[BLUEFISH9]

Thought it would be interesting to start this topic just to see where people stand. I was wondering how many people adhere to IGFA regs and why? And how many people are not interested? Keep in mind there is no right or wrong answer...Im not starting this topic to be argumentative, just for opinions. Personally, I fish for fun. Don't even know anything about the IGFA other than the fact they stand for/preach conservation (which is a good thing for the most part). Other than that, I know they have a nice museum in Ft Lauderdale

What page are you guys on, and why?

This post edited by BLUEFISH9 04:45 PM 03/10/2008

 

[06405]

We try to follow by IGFA as much as possible when we are fishing for fun. But If a guy gets tired on the rod and passes it off or fights it out of the the rod holder, or has to use the ****pit gunnel's or rails no biggie we are out there for fun. But all our terminal tackle and line are all rated Igfa. In a tourney we take it very serious and no matter what, every thing is followed by the rules on our boats if a guy gets desperately tired on the rod and has to hand it off and that fish is of decent size and can place we will call that fish in and DQ it our selfs, To us it is better being honest then lying and trying to make a quick buck more people will look more highly of you and respect you more if you play by the rules and are honest.

 

[asiegel]

I think that without rules, fishing is not a sport.

That said, I watch people break the rules all the time on my boat. I'm with you guys on the fun part, so when someone's knees start to hurt he can put the rod in the holder & nobody gets on his case. One rule that we constantly break is that the rod may not be touched by anyone other than the angler from the moment the fish hits. We often find that too inconvenient, especially when the rod is in one of the flybridge rocket launchers.

I also think that IGFA rules favor big boats, big crews and rich people, so they are somewhat arbitrary and unfair. That said, without rules, fishing is not a sport

 

[clementine]

Personally i think the rules only need to come into play during a tournament, or if you are out there looking for that record fish. Screw the IGFA when I'm just fishing though, who cares if you fight a fish out of a rod holder, use 200lb. JB, use a harpoon etc... I don't really care about breaking records, If I catch a 500lb bigeye without following IGFA regs i won't get the record, but i'll still know i caught the biggest eyeball...

This post edited by clementine 09:19 PM 03/10/2008

 

[asiegel]

OK, so why not just catch the fish with a longline or a net or harpoon? Why not just use depth charges to stun the fish, then scoop them up in a net? No rules, no sport. That's why we use that silly thin and brittle line.

OK, OK, you trick the fish & you wind it up, that's pretty sporting eh? The green-stick guys trick the fish & wind them up too, so is that a sport? & if sport is not important, then why bother with all the details of sport fishing? Can any sport exist without rules?

I guess there are two types of fishermen: ones who fish with the intent of playing by the rules of the record keepers, and ones who lie and say they don't

 

[clementine]

asiegel wrote:
That said, I watch people break the rules all the time on my boat. I'm with you guys on the fun part, so when someone's knees start to hurt he can put the rod in the holder & nobody gets on his case. One rule that we constantly break is that the rod may not be touched by anyone other than the angler from the moment the fish hits. We often find that too inconvenient, especially when the rod is in one of the flybridge rocket launchers.

I also think that IGFA rules favor big boats, big crews and rich people, so they are somewhat arbitrary and unfair.
In your quote you say you break the rules all the time, don't you. As i said I fish for sport, but don't need a bunch of fat old rich guys down in florida telling me how to fish. Also, I don't have a big a boat, i am not rich, and don't fish with a big crew- usually less 3 or less.

 

[BLUEFISH9]

"SPORT"

asiegel sems preety passionate about the IGFA rules. Which I can certainly respect. He also seems to think negativly about those who dont "sport" fish. To that, I offer him this: To me, the idea of "sport" means to compete...Football, baseball, basketball TOURNAMENT FISHING (where you compete against other people) etc etc. Bringing a few of your buddies out fishing is really more of a "recreation" in my opinion. (I know a lot of people are gonna get on me about that statement) Yes, in the dictionary, Fishing is concidered a sport. But so is hunting. Now I dont have a problem with hunting but can anyone tell us how hiding out in camo with a high powered rifle and then blasting an unsuspecting animal away is a sport? Recreation perhaps.
Wild bear wrestling...now THAT would be a sport! Does that sound like something anyone would be interested in? Why not? Because the bear has an advantage? Kinda like humans fishing

This post edited by BLUEFISH9 04:53 PM 03/11/2008

 

[MakoMike]

To me its pretty simple, if you are trying to set records. abide by the IGFA rules, if your not trying to set records, do whatevere you feel is right. I totally disagree with Andy, no need for rules in sport fishing, its not like its a competitive sport or like someone is keeping score. Tournaments, obviously are different. but many tournaments don't even go by IGFA rules.

 

[clementine]

That's exactly how i feel makomike, if your in a tourney follow the rules, if your looking to break records (which i'm not) follow the rules, otherwise who cares. If you're not going to follow the rules to a tee, then why does it even matter. You say on your boat more than one person handles the rod at times, and i see you use a harpoon, so why follow other IGFA rules so strictly?

 

[asiegel]

I'm kind of transforming into a purist, and learning that IGFA is more the exception than the rule. Among the flyfishermen the rules are followed more often because they have already abandoned all reason to go with the knuckle busting arm hurting and way underpowered flyfishing gear. Talk about purists! Long ago, offshore fishing was mostly made up of purists, but this is no longer the case.

Anyway, I'm working at making my boat more IGFA compliant. I'm switching all my gear to IGFA line like Blake has. The reason I'm doing this is so that when I get to the dock, and I say "we landed that bigeye on 30# test", It's true.

I'm really not trying to sway anyone's opinion here, just stating mine. Like I said before, IGFA rules are somewhat arbitrary & I agree that they only truly matter if you are trying to break a record.

 

[gusto45]

There are quite a few rules that are not followed even in tournaments. Poons and/or multiple gaffs are not approved, no guns. I have no problem with people doing any of the above when it comes to safety. I choose to fallow the rules.

I fallow the rules except when it comes to giant fishing, I don't want a chair on my boat so we fight them out of the rod holder (not much sport). I have the appropriate pound test mono on my reels, In my club you are always competing so we fallow.

Spreader bars are not approved last time I checked. Tounaments allow spreader bars most likely due to sponsorship and I do use them. On my boat you fight the fish till it is gaffed, or you will hear it for a long time.

These are just my opinions, everyone is entitled to theirs.

 

[Jigalow]

First and foremost I fish for fun and recreation, the fact that it's a sport is secondary to me. I'd still do it even if the fat guys in FL / IGFA hadn't defined the rules. To me, the structure they defined in the rules is a measure to determine whether my tactic for catching fish is deemed "sporting" or not. It also establishes a baseline to measure my ability as an angler against others which is nice to know but not very important to me. The only exception is if I were lucky enough to hook into an IGFA all tackle record.

At this point I really don't care about line class records. I think it's a good idea to use tackle that comforms to the IGFA rules just in case you do get lucky.

I like to fish with tackle I feel confident could reasonably handle most any fish I hook up with. I'd hate to be denied a world record because my tackle didn't conform to the rules. As far as line class records, I hate the thought of breaking off a real trophy or an all tackle world record because I was going after a line class record.

I used to fish with a guy who liked to chunk with 80 W's with 130#, I don't fish with him anymore nor would I fish with someone who exclusivly chunked with 10# line. What's the right balance? To each his own I guess.

 

[asiegel]

Wait Jig, does that mean you agree with me?? Or does it mean you will be re-spooling when I turn my back? Here's the real question: what strength line did you catch that eye on? Since there is no way of knowing, let's just call it 30ish!!

 

[gusto45]

I do it so I can call myself an athlete!!!!!!!

 

[Jigalow]

asiegel wrote:
Wait Jig, does that mean you agree with me?? Or does it mean you will be re-spooling when I turn my back? Here's the real question: what strength line did you catch that eye on? Since there is no way of knowing, let's just call it 30ish!!

Not on all points but I don't think we're as far apart as you might think. Catching that bigeye on 30#ish line felt good but for me it would have felt just the same if it was 50#ish line and a lot better if we had also caught the other one that broke off.

I'm just trying to understand what's important to you so when we fish together I can understand where your coming from, adapt my style a little if necessary so we're closer to allignment.

I will continue to give you my input until you tell me you don't want it, at which point I'll just shut up and fish.

In a compromise this year I'm considering spooling my 50W's with 50# Momoi Hi catch in smoke blue for chunking, that seems like a good balance to me.

 

[KingKeith]

i heard using 130 jerry brown is not igfa legal. is this true.

 

[BLUEFISH9]

I would think not

 

[carlynewlondon]

I can appriciate the skills needed to catch fish within IGFA guidelines. In tournament fishing there probably isn't another way to even the field.

Maybe at some point I'll want to explore personal challenges above and beyond merely catching fish. Where I am right now I'd rather take that extra bigeye (or any one for that matter) on a 70 backed with 130lb hollow core than loose one and fight the other for 2 hours on 30lb tackle. For me the game is finding them, getting the bite, and boat handling. I don't take the rod a whole lot on the troll and sleep way too much at night to be in it for the fight. I don't think cranking them in out of the rod holders would be much fun but if you're whipped by a fish by all means do what you have to do to get it in.

I do see how lightening up a bit does increase the bite and its a ton more fun to fight a fish on a 30 than it is an 80 but I'm ok with the 30 having 80lb HC backing and a 80lb top shot and 22lb of drag. I feel good coming back with fish for the crew, home, and friends. My time out there is limited and the heavier drags put em in the boat a little faster then off to find the next one. My personal goals right now have more to do with quantity and size rather than benchmarks against others.

Years ago I used to make fun of freinds who fly fished for trout and could describe every spot on a trout they caught the previos weekend while I was consitently limiting out. It got boring for me after a while and I looked for challenges with bigger and bigger fish. I'm out on the canyons now and can appriciate the satisfaction those guys got from a 2lb fish caught a certain way. Hopefully I'll get good enough at this I'll need some additional challenges. If you're there already good for you, congrats, I'm sure you put a few in the boat getting there.

I'll be pulling out the IGFA compliant tackle for the tourneys, maybe we'll meet there when the moneys on the line. Good luck, catch em up.

 

[MakoMike]

KingKeith wrote:
i heard using 130 jerry brown is not igfa legal. is this true.

Probably true, most non-tournament rated lines test out above their label stregnth, and since 130 is at the top of the scale if it tests out just a little bit above the 130 pound label it won't qualify for IGFA records.

Another thing for everyone to consider, especially tuna fishermen, the longer it takes to put the fish in the boat the less food value (taste) of the fish. IGFA rules are designed to make it more difficult to put the fish in the boat and therefore, the fish will not have as much food value.

 

[638475]

130 Braid isn't IGFA legal

Unless it breaks at NO MORE than 132 lbs. I love the guys who have 80's and 130's with out a chair on the boat, No IGFA rule breakage there, Also no spreader bars