heat from their bodies during periods of intense feeding (in essence, while doing wind sprints) via their retia mirabilia, which uses blood from gills cooled by ambient water to reduce body heat. This system also undoubtedly comes into play as one factor in the amazing endurance that hooked tunas show to resist their capture.

How Deep do Tuna Swim?

Much of the evolutionary success of tunas derives from their ability to transition from warm to cool waters in a way that most — less advanced, cold-blooded — fishes can’t manage.

Satellite tagging has revealed much about the feeding behavior and movements of large tunas, including their tendency to dive into deep, cold water. Scientists have documented that yellowfin feed at times in waters much deeper than once believed, but the bigeye is a champ in the deep-dive category, often feeding in waters exceeding 1,500 feet — and diving to more than 5,000 feet.

Apparently, these daytime deep divers are taking advantage of what’s known as the deep-scattering layer, a concentration of biomass (plankton and larger organisms) typically settling by day into 1,500 to 2,000 feet of water (which rises to or near the surface nightly). This is the same DSL in which swordfish feed during the day. Perhaps not so surprisingly, daytime swordy anglers have been hooking some large tuna while dropping deep.

The other abyss-loving tuna is the bluefin. What large yellowfin, bigeye and bluefin have in common that enables them to feed at great depths is body mass. Juveniles and smaller species of tuna, lacking that, lose body heat too rapidly to allow them to leave near-surface waters for long.

Heat is lost in the frigid waters at depth, but rewarming occurs when tunas move up into warmer waters — where heating occurs at 100 to 1,000 times the rate that it’s lost. (This may be facilitated with blood bypassing lateral heat exchangers, so blood warmed and oxygenated in the gills by ambient, warmer waters enters the red muscle directly.)

What large tunas have in common that encourages them to feed so deep is simply an abundance of food in these cold but productive waters.

How Far do Tuna Travel?

The same motivation to find more and more food accounts for far-ranging horizontal movements as well as vertical dives into colder waters. So, for example, in the North Atlantic, the world’s largest giant bluefin are caught at the most northerly edges of the species’ range — the Canadian Maritimes — and in the South Pacific, the largest giants come from the most southern part of the southern bluefin’s range — off New Zealand’s South Island. In both instances, only the great body mass of giants provides enough thermal inertia — a small enough ratio of surface area to volume to prevent rapid cooling — so they can take advantage of vast schools of prey.

Large tunas are truly superfish, at the zenith of evolutionary design and success as predators among the ocean’s fishes. Little wonder they’re among the very most popular targets worldwide among saltwater recreational fishermen. The more we as anglers understand these magnificent fish, the more we can appreciate the opportunity to fish for and catch them.

Is Disaster Imminent for Tunas?

Tunas occasionally make it into mainstream news, and when they do, the circumstances (for continued survival of the species) usually sound pretty dire. However, a scientist at the University of Washington, found that just 30 percent of commercial tuna stocks had an abundance below that which would produce maximum sustainable yield.

Recently, Atlantic bluefin tuna have made a noticeable comeback. And anglers are taking advantage of it. In particular, many Northeast area anglers have spent the summer months targeting tuna of all sizes, both inshore and far offshore.“ The abundance of tunas and their relatives has declined from pre-industrial levels, but in general, they are at sustainable levels,” said Maite Pons, Ph.D..

The post Common Questions About Tuna appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

shark release

All those teeth and bad reputation notwithstanding, some sharks aren’t all that tough. In fact, in terms of how they hold up after a battle at the end of a line, some are downright wimps. Studies on post-release survival rates of sharks provide the hard data.

Scientists fought and caught five species of sharks on hook and line using standardized techniques for comparison purposes. While the authors note limitations of this initial study, calling for further research, they did form some interesting conclusions with applicability to sport fishermen.

It seems that the five species reacted differently to the stress of fighting on a line. From this study, tiger sharks qualify as tough customers, with nearly 100 percent of those tracked up to four weeks after release doing just fine. The study lists lemon sharks as being nearly as hardy, based on lactic acid levels and other parameters measured, since post-release survival studies were not conducted on lemons.

Bull sharks fared pretty well after release, with 74 percent surviving. Somewhat less hardy were blacktip sharks. But the most susceptible of all to the rigors of a long struggle when hooked were hammerheads, with more than half suffering mortality during the weeks after their release.

Post Release Fishing Mortality

This makes me wonder what sort of differences in post-release mortality there might be among other closely related game fishes. Anyone who fishes for redfish and trout knows that reds can stand a bit of quick handling before release, but even minimal handling can leave a seatrout too weak to swim. I know that among deepwater rockfishes along the Pacific Coast, some species are too barotraumatized (“blown up”) to swim back down if pulled from 50 or 60 feet of water, while other species can be taken from 100 to 150 feet or so and usually swim back down with no trouble.

The Atlantic’s popular black sea bass readily show signs of barotrauma, such as the stomach being everted from the mouth thanks to expanded swim-bladder gases. Anglers probably wonder — as did scientists — how many of these “inflated” fish could survive, even those that managed to swim down.

Lots of anglers release fish pretty regularly. Clearly, we want them to survive. The more we know about how species react, the more successful we can be at minimizing release mortality. Information like that cited above can help us. So will a visit to returnemright.org, a site dedicated to helping anglers follow known best practices in releasing fish.

The post Do Sharks Die After Release? appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Do you have a photograph of a fish you can’t identify? If so, we’re up for the challenge, and would welcome the opportunity to share your photo and its ID with an international audience of enthusiasts. (Whether published or not, we will personally respond to every inquiry.) Email your jpgs, as large/hi-res as possible, to: fishfacts@sportfishingmag.com.

While fishing from the shore at St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Dom Porcelli caught two sunfish-shaped fish that he identified as hamlets, though he wasn’t certain, and hoped Fish Facts could confirm.

Dom: You have it right. Both of these are hamlets, sea bass that are closely related to groupers, found in Florida, the Caribbean and beyond in the Western Atlantic. Typical of groupers, hamlets are aggressive predators, so anglers catch the small fish on baited hooks or small lures in shallow coral waters (to at least 150 feet).

Some experts believe there is one species with many different color shades. But other experts cite 13 different species, which means the darker fish Dom caught is a black hamlet (Hypoplectrus negre) and the lighter one a butter hamlet (H. unicolor). The black saddle ahead of its tail makes I.D. of butter hamlet easy.

The post Fish Facts: Little Caribbean Sea Bass appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Do you have a photograph of a fish you can’t identify? If so, we’re up for the challenge, and would welcome the opportunity to share your photo and its ID with an international audience of enthusiasts. (Whether published or not, we will personally respond to every inquiry.) Email your jpgs, as large/hi-res as possible, to: fishfacts@sportfishingmag.com.

The Pacific Northwest is home to literally dozens of species of rockfishes (genus Sebastes; in no way related to striped bass of the Atlantic locally known as “rockfish”). Identification can be tough. Color is the most common indicator, but it’s not always reliable, and anglers are often left scratching their heads as to what species they’ve caught.

So it was when angler Chris Bushman in Ketchikan, Alaska, jigged up this rockfish from about 130 feet of water recently. Even the guide was unsure of the species’ identity. “All of the other area guides were perplexed as well,” Bushman writes. “It would be nice to know exactly what I caught and released.”

In fact, Chris, that’s a yelloweye rockfish, Sebastes ruberrimus. If guides were uncertain, that’s understandable, since yelloweye (widely in Alaska waters referred to as “red snapper”) are generally a brilliant orange-red as adults. But juveniles — and yours appears to be a juvie — are a darker red with two bright white stripes down each side. This fish has a thin stripe but not nearly as wide and prominent as usual. And yours has a great deal of black pigment all over, which is unusual. Fish Facts checked with our northern Pacific expert, Dr. Milton Love, who confirmed this coloration is rare, though in one area it occurs with some regularity.

A bit of intel on the species: Yelloweye (Alaska to California) are very long-lived and slow-growing. NOAA lists them as living up to 150 years. They’re very territorial, often spending their adult lives in one rocky area (usually in 200 to at least 1,200 feet of water). That and their slow growth make them exceptionally vulnerable to overfishing. As a result, it is illegal to possess or fish for (once abundant) yelloweye off California, Oregon and areas of Alaska.

Unfortunately the release of these deepwater, pressure-sensitive fish is challenging, though it’s doable with a good descending device. As you might guess, yelloweye is superb eating. It’s been long coveted for that quality and for the brilliant red color, distinguishing it from other game fish of Northwest waters.

The post Fish Facts: Guess This Rockfish Species appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Do you have a photograph of a fish you can’t identify? If so, we’re up for the challenge, and would welcome the opportunity to share your photo and its ID with an international audience of enthusiasts. (Whether published or not, we will personally respond to every inquiry.) Email your jpgs, as large/hi-res as possible, to: fishfacts@sportfishingmag.com.

I recently read a short article in a fishing magazine extolling the (generally unheralded) virtues of cutlassfish (Trichiurus lepturus) as a fun gamefish in its own right. Having intentionally targeted and caught them, Fish Facts couldn’t agree more.

However, Fish Facts feels the need to set the record straight since the article stated that cutlassfish “use their sharp pointed tail to slash like a knife.” Not so much. It’s true that the odd critters lack any caudal structure: Their body at the stern end simply tapers right down to a point. But sharp? As with the long — rather elegant — dorsal fin that runs the length of the body, the tail is soft, tapering to a thin filament and lacking any spine. Sure, if you grab a cutlassfish, it will squirm and wave its body around, but that tail won’t do any damage.

On the other hand, keep your fingers out of its mouth. One look at the dagger-like fangs should dissuade even the foolhardy. That said, I’ve noticed when handling these fish that they’re generally pretty flaccid creatures and easy to handle, not nearly as fierce as they appear.

About the Cutlassfish

While on the subject, here’s a bit more information on a species that is unique, fascinating and widely available around the world in many inshore and coastal waters.

Cutlassfish are widely called ribbonfish, particularly by Gulf anglers. You won’t find them listed with that name in the IGFA book, though. Their official common name, per the authoritative Fishbase, is largehead hairtail. Cutlassfish (hairtails) can exceed seven feet. The current IGFA all-tackle record stands at 11 pounds, 5 ounces, caught on a saury off Japan in 2020.

The species is characterized by its solid, gleaming silver, chrome-plated hue, its flattened body rather like an eel after an encounter with a steamroller. The cutlass lacks scales. And while you couldn’t tell by the indifference of U.S. anglers, in much of the world it’s a highly sought (and marketed) commercial fish. I’ve filleted and eaten a number of them. Taste is subjective, but I thought they were good — not my fave, but certainly not bad. While few are eaten, many are used as bait in offshore fisheries and particularly by serious kingfish enthusiasts.

One of the most striking visuals I recall from a day in the lower Patuxent River in Maryland last year was my sounder screen. Turned out that that cutlassfish were all over the river, and it proved to be great fun on diving crankbaits. Their strikes are vicious, especially on ultralight tackle. But what really stayed with me from that day was the sounder. It stayed lit up with dozens and dozens of cutlassfish, but they didn’t present like any typical predator. That’s because their hunting style is to ambush small fish by drifting motionless vertically, head toward the surface. So they looked nothing like what I’m used to seeing when marking fish: My screen was loaded with narrow vertical slashes.

The post Fish Facts: Are the Pointy Tails of Cutlassfish Dangerous? appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Do you have a photograph of a fish you can’t identify? If so, we’re up for the challenge, and would welcome the opportunity to share your photo and its ID with an international audience of enthusiasts. (Whether published or not, we will personally respond to every inquiry.) Email your jpgs, as large/hi-res as possible, to: fishfacts@sportfishingmag.com.

Some Fish Facts fans have been wondering about the difference between a “standard” yellowfin tuna and an Allison tuna. References to both names are commonplace. For example, Tom Pytel writes, “I often notice in photos some yellowfin tuna with very long anal fins. I’ve caught yellowfin to 100-plus pounds, but none has had those long fins. Is this strictly associated with size or perhaps sex, or some other factor?”

So Fish Facts thought it should, once and for all, clarify this tuna teaser. To cut to the chase, there is no difference: We’re talking about one species, Thunnus albacares.

But indeed, some yellowfin have clearly elongate second dorsal and anal fins. It’s the only species of tuna that exhibits this variation in fin length, says John Graves. Graves, for years chair of fisheries science at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, is one of the world’s leading tuna and billfish experts. He notes that the longer fins occur in only larger yellowfin. “In the extreme, the length of these fins can be greater than 40 percent of the total length of the fish. Some refer to these Allison tuna.”

Graves says this occurs independent of the fishes’ sex, but not of the location. “There’s a lot of geographic variation in the length of these fish.” For example, he says, across the Pacific, the relative lengths of yellowfin second dorsal and anal fins tends to increase from east to west.

In scientific terms, this variation in fin size for years “created havoc with the taxonomy of yellowfin tuna,” he says. As many as seven species of yellowfin tuna have been recognized, based on fin size. “It was only in the mid 1960s that the various geographic populations were combined into a single, circumglobal species.”

So while some anglers will remain convinced they’ve caught an Allison tuna, Fish Facts fans will know the truth: It’s a yellowfin tuna, no matter the length of its fins.

The post Fish Facts: What is an Allison Tuna? appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Whether trolling, drifting, casting or jigging, anglers’ lures ­typically mimic live prey. “Sometimes predators know ­whatever we’re pulling or throwing isn’t the real deal,” says Capt. Damon McKnight, “but when you put out a real fish with an actual heartbeat, it triggers their brain to attack.” This is particularly true for McKnight, fishing out of Venice, Louisiana, where oil rigs — often far offshore in ­cobalt-blue water over a thousand feet deep — present for ­predators ­permanent smorgasbords of live offerings. For most anglers, live-bait choices can be diverse. How can anglers be sure which to select and how to fish them? Pro skippers — spread far and wide — offer their advice here for live-bait choice, as well as tips to produce the most bites.

Atlantic Menhaden Baitfish

From Cape Cod to Virginia, menhaden are typically called “bunker.” While yellowfin menhaden sometimes get the moniker, it’s generally applied to Atlantic menhaden.

“You can throw a castnet on bunker, but they lose their slime coat and last only a few hours,” says Capt. Scott Leonard, who charters on Long Island’s south shore. “They actually last longer — a couple of days in a good livewell — when we snag them with a weighted treble hook, as long as their slime coat stays intact.”

“Striped bass eat prey headfirst, while bluefish go for the tail,” says Capt. John Luchka, in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey. “Stripers lie beneath frenzying bluefish to get easy pickings. When bluefish bite the tails off live bunker baits, let them sink for a few minutes.”

Luchka hooks 5- to 8-inch bunker just ahead of the dorsal fin, or sideways through the nose if he wants boat mobility.

“Bunker tend to stay on top. If stripers are holding deeper, hook them near the anal fin so they swim down,” Luchka says. Alternatively, he drops live bunker 30 feet or deeper with 2- to 4-ounce egg sinkers, depending on current and desired depth.

Gulf Menhaden Baitfish

The name pogy applies primarily to yellowfin menhaden from the Chesapeake Bay through Florida, and Gulf menhaden from Alabama westward and southward.

In Louisiana, McKnight says of the Gulf species, “we catch menhaden in brackish water. They don’t last in the high-salinity water offshore. Recirculate livewell water, instead of transferring in new water, and they’ll last longer.”

McKnight holds the boat up-current of an oil rig and drifts live baits to it. “You have to leave menhaden in free-spool in the current, or they’ll just spin,” he adds. “Hook them either up from the bottom of the jaw or sideways through the nose.”

Herring Baitfish

Some anglers distinguish species, while others lump Atlantic herring, alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), blueback herring (A. aestivalis) and other similar, anadromous (freshwater-spawning) shads together as generic “herring.” Unlike bunker, most herrings bite sabiki rigs.

“We see herring later in the winter or farther north,” Luchka says. “They’re more fragile. Don’t castnet them like you would bunker.”

Shad Baitfish

In New England, American shad are protected and American herring are tightly regulated because of their importance as bait to the commercial lobster industry. “When you can’t find menhaden, look for hickory shad near jetties where there is good tidal exchange of brackish water,” says Rhode Island-based Capt. Jack Sprengel. “Catch them on sabiki rigs or small bucktails, and fish them just like menhaden.”

Threadfin Herring Baitfish

Where Northeast bunker are generally heartier than indigenous herrings, the opposite is true farther south. Threadfin are caught in saltier water, so they keep well. “Just don’t put your hands in the livewell,” McKnight warns. “Use a dip net, or [else] sunscreen — or even the oil on your hands — can kill them.”

McKnight hooks threadfin through the back, ahead of the dorsal fin and just behind the bony skull, or through the nose in strong current or to bump-troll. “If I’m using really small hooks, I go right through the eye sockets, trying not to stab anything important,” he adds.

Threadfin are common kite baits in South Florida. “They jump out of the water when they’re chased,” says Capt. George McElveen, from his many years chartering in Islamorada, Florida. “That really triggers the sailfish to bite.”

Scaled Sardine Baitfish

“In common use, ‘pilchard’ or ‘sardine’ refers to a group of scaled sardines within the Harengula genus that occur from North Carolina through the Gulf of Mexico,” says George Burgess, director emeritus of University of Florida’s Florida Program for Shark Research.

Savvy fishermen differentiate these baitfish species. “Pilchards are great when fish get finicky,” McElveen says.

In South Florida, he’s referring to Harengula jaguana or H. humeralis. “Throw out a few free baits, and they’ll stay on the surface. Sailfish chase them around and get in a frenzy, and then we sneak a hook into one.” Other baits, particularly any of the scads, immediately swim downward, he warns. “Sailfish chase them, and you never see those fish again.

“We usually catch pilchards with cast nets along the sand-to-grass edges, either inshore or offshore,” he adds.

McElveen bridles pilchards for kite baits just in front of the dorsal fin. When they’re bump-trolled or he wants mobility with kites, that switches to a bridle through the nose. There is one exception, he says: “If you see a sailfish down deep, hook a pilchard in the belly. That makes them swim down.”

“When sailfish are balling sardines, or eating them on a wreck, sometimes they’ll swim right by everything else just to attack a sardine,” McElveen says.

“They’re our most ­difficult bait to find and catch.” McElveen says. “Sardines don’t live when caught in cast nets. We catch them with sabikis mostly offshore near the sandy edge along a rocky bottom or reef,” he says.

Anchovy Baitfish

Southern California’s cool water and strong upwellings bring nutrient-rich waters that sustain large bait populations, and the majority of fishing is done with sardines, anchovies and other live baits, according to San Diego-based Capt. Barry Brightenburg, most often by fly-lining (casting a bait with no weight from a drifting boat).

“Dolphinfish, albacore, yellowfin tuna and bluefin tuna offshore, and halibut, yellowtail, bonito and barracuda nearshore all love anchovies,” Brightenburg says. “You can carry a lot of anchovies in a livewell, but they’re really fragile baits.

“Fishing with them is becoming a lost art, but anchovies are often my favorite bait. They require light line and small hooks placed through a small bone at the back of the gill slit or through the nose.”

Pacific Sardine Baitfish

“Compared [with] ­anchovies, sardines are bigger, heavier baits that are easier to cast farther from the boat,” Brightenburg says. “Sardines are hardier, but they need more oxygen, so give them a little wiggle room. Don’t put as many in a livewell.”

Sardines and anchovies range from British Columbia through Baja. Often the choice between bait species depends on water temperature and El Niño cycles, Brightenburg says. Anglers often hook sardines through the nose, the back or near the anal fin.

Another species to consider: smelt ( Atherinops affinis). “Sometimes catching a few smelt can make your day,” Brightenburg says. “They’ll live in a 5-gallon bucket all day if you add water every 10 minutes,” he says. “Kayak fishermen catch them on sabiki rigs just outside the surf, and slow-troll them along the kelp edge for yellowtail and white seabass, or drop them with a weight for halibut.”

Surface Swimmers: Ballyhoo and Flyingfish

These two groups of surface swimmers are closely related to each other within the order Beloniformes. “Their tails have small upper lobes and bigger lower lobes to scoot along atop the surface of the water to escape prey,” Burgess says.

“Bigeye tuna, yellowfin tuna [and] swordfish won’t pass up a flying fish in the canyons,” Sprengel says. “Catch flyers in Hydro Glow lights at night with a dip net, and immediately put them down with 3- to 5-ounce leads. Fish them under a balloon or use a rubber band on the reel handle.”

“Ballyhoo don’t make good kite baits,” McElveen says. “They jump and get tangled in the line, so we put one out on a flat line. When the sailfish first show up in the fall, sometimes they’ll swim right past the kite baits and eat that ballyhoo.

“The hookup ratio is nowhere near as good with ballyhoo,” he warns, so he chooses other baits when he can. “If sailfish are eating ballyhoo, they want something with noticeable scales such as pilchards or herring, not goggle-eyes or cigar minnows with very fine scales.”

Ballyhoo live well when caught in a cast net, though using oatmeal mixed with chum and tiny baited hair hooks will catch the healthiest ballyhoo for use as live bait.

Goggle-Eye Baitfish

Commercial fishermen catch goggle-eyes at night when they school offshore, and then sell them for as much as $100 per dozen or more before some Florida tournaments.

“Sailfish seem to bite them better later in the season,” McElveen says. “They’re a big bait that puts out a lot of commotion over a large area,” which is more easily seen by both fish and anglers, and that extra mass helps keep kite lines tight on rough springtime days.

Cigar Minnow Baitfish

“Any of the scads roughly the size and shape of a nice Cuban cigar might be ‘cigar minnows,’” Burgess says. In South Florida, cigar minnows typically refer to adult round scad.

“We catch them on the edge of the reef with sabikis, but they don’t bite at night like goggle-eyes,” McElveen says. “They don’t do well from the kite, but while we’re kite-fishing, we might put a couple on the riggers or one on a flat line without weight, and they’ll swim down to cover the lower water column.” Also, he adds, “when the Gulf Stream comes in close to the reef and the water gets powdery, the way cigar minnows swim seems to make sailfish key in on them.”

Tuna Baitfish

While some scads look a lot like mackerel, and even take the name, true mackerel lack scutes, Burgess says. “Mackerel and closely related tuna always have a series of finlets behind the dorsal and anal fins.”

From Cape Cod through Cabo San Lucas, captains live-bait various small tunas, typically bridled through the eyes. Selecting a species — s­kipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis), false albacore (aka little tunny, Euthynnus alletteratus), Atlantic bonito (Sarda sarda), medium-size blackfin tuna (Thunnus atlanticus) and small yellowfin (T. albacares) — often comes down to availability.

“On FADs, it’s hard to pull billfish off that ball of live bait onto a dead bait,” says Florida-based Capt. George Sawley. “Live bait is very productive, but it blocks the FAD to guys trolling. You have to have boats all working together with live bait, or all working together trolling.”

Sawley often tries live bait on offshore debris. “Use a sabiki and jig up whatever is on that debris,” he says. “I like to put one on top and another down deep on a downrigger with a breakaway.”

Sawley uses small live tuna in the southern Caribbean and Pacific when big yellowfin tuna are on the move. “Fill up your tuna tubes with skipjacks or small yellowfin inshore,” Sawley says, which he does by trolling a small planer ahead of a large sabiki rig with a spoon at the end. (He often makes his own jigs by whipping bucktail ­material to 1/0 hooks.)

“Drop those live baits in front of the yellowfin, putting one on top and one deep, and you’re going to get a bite.”

Small little tunny, frigate mackerel (Auxis thazard) and bullet mackerel (A. rochei, aka bullet tuna) can be particularly effective live bait. All three look very similar; fortunately, predators don’t seem to discriminate among the three.

Tinker Mackerel Baitfish

Along Northeast and mid-Atlantic states, tinker mackerel (also known as Boston mackerel or greenbacks) describes immature Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus). In most of the rest of the world, the name refers to fully grown Atlantic chub mackerel (S. colias) and Pacific chub mackerel (S. japonicus). Besides that taxonomical distinction, all three variants of tinker mackerel are nearly identical in appearance and use as live baits.

“We always catch a few tinker mackerel with sabikis or small metal jigs on navigation buoys or offshore on the way out. Then, when we’re offshore running-and-gunning for tuna,” Sprengel says, “if we’re marking fish that won’t respond to topwater plugs or metal jigs, we’ll put one mackerel down with a weight and one away from the boat on a balloon or a kite.”

Live tinker mackerel are also great baits when striped bass are on the move, not sheltered behind structure, Sprengel says.

Off southern Africa, Booysen likes strong-swimming mackerel when trolling faster for yellowfin tuna, dorado or narrow-barred mackerel.

“Along the New South Wales coast, the leading edge of the East Australian Current creates a rich feeding zone,” McGlashan says. Mackerel and scads in thick schools stretch for miles, drawing in predators. “Crews can catch 10 striped or black marlin in a day, and the best way to fish them is with live bait,” McGlashan says. “Mackerel — we call them slimies — are the best bait for everything from marlin to yellowtail. Catch your bait on jigs, bridle them up, and work around the edge of bait schools.

“In addition to billfish offshore, mahi and makos respond well to live mackerel or scads,” McGlashan adds.

Off Southern California, “Pacific mackerel are very hardy if you catch them on a sabiki and use a dehooker to keep their slime coat intact,” Brightenburg says. “We use 8- to 12-inch chub mackerel ‘casters’ when sight-fishing offshore for striped marlin, and we slow-troll larger live mackerel to sunning swordfish. Inshore, live mackerel smaller than 6 inches are great baits for yellowtail, white seabass and halibut.”

Bluefish Baitfish

These relatives to jacks find their way into the spread in temperate waters worldwide. In South Africa, where they’re known as shad, bluefish have a 300-millimeter (12-inch) minimum legal length. “They’re large for a live bait, so they’re easy for predators to see — anything up to 350 millimeters (14 inches) works well,” Booysen says. “They’re not very lively swimmers, but they really wake up with a predator in pursuit. I use them for levis (a large jack), and we often catch amberjack and giant trevally using live bluefish on the bottom.”

“Giant bluefin tuna seem to really key in on 12- to 24-inch bluefish on a kite,” Sprengel says. “The same holds true for mako and thresher sharks. Bluefish hold well in a livewell, but only one or two for each 30 gallons, depending on the size of the bluefish.”

Croaker Baitfish

Croakers and spots (Leiostomus xanthurus) are common baits inshore where they’re caught in the soft, muddy bottoms along the U.S. East Coast.

As bycatch from Carolina and Virginia crab traps, they’re also exported as live bait.

“Most of what we used in the past — blackfish, fluke and flounder — now have legal limits too large to use as live bait,” Leonard says. “We catch croakers on the south shore of Long Island once in a while, but most are imported. For striped bass, I drift them near the bottom with a 2- to 3-ounce banana drail (a small, curved trolling lead) and 10 feet of leader with a snelled treble hook through the nose.”

Hake Baitfish

“They’re harder to catch than some baits, but whiting are a killer bluefin bait. Try a sabiki rig with a little meat on the hooks,” Sprengel says, of these northern bait and food fish. “Hook whiting behind the head, and fish with a breakaway lead off the rod tip or on a balloon at whatever depth you’re marking tuna.”

Scup Baitfish

These hardy members of the Sparidae family are relatives of pinfish. Sprengel bridles them through the eyes and fishes them for striped bass near the bottom in short drifts wherever fast current sweeps over structure. “Some people cut the spines off the dorsal fin, but you really don’t need to,” Spregel says. “Stripers take them head-first right down the hatch, spines and all.”

Mullet Baitfish

Live mullet are commonly used inshore but typically not offshore. However, they can be effective at times in any waters.

“Late fall and early winter, mullet move anywhere from 15 to 50 miles offshore to lay eggs,” McKnight says, when they become a preferred bait in the Gulf of Mexico. “For yellowfin, we’ll put live mullet on the surface, where they swim away from the boat, or we might bump-troll them very slowly, hooked through the nose.”

While several nearly identical species inhabit our coastal waters, most common are striped mullet (Mugil cephalus) in fresh or brackish water, and white mullet (M. curema) near the coast, Burgess says.

Eel Baitfish

Both American eels and their European cousins spawn in the Sargasso Sea, south of Bermuda, and make their way to the coast from Canada through the Gulf of Mexico, where they eventually live in fresh water until returning offshore to spawn. Bait eels are caught in freshwater rivers, and they’re available regionally in tackle shops.

Sprengel says, “They live for days out of the water. Keep them in a bucket with holes for water to drain out, and cover them with saltwater-soaked seaweed to keep them moist.”

“Stripers smash them,” Sprengel adds. “Use a leader about the length of your rod and just enough weight to hold bottom without hanging up.”

In the mid-Atlantic and northern Gulf, many anglers like to put live eels in front of cobia. “Later in the summer, throw an eel at a buoy or structure and let it swim down deep,” Virginia Beach fisherman Chris Fox says. He hooks them under the jaw and out the eye socket, without lead. When cobia accompany rays, he says, “if you throw a bucktail, you’re likely to foul-hook a ray. Throw a live eel instead, and hold it high in the water, away from the rays.”

Squid Baits

“Everything eats a live squid,” Brightenburg says. “Squid come out of the deep canyons and return to shallower water in the area where they were born to lay their eggs,” he says of his Southern California waters. “The females die, and that presents an easy meal for white seabass, yellowtail, rays and sharks.

“They’re easy to cast with heavy line and big hooks,” Brightenburg continues. “Fish don’t have to chase squid, so they expend less energy per calorie.”

Shortfin Squid (Illex illecebrosus)

In the canyons, squid snub a jig. “We dip-net them in the lights at night,” Sprengel says, of Atlantic squid. “Put them on a 15-foot leader with a circle hook right through the mantle. If there is any current, attach a bank sinker with a rubber band a few feet below the swivel.”

Longfin Squid (Doryteuthis pealeii)

“Inshore squid crush a jig,” Sprengel says. “We mark them as big clouds on the bottom machine. They last a week in a livewell with good circulation, but it’s best to put them near the stern and in the center of the boat,” Sprengel says, because motion seems to stress them.

Other Baitfish Species

Redtail Scad (Speedo) Decapterus tabl

These large, hard-swimming scads shine atop wrecks and prominent structure for big kingfish and wahoo. “Either put out four under a couple of kites, or troll one from each outrigger and one on a flat line. Put another down close to the bottom or wreck. Just tie a loop in the double line, about 40 feet from the bait, and connect an 8-ounce lead with a snap swivel,” McElveen says.

Horse Mackerel (Trachurus trachurus)

These scads range throughout the eastern Atlantic. “They’re known here as ‘maasbanker,'” says South African angler and fishing writer Jonathan Booysen. “Slow-troll live maasies hooked through the nose for yellowfin tuna and dorado. Add a wire trace with a stinger hook. For giant trevally, amberjack and bottomfish, I bridle them with a small cable tie and send them to the bottom.”

Yellowtail Scad (“Yakka” in Australia) Atule mate

In Australia, these go-to live baits are caught inshore on sabiki rigs, then bridled or hooked ahead of the dorsal or in the nose. “We use yakkas mostly inshore for mackerel tuna and smaller black marlin,” says Australian fishing writer Al McGlashan.

Blue Runner (Hardtails) Caranx crysos

“These small jacks get their nickname ‘hardtail’ from their particularly large, rough scutes,” Burgess says. Many anglers see them as alternative baits that prove particularly durable both in the livewell and on the hook, but they’re not really a bait of choice.

Not so, says McKnight: “You might see threadfin far offshore but not on oil-rig structure. We see a lot of hardtails on rigs, though. Sometimes tuna get keyed in to whatever they’re eating at that time on that rig, and you have to stick with that bait.”

There is a downside to blue runners. “You have to bump-troll or they’ll swim right to the boat and get wrapped up in the props,” McKnight says.

California Caballito

Blue runner relative green jacks (Caranx caballus) — called caballito along Baja California — are commonly used as live bait, as are tube mackerel (Decapterus macarellus) and a large scad known as chihuil. Long-range tuna boats operating out of San Diego often catch and deploy Pacific jack mackerel (Trachurus symmetricus), an offshore-dwelling scad.

The post A Guide to Saltwater Live Baits appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Tunas are part of the family Scombridae, which also includes mackerels, large and small. But there are tunas, and then there are, well, “true tunas.” Two groups (sometimes known as “tribes”) dominate the tuna species. One is Thunnini, which is the group considered true tunas, characterized by two separate dorsal fins and a relatively thick body. The 15 species of Thunnini are albacore, bigeye, black skipjack, blackfin, bluefin (three species: Atlantic, Pacific, southern), bullet, frigate, kawakawa, little tunny, longtail, skipjack, slender and yellowfin. The other tribe is Sardini; these tunas — the dogtooth tuna and several species of smaller true bonitos — are somewhat more mackerel-like (notably with a more elongated body and a row of sharp, conical teeth). Below you will find complete breakdowns of the various types of tuna in the world.

ALBACORE (Thunnus alalunga)

Easily identified, having by far the longest pectoral fins of any tuna, albacore are also noted for the lightest, whitest flesh among tunas. Circumglobal, albacore prefer temperate (versus tropical) seas and rarely venture near shore. They’ve long been a popular target for California anglers, particularly off the central part of the state, but their availability in the summer varies greatly from year to year. Later in summer and fall, albacore move up into waters off Oregon, Washington and British Columbia but are often too far offshore for most sport-fishing boats.

BIGEYE (Thunnus obesus)

Bigeye may be confused with yellowfin, but their yellow finlets are edged in black and their eyes may indeed be a bit larger. The bigeye may also be more robust in its body shape. But the single sure way to distinguish the two species is underneath the skin: The bigeye’s liver is striated (striped or streaked); the yellowfin’s is not. Found worldwide, this prized game fish is also an important target for commercial longliners.

BLACKFIN (Thunnus atlanticus)

The most common tuna of the Florida Keys and South Florida, blackfin tuna are found in tropical and warm temperate waters of the western Atlantic Ocean. Anglers target them from Brazil to North Carolina, including the Gulf of Mexico, but most of the world records hail from Florida.

A blakfin’s pec fins reach somewhere between the twelfth dorsal spine and the origin of the second dorsal fin, but they never extend beyond the second dorsal fin as in the albacore, explains the IGFA. A blackfin’s finlets are uniformly dark, without a touch of the bright yellow often present in other tunas.

The blackfin is a schooling fish that feeds near the surface, mostly caught while trolling ballyhoo or jigging with artificials. Overshadowed by yellowfins where the two species overlap, blackfins are still a fine-tasting tuna that draws praise when served properly.

BLACK SKIPJACK (Euthynnus lineatus)

This species is one of the few tunas limited to the eastern Pacific, found in waters off California to Peru. The black skippy can be identified by the four or five broad, straight stripes that extend horizontally along its back. A hard-hitting, fast-moving predator, smaller skipjack are popular among anglers for use as live bait for billfish and large yellowfin. The strong dark-red flesh is not appealing to most fishermen.

BLUEFIN (Thunnus thynnus)

The king of tunas, giant bluefin are for many anglers the ultimate prize among all game fishes. Ditto for sushi eaters, who at market may bid hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single giant. There’s some irony in the fact that before the latter part of the 20th century, sport fishermen had no use for giant bluefin, which at best were used for pet food, being considered unpalatable. Go figure.

Bluefin mature at about six years of age, around 300 pounds. Atlantic bluefin spawn in the Mediterranean and Gulf of Mexico. Researchers discovered and confirmed a third spawning area in the western Atlantic called the Slope Sea. They’re not terribly picky eaters, devouring even very small baitfish, and invertebrates, including starfish, have shown up in stomach analyses.

Bluefin range from far offshore to near-coastal waters. The three species of bluefin (Atlantic, Pacific and southern) tolerate a great range of temperatures and migrate great distances, across both oceans. Satellite tags have revealed transatlantic crossings in less than 60 days. Decades ago, giants made a reliable migration each May off Bimini and down the Florida Strait, but that suddenly came to an end after the 1960s. In recent years, Southern California anglers have been catching bluefin of sizes exceptional for those waters.

BONITOS (Sarda spp)

In addition to the Atlantic bonito, there are three other species of Sarda (Pacific, striped and Australian). These four true bonitos are related to dogtooth tuna and share that species’ shape — more elongated than other “true” tunas — and somewhat non-tuna-like sharp-toothed dentition. All are small coastal pelagics; all make outstanding light-tackle game fish and (even if not universally appreciated) fine table fare as sashimi or cooked. (Not to be confused with little tunny/false albacore, often called “bonito.”)

DOGTOOTH (Gymnosarda unicolor)

That the Indo-Pacific dogtooth (along with true bonitos — basically smaller versions) belong in a different group from bluefin, yellowfin and relatives isn’t hard to imagine. Unlike those true tunas, dogtooth are longer, leaner and maybe even meaner. Per its name, check out its dentures, most impressive of any tuna. Also, dogtooth are far more solitary, and unlike most tunas are not a schooling species. Finally, they prefer to haunt steep reef slopes; anglers needn’t travel far offshore to tangle with doggies. A fine eating fish, dogtooth are known for their brutal power when hooked.

KAWAKAWA (Euthynnus affinis)

Known as mackerel tuna in Australia, the kawakawa — native to the Indo- and western Pacific — is similar to the little tunny of Atlantic waters. It is also a dark-meat species, though popular among many anglers for food, as in Hawaii. Kawakawa are, typically, tremendous fighters for their size. Kawakawa mostly inhabit coastal reefs and may even move into estuaries.

LITTLE TUNNY (Euthynnus alletteratus)

A fish of many names, little tunny are known as false albacore off the U.S. Northeast and mid-Atlantic states, where they’re a very popular game fish among light-tackle and fly anglers. In the Southeast and Gulf, they’re mislabeled bonito, and generally avoided. Yet they are tremendous fighters for their size, battling in classic tuna fashion. Little tunny are readily identified by the wavy lines along their upper back, behind the dorsal, and the spots between pectoral and ventral fins. Small tunny are also popular as baitfish, drifted live or trolled dead. They form and feed in tight schools, often churning the surface as they gorge on baitfish. The dark-red, bloody meat of little tunny keeps them out of fish boxes.

LONGTAIL (Thunnus tonggol)

The longtail inhabits the Indo-Pacific, quite near shore, even prowling estuaries and river mouths, where it often roams in large shoals. A popular game fish among Australians, the species is there labeled northern bluefin, though it is not a species of bluefin.

SKIPJACK (Katsuwonus pelamis)

With distinct horizontal stripes limited to its lower half (and no stripes dorsally), the skipjack is readily distinguished from other small tunas. One of the most widely dispersed of small tunas, the skipjack is found in all temperate and tropical seas, where it often forms huge schools. Not all anglers realize that its light meat should make it a preferred species for the fish box. The skipjack is of huge importance globally as a commercial species, with great tonnage ending up canned.

YELLOWFIN (Thunnus albacares)

Named for its bright-yellow finlets, the yellowfin is fantastically popular among anglers who fish tropical seas around the world. Their habit of schooling and feeding at the surface makes yellowfin particularly exciting targets for run-‘n’-gunners. Yellowfin are decidedly bluewater pelagics but may move into coastal waters at times. The fast-growing tuna can reach 200 pounds in seven years. Anglers in eastern Pacific waters take advantage of the yellowfin symbiotically feeding with dolphin (porpoise). From years spent as an observer for the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, California photographer, writer and angler Bill Boyce says tuna definitely follow dolphin (not vice versa). The tuna seem to understand that dolphin will find the baitfish; the tuna then help corral the bait, pushing it to the surface.

OTHER TUNAS

The post An Illustrated Guide to Types of Tuna appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Do you have a photograph of a fish you can’t identify? If so, we’re up for the challenge, and would welcome the opportunity to share your photo and its ID with an international audience of enthusiasts. (Whether published or not, we will personally respond to every inquiry.) Email your jpgs, as large/hi-res as possible, to: fishfacts@sportfishingmag.com.

Clearly, says Jean-Francois Helias, of anglingthailand.com, this is a lionfish. But which species? Helias writes that in fact one of his guides, Pro Kik Phanpraphat, and clients were catching “one after the other” while jigging near Koh Kut Island, in the Gulf of Siam. He would like to know more about this impressively spiny fish.

Handle with care, advises Sport Fishing Fish Facts expert Ben Diggles, based in Australia. That is a very venomous plaintail lionfish (Pterois russelii). There are many species of lionfish in tropical and warm-temperate waters around the world. The plaintail grows to around 12 inches, inhabiting muddy areas in shallow estuaries, bays and coastal waters throughout the western Indo-Pacific. Like most lionfishes, they’re voracious predators of small fishes, so snapping up small jigs is hardly surprising.

The plaintail, like most lionfish species, sports venom glands at the base of each spine. These, Diggles says, operate like a hypodermic syringe; when contact is made with the business end of the spine, venom containing a potent and highly painful neurotoxin is released into the puncture wound. “Fortunately the venom is not deadly, but it can cause paralysis in rare cases, so best to neutralize by dousing the affected area with or in hot water,” Diggles says.

The plaintail can be sometimes confused with the common lionfish, Pterois volitans, an invasive species now well established in the Western Atlantic, from the Carolinas south through the Caribbean. But it lacks the many rows of small dark spots on tail, soft dorsal and anal fins found on the common lionfish.

The post Fish Facts: A Dangerous Beauty appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

When it comes to sharks, anglers just can’t seem to get enough of ’em. Somewhere between 400 and 500 different species of shark swim in our oceans, in depths from mere inches, over shallow flats, to thousands of feet; from the hottest equatorial seas to freezing waters over the poles. Some never grow to a foot in length, while some man-eaters exceed 20 feet.

This gallery offers a look at 15 shark species important to sport fishermen — most of them likely to be encountered and/or targeted. Some are wild on the hook — offering a performance as exciting as any species of game fish in the world. Many are unspectacular but dogged fighters. But no matter how they fight, bringing a big one boatside offers one of fishing’s more dramatic moments.

I’ve included the all-tackle world record for each species. Some species are part of the International Game Fish Association’s line-class-record system.

BLACKTIP AND SPINNER SHARKS

• Blacktip (Carcharhinus limbatus) world record: 270 pounds, 9 ounces, 8 feet long (Kenya, 1984)
• Spinner (Carcharhinus brevipinna) world record: 208 pounds, 9 ounces (Texas, 2009)

Blacktip sharks and the closely related, very similar spinner shark, are among the most widespread and cosmopolitan of “sporting” sharks, found in all the world’s temperate and tropical waters and ranging from flats they share with bonefish to deeper offshore waters. These active and agile predators are popular with anglers who at times catch them casting topwater lures and flies and enjoy their spirited fight and, often, their repeated leaps. These species are responsible for most of the annual shark bites reported by Florida beach-goers when they follow mullet runs into the murky waters near shore, and the flash of an arm or foot may attract their attention.

BLUE SHARK

• Blue (Prionace glauca) world record: 528 pounds — 10 feet long (New York, 2001)

The long, slender and aptly named blue shark is nowhere a stranger, being circum-global in tropical and temperate waters. The wide-ranging sharks of offshore waters can be a nuisance. Their fight is less than spectacular, though bringing a big one to the boat can get exciting. Arguably one of the least-desirable sharks for eating. While attacks on humans are rare, blues are in the “potentially dangerous” category.

BONNETHEAD SHARK

• Bonnethead (Sphyrna tiburo) world record: 32 pounds — 3½ feet long (Florida, 2013)

In essence a small, inshore hammerhead, the bonnethead prefers estuaries, flats and bays in tropical and temperate waters of the New World, along both western Atlantic and eastern Pacific coasts of North and South America. Flats anglers can sight-cast to them as they search the sand with zigzag turns looking for anything edible. Agile little bonnetheads will hit lures and flies, and offer great light-tackle sport.

BULL SHARK

• Bull (Carcharhinus leucas) world record: 697 pounds, 12 ounces — 8½ feet long (Kenya, 2001)

Unquestionably one of the most dangerous of the world’s sharks, the bull is also one of the most ubiquitous: Anywhere in the world there’s a tropical or temperate coastline, there are bull sharks. Bulls move freely far up rivers and into lakes. The thick-bodied, powerful sharks when hooked offer a reasonably stubborn but unspectacular fight (though the release might be lively).

GREENLAND SHARK

• Greenland (Somniosus microcephalus) world record: 1,708 pounds, 9 ounces — 13-plus feet long (Norway, 1987)

Unlike other sharks on this list, the Greenland shark is restricted to the far-north reaches of both sides of the Atlantic and up into the most northern Arctic waters. These sharks have been aged up to 392 years; sexual maturity occurs at around 150 years. Very limited sport fisheries in fjords, sometimes through the ice, have offered a handful of anglers the unique chance to land one of these monsters, which they do more for the novelty than any sort of real fight. Given this species’ habitat, humans are safe from Greenland sharks.

GREAT HAMMERHEAD SHARK

• Great hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran) world record: 1,280 pounds — 11 ½ feet long (Florida, 2006)

Anglers may catch any of several hammerhead species besides the great hammerhead including the smooth and scalloped varieties, but S. mokarran is the largest. It roams the world’s oceans, ranging from shallow nearshore waters to offshore. Attacks on people are exceedingly rare. A fair opponent when hooked, though studies have shown that hammerheads are particularly prone to mortality when released, even if they appear healthy. Note that all three of these hammerhead species are widely illegal to harvest, with the scalloped hammerhead added in 2014 to the federal Endangered Species List.

LEMON SHARK

• Lemon (Negaprion brevirostris) world record: 405 pounds — nearly 8 feet long (North Carolina, 1988)

Widely distributed, lemons prefer shallower coastal waters, and they’re definitely the big dog of the flats. Lemon sharks can be chummed near a skiff in a couple of feet of water on the right tides, and sight-casting to them and hooking up in such clear water is explosive action. Although Lemon attacks on humans are rare, they’re not unheard of. By law, lemons must be released in the waters of most coastal states where they occur.

MAKO SHARK

• Shortfin mako (Isurus paucus ) world record: 1,221 pounds — 11 feet long (Massachusetts, 2001)

Found in most of the world’s temperate and tropical seas, the mako shark is truly one of the ocean’s great game fishes. This fastest of all sharks often goes ballistic when hooked, repeatedly making memorable sky-high somersaulting leaps. They’ve been known to jump into boats, and frequently chomp on outboards’ lower units. Makos will devour live baits but also track down marlin lures trolled at high speeds. Makos are also considered excellent eating. The species certainly has the potential to present a danger to people. The longfin mako, I. paucus, is less common and stays farther offshore.

OCEANIC WHITETIP SHARK

• Oceanic whitetip (Carcharhinus longimanus) world record: 369 pounds — 7 feet (Bahamas, 1998)

Common in tropical, temperate and cool-temperate seas worldwide, the whitetip is one of the requiem sharks; its close relatives include the bull, bronze whaler, dusky, silky and tiger. These open-ocean hunters are fast and aggressive, and many’s the offshore angler who has lost a prize to them. At the same time, when hooked, they’re quick, tough opponents. Whitetips definitely present a danger to humans.

PORBEAGLE SHARK

• Porbeagle (Lamna nasus) world record: 507 pounds — 8 feet long (Scotland, 1993)

Sometimes call “fat makos,” the porbeagle is indeed closely related to and more robust than the mako. They also inhabit cooler waters, in the entire North Atlantic and southern hemisphere. Like the mako, the porbeagle is an outstanding game fish, though far less common, and is also fine eating. A limited targeted sport fishery off the U.K. has resulted in some fine catches in recent years. It is also valued as a food fish. The cool waters that porbeagles inhabit preclude much contact with humans, hence they’re not a likely threat.

SALMON SHARK

• Salmon (Lamna ditropis) world record: 461 pounds, 9 ounces — 7 ½ feet long (Alaska, 2009)

Basically the north Pacific’s version of the north Atlantic porbeagle, the very similar salmon shark is a cold-water version of the mako. Like many large-shark species, the salmon shark is warm-blooded, heating its blood well above ambient water temps. Targeted fisheries are limited, mostly to areas where the sharks follow runs of salmon in close to the coasts of Alaska. Salmon sharks offer exciting, sometimes aerial, action for northern anglers.

THRESHER SHARK

• Thresher (Alopias vulpinis) world record: 767 pounds, 3 ounces — 9 feet long (to fork of tail) (New Zealand, 1983)

The common thresher shark is found in nearly all seas tropical, temperate and cool-temperate around the world. It ranges from bluewater to nearshore shallows in some areas, such as Southern California beaches, seasonally. The long tail is used to herd and stun small fish. Threshers are excellent eating and tough opponents when hooked; they often leap wildly. The less common bigeye thresher (A. superciliosus) may get slightly larger: The world record is 802 pounds from New Zealand in 1981. Threshers are not considered aggressive to humans.

TIGER SHARK

• Tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier) world record: 1,780 pounds, 14 feet (South Carolina, 1964) AND 1,785 pounds, 11 ounces (Australia, 2004)

One of the largest active shark species, tigers sharks inhabit nearshore and even inshore coastal waters worldwide. They’re not a true pelagic, open-ocean species. Tigers of well over 6,000 pounds have been reported. While impressive for their size, tigers are not terribly unpredictable or flashy fighters when hooked. They’re known to ingest just about anything edible and many things not, and they’re widely implicated in many attack on humans.

TOPE SHARK

• Tope (Galeorhinus galeus) world record: 72 pounds, 12 ounces — 5 feet (New Zealand, 1986)

Tope range from shore to deeper ocean waters in all oceans, particularly in temperate and cold waters. As sport fish, these sharks are particularly valued in areas where cool waters preclude a great variety of game fish species, notably the British Isles as well as South Africa and southern Australia. Anglers in these areas target tope for their quite-respectable fighting qualities.

The post Shark Fishing: A Guide to Popular Species appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.