Indholdsfortegnelse for February 2021 i Marlin

• Well, we made it—2020 is now history. Adios, sayonara, goodbye. And while we are sure to feel its lingering effects for years, at least we can look forward to the next fishing season with some newfound enthusiasm. Someone much wiser than me once said that what actually happens to us affects only about 10 percent of our behavior. It’s how we choose to react to those events that makes up the other 90 percent of our lives. It’s our choice whether we react negatively, or try to be more positive, seeking that glass-half-full bright side of the situation. I for one vow to be more optimistic in the new year. Change in the marine industry is happening faster than ever these days, and one area where we have been…

• The Merritt family has been building boats since 1955, and Roy has been hands-on at the yard ever since he started working there as a young boy. After the death of his uncle, Buddy, he led the building charge from design to launch. He morphed the construction techniques from frame to cold-molded boats and then the use of advanced composites more than 40 years ago. Under his leadership, Merritt’s Boat & Engine Works has grown from a mom-and-pop boatyard to the mecca it is today. His first build was the 42-foot Caliban; since then, the Merritt boat has evolved from the giant tuna-chasing 37 and 42-/43-footers to the overbuilt, globe-traveling sport-fishermen built today. Its latest is Hull No. 110, an 88-footer. Who were the biggest influences on your style…

• The Los Cabos Billfish Tournament unofficially kicked off the Cabo season in style, with 49 teams fishing for $742,500. This year, the fleet tallied 70 billfish: 55 striped marlin, 13 blue marlin and three black marlin. Teams earned 300 points for blue or black marlin releases and 1.5 points per pound for any over the 300-pound minimum weight; striped marlin, sailfish and spearfish were release-only and scored at 25 points each. The team aboard El Suertudo, captained by Greg DiStefano, once again had the hot hand in 2020, scoring 1,244 points and winning First Place Team honors. Angler Jeff Richardson caught a 350-pound blue marlin to win the Day One jackpot, as well as third-largest marlin jackpot—and he was just getting warmed up. On the second day of fishing,…

• Eighteen-year-old Colby Blackwell from Birmingham, Alabama, was determined to make his dream come true: successfully catch a swordfish from his kayak. After releasing a blue marlin from his ’yak in Golfito, Costa Rica, in 2019, he set his sights on the ultimate predator—the gladiator of the sea—and he wasn’t going to let it slide, not this time. For two years running, Blackwell has been out with Capt. Nick Stanczyk from Bud N’ Mary’s Marina in Islamorada, Florida. Perhaps one of the most accomplished swordfishermen of his time, Stanczyk was able to put Blackwell on the fish of his dreams in 2019, but the fish came unglued an hour into the fight. Blackwell may have been duped the first go-around, but during the first weekend of August 2020, that would…

• Comprised of eight tournaments, Kona’s Hawaii Marlin Tournament Series scores each contest individually, with teams totaling points throughout the summer to count cumulatively toward a Series Champion Angler and Champion Boat/Crew award. Going into the final tournament of the series—appropriately named It’s a Wrap—angler Guy Arrington and the crew on board the 68-foot Blackwell Wild Hooker held the lead in both the angler and boat divisions over runner-up Chad Beaudry and his 40-foot Gamefisherman team, Last Chance. Due to scheduling conflicts, Arrington and company were unable to compete in the Wrap, leaving Beaudry an opportunity to claim the championship. Late on the final day of the Wrap, the Last Chance team had a marlin boatside that could have launched them over Wild Hooker’s lead and into the winner’s circle.…

Let’s face it: Boats are an expensive investment. There is no getting around that fact. So with that in mind, coupled with the unique circumstances of the boating market in early 2021, we approach the scenario of those who might be faced with the choice of either building a brand-new custom boat or extensively refitting an older model. Each has its strong points. We leaned heavily on the professional advice of three custom-boat builders who are quite experienced on the refit side as well: Randy Ramsey, president of Jarrett Bay Boatworks; Michael Rybovich of Michael Rybovich & Sons; and Dominick LaCombe Sr. and his son, Dominick Jr., president and general manager, respectively, at American Custom Yachts. DEFINING A REFIT “Everyone has a different idea of what a refit really means,”…

• Michael Rybovich & Sons has started construction of a new 82-foot convertible at its Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, facility, with an estimated completion in late 2022. The cold-molded, triple-planked solid-mahogany hull is well underway, and will feature a four-stateroom, five-head layout with large undermezzanine tackle and tool room, among many other notable options. The popular MTU 16V2000 M96L engines will power the new 82, and the builder expects performance numbers similar to its recent 78-foot convertible, which saw 50 knots on the initial sea trial. A full complement of hand-selected teak will adorn the toe rail, transom, half-round, bridge rails, aft bulkhead and mezzanine. Built for a serious fishing team, she will feature numerous custom details that make fishing-equipment storage, access and deployment virtually effortless. Modern lines and innovative…

• Well, it’s that time of year again—time to pack up the boat and head to our next destination. With today’s boats—and even bigger fuel tanks—many destinations that were once considered remote or even off-limits are now more accessible than ever, either by shipping the boat or traveling on its own bottom. I have always thought it would be a fun adventure to deliver a boat to an exotic destination: The experience of seeing new landscapes, meeting people of other nationalities, and enjoying unfamiliar foods are just part of the attraction. I can just imagine the crystal-blue waters, warm sunny days, and fishing the entire trip. It’s almost a dream vacation, and the result is catching billfish one after another in places such as Magdalena Bay, the Dominican Republic or…

IN MEMORIAM: RICKY SCARBOROUGH SR. Throughout our lives, there are experiences, events and people that influence us as individuals, and some even alter the direction of our lives. Ricky Scarborough Sr. was one of those people for me, as well as for many others in our local community; his influence extended to many more in the sport-fishing community around the world. I first met “Big Rick” in the late 1970s, but it wasn’t until winter 1979/1980 that he built the 46-foot Tarheel for me as a new young captain fishing out of Oregon Inlet, North Carolina. I was 23 and Ricky was 32. I was amazed to watch Ricky set up the framing and battens that would form the timeless lines on that rig. How could we know that 40…

ISLA MUJERES, MEXICO SAILFISH While the weather can be challenging, the Yucatan’s legendary sailfish bite is in full force—and full contact—when trolling from baitball to baitball. LA ROMANA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC BLUE MARLIN AND SWORDFISH The blues are showing up on the FADs and the swords are found just off the beach in what is becoming a unique Caribbean fishery. PLAYA HERRADURA TO QUEPOS, COSTA RICA SAILFISH AND MARLIN They’re biting! Start filling your dance card with billfish tournaments based out of Los Sueños and Marina Pez Vela. RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL BIGEYE TUNA Northern Brazil might hold the yellowfins, but the offshore oil rigs of Rio hold size-large bigeyes year-round. This underrated fishery is not to be missed. LOBITO, ANGOLA SAILFISH In January, the sails begin their 300-mile migration south…

• Whenever you think of Everglades restoration, it’s easy to equate the well-publicized algae blooms, dirty-water discharges and seagrass die-offs with their impacts to inshore fishing, but most anglers don’t consider the overall reach of the devastation created by man-made water diversion. Beyond the obvious loss of juvenile-nursery habitat, the water-quality issues associated with Everglades restoration create long-term changes for the offshore-fishing community. THE BIG PICTURE It all boils down to water quality, or the lack thereof, which determines everything from the availability of bait nearshore to the recruitment of reef species such as snapper, and the movements of migratory species such as cobia, dolphin, sailfish, little tunny and king mackerel. As these species seek to avoid areas of poor water quality, or the subsequent red tide and other algae…

• On March 18, 2020, when Costa Rica’s tourism industry was shut down, the economy took a turn for the worse almost immediately. At first, residents thought this was short-term, figuring it would be, at most, 30 days before the tourists came back. But, as we now know, that was not the case. During the first few months, some of the locals took advantage of slower times and the lack of tourists, as well as the incredible fishing. They were on the water pretty much every weekend doing what they loved. But that all would change, for the better. And so it began. On July 10, the Costa Rican government announced another round of extreme shutdowns: Cars could drive only two days per week, and all nonessential items on grocery…

When Robert Garmany was just a 13-year-old kid first learning what it feels like to fight a determined 300-plus-pound blue marlin, he contemplated quitting an hour into the grueling battle. Once the exhausted teenager announced that he couldn’t keep on fighting, his father, Capt. Bobby Garmany, roared down from the bridge of Boodaddy, “Garmanys do not quit!” With lightheartedness and reverence, Robert recalls: “I’ll leave out the rest of what he said, but from that moment on, I knew our dad had a different standard of excellence for his sons than anyone else around him. I knew I had to finish the battle.” Courtesy of his father’s assertiveness and his own determination, Robert pushed through and released his first blue marlin, reinforcing a lesson that still resonates today as one…

• “It’s a swordie—nice one too!” With a positive species ID now confirmed, we readied the gaffs and prepared for the endgame with a 200-pound swordfish. We were fishing aboard the 72-foot F&S Second Wind, and were gently drifting in flat-calm seas about a half-mile from the Thunderhorse platform, deep in the upper Gulf of Mexico off Venice, Louisiana. The fish hit the shallow squid bait just after 9 p.m., but the fight had “shark” written all over it for the first 15 minutes or so. It was only when we finally saw the fish in the depths far below us that we knew we had the target species acquired. The boat’s underwater lights easily cut through the water, allowing us to spot the fish while it was still at…

During its more than 56-year tenure of building thousands of boats ranging from 33 to 93 feet, Viking Yachts has designed and produced no fewer than 16 unique models between 50 and 58 feet—a well-defined sweet spot that’s aptly suited for its latest entry in the lineup. Launched in time for the 2020 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, the new 54 Convertible is rigged and ready to take her own place on the tournament circuit. All new Vikings benefit from previous models, due mostly in part to the company’s mantra to build a better boat every day, as well as a substantial workforce in its design, manufacturing and fishing teams. Owner and dealer feedback contribute the input necessary to accumulate all the knowledge that adds up, checking every box for…

• One late-summer morning, three friends—Martin Scanlan, Wyatt Morse, and amateur filmmaker and first-time tuna fisherman, Griffin Buckwalter—loaded up and departed Cundy’s Harbor in Harpswell, Maine, at 6:00 a.m. By 7:30, they were surrounded by whales and marking plenty of bait in 200 feet of water. They quickly jigged up some Atlantic herring and dropped anchor some 12 miles off the Portland coast. The gear was set out: one bait ballooned on the surface and the other approximately 90 feet down. The teens were marking a few fish and settled in as Buckwalter tried his hand at some haddock fishing. After an hour or so, the band on the down rod snapped, and the rod holder was almost ripped from the gunwale. They were on. It was 10 a.m. For…

FOUR FISHERMEN TELL IT LIKE IT IS CAPT. JOHN BAYLISS TARHEEL WANCHESE, NORTH CAROLINA Sharks are most definitely a big problem off the coast of North Carolina. Before I was a boatbuilder, I was a full-time charter and commercial fisherman, so I’ve been able to witness population surges and cycles over a long period of time. What we have seen over the past four or five seasons is an unprecedented surge. Sharks are seriously affecting our tuna fishery, especially for the charter guys—and not in a good way. They lose some 90 percent of their tunas to sharks, and it’s wasting away a great resource. It’s time to reopen shark fishing commercially to thin the herd—with trip quotas and time limits, of course. CAPT. RANDY JENDERSEE SODIUM CRYSTAL RIVER, FLORIDA…

• For sailfish fishermen, it’s a recurring dream: There he is! Left teaser… It’s a sail! But it’s not always as easy as the captain pulling in the squid chain and the angler getting a picture-perfect bite 10 feet behind the boat. Really, that scenario is just a small percentage of the bites we get from these wily and sometimes sneaky creatures. So let’s take a closer look at the touch-and-go method we employ when feeding a dead bait to an Atlantic sailfish on the troll. Many factors go into a successful drop-back and hookup when encountering these agile and explosive little critters. Smaller and slightly faster than their Pacific cousins, feeding an Atlantic sailfish is like dealing with a whole different animal. One of the first steps to success…

That old axiom—location, location, location—certainly applies to Bud N’ Mary’s Marina in Islamorada, Florida. It’s a short boat ride from where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Gulf of Mexico and the nation’s longest coral reef, at the crossroads where the Atlantic merges with Florida Bay and the Everglades. A destination where, prior to the coronavirus shutdown, 200 people per day came through the tackle shop to go charter fishing, destined to join the hundreds more featured in the smiling-face photos that decorate the walls of that same shop. This unique location is why it has endured for more than 80 years, explains Bud N’ Mary’s current owner, Richard Stanczyk. “Not only is it where the Atlantic meets the Gulf of Mexico, but with our location at Tea Table Bridge, we…

• Storing my 52-foot Viking Sport Yacht for the long winter here in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is my least-favorite part of the season, and it feels as if it comes sooner and sooner every year. Paying close attention to certain items can mean the difference between having an easy back-in-the-water launch on the first warm day of boating season and having to go through the rigors of doing what you should have done on the last day before winterization, which only eats into the precious days ahead. Before making the last trip of the season, I always do a full engine, generator and transmission service, changing the oil and filters and fuel filters, as well as making sure the services that appear on the manufacturer’s maintenance checklist are completed. I…

• Los Sueños Resort and Marina founder Bill Royster enjoys running his own boats almost as much as he loves fishing off the central Pacific coast of Costa Rica. So when he had the opportunity to join the Valhalla Boatworks family, he didn’t hesitate. “I go back a long way with [Viking Yacht Company president and CEO] Pat Healey and [Galati Yacht Sales president] Carmine Galati, since they both have been coming to my resort and fishing in our tournaments for 20 years—we have a wonderful relationship. One Sunday evening, I was sitting on my terrace drinking a glass of wine when I received an email from Carmine telling me about the new Valhalla outboard boats that Pat’s sons were building, with all the quality of a Viking.” Royster ordered…

• Most of the tax questions we receive are related to sales- and use-tax avoidance. And while that certainly remains to be a significant topic, especially in states without caps, vessel owners often fail to consider property tax. For vessel operations with a steady travel itinerary, property tax is something to consider prior to state registration and setting a fixed schedule. SALES/USE AND PROPERTY TAXES There are significant differences between sales and use and property taxes. To begin with, sales and use taxes are generally regulated at the state level, whereas property taxes are regulated by local governments. Second, state sales tax on a vessel is collected at the time of purchase if bought through a dealer or broker. However, if sales tax is not paid at the time of…