Indholdsfortegnelse for June - July 2015 i Marlin

The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) announced in late March it will relocate its Hall of Fame and museum exhibits from the first floor of its international headquarters in South Florida to a new wildlife museum and aquarium operated by the Johnny Morris Foundation in Springfield, Missouri. The headquarters for the world-renowned fishing organization will remain at the facility owned by IGFA in South Florida, but the first floor space vacated by the museum will be renovated into a new conservation and events center operated by Bass Pro Shops. “The opportunity provided by longtime IGFA friend and supporter Johnny Morris of Bass Pro Shops to showcase our Hall of Fame and collections in his new museum and aquarium will allow us to dramatically increase our exposure to the public,” says…

Unless you’ve been living under your console for the last 20 years, you’ve seen the results of what dredges can do for raising fish. Since their somewhat quiet beginnings in the Stuart and Fort Pierce, Florida, winter sailfish tournament fleets, the dredge has arguably become the single most important factor in the success of just about anyone who knows how to rig and fish them properly. The advance of dredge-fishing in general has been like a military arms race: If a single bait off each loop was working good, two would be better; if a single dredge worked well, then stacking two or three in a row would be even better than that — and it is. The dredge is not only a staple on the sailfish circuit, it has…

Paul Spencer made his mark as a respected captain and fisherman on the offshore waters of the Atlantic Ocean. As with most of his ilk, his passion for all things nautical began at an early age with summer jobs in the North Carolina fishing charter business, and he earned his ticket by the time he was 20 years old. Armed with a personal vision of what a sport-fishing boat should be able to do and a hands-on, experienced-based approach to design and construction, he founded Spencer Yachts in 1996 in Manns Harbor, North Carolina. From its humble beginnings in a tin shed, the facility now boasts some 125 employees and custom builds from 37 to 87 feet in length. Attitudes is owned by Joe Pregont, a seasoned boat owner with…

Whenever I check out the fish counter in the local seafood market or grocery store, I am struck by not only the names of the fish for sale, but more so the fact that almost all of the seafood products are imported from countries like Mexico, Peru and Ecuador. It’s hard to blame grocery stores — even those that pride themselves on providing sustainable seafood — for offering cheaper imported alternatives to customers, but the lack of domestic seafood readily available is alarming. Like most of you, I am a self-proclaimed “seafood snob,” but when you’ve tasted tuna and mahimahi minutes after it hits the deck, a piece of freezerburned seafood caught weeks before and imported to the local store just doesn’t do the trick. Despite how much we all…

IS A BLUE MARLIN on your bucket list? If so, just book a flight to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, or go to the Dominican Republic. Want sailfish? Head for Guatemala or Isla Mujeres, Mexico. But if it’s white marlin you seek, look no further than the eastern seaboard of the good ol’ U.S. of A. We’ve got the world’s best white marlin fishing within a three‑hour flight from pretty much anywhere east of the Mississippi. Let’s go fishing for America’s marlin — no passport required. White marlin are the smallest of the world’s marlin species, but what they lack in size, they more than make up for in terms of beauty. And don’t be fooled: Beneath that graceful ballet dancer’s body is the soul of a sword…

April 12-17, Quepos, Costa Rica The 2015 Offshore World Championship held in Quepos, Costa Rica, set a release record with 2,840 billfish released by the fleet of 67 teams from 27 countries; 2,492 of those were released in the first three days. Day Two set a new tournament record for releases in a single day with 941 billfish releases for the fleet. The American team representing the Sea Horse Anglers Club Billfish Tournament in Bermuda, took first place, releasing 67 sailfish during the four-day tournament and taking the top spot by a three-minute margin. Fishing aboard four different charter boats during the tournament, the winning team consisted of Taylor Beckford, Rob Moore, David Berard and Frank Rodriguez, and they fished with only three anglers during the first two days of…

I JUST HAD TO REPLACE the trim tabs on Nomad after completely losing one of the tabs when it broke off at the hinge. To help keep this from happening again, I decided to install safety/limiting cables on our tabs. The addition of cables will stop the rams from going all the way down and breaking off if you forget to raise the tabs up while fishing or backing down. This will also help if the bottom pin on the ram breaks. The cables will stop the tab from flopping forward while backing down. I’ve used this system on other boats in the past with good success. To install cables on a new boat for the first time, you will need to add a strong attachment point to the hull…

We spend exorbitant amounts of money on boats, rods, reels, line, leaders, lures, bait, moorage, maintenance and crew fees. Why? Well, it is relaxing and an opportunity to be on the salt with friends and family. But there are other ways to enjoy these same experiences with far less hassle. So, again, I ask: Why? I choose to point the finger of blame at Hemingway. We all strive for that Old Man and the Sea moment in our lives! As blue-water anglers, we dream of thousand-pound marlin. Chasing a grander is on par with playing the lottery. It truly is a numbers game. The more times you put yourself in position for success, the better your chances of attaining your goal. But we must be ready for that moment and…

A MARLIN EXCLUSIVE! “I love it when a plan comes together.” Those words, spoken by John “Hannibal” Smith on the 1980s television show The A-Team pretty much sum up the most recent Marlin University session held in Costa Rica. We arrived in Los Sueños during the first week of March just in time to capitalize on a pretty good bite happening right out front near the Craters. A less than 20-mile run each way gave us a lot of fishing time — and the fish more than cooperated. OUR BOATS Our always popular Costa Rica session drew a full roster again this year, so we needed four good boats to fish our 16-angler class. I fished aboard Capt. Skeet Warren’s 42-foot Bertram, Bushwacker. Warren is one of those guys who…

Viking president Patrick Healey is a happy man these days. “We had to add some 65,000 square feet of production space to our existing New Gretna, New Jersey, facility just to accommodate the design, development, and the floor space necessary to accommodate all our lines, including the 92 Convertible, our new Open series, 42 Sport Coupe, 46 Open Express, 52 Sport Tower and our motor yachts,” Healey says. “That building, by the way, was designed by our own production engineering group.” The 52 Sport Tower, one of the three open models Healey mentioned, was first introduced at Viking’s last dealer meeting and was greeted with a lot of enthusiasm. “In planning and designing these boats, we looked at the Open series, one that we’ve been in for years since the…