Hi Scott - Thanks for sharing this. The fishermen here in the Trinidad/Guyana/Venezuela area know nothing of this surface longline you have run into on the Pacific side - theirs are buoyed and 30 feet or more down. However I contacted Seahorse's PO and he confirms your experience. Here's what he said: "I ran 60 miles off at night and it minimized the problem but I too have some good stories about snagging a couple of lines. During the day they are pretty good in warning you off but you do need to keep a good look out. At night - pray!" He must be referring to our paravanes as we have no stabilizers. I can only imagine he may have had several mile-long longlines complete with fish in the morning! Thanks for sharing! Regards, John "Seahorse" In a message dated 4/6/2008 4:43:18 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, scottebulger@gmail.com writes: John asked: Would you tell more about these long lines? It sounds like they actually float on the surface. Is that so? Well sure! Honestly the long lines are probably THE most troublesome aspect of traveling at night along the Pacific coast of Mexico and Central America. To start, the fisherman that put these out are in small fiberglass boats called Pangas. They are 20 to 26 feet long with a tiller controlled outboard motor, often 100 to 150HP. There are usually two or three fishermen in the boat and they leave for the fishing grounds about sunset, returning at dawn. We figure they fish at night because itbs cooler and they can do more hard work then if it was during the heat of the day? Anyway above Costa Rica these boats and their lines are completely unlit. More often than not they do not show up on RADAR, I donbt know why? If I can see flocks of birds, why canbt I see a Panga with a huge chunk of outboard and 3 guys onboard? Balboa Panama arrival 1:00am 4/7 **************Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides. (http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000016 )