Article by Dale Timmons
You might have read it in the news or seen on television last week when six east coast states, including Maryland and Delaware, issued health advisories about eating bluefish and striped bass. The new advisories recommended that “those in high risk groups—pregnant women, women who may become pregnant and children under the age of six…” not eat striped bass caught from Atlantic coastal waters or Delaware Bay. For people not in the high risk groups, “consumption of striped bass should be limited to no more than two meals per year for stripers caught in the Delaware Bay and, also for the first time, Atlantic coastal waters. “ For bluefish, “people in high risk groups are advised to not eat bluefish larger than 14 inches… For the rest of us, the advice is to eat no more than one meal per year of large bluefish caught from Delaware Bay and Atlantic coastal waters.
The reason for these advisories is largely the presence of PCBs and other contaminants. PCBs were used for years in things like light switches and the oil in large transformers mounted on power poles. They are a known carcinogen, and the unfortunate thing is they don’t break down in the environment. Thus they build up in the food chain. In other words, the largest predators contain the PCBs of all the smaller fish in each step up the line, so that when humans consume large fish such as stripers or blues we in turn get all the accumulated PCBs in our system.
So what do you do? Some scientists are adamant about these restrictions, while others say you would have to eat these fish every day for a long period of time before it might have any effect or possibly cause cancer. Like a lot of other things, I guess it is another risk factor of living in the modern age, and as with most things, moderation is the key. It was somewhat amusing that the warnings were only for recreationally caught fish, as if commercially caught stripers and blues were somehow devoid of PCBs. Guess the politicians don’t want to hurt business “in these difficult times” (a phrase that is getting a little old). Of course, most of us probably don’t catch enough to shorten our life span…if we do, I guess giving away fish to our “friends and neighbors” takes on a whole new meaning…
If you like to make up your own rigs, the dropper loop is probably in your knot tying arsenal. I have tied thousands of them, I guess, but I ran across a loop knot a couple of months back that all but made me abandon the usual blood knot type of dropper loop. I was reading something on the internet when I saw a link for the “Kiwi platted loop” and clicked on it. Yep, the Kiwi in this case comes all the way from New Zealand. The knot is simply credited to “Paul of Paul’s Fishing Kites,” who discovered that the commercial fishing lines he was tying conventional blood loops into weakened the mainline by over 40 percent. Another gentleman named Sam Mossman, who is the Special Projects Editor for the New Zealand Fishing News, tested the Kiwi Dropper against a standard dropper and found that while a standard dropper only gave 58.6 percent of the unknotted strength of the line, the Kiwi was a very impressive 94.8 percent, which is quite a difference. Dropper loops are standard on most top and bottom rigs, of course, and I use them on some of my other rigs such as those I make for puppy drum, so a difference of almost 40 percent in strength could become quite a factor if you are fishing for small fish and happen to hook a big drum or striper, or perhaps even a cobia or some other strong fighting fish. The Kiwi Dropper is a plait, which is basically a weave, so it won’t pinch and cut itself off like many other knots, including the standard dropper. It is relatively easy to tie once you learn it. It kind of “pops” into place, and I haven’t been able to make it slip. I have tied the knot in everything from 20 to 80 pound test, and the
heavier lines are no problem. If you want to look at it and give
it a try, you can go to www.fishingkites.co.nz and scroll down to the section on fishing knots (“A Better Blood Loop”). There are several other knots as well, all with excellent illustrations, plus a lot of other useful information. (Editors note: look for the Kiwi Dropper in an upcoming instructional video on www.coastalfisherman.net)...
While I’m on the subject of knots, last year I mentioned a possible easier-to-tie replacement for the Bimini Twist when you want to use a double line. It is called the Triple Surgeon’s Loop. I’ve had some time to test this knot, and I have been very pleased. I use it to tie a short double line, then follow it with a Bristol or No-Name Knot when I am putting shock leaders on my heavy surf rods or even lighter shockers on my spinning rods for casting lures. A young fellow named Moe Cropper who was pictured in last week’s issue with his first big surf caught red drum (it was 48 inches, by the way) was rigged exactly that way with a 17 lb. test main line and a 40-lb. shocker. I know because I tied it for him. He put the heat on that fish and caught it in just a few minutes. Anyway, the knot is easy to tie, relatively compact and very strong. You simply double back the length of line you want, then tie a loose overhand knot. Go through with the looped portion five more times (I don’t know why it is named “Triple”) before pulling on the loop, the standing line and the tag end. I make a last tightening pull on just the standing line and the loop…
The local shark tournaments have begun, and nowadays that means the crazies are getting publicitiy from the television folks by protesting the demise of a few sharks. My friend Cecil Tull at ABC Printers even got his usual threatening letter, and all he does is print one of the tournament brochures. Like I’ve said before, these folks are mostly all about money and duping well meaning folks into big donations, so I don’t hold much stock in what they have to say. I also want to congratulate the winners of last weekend’s Mako Mania Tournament and wish good luck to everyone fishing in the upcoming Ocean City Shark Tournament. Capt. Mark Sampson, one of the principals in the latter, has had to deal with some health issues that required hospitalization recently. He is back on his feet now, however, and we want to wish him well…
Contact Dale Timmons at [email protected] or call 410-629-1191.
