Marlin February 2024

Shortly before the 2023 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show in late October, the marine industry buzzed with the news that Marlin’s parent company, Bonnier LLC, had divested a large portion of its marine media properties. However, Marlin would remain part of the Bonnier portfolio. The short reason: the brand is simply too valuable to part with, and we are bullish on its growth potential in both the near and long term for many reasons. First among those is the brand’s strong position in the marketplace. For more than 40 years, Marlin has maintained a singular focus as well as an unwavering commitment to producing the best in offshore-fishing content and, to that end, is the undisputed global leader. There is no more effective or efficient way of reaching this highly…

editor@marlinmag.com TRIBUTE TO A LEGEND I am writing on behalf of my friend Capt. Bobby Brown. We have been friends for more than 50 years and were slip mates for many years in Kona. Brown was a true inspiration—I currently hold the Hawaii state record for black marlin, and I attribute many of the skills I learned to him. At 76, he is one of the sport’s most respected captains. Brown’s grandfather was a young Scotsman who crewed on clipper ships, sailing from Europe to Hilo, Hawaii. He so loved the Hawaiian Islands that he brought his new bride from Scotland back to Hilo with him. The family prospered, and Bobby was born in 1946. In 1958, he was fishing with his family on Miss Kona when he caught his…

ROUGH DIAMONDS The Outer Banks of North Carolina are home to some of the most treacherous waters in the world, thanks in part to constantly shifting sandbars and a never-ending swirl of currents and tides. Photographer Capt. Joe Byrum captured this amazing image of a sportfisher slogging her way home toward Beaufort Inlet across the shoals in heavy seas with the famed diamond-patterned lighthouse as a backdrop. LOCATION Cape Lookout, North Carolina TECH SPECS CAMERA: Canon 5D Mk III LENS: Canon EF 100-400mm ISO: 200 APERTURE: f/5.6 SPEED: 1/2000 sec…

When you think about custom sportboats and the builders, you’re most likely to conjure images of North Carolina’s Outer Banks or the east coast of Florida. Not often does a small community named Bear, Delaware, come to mind. Enter the Floyd family—they’ve been building boats under the F&S Boatworks banner there since 1996, starting with Jim Floyd at the helm. When it was time for Jim to wind down and tap a successor, he looked no further than his nephew, John Floyd. At the time, John was fresh out of the University of Delaware with undergraduate and master’s degrees in finance, but he did return to his true calling: boatbuilding.…

M How did you go from a career in banking right into building boats? I always knew this was what I wanted to do, but I also knew growing up around boatbuilding, that it wasn’t very well organized. Some of these boats were being built in a pole barn behind a guy’s house. It would be unrecognizable to people today who are used to going to our yards and seeing these welloiled operations that we have. I wanted to learn how to run a business, I wanted to learn the ins and outs of finance, and I didn’t want to come into a situation where I was surprised by things. I just feel so much better prepared to negotiate these large contracts and figure out pricing schedules. These are multiyear…

+ BITE TRACKER Stay current with the best bites from the top billfish destinations around the globe at marlinmag.com/travel. WHERE FEBRUARY really gets the blood flowing when you can take your pick of the billfish species that are biting around the world. You could almost call it a grand-slam month, with schooling sails, swordfish and all species of marlin available if you’re down for some travel.…