Inhaltsverzeichnis für April/May 2017 in Marlin

They’ve got a 115-inch blue, and they’re heading to the scales.” Those words will get a tournament support crew buzzing like a beehive. The rumor of a big fish spreads like wildfire through the rest of the tournament fleet; in the Gulf, that means the satellite phones start ringing. There’s a mix of emotions for those without a fish yet, but at least the scene at the dock will be one heck of a party. The news of a big fish heading to the scales begins to go from cellphone to cellphone back ashore. The local radio and TV stations may even mention it to draw a larger crowd — it could be the only time someone sees a giant marlin in person. The sight of a boat backing down…

SAILFISH 400 January 11-15, Miami With nine sailfish releases, Peter Adrian’s 4 Aces team won this year’s event, earning over $230,000 along the way. Peter’s son Christian Adrian was also the tournament’s top angler. The team on O.C.D. took second and Top Gun/No Limits was third, each with six sailfish releases. REEF CUP January 17-21, Key Largo, Florida Seraphim had nine sailfish releases to win this year’s Reef Cup. Lights Out was second with eight releases, while Team Sharky’s Revenge also had eight sailfish releases to finish third on Kahuna. For the event, there were 157 sailfish released by 61 participating teams. BUCCANEER CUP SAILFISH RELEASE TOURNAMENT January 19-21, Palm Beach, Florida The Lo Que Sea team emerged victorious with four sailfish releases on dead bait, good for 1,200 points…

+ FOUR TOURNAMENTWINNING TEAM OWNERS CHIME IN. JOHNNY DORLAND, COTTON PATCH ORANGE BEACH, ALABAMA I fish competitively for the love of the sport. The thrill I get when a marlin eats a bait or lure in the spread is just as strong for me now as it was 10 years ago. It is tremendously gratifying. I like to see billfish get released, but I also enjoy fishing for a big blue marlin in tournaments. You can bet as much in a calcutta as you want to lose. Heck, I’d be a happy camper if we broke even in a tournament season. It’s exciting when you finally do win a big tournament, but most of all, I love to see the people on the docks that enjoy the same passion as…

I was fishing off Venezuela in the late 1990s when a local mate showed me a hot dog — yes, a hot dog that you’d eat — that he had rigged with a Mustad live-bait hook. Shortly thereafter, he said, “Watch this,” and pitched the hot dog to the next billfish that came up in the spread. He proceeded to catch the fish on the most beautifully rigged hot dog I’d ever seen. It’s OK to have a little fun when you’re getting 20 to 30 bites a day, but you want to have the highest hookup and catch percentage you possibly can. To do that, you need a solid pitch bait. BIGGER BAITS One of the first things you must do is match your bait to the target species.…

Caison Yachts began its new 60-footer with the mantra: “Built for fishermen, by a fisherman.” But don’t let the nononsense fishability of a Caison fool you; the customization will match the ride and performance that has come to be expected of the Carolina builder. “The owners really fell in love with the first boat’s beautiful Carolina flare, fit and finish, and overall functionality. The 60 will have plenty of creature comforts with a three-stateroom, two-head configuration. Right now, we are busy working with the family’s input every day so the build reflects their unique style and preferences,” Donnie Caison says. The roomy cockpit will include air-conditioned mezzanine seating, three refrigerated boxes, an ice bin and an abundance of storage. A livewell in the transom can double as tuna tubes when…

editor@marlinmag.com DON’T IGNORE YOUR HEALTH I was chasing billfish in places fisher men dream about — Venezuela, St. Thomas, Dominican Republic, Aruba, Mexico — and I was a picture of good health. I was physically fit, sun-tanned and had no worries. I just got up in the morning and went fishing. I always thought I didn’t need health insurance or even a physical because I felt great and I was in good shape. But then my life insurance agent called and wanted me to get a “good” physical. No problem, I thought. How could anything possibly be wrong with me? I got the call about my results, and my life instantly spun in front of me — I have a very aggressive type of prostate cancer. I thought to myself,…

MARSH TACKY Carbon-fiber construction is the key to the new gaff from Marsh Tacky. It’s amazingly light, super-strong and perfectly balanced — a deckhand’s dream marshtackycarbon.com FATHOM OFFSHORE Ever heard someone say they couldn’t buy a bite? Check out this limited-edition Game Changer Buy-A-Bite lure that features a shredded $100 bill encased in the resin head. It also has custom skirting and proven fish-raising action. fathomoffshore.com LINDGREN-PITMAN The new LP S-2400 is 50 percent faster and pulls 75 percent harder than the company’s popular S-1200 electric reel, making it perfect for deep-dropping or as a dredge reel. It also operates on 24 volts, eliminating voltage drop. lindgren-pitman.com HAYS These stainless needle-eye hooks feature a tip that curves inward more than standard tunastyle hooks for increased holding power. The needle-eye design…

Costa Rica’s billfish action has picked up where it left off in 2016 and continues to be red-hot this year. Just ask 89-year-old Bart Weisman, who released a grand slam of a blue marlin, a striped marlin and four sailfish on January 24, 2017, with Capt. Bubba Carter aboard Tijereta. Weisman, from Boca Raton, Florida, hooked and fought each fish to release himself. Weisman has fished with Carter since the renowned captain’s early days in Flamingo Bay, Costa Rica, where Carter operated just one of a handful of boats available for charter. Weisman followed the popular skipper when he relocated to Los Sueños, and both agree it’s a perfect destination. “It’s a beautiful place, and the fishing is great,” Weisman says. The day following his grand slam, January 25, Weisman…

On October 18, 2016, Australian junior angler Toby Nichols landed a southern bluefin tuna that could potentially set two world records for the species: the male junior angler record and the men’s 80-pound-test line class record. This is his father Stuart Nichols’ recount of that memorable day. I run a charter fishing business in Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania, and so all my boys are experienced anglers. As a family, we were taking our six kids camping on the morning of the 18th, but I gave the boys the option of chasing a record fish instead. Toby’s brothers had both caught big tuna the previous day, so we knew the conditions were right. This isn’t Toby’s first big tuna either. At age 10, he landed a pair of bluefins weighing 261 and…

+ ABOUT THE AUTHOR JASON SCHRATWIESER HAS A MASTER’S IN MARINE ECOLOGY AND HAS WORKED ON FISHERIES ISSUES FOR 16 YEARS. Billfish anglers have a lot to be proud of in terms of conservation over the past several decades. The adoption of circle hooks has done wonders for both increasing the number of fish we see in our spreads as well as lowering post-release mortality. Releasing marlin instead of killing them is also the accepted norm now and, for the most part, long gone are the days where billfish are strung up at the dock just to see them twist in the wind. All of this is great, but the debate still ensues whether it’s acceptable (socially, biologically or otherwise) to kill a billfish, and the controversy remains. In order…

The record for the largest fish ever caught by a female angler — and one of the heaviest marlin ever recorded by the IGFA — belongs to Kimberly Wiss and her incredible 1,525-pound black marlin caught on April 22, 1954, while fishing off Cabo Blanco, Peru. Wiss needed just over an hour to subdue the massive marlin after it ate a mackerel she was trolling from Miss Texas, captained at the time…

+ ABOUT THE AUTHOR RALEIGH WATSON IS AN ATTORNEY FOR COX AND COMPANY IN JUPITER, FLORIDA, AND IS AN AVID OFFSHORE ANGLER. A boat buyer in heat has little patience. My clients often tell me they were “ready to close yesterday.” However, surveys and inspections often reveal minor deficiencies, which the parties may agree to have repaired as a condition to closing. Sometimes, these repairs cannot be completed until well past the intended closing date. In certain circumstances, an escrow holdback arrangement is a tool that can be used to keep the closing date from being extended. WHAT IS AN ESCROW HOLDBACK? An escrow holdback typically occurs when a portion of the purchase price is held back pending completion of repairs. These arrangements are typically seen in cash transactions where…