THE 1993 and 1994 TOURNAMENTS

Fish contact, including strikes and hookups are often more important to recreational anglers in a billfish tournament than boating (=landing) a fish. During the course of each day's fishing in the HIBT, regular radio roundups of fishing activity are recorded at 10.00 am, 12.00 noon, and 3.00 pm and at the end of fishing at 4.00 pm. These data allow examination of fishing activity patterns through the day and tournament and since each boat and team is recorded regardless of whether it has had any success, the fishing effort for each area is likewise available. Thus we can ask questions about the fishing such as whether or not fish are driven from high activity areas over the course of the week of intensive fishing?

These data are not easily presented in a readily digestible form. Information for each area fished is presented as a pie chart showing the proportion of strikes, hookups and landings (including of course T&R) and the size of the pie illustrates the amount of fish activity (estimated by adding number of strikes, hookups and boatings) divided by the average number of boats in that area per hour. Effort Information in the form of average number of boats per hour of tournament appears in the bottom left of each fishing area. 6A and 6B represent these data for 1993 and 1994 respectively.

Interestingly the average number of boats in any one area per hour does not always reflect the activity. For example in 1993 UA and UB were very active areas but only 1-2 boats were on average in these zones. Similarly in 1994 1-2 boats were present in UA and UB on average despite it being active. When combined with the higher than average likelihood of catching large fish in these areas (see Figure 3) this seems rather surprising. In 1993 twice as many boats were in UA and UB at the 10:00 am roundup than later in the day. In 1994 the numbers of boats in UA and UB at 10:00 am and 12:00 noon were the same while later in the day it was about 2/3 of the earlier numbers. This was against an increase in activity per boat hour through the day going from about 1 contact per boat.hour at 10:00 am to between 7 (1994) and 15 (1993) contacts per boat.hour at the 3:00 roundup. Thus while the time cost of reaching U areas is a major factor there are clearly many other factors involved in addition to playing the odds.

Interpretation of, and drawing conclusions from, these data is difficult since there are so many local factors involved. Their presentation in this form will however add fuel to the discussions amongst all participants in the Tournament.

The Conclusions