Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2018 i Marlin

Scott Robins and his team aboard Weez in the Keys have experienced roller-coaster tournaments before, but nothing was quite like the 2017 Operation Sailfish event, held in West Palm Beach, Florida, and produced by Bluewater Movements. The result was a memorable weekend for the crew, capped off with as dramatic an ending to a fishing tournament as can be imagined. Robins, Capt. Chris Zielinski and the rest of the Weez in the Keys team released three sailfish in the final minutes of the annual tournament, the first leg in the Quest for the Crest series, and edged second- and third-place teams Utopia and Seraphim, respectively, by just one sailfish release, 14 to 13. The late push earned Weez in the Keys $210,000 in winnings. “It was seven hours of pure…

In the world of offshore fly-fishing, the Old Reliable team of Nick Smith and his longtime skipper, Capt. Chip Shafer, needs no introduction. They have been at the forefront of the sport and continue to set impressive personal and team records along the way. This is Smith’s recounting of their recent season in Mexico. It seems like the fishing in Magdalena Bay, Mexico, just keeps getting better each year. We started fishing the fall striped marlin season there in 2001, and our best fishing has been during the past five or six years. We’ve been able to establish new fly-rod records for the most releases in a season and the most single-day releases each successive year. The remote location, 150 miles north of Cabo San Lucas, and the lack of…

I am fortunate to live and fish on the west coast of Costa Rica, where we are blessed with four different billfish species that can show up in the spread at any moment. Each one will react differently, and our method of teaser-fishing isn’t applicable in every location in the world, but it does have some significant advantages. Pacific sailfish are our bread-and-butter species, and while we catch a lot of them, I tend to consider sails a bycatch. Sails will tease fairly easily, but when a blue or striped marlin shows up, it’s a different scenario. They are much faster and more aggressive, so it is vital to keep that fish hot and focused all the way to the boat. We’ve simplified our teaser setup in order to make…

The advertisement promoting the 2018 season of Sport Fishing Television was sitting on his desk as the show’s producer (and my boss) Shawn Bean shook his head. “This looks amazing, except for one small detail,” he said. “The main image features a marlin, but we’re halfway through filming and we haven’t caught one yet. Cabo had better come through for us.” As the only member of the team who had fished out of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, I’d convinced Bean that the striped marlin capital of the world was a lock when he was putting together the show’s schedule months before. The fall tournament season in Cabo had produced a stellar bite, with anglers releasing more than 300 marlin during three weeks in October. Charters were reporting 10 to 15…

You don’t have to look hard to find a ladies-only billfish tournament. Many of the better-known big-money events give a nod to the ladies either before or after the main event. The similarities among these tournaments are many, but each lady-angler event puts its own spin on wetting a line for fame and glory. Aside from the competitive fishing, if there is a ladies-only tournament out there that doesn’t boast a team costume contest then I cannot name it, and many participants also compete for the glory of the best-decorated boat as well. Most have a little prize money in the purse, and each one can claim a competitive spirit that would rival any big-money tournament on the circuit. But the real draw is the fun, and there is more…

Dominican Republic, April 12, 2017: The first day of the Marina Cap Cana White Marlin Tournament, and I’m fishing aboard Black Pearl with Capt. Elias Darmeville in the tower, Roberto Antonio Pascual masterfully working the cockpit, and Ginger Tatem hanging onto a 20-poundtest outfit firmly connected to a rather large white marlin at the other end. It was her first billfish, ever. We’d been on the water a little over an hour, trolling just 3 miles from the inlet near some underwater structure, when the action started. Pascual was screaming, “Reel, reel, reel!” and coaching our neophyte angler, and I was clearing rods and snapping pictures as fast as my trigger finger could push the shutter release. All the while, Ginger danced from one corner of the cockpit to the…

I have always enjoyed the history of big-game fishing, from walking through the headquarters of the International Game Fish Association when E. K. Harry was sitting behind his desk, back when they were located on A1A in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to reading books by Zane Grey and Ernest Hemingway. I am even more excited about what Johnny Morris is doing with the new IGFA fishing museum in Springfield, Missouri, as millions of people will now be able to learn more about our sport. Among the many displays will be the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame, representing some of the most influential members of the worldwide sport-fishing community. While I was attending the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame inductions over the years, I noticed that not too many captains and crews…

SAILFISH RODEO Veteran photographer Doug Perrine slid overboard to capture this stunning image off Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. “The dance of prey and predator was mesmerizing, a psychedelic ballet of sailfish raising and lowering their sails to herd the bait, flashing brilliant iridescent colors across their bodies and fins in patterns of stripes and spots. It was simply incredible to witness.” LOCATION Perrine was aboard Keen M, captained by Anthony Mendillo and home-ported in Isla Mujeres, Mexico.…

The southwestern coast of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula has long been a hot spot for striped marlin, with the action centered off the sparsely populated region of Magdalena Bay. Located on the Pacific coast, Mag Bay can produce incredible fishing for striped marlin. Chris and Laura Jessen found out just how good it can be during two separate trips there in mid-November 2017, fishing aboard their Hatteras GT63, Fish Tank. Here is Laura’s report from that expedition. We relocated Fish Tank from our home port in Los Sueños, Costa Rica, to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, for the tournament season in 2017 and decided to make two trips up the Pacific coast to Mag Bay with Capt. Ben Horning and mates Topher Wightman and Erick Martinez. Both trips were beyond epic; in…

The concept of using a mothership for accommodations and long-distance travel while fishing from smaller game boats that are towed behind, hauled aboard or run in tandem is nothing new. Close to 100 years ago, Zane Grey — the first angler with a documented 1,000-pound blue marlin catch — explored the possibilities with a 190-foot three-masted schooner that was converted to diesel power and carried several small fishing boats aboard. Decades later, mothership operations such as The Madam and The Hooker (with 80 world records to its credit) and the El Zorro/ El Zorro II team (a 100-foot mothership that carried a 32-foot crane-launched Sunny Briggs) would travel the world and go on to pioneer mothership/sport-fishing-boat operations. And today, the use of a mothership has become almost commonplace. Almost. Despite…

Teak has long been a staple on boats of all sizes. A durable, hard, cleanable timber, exposed raw teak has served as the safest of all deck surfaces on sailing, cruising and fishing boats for literally hundreds of years. The beauty of teak is that it also can be sealed and coated; with a quality piece of teak and actual varnish, this can expose the various beautiful shades of red, gold, brown and tan as well as the natural movement and grain of the timber. Teak is an ideal wood to use as trim accents to break up large spans of paint known as brightwork. Trim pieces found on most custom boats and some production boats, such as the half round at the top of the house, aft bulkhead, helm…

The latest from Garlington Landeweer will be the 71-foot Miss Behavin’, which will be home-ported in Los Sueños, Costa Rica. With its four-stateroom, three-head layout with king master suite and beautiful teak interior, the boat will be as inviting as ever to its owner, who intends to use it for tournaments and travel throughout Central America. The teak cockpit and covering boards will provide sure footing on deck for the anglers and crew, and a full Bausch-American Towers tuna tower will give the captain a commanding view from above. Powered by a pair of 1,950 hp Caterpillar engines, the boat is expected to have a cruising speed of 34 knots and a 38-plus-knot top end, thanks in part to a cored hull for weight savings. Miss Behavin’ should splash in…

If you’ve ever asked a bass fisherman for advice, their answer usually sounds something like, “You gotta use a Bug Whacker buzzbait on 14-pound fluorocarbon and crank it with a Winchmaster 7 to get the ideal retrieve rate.” It takes just a second or two before you realize that you got marketing-speak, not pure fishing advice. But when I dialed up jackpot-winning billfish captains who compete for tens of thousands, sometimes even millions, of dollars and asked them for some sonar tricks to find more fish, I came away thinking they might have just helped me become a better fisherman. And I believe their generosity will benefit each of us in this tell-all unmasking of top sonar tactics. CAPT. RAY ROSHER, MISS BRITT Miami, Florida ELECTRONICS: Raymarine eSeries, Airmar B275LHW…

Blue View, a 78-footer, is now under construction at Bayliss Boatworks in Wanchese, North Carolina. The boat is built for current Bayliss owners who enjoy the options to travel, fish and entertain anywhere in the world. The boat will feature a four-stateroom, 4½-head layout with a reinvented master stateroom, custom U-shaped salon sofa and walk-in tackle closet. The cockpit will have a teak package that includes aft bulkhead, toe rail, half round and salon door, as well as a lengthy list of features designed to make it an incredible sport-fishing machine. As with all Bayliss boats, its performance will be exceptional. Blue View is expected to debut in 2020.…

The second unique 57-footer built by Blackwell Boatworks, Hybrid is designed with features you would find on a smaller center console, yet proportionate to a much larger day boat. The owner was looking for a sport-fishing concept boat to be used as a yacht tender and a fast fishing platform in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Those famed waters host a multitude of species, including blue marlin, swordfish, tuna, dolphin and king mackerel, among many others, so Blackwell designed the boat’s layout to accommodate various fishing methods: trolling, drifting and utilizing a green stick for tuna. COCKPIT AND MEZZANINE The cockpit is where the owner and his family will spend the majority of their time, so the mezzanine was constructed a bit differently to accommodate their needs. Each side of the…

Unfortunately, many sellers do not closely read their brokerage listing agreements. However, there are hidden terms in all agreements that vessel owners should understand. One such term involves the legal obligation to pay a commission after a listing agreement has expired or been terminated. PROCURING CAUSE DOCTRINE The procuring cause doctrine is a legal theory based on the principle of good faith and specifies that a broker deserves a commission if he initiates negotiations between a buyer and seller through some affirmative act, even if the sale occurs after a listing agreement is terminated. Most listing contracts used today are “exclusive right to sell agreements.” In other words, the owner gives the exclusive right and authority to one brokerage to manage the sale of their vessel. Under such an agreement,…