February 2021

Marlin

Total resource for worldwide offshore fishing action for big-game fisherman.

Marlin2 min read
Change Is Inevitable
• Well, we made it—2020 is now history. Adios, sayonara, goodbye. And while we are sure to feel its lingering effects for years, at least we can look forward to the next fishing season with some newfound enthusiasm. Someone much wiser than me once sa
Marlin2 min read
Marlin
SAM WHITE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CAPT. JEN COPELAND SENIOR EDITOR SUE WHITNEY MANAGING EDITOR CHRIS McGLINCHY ART DIRECTOR CINDY MARTIN COPY EDITOR RANDY VANCE EDITOR-AT-LARGE, FISHING AND MARINE CAPT. MIKE PIERDINOCK CONSERVATION ANDREW LAFFERTY ELECTRONIC
Marlin2 min read
Feedback
Throughout our lives, there are experiences, events and people that influence us as individuals, and some even alter the direction of our lives. Ricky Scarborough Sr. was one of those people for me, as well as for many others in our local community;
Marlin1 min readScience & Mathematics
Hot Shots
Winter in South Florida means cold fronts, northerly winds and kite-fishing—prime conditions for an epic sailfish bite. Photographer Austin Coit went mask-to-eyeball with this lively goggle-eye for a better understanding of what a sailfish sees just
Marlin5 min read
Roy Merritt
• The Merritt family has been building boats since 1955, and Roy has been hands-on at the yard ever since he started working there as a young boy. After the death of his uncle, Buddy, he led the building charge from design to launch. He morphed the c
Marlin1 min read
Where
While the weather can be challenging, the Yucatan’s legendary sailfish bite is in full force—and full contact—when trolling from baitball to baitball. The blues are showing up on the FADs and the swords are found just off the beach in what is becomin
Marlin2 min read
On the Cutting Edge
Style: Folding Fillet Based on Bubba’s bestselling 7-inch tapered flex fillet knife, this one is a folder that’s versatile enough to easily fit in a pocket or tackle drawer while still providing the signature Bubba nonslip grip. The flexible blade i
Marlin5 min read
El Suertudo Repeats In Los Cabos Billfish Tournament
• The Los Cabos Billfish Tournament unofficially kicked off the Cabo season in style, with 49 teams fishing for $742,500. This year, the fleet tallied 70 billfish: 55 striped marlin, 13 blue marlin and three black marlin. Teams earned 300 points for
Marlin1 min read
Tournament Quick Bites
Dec. 3-6, 2020 Islamorada, Florida Capt. Brian Cone led anglers Mark Mitchell, Kenneth Padgett, Travis Bennett, Andy Cone and Greg Tolpin to the winner’s circle in this year’s Islamorada Sailfish Tournament aboard his charter boat, Contagious, with 1
Marlin2 min read
… And Then There Were Three
• One late-summer morning, three friends—Martin Scanlan, Wyatt Morse, and amateur filmmaker and first-time tuna fisherman, Griffin Buckwalter—loaded up and departed Cundy’s Harbor in Harpswell, Maine, at 6:00 a.m. By 7:30, they were surrounded by wha
Marlin2 min read
Kayak Gladiator
• Eighteen-year-old Colby Blackwell from Birmingham, Alabama, was determined to make his dream come true: successfully catch a swordfish from his kayak. After releasing a blue marlin from his ’yak in Golfito, Costa Rica, in 2019, he set his sights on
Marlin4 min readEarth Sciences
Florida’s Dirty-water Reach
• Whenever you think of Everglades restoration, it’s easy to equate the well-publicized algae blooms, dirty-water discharges and seagrass die-offs with their impacts to inshore fishing, but most anglers don’t consider the overall reach of the devasta
Marlin2 min read
Q: How Is The Local Shark Population Affecting You?
FOUR FISHERMEN TELL IT LIKE IT IS TARHEEL WANCHESE, NORTH CAROLINA Sharks are most definitely a big problem off the coast of North Carolina. Before I was a boatbuilder, I was a full-time charter and commercial fisherman, so I’ve been able to witness
Marlin5 min read
Hawaii Marlin Tournament Series Presses On
• Comprised of eight tournaments, Kona’s Hawaii Marlin Tournament Series scores each contest individually, with teams totaling points throughout the summer to count cumulatively toward a Series Champion Angler and Champion Boat/Crew award. Going into
Marlin3 min read
Making A Reel Difference
• On March 18, 2020, when Costa Rica’s tourism industry was shut down, the economy took a turn for the worse almost immediately. At first, residents thought this was short-term, figuring it would be, at most, 30 days before the tourists came back. Bu
Marlin5 min read
Touch And Go
• For sailfish fishermen, it’s a recurring dream: There he is! Left teaser… It’s a sail! But it’s not always as easy as the captain pulling in the squid chain and the angler getting a picture-perfect bite 10 feet behind the boat. Really, that scenari
Marlin9 min read
Decisions, Decisions
Let’s face it: Boats are an expensive investment. There is no getting around that fact. So with that in mind, coupled with the unique circumstances of the boating market in early 2021, we approach the scenario of those who might be faced with the cho
Marlin9 min read
GROWING UP GARMANY A Southern Fishing Tradition
When Robert Garmany was just a 13-year-old kid first learning what it feels like to fight a determined 300-plus-pound blue marlin, he contemplated quitting an hour into the grueling battle. Once the exhausted teenager announced that he couldn’t keep
Marlin9 min read
The Heart Of The Florida Keys
That old axiom—location, location, location—certainly applies to Bud N’ Mary’s Marina in Islamorada, Florida. It’s a short boat ride from where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Gulf of Mexico and the nation’s longest coral reef, at the crossroads where t
Marlin1 min read
Special Occasions
• Australia’s Fraser Island is well-known for its juvenile black marlin, like this one captured in midflight by photographer Kelly Dalling Fallon. “We were fishing along Breaksea Spit, on the northern outside tip of Fraser,” she says. “It was our fir
Marlin3 min readComputers
Light It Up
• “It’s a swordie—nice one too!” With a positive species ID now confirmed, we readied the gaffs and prepared for the endgame with a 200-pound swordfish. We were fishing aboard the 72-foot F&S Second Wind, and were gently drifting in flat-calm seas ab
Marlin4 min read
Winter Lay-up
• Storing my 52-foot Viking Sport Yacht for the long winter here in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is my least-favorite part of the season, and it feels as if it comes sooner and sooner every year. Paying close attention to certain items can mean the diffe
Marlin1 min read
MICHAEL RYBOVICH & SONS 82
• Michael Rybovich & Sons has started construction of a new 82-foot convertible at its Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, facility, with an estimated completion in late 2022. The cold-molded, triple-planked solid-mahogany hull is well underway, and will fe
Marlin5 min read
Viking Yachts 54
During its more than 56-year tenure of building thousands of boats ranging from 33 to 93 feet, Viking Yachts has designed and produced no fewer than 16 unique models between 50 and 58 feet—a well-defined sweet spot that’s aptly suited for its latest
Marlin3 min readPolitics
Don’t Forget About Property Tax
• Most of the tax questions we receive are related to sales- and use-tax avoidance. And while that certainly remains to be a significant topic, especially in states without caps, vessel owners often fail to consider property tax. For vessel operation
Marlin3 min read
Valhalla Boatworks V-41, Valhalla Dos
• Los Sueños Resort and Marina founder Bill Royster enjoys running his own boats almost as much as he loves fishing off the central Pacific coast of Costa Rica. So when he had the opportunity to join the Valhalla Boatworks family, he didn’t hesitate.
Marlin4 min readMedical
Long-distance Travel Options
• Well, it’s that time of year again—time to pack up the boat and head to our next destination. With today’s boats—and even bigger fuel tanks—many destinations that were once considered remote or even off-limits are now more accessible than ever, eit
Marlin3 min read
Fishing The World
• Since we all have been sent to our collective rooms for nearly a year of quarantine, we missed out on fishing most of our regular international fishing spots last year, like the Bahamas, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Cape Verde and Madeira

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