Innehållsförteckning för October 2015 från Marlin

One of the most highly anticipated moments in all of big-game fishing — aside from watching a marlin charge a teaser or a lure — is when a weighmaster hits the switch to display the weight of a marlin during a big-money tournament. This excitement drives the crowds to attend tournaments and allures teams to bet big and fish hard. Not many people will ever see 899.6 pounds displayed on a Jumbotron, as we saw during the Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic in June, let alone have the opportunity to catch a fish of that caliber. This new tournament record is among the largest blues caught during the past couple of years in tournaments. Unfortunately, we are still seeing a high number of smaller fish weighed in tournaments as well,…

SO YOU’VE DONE ALL YOUR TACKLE ARATION AND PUT YOURSELF PREPARATION IN POSITION TO GET THE BITE, BUT BEFORE YOU CAN GET TO THE CRITICAL STAGES OF THE ENDGAME, YOU NEED TO BE PRACTICAL AND INTELLIGENT ABOUT HOW YOU RUN THE BOAT WHILE HOOKED UP, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU’RE HOOKED TO A REALLY BIG FISH. IN ORDER TO MANEUVER YOUR BOAT PROPERLY, YOU FIRST NEED TO KNOW HOW YOUR T FEELS, AND HOW IT WILL REACT BOAT WHEN YOU TURN THE WHEEL, GO FROM FORWARD TO REVERSE AND SPIN IT AROUND. With an inboard boat, the thrust of the propellers is directed across the rudders, which are placed behind the props. When moving forward and turning, the thrust is redirected by the rudder and a different pressure is created on the…

CONTROL ALL TEASERS Made for the captain who wants total control of his teasers and dredges, the new Teezer TD-4000 from Elec-Tra-Mate is the most advanced teaser reel ever created. Designed for pod areas in hardtops, the teaser-reel system uses several microprocessors to program and control its four separate motors and spools independently. The system can also detect disturbances in the teasers and notify a captain of where a fish is in the spread. elec-tra-mate.com LIGHTER AND MORE VERSATILE At 50 percent smaller and 40 percent lighter than its predecessors, the HERO4 Session will prove to be more versatile during your next trip offshore. The camera benefits from a durable, waterproof design that eliminates the need for a separate housing; it is waterproof to 33 feet, making it ideal for…

ALL SPORT-FISHING BOATS sport a pair of outriggers in order to widen the spread and get more lines trolling behind the boat. Most serious sport-fishers now come with a set of triple-spreader outriggers if the boat is over 50 feet or so, and it requires quite a bit of effort to raise and lower such long and heavy outriggers each day for the runs out and back. With the longer riggers comes a more forward placement, causing the locking arm and lifting rope to sit about halfway up the flybridge. Some guys will put a U-shaped cutout in their curtains to get to the lifting rope and locking arm. On Dirty Business, Capt. Newt Cagle doesn’t like the look or lack of efficiency of the cutouts. Instead, he mounts a…

In his new tell-all book, Capt. Skip Smith describes the larger-than-life adventures he and his team experienced. It’s a must-read for all serious offshore anglers. A MARLIN EXCLUSIVE! It was March when Jerry got a call from Jose Rada, a guard for the president of Peru, asking if we would go to Cabo Blanco and fish as a guest of the government. They wanted us to test the waters where Alfred Glassell had caught his 1,560-pound black marlin and also do a TV show so they could promote tourism in that area. The TV show would be like the show Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous that was airing in the United States at the time. The government would provide us with all the fuel we needed and more. I…

As he had done hundreds, if not thousands, of times, Capt. Brett Holden sent down a squid on a 50-wide reel and said, “I bet we get bit in less than 30 seconds.” The weight hit the bottom, and as soon as he cranked the bait off the bottom, the highly anticipated tap-tap of a swordfish whacking the bait was already there. He teased the fish with a series of drop-backs and quick cranks, and the rod tip nearly hit the water when it bent under the load as the fish was hooked. Holden yelled, “We’re tight!” and I thought to myself, You’ve got to be kidding me. I grabbed the rod and clipped into the stand-up harness for the fight. At the same time, Matt Reed, the mate on…

June 22-26, Sandestin, Florida More than $1.5 million was up for grabs for the 79 teams fishing the 13th annual Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic in Sandestin, Florida. On the back of an off-week for most of the teams fishing the Gulf tournament circuit, it was the crew aboard Cotton Patch, with captain/owner Johnny Dorland and angler Lance Hill, that came out on top, setting a tournament record with an 899.6-pound blue marlin. “I caught my first billfish, a sail, in 1968, when I was 13 years old, fishing out of Orange Beach, Alabama,” Dorland says. “So to come out on top in a tournament of this caliber, competing all summer against guys you respect, and to do it with friends and family, is very gratifying. Sure the money is…

South African novelist Wilbur Smith once described the coast of west Africa as the “burning shore,” and if you are off Nigeria, Cameroon or Angola, that moniker pretty much sums it up. At night, the burn-off flares on the drill platforms and wells stretch as far as you can see, and from offshore it looks like the coastline is on fire. Traveling to Africa is a bit different; they have their issues over there, so you do need to be careful and take precautions, and choose the right places to visit. Gabon offers what we want — billfish in big numbers — and is probably the safest, most stable country in the region as well. A BIT OF HISTORY Gabon was one of four French territories that made up French…

IT HAS BEEN MY LIFELONG DREAM AND PASSION TO CHASE THE AMAZING BLUE MARLIN. THIS DREAM HAS TAKEN ME ALL AROUND THE WORLD TO SOME TRULY AMAZING DESTINATIONS AND LET ME MEET SOME OF THE GREAT PERSONALITIES INVOLVED IN THE SPORT. IT HAS TAKEN ME FROM BEING A MATE IN KONA, HAWAII, FOR SOME GREAT CAPTAINS TO CAPTAINING BOATS MYSELF IN HOT SPOTS SUCH AS CAPE VERDE AND THE AZORES. THE FISHING IS NOTHING SHORT OF OUTSTANDING IN ALL OF THESE PLACES, BUT LIKE ANY DIE-HARD BLUE MARLIN FISHERMAN, I AM ALWAYS ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THE NEXT HOT SPOT. Fueled by this passion, I always have my ear to the ground, and one spot kept popping up among crews and captains I spoke with: Exmouth, in Western Australia. I…

Titan Custom Yachts owner Russ Garufi has half a dozen boats under his belt with the introduction of this latest convertible. Garufi is a successful entrepreneur and homebuilder, so after years of running, servicing and repairing his venerable 42 Bertram, he decided to build a new boat himself. He was already a student of yacht design and accomplished in all phases of construction, so he had at it in a field in Maryland. The completed boat was the first Titan, a 58-foot convertible. The first person to sea trial the boat bought it on the spot. Since then, he’s built three 62-footers, and we had the opportunity to sea trial his new 64 from his slip at Sunset Marina in Ocean City, Maryland. BUILT FOR SPEED Garufi had worked with…