Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2016 i Marlin

Good grief — how did we ever find fish before modern technology? Those words repeat facetiously in my head every time I flip through the pages of an old Marlin. The sheer aesthetics of the electronics from the 1980s and ’90s — and even the early 2000s — compared to the technology we have today on our modern sport-fishers is mind-boggling. Despite the green screens, big dashmounted units and clunky functionality of the past, they still got the job done. According to Moore’s law, technology changes at an exponentially faster rate. We’ve proven it over the last decade, and one can only imagine where we are headed next. But as models and functions change quickly, I wonder if we’ll ever get to the point of technology simply being good enough.…

+ A CHARTER CAPTAIN’S VIEWS ON BILLFISH CONSERVATION, HOT ROD CUSTOM BOATS AND BECOMING A BETTER ANGLER EVERY DAY PLAYERS : : GEAR : : BLUEWATER CURRENTS : : NOTABLE CATCHES : CONSERVATION : : OPINION : : RIGGER’S CORNER What advice can you offer on becoming a better angler? Always watch your baits and teasers. If you can see the fish coming, you’ll catch a lot more. During the tournaments we fish in the Dominican Republic, if you’re not actively holding your rod and ready for a bite, you’re probably not going to win unless you get really lucky. Everyone should always have their eyes on the spread. Being able to spot that flash of color or see a fish coming into the spread is critical. And then don’t…

STUART SAILFISH CLUB LIGHT TACKLE TOURNAMENT Dec. 10-11, 2015, Stuart, Florida Mike Brady captained Cowpoke into first place in the 2015 Stuart Sailfish Club Light Tackle Tournament, leading his team to 13 sailfish releases. Bone Shaker took second with 11 sailfish, and Challenge was third with seven releases. Toast and Ohana rounded out the fourth and fifth spots respectively, also with seven releases each. PELICAN YACHT CLUB INVITATIONAL Jan. 5-9, 2016, Fort Pierce, Florida Grand Slam, captained by David Grubbs, topped this year’s Pelican Yacht Club Invitational with 17 sailfish releases. Sneaky Pete finished in second with 12 releases, and Showtime was third, also with 12 releases. Cowpoke and Martha D placed fourth and fifth overall. GOLD CUP TEAM FISHING TOURNAMENT Jan. 10-14, 2016, Palm Beach, Florida It was an…

Each year, TBF recognizes the best crews and anglers for the effort they contribute to TBF’s Tag and Release program. 2015 marked the 25th anniversary of TBF’s Tag and Release program, and it has since grown to amass over 220,000 tagand-release records. Winners for the 2015 competition were recognized on February 11, 2016, in Miami. Taking home the title of Top Overall Tagging Angler (as well as Top Release Angler for white marlin) is past winner Laurent Sahyoun, who fishes out of Morocco with Capt. Christian Benazeth, also a Top Tagging and Release Captain for white marlin. In the Top Overall Lady Angler category, Laura Jessen takes the award for Tagging, and Tiffany Day wins for Release. Capt. Chris Sheeder repeated as both Top Overall Tagging Captain and Top Tagging…

I grew up fishing offshore in the 1970s, and I remember having to remain quiet as my father, or a charter captain, concentrated on following a compass course while timing our progress with a stopwatch at a specific rpm. Usually we were looking for a wreck or reef to fish, and if we didn’t have land-based guide points to line up to tell us where we were, running a known course at a certain speed for a specified amount of time was how we found stuff. Without radio or satellitebased guidance, that’s all we had. When coming home, we could usually rely on a primitive radio direction finder to home in on a known radio signal and give us a general bearing, but they were useless when headed offshore. Dead…

The Gold Coast is just a one-hour drive from Queensland’s Brisbane Airport, where many direct flights arrive from Los Angeles and other U.S. cities. An other option is one of the dozens of daily flights from Sydney Airport, operated by Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia. LOTS TO SEE The Gold Coast is a buzzing town with a magnificent beach stretching out of sight. For those not interested in the beach activities, there are lots of theme parks, superb golf courses, clubs, theaters, bars, casinos and restaurants to explore. The extensive beachfront is lined with rows of highrise apartments and hotels. Plenty of accommodations are available, ranging from small, inexpensive condos to five-star apartments and hotels. Keen traveling fishermen should stay at either the five-star Palazzo Versace resort, Sheraton Mirage Resort…

SHIP’S SYSTEMS :: ON THE DRAWING BOARD :: BOATS OF INTEREST :: THE FINEPRINT + FOLLOW THE BUILD AND STAY UP-TODATE WITH THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS FOR JARRETT BAY’S NEW 90-FOOT SPORTFISHING BOAT AT MARLINMAG.COM/JB90 Classic lines, traditional materials and tried-and-true construction techniques are the first things that come to mind when thinking about custom Carolina sport-fishing boats. Jarrett Bay Boatworks has a project underway that will change perceptions of Carolina boatbuilding. Gary Davis, Jarrett Bay’s director of new construction and design, showed me the project on a recent stop at the facility in Beaufort, North Carolina. The 90-foot hull No. 62 will be one of the most beautiful boats ever built and takes Jarrett Bay’s classic lines to a new level. But appearance aside, this boat will be the result…

editor@marlinmag.com NEVER TOO YOUNG Oliver reading Sam a bedtime story. Notice the name of the magazine. Sam says you can’t start them too early. Karen Puckette Miceli Via Facebook A NECESSARY CHANGE? Was the change to a new format really necessary? The old format of Marlin was a no-nonsense informative publication for those of us who enjoy reading about and participating in the sport. To change the format, which reads more like a tourist publication, serves no purpose. Why waste two pages on donkey polo when it could be used for another informative article related to fishing? It also appears to me that the print size has changed, and the previous issue was much easier to read than the new format. If you really want to change the format of…

PLAYERS : : GEAR : : BLUE WATER CURRENTS : : NOTABLE CATCHES : : CONSERVATION : : OPINION : : RIGGER’S CORNER WATCH THE TIME The original Sportfisher watch from Hook + Gaff comes with a long list of features, including the solid titanium case, unique left-sided crown position and three color options for the face. hookandgaff.com NEW OPTICS FROM SMITH Any passionate billfish angler will say that having a great pair of sunglasses is critical to success on the water. Two new unisex designs from Smith Optics, the Colson and Challis, offer ChromaPop technology for superb clarity. smithoptics.com REEL’EM IN FOR CONSERVATION Alutecnos has added a line of Billfish Foundation-branded Veloce reels. Easily distinguished by its blue accents on the handle and drag lever, the new signature Veloce…

PLAYERS :: GEAR :: BLUEWATER CURRENTS : : NOTABLE CATCHES :: CONSERVATION :: OPINION :: RIGGER’S CORNER THREE PROFESSIONAL CAPTAINS SOUND OFF ON GAMECHANGING TECHNOLOGY. Q: WHAT SINGLE PIECE OF ELECTRONICS HAS CHANGED THE WAY YOU FISH? CAPT. MAX MORRIS WHOO DAT The CHIRP bottom machine has absolutely changed my perspective as a professional captain. The ability to have definitive marks of both bait and, more importantly, individual or multiple marks of billfish or tuna allows me to target a very specific and precise area. This is especially productive when fishing the FADs in the Dominican Republic and the rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The ability to target and stay with a mark has, hands down, improved our numbers, and it’s taken a lot of the guesswork out of…

MARCH 2016 + THE 58-FOOT MERRITT COMMITTED HEADS BACK TO THE DOCKS AFTER A SUCCESSFUL DAY OF FISHING IN THE CUSTOM SHOOTOUT AT BOAT HARBOUR IN THE BAHAMAS. P 74 IMPELLEREZE Save time and avoid the hassle of removing impellers on diesel engines with a must-have product from Global Marine Solutions. “AS I LOOKED TO THE SOUTH WHILE KEEPING AN EYE ON MY KITE BAITS, I SAW A BOAT COMING UP THE LINE TOWARD US. AS SHE STARTED TO PASS US ON THE OFFSHORE SIDE, I NOTICED HOW EASILY SHE HANDLED THE SLOPPY SEA CONDITIONS. IT WAS THE NEW DOUBLE TAKE FROM AMERICAN CUSTOM YACHTS.” — CAPT. ROBERT “FLY” NAVARRO…

Before we get into how much weight a fish might lose prior to the tournament scale, remember one thing: If you catch and kill any game fish that meets the minimum requirements of the tournament, please weigh it! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard about someone who decided not to weigh their fish because they didn’t think it was big enough. Later they discover they ate a tournament-winning fish worth some cash. You never know who is in what calcutta during a tournament. The 60-pound wahoo you heard about over the radio might not have even been caught by someone in the wahoo category! This isn’t usually a problem in billfish tournaments because most events require teams to weigh any boated fish so the tournament can assess…

PLAYERS :: GEAR :: BLUEWATER CURRENTS :: NOTABLE CATCHES :: CONSERVATION :: OPINION :: RIGGER’S CORNER + CAPT. ROBERT “FLY” NAVARRO IS A MARLIN UNIVERSITY INSTRUCTOR AND SELFCONFESSED “DREDGE GEEK” WITH DECADES OF DREDGE-FISHING EXPERIENCE. Whether you’re targeting sailfish in Mexico, white marlin off the Carolinas or Ocean City, Maryland, or big blues in the Bahamas or St. Thomas, these pro-approved techniques will help you tease more billfish into the spread. There’s no question dredge-fishing is one of the most effective tactics for a wide variety of billfish species. But should you opt for one using natural baits like mullet or ballyhoo or one of the new generation all-artificial dredges? What about a hybrid, mixing in both natural and artificial baits? To answer these questions, we turned to Capt. Robert…

THE SINGLE-HOOK LURE RIG Over the years, captains have tried a variety of hook patterns and various ways to rig them. Most have finally settled on using just a single-hook rig. Captains Bobby Jones and Peter Kirkby are firm believers in this method and contributed to bringing this rig to the Gold Coast area. “The idea basically came from Cairns years ago, when we started targeting huge blacks on lures,” say Jones and Kirkby. “Our hookup percentage was amazing, and the release of a lively big marlin with only one hook to worry about is much easier and safer. We both started using the same single-hook rig off the Gold Coast on the blues ages back.” This effective rig for blue marlin lures is made with a heavy 500- or…