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John's Journal... Entry 145, Day 5

TRIPLETAIL OFF GEORGIA'S COAST

When Do the Tripletail Start Invading the Channel Markers?

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you've never experienced tripletail fishing, you've missed one of the finest sports in all of salt-water fishing. The tripletail resembles a giant bream and got its name because its anal and pectoral fins sweep back towards its tail, giving the appearance of the fish having three tails. This week we'll take you with us on a tripletail-fishing trip to Brunswick, Georgia, with Captain Greg Hildreth. We'll also bring you up-to-date on some of the latest research on tripletail conducted by Jim Franks and Reed Hendon, fisheries research biologists at the University of Southern Mississippi's College of Marine Science Center for Fisheries Research and Development. Tripletail live in the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the western Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. But anglers nor scientists know very much about this fun-to-catch and delicious-to-eat fish.

Question: When do tripletails start invading the channel markers?
Answer: We usually start seeing the fish around the channel markers in June and usually can catch them around structure until the end of September.

Question: How does the channel-marker fishing for tripletails differ from sight-fishing for tripletail?
Answer: Normally the tripletails that hold around the channel markers from June until September are much bigger fish than we see running the beaches from April until the first of June. You will need heavier tackle to catch these fish because they'll weigh 10 to 25 pounds each. As soon as a tripletail gets hooked, it will try to head back to the channel marker and break your line off on the chain holding the channel marker. For this reason, I'll be fishing 50-pound-test Berkley FireWire, a braided line. This line has a small diameter and a lot of abrasion resistance, and it can be cast on a baitcasting rod.

Question: How do rig to fish for catching channel marker tripletail?
Answer: I use a popping cork, a 1/2-ounce sinker below the popping cork and a wire leader. I've found that the wire leader at this time of the year doesn't spook the fish. If the tripletail does go around a chain or a cable, he won't break the wire leader. I bait with live shrimp and use a No. 6 hook, just like I do when I'm sight fishing.

Question: What's your concern about the tripletail fishing off Jekyll Island?
Answer: This fishery is very unique, and I've never seen or read about anywhere else in the country where you can fish for these tripletail in open water and they're not around structure. I also don't know of any other place in the world where you see the large number of tripletails that we do in April and May. Our limit in Georgia is five fish, 18 inches or longer, per person. Anglers are catching numbers of tripletails right now. The charter-boat captains want to see a two-fish limit of fish 18 inches to 20 inches or longer. Because so little is known about tripletails, we prefer to tag a lot of tripletails right now and learn more about the fish before we start over-harvesting them. With the tag-and-release program, anglers still can catch one or two fish to eat. Then they can have fish swimming in the Atlantic Ocean that they've tagged and released. When I have a customer who tags and releases a tripletail, I write his name, the date the fish was tagged and the tag number and then release the fish. If that tagged fish is ever caught, then I'll notify the customer of where the fish is caught, how much the fish weighs, and all the scientific data that we've gathered from that fish.

We asked Jim Franks what's unusual about the tripletail.
Franks: One of the most unusual characteristics about the tripletail is their ability to camouflage themselves. The tripletail is probably one of the best fish in all of nature for camouflaging itself. They can instantly change colors, depending on what they are associated with. They can change from a bright yellow, to coal black to silver, green or white. The tripletail also has learned to mimic foliage and debris. The tripletail can take the shape of whatever it is swimming next to on the surface. A now-famous scientific study once was performed on tripletails. The scientists put a tripletail in a tank with barracudas and mango leaves. The tripletail took on the shape and the color of the leaves, and the barracudas couldn't find the tripletail. So, as scientists we'd like to know how tripletails change color and change shape. How does an animal with a brain about the size of a pea know how to become six different colors and mimic the shapes of what it sees? Without question, the tripletail is one of the most unusual fish that swims. The tripletail offers tremendous opportunity for scientists to study and to learn. Too, tripletail can grow fast in aquaculture where they're easy to raise and hopefully bring to the market.

* To plan a trip to the Georgia coast to catch tripletail this year, contact Captain Greg Hildreth at (912) 261-1763. You also can visit www.georgiacharterfishing.com to learn more.
* I recommend you stay at the really nice Beachview Club with its spacious rooms. The majestic water oaks surrounding the hotel help to shade the pool and the rooms. Too, you can look out your window and see where you'll be fishing the next morning. You can write the Beachview Club at 721 North Beachview Drive, Jekyll Island, Georgia 31527, phone (912) 635-2256, fax (912) 635-3770; you also can e-mail this hotel at beachview@technonet.com
* To learn what all you can do on Jekyll Island, contact Maxine Smith at the Jekyll Island Authority, phone (912) 635-2236 or (912) 635-4076, fax (912) 635-4004 or e-mail her at msmith@jekyllisland.com
* For more information about the type of sunglasses you need to wear to see the tripletail, contact Don Dingman of Ocean Waves at (904) 509-0026 cell phone, (904) 276-1164 home phone or by e-mail at snole1@fbn.com
* To tag tripletail and help fisheries scientists with their research, contact Jim Franks or Reed Hendon at the University of Southern Mississippi College of Marine Science Center by calling (228) 872-4202 or e-mailing jim.franks@usm.edu or reed.hendon@usm.edu

TOMORROW: WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO CATCH

 

 

Check back each day this week for more TRIPLETAIL OFF GEORGIA'S COAST ...

Day 1 - Fun Catching Tripletail and the Equipment You Need
Day 2 - Weird Ways to Catch Tripletail
Day 3 - What You're Going To Catch
Day 4 - The Secret of Blackbeard's Tripletail
Day 5 - When Do the Tripletail Start Invading the Channel Markers?


John's Journal