Indholdsfortegnelse for August/September 2018 i Marlin

The bonito taco is a fillet that is folded in half on an almost meatless channel, which is cut to provide a clean fold down the center. 1 Remove the bonito fillet and trim to a teardrop shape. 2 Evenly shave off most of the flesh, leaving the skin intact, and then cut a quarter-inch channel down the long center of the fillet, carefully removing most of the meat without puncturing the skin. 3 Fit a 1 0/0 (or 9/0 for smaller baits) Mustad 7691 hook in the desired position on the longer end of the teardrop, and make a small incision for the barb to pass through on the centerline of the belly. The hook eye will not be inside the bait but sitting right on the top edge…

The Kingdom of Tonga lies deep in the heart of the South Pacific. Composed of more than 170 islands, these distant lands are a marlin fisherman’s ultimate dream destination. Since the publication of his encyclopedic book, Blue Marlin Magic, Capt. Steve Campbell has released another 450 or so blues as he continues to climb well beyond the 2,000-marlin mark. But no matter how good you are, you need a great fishery to achieve numbers like these. The equatorial Pacific Ocean features three major west-flowing currents: the North Equatorial, Equatorial and South Equatorial, sandwiching two east-flowing counter-currents. Earth’s rotation causes these currents to spiral as they flow past each other in opposite directions, sucking cold, nutrient-laden water from the deep into the sunlit surface layers in a process called equatorial upwelling.…

BY AIR International flights arrive into either Sydney or Brisbane, Australia, where direct flights are then available to the airport at Hervey Bay. Plenty of taxis and shuttle buses are available to the hotels and resorts just a few miles away. ACCOMMODATIONS There are plenty of nice accommodations near the marina, including the Mantra Hotel and the Great Sandy Straits Break Free apartments. All have uninterrupted views of beautiful Hervey Bay. There are a number of small, secluded and very pretty beaches close by as well. The Great Sandy Straits Mariner, located on the northern end of Urangan Harbour in Hervey Bay, is where most of the sport-fishing and whale-watching vessels work. This modern marina has 180 berths and is suitable for vessels up to 150 feet in length. There…

Hull No. 36 from Jim Smith Tournament Boats will be a 100-foot sport-fisher with a 24-foot beam, powered by a pair of 2,600 hp MTU M96 diesel engines. Its hull will be constructed using a combination of cold molding and advanced composite engineering, while the all-new interior design will feature five staterooms, five heads and a separate crew quarters for four. Donald Blount and Associates is managing the high-performance naval architecture and engineering. The boat is expected to cruise at 35 knots and top out at 40 knots. Jim Smith Tournament Boats, the originator of lightweight, high-performance sport-fishing yachts, has been creating custom boats out of Stuart, Florida, for 50 years. “This new boat will continue our traditions of innovation, speed and efficiency,” says Jim Smith president John Vance. “We…

The summer months bring fishing fun, but it also means hurricane season is upon us. Captains and owners often have a difficult decision as to whether they should haul out their vessel due to an approaching hurricane or choose to ride out the storm in their permanent slip. In some instances, hauling out simply might not be possible due to a variety of factors. There is a common belief that marinas can force a boat to leave its slip due to an approaching storm, but that is not always the case. DOCKAGE AGREEMENTS Many dockage agreements contain hurricane removal clauses. Such clauses may state that an owner must remove his vessel upon the issuance of a tropical storm or hurricane watch in its area. Other language may state that the…

MICHTER’S 10 YEAR KENTUCKY BOURBON Mature in age and exceptional in quality, Michter’s 10-year-old bourbon is aged for a decade in signature American white oak barrels, yielding a bold yet spicy body of nutmeg, fennel and cinnamon, with hints of lemon and grapefruit and a molasses finish. CASK & CREW BLENDED WHISKEY This small-batch whiskey is blended from 51 percent 3-year-old Canadian rye and 49 percent barrel-aged Kentucky corn whiskey. This makes for an incredibly smooth blend with a clean nose and a memorable finish, with a satisfying flash of heat. REMY MARTIN XO COGNAC Made exclusively from grapes grown in the Cognac region of France, which are known for their aromatic superiority, Remy Martin XO is one of the finest cognac brands in the world. Under French law, it…

MARCO ZABLAH IS LIKE YOUR FAVORITE UNCLE. BEHIND A BUSHY MUSTACHE, THE GREGARIOUS EL SALVADORAN IS QUICK TO SMILE, AND HE LAUGHS WITH A ROLLING, FULL-BELLIED CHUCKLE. A NATURAL HOTELIER, ZABLAH IS THE PROPRIETOR OF BAHIA DEL SOL, A RESORT HE BUILT 24 YEARS AGO IN THE COSTA DEL SOL REGION OF THE CENTRAL AMERICAN NATION. HE ALSO LOVES TO FISH. Unfortunately, when we met at the resort, Zablah was trussed up tighter than a Thanksgiving turkey, laced into a back brace and walking with a cane. A fall on a slick floor a week earlier left him with several badly injured vertebrae, and he wasn’t sure if he could fish in the upcoming tournament, which was hosted by his resort and produced by our mutual friend, Paco Saca. He…

THE CURRENT WAS SWIRLING around the southeastern end of Rum Cay, creating breakers along the reef’s edge that would make any surfer drool, but we weren’t there for the curls. The current had been steadily pounding against the offshore ledge for the past few days, according to the latest satellite reports from Roffer’s Ocean Fishing Forecasting Service and the internet feed from FishTrack, both sources that our captain monitored closely. “Current is the key to finding fish in this area of the Bahamas,” says Capt. Sid Ernst, skipper of AEI, a 64-foot Viking convertible that has spent a minimum of six weeks fishing the surrounding waters each spring for the past four years. He was heading back for season number five during our most recent conversation. “We monitor both services…

Before daylight, they gathered in Hatteras, North Carolina, on a chilly March morning in 1995, for the most epic day of giant bluefin tuna fishing ever recorded. In the lineup were three veterans of the Cat Cay, Bahamas, bluefin tuna fishery, plus one seasoned and one not-so-seasoned deckhand, and a wiry 64-year-old Texan who was perhaps the only angler in the world capable of pulling on dozens of giant bluefin ranging from 350 to 500 pounds. Capt. Peter B. Wright was the maestro who organized the trip. As for Capt. Gary Stuve, the wire man of the team that caught the previous record of 16 giants off Newfoundland, Canada, in 1969, he was out fishing in Florida when the phone call came in. “When I got home, my wife was…

The latest electronics products can keep us entertained, on course and in touch from nearly any location in the world, as the developers stretch the imagination of possibility in today’s market. FUSION APOLLO RA770 Fusion continues to upgrade its multizone, multimedia entertainment systems, and its latest, the Apollo series, is the company’s most elegant-looking and sophisticated in operation yet. The touch-screen display can be mounted flush in the dash for a no-profile look. Tap the screen to pause, play or access the playlist and change audio in any part of the vessel. Network it to many other source heads via PartyBus to control the music throughout the vessel and listen to different music in every area. Best of all, Apollo can wirelessly connect to other displays, eliminating the complication of…

Combine a cutting-edge boatbuilder and a knowledgeable owner with considerable custom-boat experience and the result is Uno Mas, a technologically advanced masterpiece that performs even better than it looks. As I stepped aboard the latest build from Willis Marine prior to the start of the final leg of the 2018 Los Sueños Signature Triple Crown in Costa Rica, I looked forward to seeing just how well the stunning 77-footer would perform in the billfish-rich waters of the Pacific. Mark Willis grew up fishing in Rhode Island. He earned an engineering degree before heading south to pursue a career at sea, plying the waters between Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and Fort Pierce, Florida, and beyond as a charter fisherman. In 1982, he built a 30-footer for himself, which launched his career…

With our guests staying at Tropic Star Lodge in Piñas Bay, Panama, it made our first fishing trip on The Hooker even better — the food was terrific, and so were the stories we shared. It was great to be back fishing again. On the next adventure in Panama, my three friends just wanted to catch some blue marlin on 30-pound tackle. We averaged two blue marlin a day, and the three days of fishing went fast. The last trip of the season was with my wife, Debra, and a friend, and the marlin were still biting. On the third day, a turbo failed and we had to limp back to Panama City on one engine. The boat was not quite ready yet, and it was time to go back…

FLIGHT PATH Sailfish are one of the world’s most acrobatic game fish. This one displayed some serious hang time before being caught in action by photographer Marc Montocchio. “Sam Peters hooked this fish, and right away, we knew it was a good one,” Montocchio reports. “It just exploded across the Pacific in a series of incredible leaps that had our jaws hanging open in disbelief.” LOCATION Montocchio captured the image while aboard Uno Mas during the second leg of the 2018 Los Sueños Signature Triple Crown in Costa Rica. TECH SPECS CAMERA: Sony A9 LENS: Sony FE 70-20mm ISO: 200 APERTURE: f/2.8 SPEED: 1/1600 sec…

With 12 of the world’s finest custom boatbuilders supporting 61 of their respective teams, the 17th annual Custom Shootout kicked off in the Bahamas with a tropical depression on the way and relentless northeast winds pounding the Abacos. “The weather was all you could handle,” says Capt. Jimmy Werling, of the winning Spencer Yachts team, Plane Simple. “In 31 years, it was the worst I have ever fished in.” The weather didn’t seem to affect the fishing on the first day, with 22 billfish releases scored by noon, but Plane Simple did not have luck on its side. Although the team had seen four blue marlin — one in the 500-pound range that chafed through the light 60-pound-test leader, one snapping a teaser squid chain, one that jumped off after…

Blue marlin may very well be the most revered species of billfish that swims. And what’s not to like? They are beautiful animals that can grow to gargantuan sizes and test the skill of any angler. Worldwide, there is only one species of blue marlin, scientifically known as Makaira nigricans, but for historical reasons, the IGFA keeps separate categories for Atlantic-and Pacific-caught fish. Currently, the all-tackle Atlantic blue marlin record is 1,402 pounds, 2 ounces, and was caught off of Vitoria, Brazil, in 1992. The Pacific all-tackle record is only slightly smaller, at 1,376 pounds, and was caught in Hawaii. They definitely get a lot bigger though. The largest ever taken on rod and reel was also landed in Hawaii, in 1970, and topped the scales at 1,805 pounds, but…

The Stanczyk name has been a mainstay in the Florida Keys fishing community since 1978, when the family purchased Bud’n Mary’s Marina in Islamorada. Many of Capt. Nick Stanczyk’s swordfish techniques have come by way of his father, Richard, who pioneered daytime swordfishing there. If a fisherman’s achievements are measured by another’s success with the same recipe, then Nick is the icing on the Stanczyk family cake. THE BAIT There are three preferred baits Nick Stanczyk uses aboard his charter boat Broad Minded: the tried-and-true bonito and mahi bellies and the more unique bonito taco. The mahi and bonito skin is tough enough to withstand the beating it takes before a swordfish eats it, and the bonito taco has plenty of swordfish-attracting scent and flutter while also being stitched for…

Bahia del Sol hosts the El Salvador International Billfish Tournament. The resort is located near the end of Costa del Sol, a scenic peninsula approximately 50 miles from the nation’s capital city of San Salvador. Visitors arriving by air will fly into Augusto C. Sandino International Airport, which is a short ride to the resort. There are two restaurants there, which serve excellent local cuisine and especially good seafood — one is located on the beach, and the other on the marina side of the property. The colón, the national currency, was replaced by the U.S. dollar in 2001, so there is no need to exchange money. Credit cards are also widely accepted, especially in the country’s resorts. For those arriving by boat, it’s best to watch the tides and…

Situated off the southeastern coast of Queensland, Australia, is one of the world’s most unique, diverse and beautiful destinations: Fraser Island. Said to be the largest sand island in the world, its natural beauty and cultural heritage are beyond belief. Uninterrupted snow-white beaches flank stunning tree-lined hills, while towering cliffs protect the inland’s freshwater creeks, swamps and lagoons. A number of ancient rainforests are scattered throughout the island, and it’s one of the only places in the world where these lush forests actually grow along sand dunes. Due in part to this incredible biodiversity, Fraser Island was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992. BLACKS ON THE FLATS The waters around Fraser Island teem with myriad fish species. On my first visit, I participated in one of the…

According to Dusty Rybovich, Hull No. 6 will be the largest boat the Rybovich family has built to date, and also the first straight-sheer boat it has constructed in more than a decade. It will feature an oversize cockpit and a stand-up tackle room below the mezzanine, in addition to a host of other fishing-and travel-friendly features. Accommodations will include a full-beam master stateroom, two queen guest VIP berths and two crew staterooms for up to four. A pair of 2,600 hp MTU M96L diesels will provide power; fully loaded, the boat should cruise in the low 30-knot range, with an expected top speed of 40 knots. With 4,200 gallons of fuel, its range will allow for extended travel to nearly any fishing hot spot in the world. Next year…