Marlin magazine is an international billfishing magazine that gives you updates on the world's hottest billfishing destinations, insider tips on live-baiting and trolling, glimpses of people influencing the sport and reviews on the latest equipment.
The pages of Marlin are a special place. They offer more than just the best big-game fishing stories and tips you can get your hands on — they have chronicled those moments of laughs, smiles, tears and sheer exhilaration for the last three and a half decades. One of my favorite things to do is look through the library of old Marlin issues in my office. Taking those moments to reflect back on our history not only sparks new story ideas, it also connects me to the early days and the evolution of our sport. Heck, some of the early issues hit your hands while I was still just a twinkle in my father’s eye! However, it’s those older issues — and even before the first issue of Marlin —…
editor@marlinmag.com PROUD FATHER I wanted to share this story with you as a proud father of my son, Jack Lefort. We were on our family vacation in Costa Rica and planned on fishing close to shore on the last day of the vacation in hopes of catching his first billfish. Will Drost, the owner of Sea Fly, kept texting me all week on how the marlin bite was on at the seamounts. Much to his mom’s dismay, Jack and I loaded up on Friday night at 6 and putted out all night. We started fishing at 5:30 the next morning, and in 20 minutes, we had our first blue marlin on! Four minutes later, Jack caught his first blue marlin. The bite was crazy, and by 7:30 a.m., Jack caught…
SPLIT LEVEL Marc Montocchio captured this amazing shot of Michael Posillico’s blue marlin aboard his 52-foot Shearline Boatworks American Beauty with Capt. David Borrack. Montocchio used a Nauticam housing paired with a Zen 8-inch optic crystal dome port to gain a perspective of the action above and below the water. LOCATION The crew hooked this blue marlin on a dink bait while fishing near Columbus Point on Cat Island in the Bahamas. TECH SPECS CAMERA: Canon EOS-1D X LENS: Canon EF 15 mm f/2.8 Fisheye ISO: 400 APERTURE: f/11.0 SPEED: 1/250 sec…
As a charter captain turned boatbuilder, Paul Mann is perfectly at home in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. For the past 28 years, Paul Mann Custom Boats has turned out some of the most beautiful, and most functional, sport-fishing boats on the water. No two are exactly alike. And yet they all share a common lineage, having been handcrafted with an experienced eye and purpose-built to exceed the expectations of their owners. How did you transition from charter captain to boatbuilder? I earned my captain’s license when I was 20 and started running boats immediately, first starting out of a marina in downtown Manteo. I then fished out of what later became Pirate’s Cove before running trips out of the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center for 16 years. After building a 52…
PENN SLAMMER III Penn has designed and manufactured some of the world’s best fishing gear for over 80 years, so it’s no surprise they continue to improve their products to meet growing demands from anglers around the world. That’s the case with the Penn Slammer III spinning reel, which won Best of Show in the Saltwater Reel category at ICAST. With a beefy full-metal body, side plate and rotor, the new Slammer III is also updated with Penn’s new IPX6 sealed system to keep water out of the gear box and drag system. “We designed the Slammer III to be our toughest spinning reel yet,” says our toughest spinning reel yet,” says Mike Rice, brand director for Penn. “The fully machined CNC brass gear train is smooth but also extremely…
With a 174-boat fleet this year, the 58th Annual Big Rock Blue Marlin tournament solidified its reputation as one of the oldest and most prestigious big-game tournaments on the East Coast. This year’s great fishing exceeded everyone’s expectations, with tournament anglers releasing 106 billfish (45 blue marlin, 34 white marlin and 27 sailfish) and boating nine blue marlin. The tournament kicked off to a great start weather-wise, with bluebird skies, but as the week progressed, conditions began to deteriorate — and the boats that chose to lay on the first couple of days began to regret their decision. Although heavy winds and the small 27-boat fleet fishing on the last day of the Big Rock almost assured no changes in the leader board, a bit of uncertainty remained among those…
