Indholdsfortegnelse for August/September 2022 i Marlin

Every once in a while, I get an email that jangles the warning bells in my head. The one I received from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—just as we were going to press with this issue—set off a five-alarm fire horn. NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries invites the public to participate in the first step in the process to potentially designate a new national marine sanctuary off the coast of New York and New Jersey. The Wildlife Conservation Society submitted a nomination for a Hudson Canyon National Marine Sanctuary in November 2016, noting that the area provides a wide range of benefits to New York and New Jersey residents such as clean air, fresh water, recreation, and food. The Hudson Canyon is the largest submarine canyon along the…

A vast, productive portion of the Pacific Ocean abounds off the coast of Panama. Known as the eastern tropical Pacific, nutrient-rich currents there associated with the northern flank of the Humboldt Current converge with slow-moving equatorial currents to create extremely prolific ocean conditions that promote the aggregation of apex pelagic predators including billfishes, tunas and sharks. In fact, some of the largest aggregations of marine life in our oceans, including hammerhead sharks, manta rays and black marlin, occur in the vicinity of Panama and within the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. Another amazing species that thrives in these waters is dolphinfish, one of the world’s most highly esteemed fish on our planet for both sport and food. Dolphin occur annually off the coast of Panama, but beyond that, virtually nothing is…

The ups and downs of a day on the water are all too often told only by its victories. But what about the days that don’t go as planned? For me, those are the days that make me a better captain, and my crew a better crew. Not to mention, the only way to grow is to learn from our mistakes. Because really, failures are just missteps, and that is how you learn. This has undoubtedly been one of the most difficult seasons I’ve had in quite a while. Fishing has been slow, and opportunities to get out have been few and far between, which has left me with a lot of time at the dock. There’s an old saying, “Ships and men rot in port,” and I would have…

The fundamentals of fishing make us all explorers because the quest for that next bite can often take us far and wide. Even when we just go back to the same place we were yesterday, we can find something we have never seen before. Some of us, though, seem genetically predisposed to go see what writer Charles Gaines entitled his superb fishing book—The Next Valley Over—even if that valley is some far-flung spot on the globe. Back in high school, winter often cloaked my Texas home in a cold gray for days, but books transported me to the South Pacific, where it was always hot with sunny blue skies. In Wanderer, Wake of the Red Witch and The Navigator, the Argonauts had it pretty good. Herman Melville prefaced Typee with,…

On a few, albeit all-too-rare occasions, I am absolutely convinced that you are destined to catch a certain fish before the boat has even left the dock. A case in point: the white marlin I caught recently in the Dominican Republic. The day had started off slowly, with just one fish showing the briefest interest in the left teaser, and then just as I happened to be standing next to the left long, the line snapped free from the rigger clip. I grabbed the rod, free-spooled for a few seconds, eased the drag lever forward, and smiled to myself as I felt the line come tight. Moments later, my fish was in the air. This had been the first day of a trip planned several years previously with Capt. Angel…

Airmar recently introduced an NMEA 2000 multinetwork gateway that allows boat owners to do what may not have been practical before: convert a solid, reliable 20-year-old sport-fisher into a modern, digitally monitored billfishing battlewagon. Airmar calls it SmartBoat, and it allows the retrofit to be done in a manner so low in labor intensity and so cost effective, fishermen are likely to see this retrofit being as necessary, convenient, and beneficial as hauling the boat for new bottom paint. A flexible sensor interface allows the installer to define the function and protocol of each input and configure it for the specs of nearly any existing sender. Each SmartBoat module has multiple inputs that can be configured to monitor a fluid level, temperature, pressure or nearly anything you might need it…

We all love fresh fish, whether we eat it as sashimi on the way back to the dock or store it for a few days in the refrigerator for later. We go to reputable restaurants to order the fish of the day and hope it’s what they say it is or, at least, what the wholesale seafood salesman told them it was. For me, it would be easy to sell every snapper or any other white-meat fish that we catch as legitimate red snapper. We were on Turneffe Island, Belize, in 1980 and went to the lodge for dinner. Of course, we had a few cocktails before we got into the dining room. We sat down to plenty of fried-fish fingers on the table for appetizers. I devoured my share…

Scoring one of the most memorable tournament finishes in recent memory, the team representing the Watamu Fishing Festival from the East African nation of Kenya stunned the field in a come-from-behind victory during the Costa Offshore World Championship presented by Continental Tire. The event brought together a total of 37 teams and 168 anglers from 18 different countries to Marina Pez Vela in Quepos, Costa Rica, where they fished for four days in hopes of being crowned Offshore World Champions, one of the sport’s most prestigious titles. With tournament rules dictating a boat rotation each day as well as IGFA angling and tackle rules using video verification, each fish represented a critical scoring opportunity. And because the competing teams were required to earn an invitation to the event by winning…

There’s nothing I enjoy better than promoting women and kids in fishing. I mean, it’s hard not to get behind anyone with pure drive, genuine passion, or innocent amusement. General sports analogies always seem to work best when describing this obsession of ours, and much like baseball, there’s no crying in fishing. You simply get up, dust yourself off, and try again. There is never failure, only an opportunity to learn. And what you take from that is your own. Fish Tank’s Laura Jessen isn’t a women’s libber; she’s just a badass. Taking on the entire 2022 Ladies Only tournament fleet of anglers in Los Sueños, Costa Rica, this past season, she managed to not only sweep the one-day series held before each leg of the Triple Crown, but she…

Every March, Marlin hosts Marlin Madness, a virtual bracket-format tournament where fans from around the world vote for their favorite qualifying team from the previous year. Hosted by Blue Water Desalination, this year’s tournament began with 64 teams from four regions: East Coast, Florida, Gulf Coast, and International. Six weeks later, one team emerged victorious, garnering the most fan votes and progressing steadily through the rounds. This year’s winning team, High Cotton, fishing aboard a 92-foot Viking, qualified by winning the 2021 Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic in Sandestin, Florida, where they traveled from their home port in Texas to fish in the upper Gulf. Boat owner Pete Bell says: “Marlin is the go-to for worldwide fishing media. They not only provide great stories, but also great advertisers and vendors—it’s…

AFTER THE 9/11 TERRORIST ATTACKS ON THE UNITED STATES, Hipkneetized’s Steve Roy, HT Hook’s Harry Shufflebarger and Merritt’s Boat & Engine Works’ Roy Merritt approached Capt. Skip Smith about creating a tournament to raise money for the victims. The writing on the wall was fast-approaching, perhaps unknowingly, for the Bertram-Hatteras Shootout and the Bacardi Billfish Tournament—both tournaments dissolving in 2012—whose participation was dwindling even as the Great Recession loomed five years in the future. And, unfortunately, the Bahamas Billfish Championship wasn’t too far behind. It was as if a fissure was just beginning to open in fishing history; a niche was slowly making itself visible, one the Custom Shootout was destined to fill. Nothing would be like it, and it is probable nothing will be like it ever again. And so,…

Now in the design phase from Michael Rybovich & Sons in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, is Hull No. 9, a stunning 70-foot sport-fisherman designed and crafted to chase blue marlin every day of the year in comfort and style for a family operation. The extended cockpit will have ample room for anglers and crew to operate, whether fishing light tackle on stand-up or heavy gear from the chair. The interior cabinetry is crafted of satin-finished teak and will feature a full-beam master stateroom forward as well as three additional staterooms, including an aft VIP with a queen bed. This stateroom will also be equipped with an oversize tackle storage locker to keep things out of the way but easily accessible at a moment’s notice. The engine room will be home…

Tim Winters’ 53-foot express, Reel Risk, is this builder’s second-largest express to date. She includes all of the creature comforts and features you would expect to find in a custom convertible manifested into a sweet express-style package: the owner’s desire for a larger open model in order to entertain family and friends dockside, accommodate a number of anglers between the cockpit and bridge deck, and to make short, enjoyable trips to the Bahamas. Of course, Winters delivered on all requests, including gracious mezzanine seating, expected cabin features, and a respectable 40-knot cruise. According to Winters, “This is the most complete boat I have built to date.” The hull is plywood, the stringers are fir, and the remaining superstructure—including bulkheads, decks, cabinets and furniture—is constructed using lightweight composites. And from her…

FOUR ESTABLISHED CAPTAINS TELL US THEIR FANTASY MOVE CAPT. LUKE FALLON KEKOA CAIRNS, AUSTRALIA After fishing the Great Barrier Reef’s Ribbon Reefs for the past 35 years, I’d be interested in a change of scenery over to the west side of Australia. The Exmouth fishery boasts big numbers of blue, black and striped marlin, as well as sailfish, and has shown potential of an emerging broadbill swordfishery as of late. The inshore fishing is excellent also, which is of great personal interest because my wife, Kelly, and I do enjoy fishing outside of “work.” It would be great to take the owner and fish out of Exmouth for a full calendar year on Kekoa. With this boat’s long-range capabilities, the possibilities are almost endless. CAPT. DEVIN SILAS SHOE STUART, FLORIDA…

Viking Yachts has a proven formula for expanding its fleet by building a completely new model within a model. The New Gretna, New Jersey, boatbuilder’s latest example is its 54 Sport Tower, a model that premiered at the 2022 Miami International Boat Show. Utilizing the resin-infused composite-constructed hull of its 54 Convertible that launched one year before, the Viking engineering and design group unleashed its pair of five-axis profilers to manufacture a series of molds that created a new hard-sided deckhouse, hardtop and cockpit, resulting in the largest express sport-fishing yacht in the company’s 58-year history. The 54 ST is part of the 54 Open series, which also includes the 54 Open and Sport Coupe. Our test boat was Hull No. 1 of the series, a stealthy bluewater battlewagon made…

Versatility is one of the strong suits for most outboard-powered sport-fishers, and was a key point for Dave Marston, owner of Miss Alison, the 32-foot Jarrett Bay he named for his wife. Built in 2013 for retired professional golfer Curtis Strange, it was exactly what Marston was looking for when he opted to sell his 35-foot Cabo four seasons ago. “I grew up boating my whole life in New Jersey and fished the canyons out of Cape May a lot on the Cabo,” he says. “Then I moved from Philadelphia to Miami—I ran the Cabo back and forth for a bit but realized I needed something different for the Florida style of fishing.” Browsing Instagram one Sunday afternoon, he saw a brokerage ad for the Jarrett Bay custom center-console and…

A friend of mine purchased a 50-foot sport-fisher this past year and made a comment I still remember: He was more interested in a boat around 60 feet, but he couldn’t buy that large because there was a legitimate shortage of slips in that size range in his area, with demand still growing. This is something I also consistently hear from clients across the United States, whether they are owners of center-consoles, sport-fishers or motoryachts. Indeed, the lack of available dockage is a growing crisis in our industry. The result of this is that marinas gain leverage over vessel owners as demand for dockage grows and supply remains stagnant. Consequently, the terms of dockage agreements are trending even further toward the side of the marinas. There is generally little an…