Innehållsförteckning för June/July 2017 från Marlin

+ ABOUT THE AUTHOR JASON SCHRATWIESER HAS A MASTER’S IN MARINE ECOLOGY AND HAS WORKED ON FISHERIES ISSUES FOR 16 YEARS. As beautiful as it is, the open ocean is a barren place that is largely devoid of structure, and any piece of floating debris — big or small, natural or manmade — is, at times, capable of attracting a staggering diversity of marine critters. For this reason, fish and anglers alike are drawn to weed lines, cargo pallets, and every conceivable manner of flotsam and jetsam. And for centuries, industrious humans have been constructing fish aggregating devices to concentrate and harvest fish. As early as the 17th century, Mediterranean anglers constructed FADs that were anchored to the seafloor in relatively shallow water. Today, moored FADs can be deployed in…

Nicky Sinden, host of a popular New Zealand fishing show, had no idea what lay ahead when she headed out for a day of swordfishing off Whangaroa, New Zealand, on March 22, 2017, with friends Dave Woodman and Matt Haliday. The day ended up being unforgettable: She returned to port with a potential ladies alltackle world-record swordfish. This is her recap of that remarkable catch. We hit the water to film an episode of Ados Addicted to Fishing, and we were daytime swordfishing off the Northland region of New Zealand on my new 23-foot boat, Game On. The experience ended up being a baptism by fire when an enormous swordfish ate a large arrow squid on the second drop. I fought the fish standing up at 44 pounds of drag…

WHEN TO GO Broome is situated on the tropical northwestern coastline of Australia and has two major seasons a year. The wet season extends from November through April; the weather can get pretty warm and sticky, with frequent storms bringing showers and even torrential rain — usually the rain clouds and storms disappear just as quickly as they arrive. The rest of the year — from late May to October — is the dry season, and there can be magnificent warm days with cloudless skies accompanied by cooler nights. This is the time of year when sailfishing and other game fishing is at its best. HOW TO GET THERE Flying is by far the best way to Broome because it’s a long and dusty drive from Darwin and Perth, the…

editor@marlinmag.com FISHING WITH VETERANS I just wanted to drop a note in response to Sam White’s article “Giving Back: Billfishing With Veterans” [November 2016] — very well done on all parts for promoting this to the fishing community! Over the past 10 years or so, the boats in the Canyon Runner fleet have taken out about 200 veterans to go offshore fishing both to the Northeast Canyons and giant tuna fishing off North Carolina. In the past several years, we also participated in a local shark tournament, which raises money for what I believe is a great cause: Operation Restored Warrior. We have also raised about $50,000 for the organization at our Canyon Runner Offshore Seminar Series. There is nothing better than giving back to these great American heroes. Shown…

If boats could talk, think of the stories they could tell. Imagine listening to Gray Ingram’s 63-foot Ricky Scarborough Big Oh, which recently tallied her 1,500th blue marlin on March 21, 2017, while fishing out of Los Sueños, Costa Rica. After a three-year build, Big Oh launched from the Scarborough yard in North Carolina in summer 2007 and headed straight to the fertile waters of Venezuela with Capt. Ronnie Fields at the helm, where the release numbers started ringing like an overactive cash register. Ingram and Fields then headed for St. Thomas the following summer, and the blues continued to crash the spread. They quickly passed 200 blue marlin releases before transiting the Panama Canal and heading for the Pacific Ocean, where Big Oh racked up releases in Panama, Costa…

THE LARGEST MARLIN LANDED ON 30?POUND?TEST TACKLE Hawaiian angler Kelley Everette made angling history on June 25, 1987, by setting the men’s 30-pound-test line-class world record for Pacific blue marlin with this incredible 1,103.5-pound fish. Everette was fishing out of Kona, Hawaii, aboard Northern Lights, a 37-foot Merritt captained at the time by Carl Schloderer. The recordbreaking blue ate a 3-pound live skipjack and put up a spirited fight that lasted just under two hours. The grander is also the heaviest marlin ever landed on 30-pound tackle of any IGFA record.…

+ ABOUT THE AUTHOR RALEIGH WATSON HAS PRACTICED MARITIME LAW FOR FIVE YEARS IN FLORIDA, AND IS AN AVID OFFSHORE ANGLER. After spending months on the YachtWorld and Boat Trader websites, you have finally found the “perfect” boat. You do a personal inspection of the boat with your broker and everything fits your needs, so you make an offer, which is accepted. You set a closing date and schedule the surveys and sea trials. Meanwhile, visions of billfish dance in your head. The whole process is moving along seamlessly, until you get the call from your broker: The survey revealed multiple issues with the boat, which legitimately affect its value or require immediate attention to repair. Naturally, you are bummed … but the deal isn’t necessarily dead. ACCEPT OR REJECT?…

SAILFISH CHALLENGE February 22-26, Fort Lauderdale, Florida Capt. Ray Rosher’s Miss Britt team aboard their Contender released 16 sailfish in two days to win the Sailfish Challenge. Advanced Roofing/ Sailsmen moved into second place with a late-day doubleheader of sailfish on Day Two to give them a total of eight releases. Crescendo also had eight releases to finish in third place on time. The Sailfish Challenge hosted 64 teams that competed for a total purse of more than $530,000. CASA DE CAMPO BLUE MARLIN CLASSIC March 16-20, Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic The Venezuelan-based Amazing Grace team went on a strong run on the final day to win the tournament. Frank Rodriguez’s Fa-La-Me finished in second place, while Capt. Tim Richardson led the Chaser team to a third-place finish. Garrett…

+ FOUR CAPTAINS DISCUSS THE IMPACT OF MODERN ELECTRONICS We had a lot less stuff when I first got started, and I still think a lot of the older guys can outfish everyone else with just a bottom machine and a compass. And sometimes people rely too much on having the latest technology. You still need to fish where the fish are, get the bites and hook what you see, and it takes teamwork and coordination between the captain, angler and mate. There’s no substitute for experience. We’re not piloting the space shuttle — we’re going fishing. Technology has certainly contributed to much of our success. I think I speak for a lot of captains when I say that a good chart plotter, a quality VHF radio, and a satelliteimagery…

Are you averaging more than 75 percent hookup rates on your marlin lures? There are lots of lure trollers who average more than 85 percent; some are even close to 100 percent, as they hook just about every fish that strikes. There’s a common thread in their lure and gear setup: They pay more attention to the hooks and the way they rig the lure so they can greatly improve their hookup ratios. The environment behind the boat is turbulent, and the fact that water is 780 times denser than air further complicates things, making it difficult to get the lures to do what you want them to. Think of it this way: Trolling a rigged lure at 7 mph times 780 equals 5,460 mph. The fastest jet in the…

It’s true — we killed way too many billfish back in the old days. We would throw them on the charter dock in hopes of attracting our next party, or just kill a fish in an attempt to sell a mount. Then once we got better at fishing, we learned how not to miss the spindlebeaks by hooking them on J hooks. The same evolution was seen with the guys in Australia as they used big baits with giant J hooks, and a really long drop-back. Each fish was gut-hooked because of the possibility that each bite really could be a grander or the biggest marlin ever caught. And there is no doubt that you have an advantage as an angler when you gut-hook a billfish — I’m guilty; I…