[PUP] Long lines

[Truelove39 at aol.com]

Hi Scott -

Thanks for sharing this. The fishermen here in the  Trinidad/Guyana/Venezuela
area know nothing of this surface longline you have  run into on the Pacific
side - theirs are buoyed and 30 feet or more down.  However I contacted
Seahorse's PO and he confirms your experience.

Here's what he said:  "I ran 60 miles off at night and it minimized  the
problem but I too have some good stories about snagging a couple of lines.
During
the day they are pretty good in warning you off but you do need to keep a
good look out. At night - pray!"  He must be referring to our paravanes as  we
have no stabilizers. I can only imagine he may have had several  mile-long
longlines complete with fish in the morning!

Thanks for sharing!

Regards,

John
"Seahorse"




In a message dated 4/6/2008 4:43:18 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
scottebulger at gmail.com writes:



John  asked:  Would  you tell more about these long lines? It sounds like
they actually float  on the surface. Is that so?



Well  sure!  Honestly the long lines are probably THE most troublesome aspect
 of traveling at night along the Pacific coast of Mexico and Central
America.  To start, the fisherman that put these out are in small  fiberglass
boats
called Pangas.  They are 20 to 26 feet long with a  tiller controlled outboard
motor, often 100 to 150HP.  There are usually  two or three fishermen in the
boat and they leave for the fishing grounds  about sunset, returning at dawn.
We figure they fish at night because  itbs cooler and they can do more hard
work then if it was during the heat of  the day?  Anyway above Costa Rica
these
boats and their lines are  completely unlit.  More often than not they do not
show up on RADAR, I  donbt know why?  If I can see flocks of birds, why
canbt
I see a Panga  with a huge chunk of outboard and 3 guys onboard?
Balboa  Panama arrival 1:00am  4/7






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