fish

In November, I fished from El Pescador, on Ambergris Caye.

With its unique design, the Hover-Lure is the only lure that is fished above water, enticing bass to aggressively attack its primary prey.

"At least 60 percent of the world's fisheries are overfished or fished to the limit," declared the World Wildlife Fund in 1998.

"Roughly 70 percent of the world's commercially important marine fish populations are now fully fished, overexploited, depleted, or slowly recovering," says Lisa Speer of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a non-profit environmental advocacy group based in New York.

SEATON SLUICE AC: 12 rods fished and eight weighed in.

STRESSED SICK While overfishing has historically posed the greatest threat to sturgeon species, several environmental trends are also seriously stressing stocks, even some that are no longer fished.

The exploited species that are fished out in the fishing areas are abundant in marine reserves, as you might expect.

When waters closer to shore got too crowded for his tastes, Watkins fished farther and farther out, eventually ending up in the Dry Tortugas, a 120-mile round-trip from Key West, where conflicts over territory and government hassles were fewer--at least until recently.