Marlin August/September 2018

As a kid growing up with a fishing rod in my hands, I always looked forward to the arrival of the World Record Game Fishes book every year from the International Game Fish Association. Within it were great stories from destinations around the world, along with world records for just about any species of fish a young boy could imagine. I’d daydream about trolling those giant dead baits for thousand-pound black marlin on the Great Barrier Reef, something I still have not had a chance to do. The book also contains the IGFA angling rules, which were set up by the founding fathers of sport fishing as a way to ensure we are all on a level playing field. Over the years, the rules have been tweaked as the gear…

A FAMILY AFFAIR As a Marlin subscriber who docks my boat at Viking Yacht Marina, I enjoyed your Before the Strike/Players article (April/May) on Pat Healey and watching as each beautiful new Viking leaves the barn. You did a fine job capturing the Healey family’s commitment to building the world’s finest fishing boats. Residing on the Bass River just upstream of Viking, I see Pat as a neighbor. New Gretna is one of the smallest towns in New Jersey, having no police department and only a part-time government and public works department. Pat and his family, however, are always there for our community’s biggest needs — be it after Hurricane Sandy’s eye passed over us, our all-volunteer fire department or my daughter’s elementary school Parent Teacher Organization. When someone considers…

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…

How did you make the transformation to fishing as a profession? We lived in California, and as a kid, my dad used to take me out bottomfishing. That’s what started it all. On our first family trip to Cape Hatteras, we chartered a little boat for a half day and caught Spanish mackerel and bluefish, and I thought to myself, Somehow, I have to find a way to do this for a living. How did you make that happen? We fished with Emory Dillon offshore when we’d vacation, and we caught sails and dolphin, tuna and wahoo, and I was just in love with it all. I told him that I’d like to try this, you know, being a mate. I didn’t know anything about fishing, other than I wanted…

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…

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…