(AP) -- Reeling in a 45-pound grouper used to be just an average day on the water in the Florida Keys. The abundance of behemoth fish attracted anglers from around the world in the early 1900s, including adventurers such as Ernest Hemingway and Zane Grey, who pulled in monsters from the clear, warm depths off Key West.
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Tiny invasive snail impacts Great Lakes, alters ecology
Long a problem in the western U.S., the New Zealand mud snail currently inhabits four of the five Great Lakes and is spreading into rivers and tributaries, according to a Penn State team of researchers. These tiny creatures out-compete native snails and insects, but are not good fish food replacements for the native species.
New lure may replace soft plastic ones
A fishing aficionado from Waunakee, Wis., has created a new "Iron-Clad" fishing lure he hopes will replace problematic soft plastic lures.
Off the hook: Stronger soft-plastic fishing lure reels in raves
Working with University of Wisconsin-Madison engineering and business school faculty and students, a Wisconsin entrepreneur has perfected a fiber-reinforced fishing lure that may prevent millions of pounds of toxic plastics from polluting waters nationwide.
Research cautions to catch-and-release in less than 4 minutes
Recreational fishing that involves catch-and-release may seem like just good fun, and that released fish go on to live happily ever after, but a recent study at the University of Illinois shows that improper handling techniques by anglers can increase the likelihood of released fish being caught by predators.
Releasing fish for the future
NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) fisheries scientists are investigating ways to boost the survival rates of fish caught and then released by anglers.Some guidelines designed to improve fish survival were recently developed for released line-caught snapper, silver trevally, mulloway, sand whiting, yellowfin bream and dusky flathead.
Deadly fish virus VHSV spreading throughout Great Lakes Basin
A lethal fish virus in the Great Lakes and neighboring waterways is approaching epidemic proportions, according to Paul Bowser, Cornell professor of aquatic animal medicine in the College of Veterinary Medicine. The viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV), which causes anemia and hemorrhaging in fish, has now been identified in 19 species and poses a potential threat to New York's $1.2 billion sport-fishing industry.
Mistaken identity? When a white marlin may not always be a white marlin
For years, anglers thinking they were catching the prized white marlin may have caught something quite different, raising concerns about the true remaining numbers of the threatened species, according to an article in the most recent issue of the scientific journal
Bulletin of Marine Science.
Hope for Ridding Lakes of Clawed Invader
The rusty crayfish - a voracious, bullying exotic that has visited ecological havoc on numerous Wisconsin lakes - may have finally met its match.
