Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2024 i Marlin

As a kid, I dreaded the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I had no clue. There was no family business to inherit, and the thought of becoming a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer or some other standard career professional had no appeal. That all changed for me as a teenager when I stepped onboard Ticket in Port Canaveral, Florida, at 4 o’clock one summer morning. I loved being outside and grew up fishing lakes, rivers and the occasional golf course pond. I used to watch Big Game Fishing the World with Capt. Norm Isaacs on TV, but that was the closest I had been to a real fishing trip. My friend’s dad had arranged a charter for his business clients, and I was a…

You may not know Dennis Friel personally, but if you’ve participated in a prominent fishing tournament over the past two decades, there’s a good chance you have a shirt donning his artwork. Since his teens, the proud South Florida native has masterfully captured the energy of sport fishing and the complex beauty of marine environments in a unique style that has been celebrated around the world. Driven by a love of the water and a desire “to do more than just paint,” Friel launched his “Connected by Water” podcast in 2019, a move that catapulted him from a marine artist to an industry influencer. He’s now using his global reach to raise awareness about issues threatening the marine environment and the way of life that he represents. Which came first,…

If you pay any attention to catch reports on social media, you’ll know that the bite has been epic off the coast of Kona, Hawaii, this summer. Reports of big numbers for both blue marlin and spearfish have been coming in consistently throughout the season. “Our numbers have been off the charts this year,” said Capt. Bryan Toney of Snafu in late June. “We started fishing on March 8, and as of July 30, we already had more than 230 blues, 18 grand slams and even a super slam, which comprised a black marlin of around 900 pounds, a blue, a stripey and a spearfish.” Yet even the early-season bite couldn’t have prepared Toney for June 21, when he led his two charter anglers to a record-shattering day. Fishing a…

Mana (noun): a Polynesian spiritual life force or energy that may be ascribed to persons, spirits or inanimate objects. In Polynesian culture, and certainly on the islands of Hawaii, the concept of mana manifests itself across activities and conversations on a daily basis. The belief is that certain objects can hold energy, or even a sort of supernatural force—a sacred wisdom passed on to the object by its creator. This undercurrent of spirituality often influences or even overshadows the science or technique employed in any creative endeavor, and that holds true in the evolution of artificial lure design, of which Hawaii is known as an originator and innovator. In Hawaii, lures are not called “plugs” or “plastics.” In fact, many consider it almost sacrilege to speak about them as just…

To illustrate the groundbreaking information made available by PSATs, we’ve employed the help of Marlin contributor and IGFA conservation director Bruce Pohlot to analyze two impressive billfish tracks from the IGFA Great Marlin Race. LIZARD ISLAND TRACK One track from the IGFA Great Marlin Race reigns supreme as the longest distance from deployment to pop-up ever recorded. At the 2014 Lizard Island event in Australia, Ernesto Bertarelli’s sponsored tag was deployed on a giant, 1,100-pound black marlin. After just 180 days attached to the marlin, this tag popped up 5,716 nautical miles from the deployment location, nearly 1,000 nautical miles farther than the current second-place recovery. This marlin is estimated to have traveled a total of 6,787 nautical miles along its migratory track that heads east away from Lizard Island…

Bermuda showcased its wonders during the 2024 Bermuda Triple Crown Billfish Championship, producing a truly world-class experience highlighted by historic catches, record payouts and an electric tournament atmosphere. Good weather, great fishing, first-class participants and a new suite of optional jackpots all contributed to the record results. ¶ A fleet of 52 boats from the US and Bermuda competed for a record $4,127,250 in prize money awarded across the three-tournament series. Participating anglers caught 353 billfish during the championship’s nine days of fishing, including 310 blue marlin and 39 white marlin. Nine blue marlin were weighed during the series, the largest tipping the scales at 1,268 pounds and taking the big-game fishing world by storm. ¶ “We knew early in the spring that we had something special happening with this…

FISHING HEAVEN WITH BUBBA IN VENEZUELA What a coincidence that your “Players” column in the August/September issue was about Bubba Carter, who was also highlighted in your feature “Viva Venezuela.” I’ve known Bubba for quite some time, and there are very few captains I would rather fish with. His knowledge is unmatched, and his demeanor is second to none. I have been lucky enough to fish with him in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico; and Los Sueños, Costa Rica. Both trips were outstanding! However, probably the greatest fishing trip I have ever been on was with Bubba in Venezuela. We were there with my son, who was looking to finish his first IGFA billfish Royal Slam at the age of 10, making him the youngest person to ever accomplish it. Capt. Gene…

GAME TIME WINS BIG ROCK WITH DAY ONE BLUE MARLIN  Record-breaking event sees the top three teams each earning over $1.8 million The 66th annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament made sport-fishing history with an unprecedented total purse of $7,562,700, attracting a record fleet of 302 boats. For the first time, the top three teams each took home more than $1.8 million. Capt. Ben Brownlee and the brand-new Scarborough 75 Game Time emerged as the overall winner with a 516-pound blue marlin caught on Day One, maintaining the lead throughout the week. The team had to sweat out an excruciating wait in this event, where boats fish four of six days. When the wait was finally over, and the last fish was weighed, the Game Time crew erupted to celebrate…

Exploring the world of light tackle fishing has deepened my love for the sport and reinforced the belief that neither my size nor my gender should hinder my pursuit of angling excellence. Inspired by trailblazing anglers like Deborah Dunaway and Robyn Hall, I strive to follow in their footsteps, standing proudly at the weigh station and breaking stereotypes with my unyielding passion for fishing. Their legacy serves as a beacon of strength, guiding me to embrace my love for angling with pride and determination, no matter the challenges that come my way. On May 16, 2023, while six months pregnant with my first child, Gus, I attempted a dream of many years—to capture a swordfish on 16-pound line class off the top of the North Island of New Zealand. While…

LOVE IT OR HATE IT, TECHNOLOGY IS EVER EVOLVING. TO REMAIN COMPETITIVE, YOU HAVE TO KEEP UP. SURE, WE ALL MISS THE GOOD OLD DAYS WHEN YOU TRADED LORAN NUMBERS AT THE DOCK, SET UP A SPREAD OVER A CLEAN BREAK OR NEAR A WEED LINE, AND THEN HOPED FOR THE BEST. OF COURSE, THERE WERE SOME GUYS WHO SEEMED MORE DIALED IN THAN OTHERS, CONSISTENTLY OUTCOMPETING THEIR DOCK MATES. PERHAPS IT WAS SKILL OR LUCK OR BOTH. BUT WITH SO MANY TECH ADVANCEMENTS AVAILABLE, IT SEEMS THAT LUCK ISN’T SUCH A BIG VARIABLE IN THAT EQUATION ANYMORE, ESPECIALLY NOW WITH THE IMMENSE POPULARITY OF OMNIDIRECTIONAL SONARS. Much as their name would suggest, omnidirectional sonars scan 360 degrees around a vessel and allow users to lock on to fish as…

When we talk about technology in sport fishing, the natural first thoughts are to look at the bridge and the electronics suites. In recent years, some great technology has been added to the bridge, starting, of course, with omnidirectional sonar. ¶ Roughly years ago I had a “searchlight” sonar, which was an incredible tool. At that time, omni was in use in various commercial-fishing applications, especially the commercial tuna boats, but transducers for omni sonars were prohibitive for sport-fishing applications. Thanks to advancements by electronics engineers and boatbuilders, that is no longer the case. In today’s world, it’s evident that without omni sonar, you simply cannot compete consistently when it comes to tournament fishing. It has changed the game entirely, as we discuss elsewhere in this issue. Night vision technologies…

Family-owned and -operated, Viking Yacht Co. has been building boats for over 60 years in the sleepy town of New Gretna, New Jersey. When Bill and Bob Healey opened the doors in 1964, Bill set the pace with a mission statement to “build a better boat every day.” The new Viking 82 certainly delivers on that promise, replacing the popular Viking 80, which launched in 2015 and enjoyed a run of 54 hulls that raised fish and delivered speed, comfort and luxury. After receiving feedback from owners and crews, and making firsthand observations aboard several demo boats, Viking got to work on the 82. Sharing DNA with the 90-foot flagship released less than two years ago, the first Viking 82 launched in early summer of 2024. Its lineage is recognizable…

The concept of affixing something to an animal that allows humans to track movements and gain information is not new. For centuries, we’ve furthered our understanding of animal behavior through such methods. Atlantic salmon were the subject of some of the earliest fish-tagging efforts, with documented tagging dating back to the early 1800s in Scotland. By the mid-1900s, conventional tagging programs for billfish had popped up in various parts of the world. These were largely limited to small research groups and fishery-management agencies, until The Billfish Foundation launched its Tag and Release Program in 1990. TBF’s program made billfish tagging mainstream and capitalized on growing sentiment within the industry to move away from the routine harvest of billfish, catalyzing a paradigm shift in big-game fishing culture. Tag sticks quickly replaced…

Paul Spencer has been building sleek sportboats since 1996. It seems that each one that splashes behind his factory in Wanchese, North Carolina, turns out prettier than the last. While Spencer builds look great, they run even better. Ask owners what they like most about them, and I’ll bet they’ll say, “The ride.” Some like the ride so much that they keep building new ones. I recently checked out Spencer’s latest 80, Flight Plan, the fourth Spencer built by a discerning, loyal owner. Based out of Hillsboro Inlet, Florida, Flight Plan will fish the Atlantic, while her sistership, a 74 of the same name, makes its home in the Pacific. I’ve crawled on thousands of boats, and I always enjoy checking out ones built by experienced owners. Nothing exists solely…

Hatteras Yachts, the company that introduced fiberglass as a material of choice for sport fishing vessels way back in the 1950s, is introducing its first new hull design under the ownership of the White River Marine Group. The 77 Convertible is the first of three new vessels under development by the New Bern, North Carolina-based builder. Designed by John Canada at Ocean5 in Stuart, Florida, the 77 will feature a contemporary interior design, characterized by a modern aesthetic and multiple configurations, with up to five staterooms. The master will take nearly full advantage of the 21-foot-2-inch beam. Built with usability as a central focus, the 77 boasts a large tackle room, a pump room with access from the galley, and thoughtfully designed access points to all machinery spaces. The 77…

As I write this column, Hurricane Beryl is moving ashore near Houston as a Category 1 storm after already leaving a path of destruction across the Caribbean as a Category 4 monster. Climate hand wringers worry about the increasing strength of storms earlier in the season than ever before, but for old salts, hurricane prep is just part of the job. Unfortunately, though, not everyone on the water is an old salt. In fact, these days I feel like we’re the minority, surrounded by newbies destined for an Instagram fail. During COVID, many boats were sold to first-time buyers. Small boats, big boats—any boat, really—went flying out the door with no training, experience or licenses, at least here in Florida. As I cruise around the canals these days, I see…