To see the articles, photographs and videos associated with them in this edition, please CLICK HERE to see the issue ONLINE. The following extracts are a selection from those articles and press releases in the online magazine.
“1245 lb Blue Marlin Hawaiian Style” by Capt. Mike Henessy...
We had just tried live baiting for marlin on one of our FAD bouys off Oahu with no big bites but managed to catch a couple of 30 lb mahi mahi for the dinner table. We had just set up the lure pattern and started trolling again, my eyes were deep in my canon stabilizers looking for bird sign when SWACKKKKKKK!!!
Fishing aboard Maggie Joe out of Kewalo Basin, Oahu, Hawaii I was running a share charter wtih my crew Nate. It started out as every other charter of the year but was about to change our lives.
The short corner #16 rubberband snapped like a AK- 47 round going off next to your ear. The rod doubled over and the explosion of water blew up to the height of the flying bridge from the giant marlins shoulders turning on the lure. The 14” Marlin/Eoff red eye pear, was lodged in the marlin’s mouth as she then stood with her head out of the water in one spot slashing back and forth trying to spit the intruder hanging from her immense mouth. My crew Nate yelled, “Her bill looks like a baseball bat! She is Huge!”
I said, “clear them lines, I am going backwards now! @%!@%.” She sat still for a minute and I sat still for a minute as we both waited to see what the other would do. That minute seemed to last forever as the anticipation of the battle was in both of our minds. The marlin then ran like a bat out of hell and jumped in a big figure of 8. I kept Maggie Joe in full black smoke reverse in a 6-8ft trade wind swell (any other boat would have sunk after the first 3 waves came over the transom), one wave even hit me 20 something feet up on the bridge ... super fun, love that stuff.
We stayed with her for 30 minutes never letting her dig, we went to full sunset pressure immediately after she settled down from jumping and put a hurt on her bad.
I had a dream angler that actually could feel the fish and her moods and was putting extra pressure when he could, this never happens on a charter so I was going ape on the controls to help him. The main line was making ‘hard core’ scary banjo music in the trade winds.
We got the leader 5 times, which hurt her even more and broke her spirit. I yelled down to Nate, “we got one shot after her panic jump mode and we are going to take it, so hold on till you think your going to die then dump the wraps.” Nate was a hero on the leader maxing out the 700 Jinkai leader holding what must have seemed like at least 300#s of pressure on every pull, his back started to give as she was still swimming full speed back and forth under the starboard corner, forcing eventually this giant fish to rest 20ft below the boat swimming forward like a nuclear submarine.
We took our shot and nailed the giant fish with the first flying gaff and pinned it with 2 more stick gaffs. The fight was over in 40 minutes. If we missed that first shot it would have been the standard 8+ hour fight that you hear about in many catches and even more losses on giant fish. My theory on the right fish is to take chances to get it done quickly as possible and accept the chance of errors rather than the long haul and have your equipment get tested while it looses its rated strength by long drawn out fights. This time it paid off.
Then the nightmare of getting that 16ft long fish in the boat with no marlin door! ... @#$^!#$^ hell!
We put a block and tackle on the bridge and ‘heaved ho’ and yet more’ heave ho’ till our hands were bleeding and our backs ached, then she flopped in like a whale. One hour of it by the way in 10ft seas is not fun I can tell you ...
A great ‘fish’ wish I got her in the Bisbees $4 million Jackpot in Cabo though $$$$$$$$$ (I am looking for a team for next year!)
For you ‘gear heads’ it was on a single 12/0 jobu semi=stiff rig in the bottom 1/3 of the skirts. The hook hammered in the top of the bill in the soft spot, game over.
130# Shimano with sunset drag, I could not pull the drag with both hands after the fight.
I would like to thank the owner of Maggie Joe, Michael Derego, for maintaining a top notch crew and a super boat, that made the hardest fight I have ever had as captain possible.
Fishing aboard Maggie Joe out of Kewalo Basin, Oahu, Hawaii I was running a share charter wtih my crew Nate. It started out as every other charter of the year but was about to change our lives.
The short corner #16 rubberband snapped like a AK- 47 round going off next to your ear. The rod doubled over and the explosion of water blew up to the height of the flying bridge from the giant marlins shoulders turning on the lure. The 14” Marlin/Eoff red eye pear, was lodged in the marlin’s mouth as she then stood with her head out of the water in one spot slashing back and forth trying to spit the intruder hanging from her immense mouth. My crew Nate yelled, “Her bill looks like a baseball bat! She is Huge!”
I said, “clear them lines, I am going backwards now! @%!@%.” She sat still for a minute and I sat still for a minute as we both waited to see what the other would do. That minute seemed to last forever as the anticipation of the battle was in both of our minds. The marlin then ran like a bat out of hell and jumped in a big figure of 8. I kept Maggie Joe in full black smoke reverse in a 6-8ft trade wind swell (any other boat would have sunk after the first 3 waves came over the transom), one wave even hit me 20 something feet up on the bridge ... super fun, love that stuff.
We stayed with her for 30 minutes never letting her dig, we went to full sunset pressure immediately after she settled down from jumping and put a hurt on her bad.
I had a dream angler that actually could feel the fish and her moods and was putting extra pressure when he could, this never happens on a charter so I was going ape on the controls to help him. The main line was making ‘hard core’ scary banjo music in the trade winds.
We got the leader 5 times, which hurt her even more and broke her spirit. I yelled down to Nate, “we got one shot after her panic jump mode and we are going to take it, so hold on till you think your going to die then dump the wraps.” Nate was a hero on the leader maxing out the 700 Jinkai leader holding what must have seemed like at least 300#s of pressure on every pull, his back started to give as she was still swimming full speed back and forth under the starboard corner, forcing eventually this giant fish to rest 20ft below the boat swimming forward like a nuclear submarine.
We took our shot and nailed the giant fish with the first flying gaff and pinned it with 2 more stick gaffs. The fight was over in 40 minutes. If we missed that first shot it would have been the standard 8+ hour fight that you hear about in many catches and even more losses on giant fish. My theory on the right fish is to take chances to get it done quickly as possible and accept the chance of errors rather than the long haul and have your equipment get tested while it looses its rated strength by long drawn out fights. This time it paid off.
Then the nightmare of getting that 16ft long fish in the boat with no marlin door! ... @#$^!#$^ hell!
We put a block and tackle on the bridge and ‘heaved ho’ and yet more’ heave ho’ till our hands were bleeding and our backs ached, then she flopped in like a whale. One hour of it by the way in 10ft seas is not fun I can tell you ...
A great ‘fish’ wish I got her in the Bisbees $4 million Jackpot in Cabo though $$$$$$$$$ (I am looking for a team for next year!)
For you ‘gear heads’ it was on a single 12/0 jobu semi=stiff rig in the bottom 1/3 of the skirts. The hook hammered in the top of the bill in the soft spot, game over.
130# Shimano with sunset drag, I could not pull the drag with both hands after the fight.
I would like to thank the owner of Maggie Joe, Michael Derego, for maintaining a top notch crew and a super boat, that made the hardest fight I have ever had as captain possible.
“Cow Tuna Runs in Puerto Vallarta” by Capt. Omar Guillen
My name is Omar Guillen, I am a professional photographer and fishing guide living in South Florida. Like many people who grew up in South Florida, I fell in love with fishing at a very early age, I was so young, I do not remember catching my first fish or hooking my first shrimp or live sardine for bait, although my mom has pictures of me fishing when I was two. As I am sure many of you out there have pictures of yourselves or your kids at the same age, it really is more common than I first thought. Even though my parents thought I was a fishing prodigy. Well soon after that I started making a list of the fish I wanted to catch. Not surprisingly, my list was quite long. Living in one of the most productive fishing grounds in the whole world helped me out quite a bit. I crossed many species off my list and soon after added size requirements.
So when I was contacted to shoot promotional pictures for a charter boat in Puerto Vallarta my heart started racing. I had heard of the cow tuna runs in Puerto Vallarta for years and I had been dying to hook up with one of these monsters . Needless to say I jumped at the chance. I bought my ticket and prepared for what I thought was going to be a trip of a lifetime. But to my disappointment I received a call from the boat Captain a couple of weeks later to tell me that one of his engines had blown and he would not be able to do the trip. Fortunately my good friends Sergio Vasquez (pictured gaffing the fish) from Expert Marine and Billy Webb from the Billy Webb band, were ready to help me keep my dream alive and make it a great vacation. The trip was on and I could not wait. We arrived in PV in the evening and took a cab to the hotel, El Tesoro. PV was very tourist friendly and it seemed like everyone we met spoke English. We headed to a nearby restaurant for dinner and just talked fishing, mostly east coast vs. west coast stuff because they were both from California. Luckily one of those shark-fishing shows that had just ended had an east coast vs. west coast contest and the east coast won, so I reminded them of that every so often. LOL.
Then we headed to the hotel as we were waking up very early. The wind was light and the night was calm and it seemed like forever before I went to sleep. The first two days we booked popular local charters on large sportfisherman boats and even though the personnel was friendly, the fishing was quite slow. Besides catching bait (little tunnies) we only managed to catch a Dorado and a large sailfish, which I was lucky enough to bring in.
But being from South Florida where we catch plenty of sails I was growing a bit impatient and disappointed. We did manage to hook up a large marlin of about 400 to 500 pounds but the windon was only about 5 feet and the main line broke! Unbelievable!I felt so bad for Sergio,you could see his heart sink into the beautiful cobalt blue ocean.
I think that leader broke our spirit and/or trust in our crew. We were here for one thing and one thing only, big Tuna! And we had not seen one fish, even though back at the dock people were catching them. We decided to go out on a limb; we cancelled the following day with the same charter and called a few friends for information. To our surprise we were told to take a charter on a super panga with a captain named Baltazar Solis Hernandez. We had experienced great weather for the first two days but I must admit I was a bit apprehensive about canceling a large sportfisher to spend the day on a small panga. But we agreed that we needed desperate measures and we decided to book Captain Baltazar. I think we were all wondering how we had arrived on this panga on our dream vacation on our last day of fishing but we were trying to stay positive! So we huddled in our jackets and tried to avoid the salt spray on the way out with waves of two to three feet with the occasional four footer thrown in. But it did not take long after we caught bait to start catching fish! Instead of just trolling live bait around, Capt. Baltazar had us chunking, and the fishing became red hot. We started catching tuna after tuna and it was not long before I was hooked up to a big one. Now I had caught a lot of tuna in my life especially fishing Bimini in the Bahamas but nothing like this monster. This fish thoroughly whipped my butt. He fought straight up and down for almost an hour. Even though I thought I was profient in my tuna technique this fish was schooling me in what seemed like a long class of Tuna 101.
What a fight! My trip was made! We estimated the fish to be around 200 pounds. Next it was Sergio’s turn on a big fish while I took pictures. Unfortunately he lost a big one, but then made it up with one big Cubera snapper. Then it was Billy’s turn and he did not disappoint. His fish was even bigger than mine - what a beautiful fish and what a fight. His fish (pictured on the cover) was estimated at about 225 pounds and took three gaffs to get him on board! We then refocused our attention back to Sergio to see if we can catch one more big fish but it was not meant to be. He caught fish after fish but none seem to be bigger than 50 pounds. I could not help but think; wow I wish these 50 pounders would show up off the coast of South Florida in these numbers. What a trip! I guess you can say that local knowledge is more valuable than a million dollar boat!
If you want to see more pictures of the trip please visit www. SeasideStudiosFL.com and click under the category of fishing. And if you are going to be in the South Florida area and want to book a fishing charter or ask me any questions please visit my site www.ExtremeInshoreFishing.com
So when I was contacted to shoot promotional pictures for a charter boat in Puerto Vallarta my heart started racing. I had heard of the cow tuna runs in Puerto Vallarta for years and I had been dying to hook up with one of these monsters . Needless to say I jumped at the chance. I bought my ticket and prepared for what I thought was going to be a trip of a lifetime. But to my disappointment I received a call from the boat Captain a couple of weeks later to tell me that one of his engines had blown and he would not be able to do the trip. Fortunately my good friends Sergio Vasquez (pictured gaffing the fish) from Expert Marine and Billy Webb from the Billy Webb band, were ready to help me keep my dream alive and make it a great vacation. The trip was on and I could not wait. We arrived in PV in the evening and took a cab to the hotel, El Tesoro. PV was very tourist friendly and it seemed like everyone we met spoke English. We headed to a nearby restaurant for dinner and just talked fishing, mostly east coast vs. west coast stuff because they were both from California. Luckily one of those shark-fishing shows that had just ended had an east coast vs. west coast contest and the east coast won, so I reminded them of that every so often. LOL.
Then we headed to the hotel as we were waking up very early. The wind was light and the night was calm and it seemed like forever before I went to sleep. The first two days we booked popular local charters on large sportfisherman boats and even though the personnel was friendly, the fishing was quite slow. Besides catching bait (little tunnies) we only managed to catch a Dorado and a large sailfish, which I was lucky enough to bring in.
But being from South Florida where we catch plenty of sails I was growing a bit impatient and disappointed. We did manage to hook up a large marlin of about 400 to 500 pounds but the windon was only about 5 feet and the main line broke! Unbelievable!I felt so bad for Sergio,you could see his heart sink into the beautiful cobalt blue ocean.
I think that leader broke our spirit and/or trust in our crew. We were here for one thing and one thing only, big Tuna! And we had not seen one fish, even though back at the dock people were catching them. We decided to go out on a limb; we cancelled the following day with the same charter and called a few friends for information. To our surprise we were told to take a charter on a super panga with a captain named Baltazar Solis Hernandez. We had experienced great weather for the first two days but I must admit I was a bit apprehensive about canceling a large sportfisher to spend the day on a small panga. But we agreed that we needed desperate measures and we decided to book Captain Baltazar. I think we were all wondering how we had arrived on this panga on our dream vacation on our last day of fishing but we were trying to stay positive! So we huddled in our jackets and tried to avoid the salt spray on the way out with waves of two to three feet with the occasional four footer thrown in. But it did not take long after we caught bait to start catching fish! Instead of just trolling live bait around, Capt. Baltazar had us chunking, and the fishing became red hot. We started catching tuna after tuna and it was not long before I was hooked up to a big one. Now I had caught a lot of tuna in my life especially fishing Bimini in the Bahamas but nothing like this monster. This fish thoroughly whipped my butt. He fought straight up and down for almost an hour. Even though I thought I was profient in my tuna technique this fish was schooling me in what seemed like a long class of Tuna 101.
What a fight! My trip was made! We estimated the fish to be around 200 pounds. Next it was Sergio’s turn on a big fish while I took pictures. Unfortunately he lost a big one, but then made it up with one big Cubera snapper. Then it was Billy’s turn and he did not disappoint. His fish was even bigger than mine - what a beautiful fish and what a fight. His fish (pictured on the cover) was estimated at about 225 pounds and took three gaffs to get him on board! We then refocused our attention back to Sergio to see if we can catch one more big fish but it was not meant to be. He caught fish after fish but none seem to be bigger than 50 pounds. I could not help but think; wow I wish these 50 pounders would show up off the coast of South Florida in these numbers. What a trip! I guess you can say that local knowledge is more valuable than a million dollar boat!
If you want to see more pictures of the trip please visit www. SeasideStudiosFL.com and click under the category of fishing. And if you are going to be in the South Florida area and want to book a fishing charter or ask me any questions please visit my site www.ExtremeInshoreFishing.com
“JIMMY JOHNSON to introduce the 2010 Billfish Bowl”
Two-time Super Bowl winning football coach Jimmy Johnson is proud to introduce the Billfish Bowl — a unique fishing tournament that pits NFL coaches and players along with South Florida’s best anglers in a friendly fishing atmosphere — all in the name of charity.
The tournament, scheduled for February 4-6, 2010, will take place just days before the Super Bowl, which will be in Miami, 60 miles north of Key Largo. So you better believe that all of Jimmy’s football friends in town for the big game will be heading down to the Keys for some fun in the sun before the kickoff.
Proceeds from the event will go to Gridiron Greats(www.gridirongreats.org ), a nonprofit organization that donates resources to retired NFL players who cannot afford proper health care or basic necessities.
Please include the Billfish Bowl in your upcoming calendars.
What: The Gridiron Greats Billfish Bowl hosted by Jimmy Johnson
When: February 4-6, 2010
Where: Jimmy Johnson’s Fisherman’s Cove Private Residence Club, home of the Big Chill bar and restaurant (www.fishermanscovekeylargo.com ), located in Key Largo, Florida.
Contact Info: Visit www.billfishbowl.com for more information on the event and sponsorship opportunities or call 866-203-2720. Stay tuned for more information about the Billfish Bowl!
The tournament, scheduled for February 4-6, 2010, will take place just days before the Super Bowl, which will be in Miami, 60 miles north of Key Largo. So you better believe that all of Jimmy’s football friends in town for the big game will be heading down to the Keys for some fun in the sun before the kickoff.
Proceeds from the event will go to Gridiron Greats(www.gridirongreats.org ), a nonprofit organization that donates resources to retired NFL players who cannot afford proper health care or basic necessities.
Please include the Billfish Bowl in your upcoming calendars.
What: The Gridiron Greats Billfish Bowl hosted by Jimmy Johnson
When: February 4-6, 2010
Where: Jimmy Johnson’s Fisherman’s Cove Private Residence Club, home of the Big Chill bar and restaurant (www.fishermanscovekeylargo.com ), located in Key Largo, Florida.
Contact Info: Visit www.billfishbowl.com for more information on the event and sponsorship opportunities or call 866-203-2720. Stay tuned for more information about the Billfish Bowl!
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