Innehållsförteckning för November 2016 från Marlin

CREWS TARGETING SAILFISH AND MARLIN with natural bait have raised their game to a whole new level as dredges have become a staple in the spread. But if you want to target blue marlin, you better be ready to pull lures — and there are some incredible custom lure makers today creating works of art that produce even more fish than before. There is little doubt that lure-fishing is a more effective way to target blue marlin, especially big blue marlin. But fishing lures properly also takes a keen eye and some experimentation. From lure-fishing’s early beginnings, skippers from Kona — starting with Henry Chee — experimented with and developed lure shapes to attract blue marlin. And today, the backyard shops and garages of Hawaiian fishermen are still turning out…

The distinct lines of Albatross III slip through the fog in the early morning hours with Capt. Ernie Foster at the helm as she departs from one of the most historic fishing villages in the United States — North Carolina’s Hatteras Harbor. The red and white candy-striped outriggers are unmistakable, as is her rounded transom and sleek, low-profile design, moving past the rocks en route to the inlet and out to the Gulf Stream for a day offshore with her guests. Not built for speed or to compete with today’s modern sport-fishers, she and her two sisterships are their own breed. They are a living part of big-game history. A DREAM Like many firsts, the initial Albatross was born from a thought of a young Capt. Ernal Foster (Ernie’s father),…

If there’s one thing I enjoy more than testing a new Scarborough boat, it’s fishing one, so the drive to Virginia Beach, Virginia, to meet owner Mike Standing was filled with anticipation. Waterman is everything you expect from a Scarborough and more, and the next day was perfect for getting to know her. Before we left the dock at the Virginia Beach Fishing Center, another guest, Ricky Scarborough Jr., showed up to spend the day with us. We had relatively calm seas at the start of our run to Norfolk Canyon, but the radar showed some nasty squalls ahead. We dodged the storm clouds until we finally broke through into the sun. We fished a single dredge, a pair of squid-chain teasers and four dink ballyhoo. The morning was slow…

The exclusive bond formed between fishermen during the pursuit of billfish is unique, regardless if you are from the East Coast or Gulf Coast, prefer circle hooks to J hooks, live bait over dead bait, straight-butt or bent-butt rods, fly flags upside down or right side up, or pull single or double hook-sets. That bond brought together a unique group of people to a remote destination for one goal: to deploy 15 pop-up satellite archival tags in blue marlin over a four-day period. Even Alabama and Auburn fans reconciled as they converged on Port Eads, Louisiana. Ellen Peel, president of The Billfish Foundation, picks me up at the airport in Pensacola, Florida. We discuss just about everything as we drive to Venice, Louisiana, to meet the rest of the team.…

VISIT MARLINMAG.COM /FISHING-WEATHER FOR THE SCOOP ON APP-BASED AND ONLINE WEATHER PROVIDERS LIKE INAVX, ROFF’S OFFSHORE AND TERRAFIN. In today’s age of weather satellites, apps and wire services, learning the “red sky at night” lore might be archaic. But in a spirit of safety, visual cues serve as reminders to be diligent in gathering information before heading to sea. Now, thanks to SiriusXM Marine Weather, a vast wealth of weather data can be gathered even at sea. And the data serves not just to avoid unpleasant or dangerous weather, but to make captains more efficient offshore. SiriusXM Marine isn’t new. It’s been providing aviators and mariners weather for 10 years. Even better, improvements with the major navigation-electronics makers (Furuno, Garmin, Simrad, Raymarine) mean skippers don’t need to rely on day-old…

Owning a sport-fishing vessel as part of a company is quite common, due in large part to the litigious world we live in. Companies are typically used as a form of liability protection in the event an accident occurs. A properly formed and managed company for purposes of boat ownership can be helpful, but it is not as simple as forming the entity and executing a bill of sale. There are other things to consider, including the necessary corporate documents and understanding why those are important, as well as what professionals should be involved in the process. LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANIES Most domestic owners choose to put their boats in limited liability companies. LLCs are regulated differently in every state, but they are generally formed by filing the articles of organization…

OPEN WIDE Capt. Chris Sheeder snapped this incredible photo of an angry blue marlin while aboard Finest Kind with angler Trey Wills. This was one of the 10 blues they released that day, and the crew made quick work of the fish — even with Sheeder backing down with camera in hand. LOCATION The seamounts off Costa Rica produce fantastic numbers of blue marlin and are in range from several marinas with boats typically going out for multiday trips. TECH SPECS CAMERA: Canon EOS-1D X Mark II LENS: Canon EF 100- 400 mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM ISO: 1,600 APERTURE: f/8.0 SPEED: 1/6,400 sec…

In A.D. 64, a massive fire ravaged Rome for six days, destroying some 70 percent of the city. During that time, it is said that reigning emperor Nero did nothing to address the problem — leading to the popular phrase: “Nero fiddled while Rome burned.” Call me crazy, but I can’t help but think that we’re currently witnessing a similar situation with Pacific bluefin tuna. There are three species of bluefin: Atlantic, southern and Pacific, and we’ve been reading about how two of them have been mismanaged one way or the other for at least the past three decades. Atlantic bluefin probably garnered the most press over the years following their precipitous decline, which began as early as the late 1960s. We learned this was an intricate situation with two…

When Capt. Ryan Riggs departed from Virginia’s Rudee Inlet on the morning of August 31, 2016, at the helm of the 57 Bobby Croswait, Full Pull, he had no idea what kind of day lay ahead. His team returned that afternoon having accomplished one of the rarest feats in big-game fishing: a fantasy slam consisting of five different billfish species in a single day. This is his story. The weather hadn’t been too good, but we decided to go fishing anyway and headed toward some pretty water in 500 fathoms. The anglers on board were Paul Shaw, David Rood and Cass Wood; Ben Polk and Montukie Lewis were the mates for us. It was a little bumpy going out, but not too bad. We set out our usual spread —…

ANY OFFSHORE ANGLER UNDERSTANDS THE CALMING EFFECT OF THE OCEAN, HEADING TO SEA WITH THE RISING SUN. THE STEADY THRUMMING OF THE ENGINES. The taste of thick salt air and strong hot coffee. Gulls cackle and spin, and the horizons unfold with the promise of offshore adventure. Concerns and cares seem to melt away, replaced by feelings of anticipation and a sense of being part of something much larger. No matter your political stance, we cannot deny a significant debt of gratitude we owe to the military. Our veterans have endured conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan for the last two decades — and Vietnam and Korea prior to that. Many of those service members have lost close friends, while others have lost digits and even limbs. Some fight mental-health problems…

I first laid eyes on the new 45-footer from Winter Custom Yachts earlier this year at the Palm Beach International Boat Show. Tim Winters and his crew had just wrapped up the final touches in North Carolina in the nick of time for many of us get the first look. ALL PHOTOS COURTESY WINTER CUSTOM YACHTS But I wasn’t the only one who fell in love with Freq-NOut — her name at the time. Fred Church, then the owner of a 40-foot Winter Custom express [September 2015], couldn’t resist and shortly worked out a trade deal. The 45-foot convertible soon had a new name, Morning Star III, and was in the Bahamas nearly every weekend. I caught up with her in early September; she was not only another beautiful build…