Indice dei contenuti per June/July 2019 in Marlin

There is no other feeling in the world like being connected to a much-larger-than-average fish that stretches your tackle right to the breaking point. I’m talking about one of those fights where you realize your opponent has a very good chance of escaping, even if you do everything right. The line cracks and pings like an overtightened guitar string, and you pray the hook doesn’t pull, the leader doesn’t fray and a thousand other things won’t go wrong. The tug is the drug, as they say, and it’s a powerful one, as addictive as any narcotic in the world. In full disclosure: I have never caught a truly huge marlin. My biggest is around 475 pounds or so. A nice fish but not extra-large, and because we released it, as…

Patrick Haley started fishing out of Orange Beach, Alabama, aboard his family’s 36-foot express, Skin Deep (the family now has a 63-foot Ricky Scarborough) when he caught his first blue marlin at the age of 10. As the Haleys began to participate in some of the Gulf of Mexico’s big-name tournaments, the Atlantic species list started to dwindle, so Patrick set a goal for himself to catch all nine billfish species before he turned 17. Family vacations to charter some of the best boats in the game, in the most billfish-rich corners of the world—Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; Los Sueños, Costa Rica; and Kona, Hawaii—allowed Patrick to catch all but one of the Pacific billfish on his list. After catching a blue marlin and a spearfish in Hawaii at the…

When you are looking to put a trophy, world record or tournament winner in the boat, you need to be familiar with the tools you are working with. There are many different styles and configurations of flying gaffs, and choosing the right one for the job is essential. They do not come with instructions or danger warnings, but the first rule is a good shot with a small gaff is better than a bad shot with a big one. The days of giant stainless-steel gaffs and aluminum poles are gone. Light gaffs make for better shots, and smaller gaff heads have smoother penetration and holding ability. My preference is the titanium 8- and 10-inch flyer heads outfitted with carbon fiber poles or a 9½-inch stainless-reinforced gaff head with a pivoting…

KONA. IT’S A PLACE, AN ADJECTIVE, AN IMAGE AND A BRAND. IT’S ALSO A WAY OF LIFE, BASED ON A HELL OF A LOT OF LIVING HISTORY. THERE ARE FAMILIES HERE WHO TRACE THEIR LINEAGES BACK MORE THAN A THOUSAND YEARS, STILL LIVING ON THE SAME ISLAND. TRY FINDING THAT IN DADE OR BROWARD COUNTIES IN FLORIDA. Hawaii in general and Kona specifically mean different things to different people, but if you bring up the topic of Hawaii on the mainland, those who haven’t personally experienced it often get the wrong idea. And if you mention Kona to marlin fishermen on the mainland, they might start out admiring all the giants which are caught here, but the odds are higher than Tom Brady’s pass completion rate that comments will get…

Our planet’s northern magnetic pole is not only racing toward Siberia at about 34 miles per year, it has been to Antarctica several times in the last million years—and it’s due to flip again. This isn’t new to old-school mariners, but the concept is probably not so familiar to younger captains who are accustomed to GPS. Increasingly, the compass is ignored, much like a dictionary on a bookshelf: one an ornament, the other a doorstop. And the Earth’s fickle magnetic force seems to further diminish its standing. Not so fast. “If you are in the Arctic Circle and the pole moves 30 miles, the difference can be significant,” says Patrick Lonergan, technical services manager in engineering and quality control for Ritchie Navigation. “But in the lower 48 states, most mariners…

Stepping aboard the 60-foot Cold Motion in Stuart, Florida, there was no mistaking the boat’s North Carolina DNA, with its raked entry at the waterline, moderate bow flare and its all-business cockpit with stylish tumblehome at the transom. The latest build from Caison Yachts had just returned from a shakedown cruise to the Abacos, where the owner and his family enjoyed a week of wahoo fishing and diving in the clear Bahamian waters. The boat was slated for another island adventure in just a few days, which gave us a chance to get aboard and collect some performance data during her brief stay in Florida. The January weather was gusty, with smoke on the water from the chilly winter air; the 3- to 5-foot seas provided an excellent environment for…

I grew up in Ocean City, Maryland, and spent my younger years white marlin fishing; my first job as a mate was in 1984 on a 52-foot Whiticar named Bluewater. And even though it’s been more than 20 years since I ran a sport-fishing boat professionally, I truly miss the camaraderie, the pranks—and most of all, the competition. Since my Ocean City days, I got married, raised two beautiful children and built a successful asset-management firm in South Florida, where I continue to fish as often as possible. I realize that many of us have a great passion for the sport, but might have a difficult time planning for the future, so I developed fishingandfinances.com as a way to provide basic knowledge of a variety of financial matters for those…

SAILS UP Capt. Divan Coetzee was in the right place at exactly the right moment in time to capture this image of a Pacific sailfish in full flight. “The light was perfect in the early morning, but the sailfish weren’t cooperating, jumping directly into the sunlight. We finally started catching a few more and got lucky with this one.” LOCATION Coetzee was running the 40-foot Gamefisherman, Rum Line, for Capt. Chris Sheeder, fishing the calm Pacific waters off Puerto San Jose, Guatemala. TECH SPECS CAMERA: Canon EOS 7D Mark II LENS: Canon EF 70-200mm 2.8 IS II ISO: 1,250 APERTURE: f/6.3 SPEED: 2,500 sec…

By 3 p.m. on Day One of the second leg in the 2019 Los Sueños Signature Triple Crown, the fleet had surpassed the total release numbers for all of Leg One, with 45 teams averaging 46 fish per boat by the end of the tournament. Costa Rica’s sailfish bite turned on this year, as Team Galati took the spotlight on the opening day of Leg Two, releasing double after double, passing Big Oh by 300 points and winning top daily boat honors. The second day of the event was a literal game of hopscotch between Team Galati, Fish Tank and Tarheel, because the three teams bounced around the top positions seemingly by the minute. Team Galati released a marlin midday, launching it 600 points above second-place Tarheel. Meanwhile, Team Sea…

Every angler wants to know what they’ve got on the end of their line. For some, it’s because they’re looking for something to bring home for the table and knowing what species you have not only helps keep your significant other happy by serving blackfin tuna rather than bonito, but it also keeps you out of trouble with the law. Regarding the true billfishes—the scientific family Istiophoridae—luckily, we’re only dealing with nine species: blue marlin, black marlin, striped marlin, white marlin, sailfish, longbill spearfish, shortbill spearfish, Mediterranean spearfish, and roundscale spearfish. Not too bad, right? Especially when you compare this family of fishes to something such as the snapper family (Lutjanidae), which has 113 species. Nevertheless, although the billfish family is quite small compared to other bony fishes, from time…

WHEN FIVE community members met one evening on the quaint waterfront of Morehead City, North Carolina, none of them could have imagined that their ideas would morph into one of the crown jewels of blue marlin tournaments—with millions of dollars in prize money, hundreds of boats and a charitable impact nearly beyond measure. In April 1956, Bob Simpson, Dick Parker, Tom Potter, Jerry Schumacher and James Macy met at Captain Bill’s restaurant along with some other local businessmen to form the Fabulous Fishing Club as a way to boost the local economy and promote fishing off Morehead City’s famed Crystal Coast. Hoping to entice local captains to venture farther offshore in search of what they called the man in blue, a cash prize was offered for the first skipper to…

“IT WAS THE SECOND DAY of the Big Rock tournament in North Carolina two years ago, and we were fishing the first Viking 72 demo boat,” Capt. Ryan Higgins recalls. “We decided to make a long run to the east side of the Gulf Stream, and started fishing on the edge at 100 miles with a mixed spread of ballyhoo on 30s and two large lures in the short-rigger positions on 130s. “With seconds left to fish, a monster blue came up behind one of the teasers, then faded back as we worked it for a strike. By the time it resurfaced and hit one of the lures, it was just past cut-off time. We fought it for a while, but we really didn’t want to see a potential tournament…

The life of a sportboat captain is usually portrayed as a glamorous, adventure-filled occupation. But all too often, the reality of the job isn’t front and center for the public to see. Many dream of being at the helm of these amazing boats—backing into the scales with a tournament winner on deck and traveling the world—all without knowing the true reality of what they are wishing for. I was there 20 years ago. Through a relentless amount of hard work and sacrifice, I am lucky. I am one of the few who, after years of trials and tribulations, have managed to not only keep my job, but also keep my family—which in this business is the hardest part. There are a thousand jobs, but you have only one family. By…

Prepping the boat for an excursion outside the United States is one of the most difficult jobs a captain can have. Yes, it’s impossible to have a spare for everything, but items you can’t run the operation without, or parts that are nearly impossible to find while traveling abroad, are the key elements to consider when preparing for your next adventure. You can’t possibly know what you need until you complete a full inventory of what you already have. Pull out all your bins, clean out the bilges, and dig under the couches and beds to see exactly what you have on board. Then tackle your storage room. Be sure to determine the age of spare parts, supplies and filters to see if they’re still usable. When you reach for…

I am often asked by many of my charter clients and friends, “What is the biggest fish you have ever caught?” My answer is always the same: The biggest ones got away! Capt. Bart Miller caught a 1,656-pound blue marlin in Hawaii, and wrote a great story about an even bigger one that escaped capture. I am sure many of the Australian captains that have caught black marlin of more than 1,000 pounds have a story about “Old Julie” that they saw or lost that was bigger than the ones they have weighed. Then there are fish like in Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea, where the sharks win instead of the angler. Nowadays, it is great to hear of so many people releasing their big fish. And at the…

As president of the American Sportfishing Association, Glenn Hughes is a very busy man. Created in 1933 to represent tackle manufacturers, the ASA is the sport-fishing industry’s trade association; today, it supports the interests of hundreds of businesses, agencies and organizations and is the champion for the multibillion-dollar industry as a whole. The ASA is responsible not only for promoting fishing-friendly legislation in Congress, but also for producing the sport’s largest trade show and managing several important advocacy and outreach programs. Hughes and his wife Beth reside in Annapolis, Maryland; their 25-year-old son, Conor, works in Florida, helping to promote sport fishing with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. What are some of your earliest fishing memories? My twin brother and I grew up with our other three siblings outside…

LYDIE FAYARD ROANNE, FRANCE Whenever fighting a large marlin, you must be absolutely focused on catching that particular fish. Stay strong, know what you want to achieve and never give up, even after you’ve been fighting it for what can be hours. Losing faith and mental strength will increase the chance of losing the very fish you have tried so long to catch. I have experienced many different types of fights with big fish, and you never know which one you’ll be dealing with until you start fighting her. It’s very important to choose your team wisely, because the angler is nothing without the right crew. LARRY BEARD FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA The best advice will always come from the crew, especially because they have been doing this the majority of…

Despite being only about 100 acres in size, Walker’s Cay in the northern Bahamas is one of those iconic sport-fishing destinations that punches well above its weight class. The mere mention of Walker’s brings back fond memories of tournaments such as the Bertram-Hatteras Shootout and the Bahamas Billfish Championship, while others flash back to the glory days of huge blue marlin—some landed, others lost—just a few miles north of the island’s small marina, perched on the edge of the Little Bahama Bank. THE HISTORY Walker’s Cay is about 50 miles northeast of West End, Grand Bahama, and a little more than 100 miles from West Palm Beach, Florida. A lack of natural fresh water kept Walker’s uninhabited for hundreds of years until Florida businessman Buzz Shonnard leased the land from…

The world transitions from darkness with the first rays of predawn light—a soft, warm glow in the east. At this hour, even the roosters are still asleep. But if you’re a fisherman, it’s a familiar scene as the docks begin to awaken with activity. Your thoughts wander back to yesterday, when you had a terrific time on the water with good friends and plenty of bites. The smell of hot coffee mixes with diesel exhaust and the throaty rumble of engines warming up. It’s almost time to head offshore—but for now, just enjoy the moment.…

Viking Yacht Company is set to introduce the 46 Billfish during the boatbuilder’s 2019 dealer meeting, slated for Sept. 9-12 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The new boat is designed to excel as either an owner/operator or professionally captained Viking, with comfortable amenities and reliable, economical inboard diesel power. The 140-square-foot cockpit features a laminated in-deck mounting plate for a fighting chair or rocket launcher. Features include: a cockpit bait freezer; in-deck insulated fish boxes with overboard drainage; a walk-through transom door and lift gate; and a transom fish box/livewell. Mezzanine-style seating flanks the centerline walkthrough, and there is refrigerated drink storage in the starboard mezzanine step. A 13.5kW genset provides power while away from the dock. Twin Cummins QSM11 715 hp diesels are standard power, with MAN I6-800 CRM…

Foreign travel in the sport-fishing industry has become more commonplace over the past two decades. It seems almost every boat more than 50 feet long spends time in another country at some point during the year. As most captains and owners know, understanding customs and immigration requirements is an important part of the travel process. Fortunately, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has initiated the CBP Reporting Offsite Arrival Mobile app, called ROAM, which makes it more convenient for pleasure boaters to satisfy the reporting requirements when returning to the United States from foreign destinations. ENTRY REQUIREMENTS Operators of pleasure vessels arriving in the United States from foreign ports or places are required to report their arrivals to CBP immediately. The same basic rules apply whether you are arriving in…