Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2021 i Marlin

• Now in his 18th year with the International Game Fish Association, Jason Schratwieser is just the eighth president since the IGFA was founded in 1939. Prior to assuming the top leadership position in January 2020, he led the organization’s conservation efforts in a number of key areas and also had the opportunity to mentor under several past presidents, including Michael Leech, Rob Kramer and most recently, Nehl Horton. A passionate angler in his own right, Schratwieser is poised to lead the IGFA into a bright new era ahead. What are some of the most significant conservation challenges the offshore-fishing community faces these days? Billfish stocks are not managed well globally, and the majority are overfished and/or are experiencing overfishing, largely as a byproduct of commercial fishing efforts. We have…

GUY ARRINGTON WILD HOOKER/STRONG PERSUADER HOUSTON Everything! The chance to compete against the best and win as a team—not as an individual—tops the list. When we are fun fishing, we set our own benchmarks, but in tournaments, we measure ourselves against some of the finest fishermen around. Kona, Cabo and the Gulf of Mexico attract many of the best teams, so if competing at that level doesn’t get your blood pumping, you need to find another pursuit. Winning as a team is about executing under pressure. Everyone knows their role, and no one wants to let the team down. When we all execute, it’s an exhilarating feeling knowing each one of us delivered. DOUG ALLEN BIG OIL VINCETOWN, NEW JERSEY The charged atmosphere when fishing against some of the best…

IT’S FIRST LIGHT, AND THERE’S JUST ENOUGH OF IT ILLUMINATING THE HORIZON. ONE BY ONE THE BOATS START HEADING OUT THE INLET, THEIR WAKES ROLLING TOWARD THE JETTIES. THIS PROCESSION OF BOATS—CLOSE TO 100 OF THEM—RANGE FROM 40-FOOT CENTER-CONSOLES TO 90-FOOT MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR SPORT-FISHING YACHTS, AND ARE ALL HEADING OFFSHORE TO THE DEEPWATER CANYONS, SCATTERING WIDE IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS. WHAT ARE THEY AFTER? A BIG PAYDAY, PERHAPS? THEY ARE AFTER BILLFISH, AND THESE TOURNAMENTS BRING OUT ALL TYPES OF FISHERMEN FOR THAT ONE CHANCE, ALBEIT REMOTE, TO WIN THE JACKPOT. HOW MUCH OF A JACKPOT, YOU ASK? WELL, THAT DEPENDS. Some of the largest payouts belong to America’s tournaments. Ocean City, Maryland’s White Marlin Open boasts itself as the world’s largest—and richest—offering some $1.85 million for the heaviest whitey at 97…

• Vilano Boatworks is a custom sportfish builder based in St. Augustine, Florida, and brings to the table new and original designs by in-house naval architect Erwin Gerards. Builds will feature Caterpillar engines in all models. The first boat, a 65-foot convertible, is being commissioned by an incredibly knowledgeable family whose fleet includes a custom 48-foot Merritt express as well as a Huckins Yacht, among the many other vessels they have owned previously. Vilano hull Nos. 1 and 2 will feature the all-new 2,400 hp Caterpillar C32B engines, and will be outfitted with gyrostabilizers, omnidirectional sonar and a full tower. Fully loaded, the 65 will displace approximately 90,000 pounds, and draft 5 feet, 5 inches with shallow prop pockets. Fuel capacity is 2,100 gallons. The builder anticipates a cruising speed…

• Sellers and brokers often ask me what information they are required to share with potential buyers. This topic involves fraud and misrepresentation and is a complex subject, so it is difficult to ever provide a definitive answer. Most individuals believe that they are protected when they sell a boat “as is,” under a contract with “buyer beware” language. However, that is not always the case. That language might protect you from a breach-of-contract claim but not necessarily a claim under tort law. CONTRACT VS. TORT LAW A key step with this matter is to understand the difference between contract and tort law, both of which are branches of our civil legal system. Damages under both may occur when one party breaches a duty they had to the other. Under…

A SHARKY SITUATION I read with great interest the Opinion column in the February issue regarding the shark population and wanted to comment. Here on the southwest coast of Florida, we’ve hardly ever had an issue with sharks until recently. Over the past few years, we’ve been losing a few groupers and red snapper to sharks while bottomfishing, but on one overnight trip out to the Steps last summer, we had several yellowfin tuna get bitten as well. Some of these sharks were real giants too—7 to 10 feet. One of my crewmembers remarked that it would not be a good time to go for a swim. We were the only boat for miles and miles around, and yet the sharks found us. Or maybe they were with the tuna…

• Now in its 84th year, West Palm Beach, Florida’s Silver Sailfish Derby is celebrated as the world’s oldest sailfish tournament. In keeping with those historic traditions, which includes the presentation of the Mrs. Henry R. Rea perpetual trophy—a magnificent silver sailfish sculpture awarded to the top individual angler, which dates back to the event’s origin in 1935—this year’s tournament was a mix of nostalgia and excitement as the participants eagerly awaited the first day of fishing. While early January can be a toss-up when it comes to the weather off Palm Beach, this year’s fleet of 47 boats was greeted on Day One by reasonably good conditions. The first release occurred just 14 minutes after the call for lines in echoed across the VHF radio: Ian Goldstein on the…

• It’s always sad to hear of the passing of a larger-than-life fishing legend, especially one who had such an impact on those who learned from him. Capt. Billy Billson broke records and barriers. He busted through the 100-marlin ceiling in a single season—twice. With a career best of 11 weighed granders as captain, he released 40 he called over the mark, two that surpassed 1,200 pounds, and a few monumental marlin caught on fly, including a 2003 IGFA men’s 16-pound-tippet world-record black marlin caught by Thomas Evans Jr. Billson died on September 22, 2020. CAPT. BRAD “CRAFTY” CRAFT LELLY B, CAIRNS, AUSTRALIA If I had only three words to describe Capt. Billy, they would be innovative, passionate and competitive. Although the use of circle hooks is mainstream now, the…

THE NUMBERS ARE SIMPLY STAGGERING: 42,217 billfish releases in 84 days of tournament competition since 2004, for an average of more than 500 billfish releases per tournament day. Big days? Sure—how about the second leg of the series in 2016, where 43 boats racked up 2,752 sailfish releases in three days, for an average of 64 fish per boat? During that one you could release 75 sails in three days and not even make the top 10. Miss one or two bites and drop from first to third, or from third into obscurity—it happens every year. Incredible and incredibly consistent action, season after season, with some of the top teams on the hottest boats in the world. Those are just a few of many reasons why the Los Sueños Signature…

It was a little after 6:30 a.m. when Capt. Vince Riera backed the 49-foot Tiara Mad Max from its berth at Port de Alcudiamar Marina and headed into the 50-mile-wide Majorca Channel, a tongue of deep blue water that separates Majorca from her sister, the Balearic island of Menorca. It was just over an hour’s run to reach an area about which I had heard so much—time to savor some freshly brewed coffee and still-warm-from-the-oven croissants until we arrived at that very special area where Riera is in the process of making bluewater sport-fishing history. About a mile away from the actual waypoint, we slowed to trolling speed and set our spread of lures: long and short, left and right, a shotgun down the middle, and a diving wobbler in…

• Thinking about changes to your electronics can be daunting. The cost, time and effort involved cannot—and should not—ever be taken lightly. Some refits are forced, brought upon by lightning strikes, equipment failures and age, but generally, upgrades keep you in step with the times, providing the opportunity to correct annoyances or shortcomings of the current technology. The possibility to add the latest high-performance piece of tech to help not only with fishing and navigation, but also to potentially tune up the audio-video systems, is attractive, especially when it keeps everyone sane on a slow day—or a long trip. REFIT OR UPGRADE A lightning strike is typically a worst-case scenario that demands you evaluate and replace, and is very different than an upgrade. All equipment necessary for safely operating the…

In the world of large sport-fishing boats, the 86-foot Merritt cuts a sharp profile. Sleek and fast, with a tough advanced-composite construction, an interior with expansive spaces, lavish appointments, plus a user-friendly layout and robust mechanical systems, she’s at the top of the heap of custom boats in the 80-plus-foot range. Hull No. 106, Perlamar, is the last of the 86-foot series, and she’s a head-turner. I’ve had the opportunity to fish an 86 several times and always marvel at the boat’s performance and handling characteristics, especially for a vessel of this size. Weighing in at 155,000 pounds, with 3,600 gallons of fuel and 500 gallons of water, her twin 2,600 hp V16 MTU 2000 engines accelerate easily and push her along at a 30-knot cruise at 1,850 rpm, burning…

• All good things eventually must come to an end. This pandemic has given me plenty of time to think about the things I have accomplished, as well as a few things that I have yet to do. Bringing The Hooker back to life was more than a dream come true for me. I was sure that I would never see that boat again, much less own it or fish it again. Since I first starting fishing out of Los Sueños, Costa Rica, with Capt. David Shinn many years ago, I really enjoyed all the fishing and the country. I had heard about the outstanding blue marlin action on the seamounts offshore and was interested in fishing them, but I never had the opportunity. When my wife, Debra, and I…

INVERTED Venezuela will always hold a special place in the hearts of those who were fortunate enough to fish there, including photographer Scott Kerrigan. “In 2007, Pat Healey invited me to shoot aboard Viking 68 with Capt. Mike Brady for the day,” he says. “This white went ballistic right behind the boat and nearly jumped in with us, but Brady powered ahead just as the fish flipped upside down. The light circle hook held just long enough.” LOCATION Kerrigan was fishing the famed La Guaira Bank. TECH SPECS CAMERA: Canon ID MKIII LENS: Canon EF 70-200mm 2.8L ISO: 320 APERTURE: f/13 SPEED: 1/1250 sec…

• The first leg of the 2021 Quest for the Crest Sailfish Series, produced by Bluewater Movements, was Operation Sailfish, which attracted 47 boats and was held out of Sailfish Marina on Singer Island, Florida. At stake this year was a cash purse of $533,000 and the champion’s engraved dog tags. Amid challenging conditions and tough fishing, the Showtime/Remix team clawed their way through the ranks to emerge as the event’s top boat, pocketing $67,500. The team released eight sailfish on time, five of which came from angler Frankie Villasante, who was also named the tournament’s top angler. Fielding a new Viking for this year’s tournament series, Capt. Trey Claus and Team HMY waged a back-and-forth battle with Showtime/Remix throughout the event but fell just short in the end to…

• The IGFA Great Marlin Race, presented by Costa, is a partnership between the International Game Fish Association and Stanford University that links recreational anglers with advanced satellite tagging technology to study the ecology of billfish species worldwide. With the health of many billfish stocks in question across the globe, the IGMR seeks to obtain the information necessary to better inform resource managers and policymakers to ensure long-term sustainability of these recreationally and economically important species. The IGMR has three primary goals: increase understanding of the distribution and behavior of billfish species in relation to their environment in order to better inform fishery-management entities; increase participation of recreational billfish anglers worldwide in electronic-tagging science; and to provide free, open-access billfish tag data to scientists throughout the world for their research.…

• There is absolutely no question on how effective dredges are in helping us to raise billfish. This is especially true when it comes to smaller species—sailfish, white marlin and striped marlin—that generally work together to corral bait into a ball in order to pick them off one by one. And over the years, even blue marlin fishermen have taken a liking to dredges, noticing their effectiveness in raising fish from the depths. In review, a dredge is a subsurface teaser that looks much like a baitball swimming behind your boat. Typically composed of six arms and fashioned in an umbrellalike frame that can hold 12 baits, most crews pull anywhere from two to four tiers of these frames to create a larger baitball illusion to help draw in hungry…

This species of billfish is located almost exclusively within the Mediterranean but is occasionally found in the Atlantic beyond the Straits of Gibraltar. The current IGFA all-tackle record weighed 90 pounds, 13 ounces and was caught off Madeira in 1980. However, identification of this particular fish was based on a black-and-white photograph, so key identification features were not clear. No other confirmed specimens of Mediterranean spearfish have been recorded from Madeira during the past 40 years, and it has been argued that this fish could well have been another species. The body of a Mediterranean spearfish is slender, with a dark blue back and silvery white sides. The fins and body do not have spots, and the bill is short, barely longer than the lower jaw. The first dorsal fin…

• Weaving your way through the shallow-island channels of your current destination, you promptly notice the bonefish tailing the flats from your perch in the tower. As you pull in the slip to get your trip started and your program set up for the season, the boat next to you is unloading their skiff from the bow, and they immediately take off to explore the shallows you were admiring—wishing you were fishing. But wait: You’re there to fish offshore, to catch marlin, right? Maybe, maybe not. It gets mighty lonely at the dock when you’re weathered-in and watching other guys getting in on the shallow-water action, or having the ability to take interisland jaunts to the leeside. It’s this desire that’s leading more owners to make the decision to travel…

• Built in Central America, rigged in Alabama, and turning heads in Palm Beach, Florida, and throughout the Bahamas: That’s Southern Fly, a beautiful 39-footer from Maverick Yachts Costa Rica. But that only scratches the surface of the story behind this remarkable custom boat. Thanks to a partnership between Maverick and Saunders Yachtworks, the cold-molded hulls are completed at Maverick’s facility in Herradura, Costa Rica, and then shipped to Saunders for final outfitting and engine installation. When researching what he wanted in a new boat, Chris Klein came across Southern Fly, a brand-new 39 offered for sale by MacGregor Yachts. “I just fell in love with the story of the Fly boats and their history of charter fishing in the Pacific—that’s what first drew me to the brand,” he says.…