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Continuing a Sportfishing Legacy with Michael Lamb

Hard work and devotion are keys to success in any venture, and this fisherman credits his mountain roots and rural upbringing to success in business and on the water pursuits. More than 50 years since his father Island Rover was given a second chance in Andros, savvy angler, entrepreneur, husband and father Michael Lamb has been diligently working toward keeping his family dream alive through his own Island Rover, a 58-foot Merritt with glistening gold leaf lettering adorning the natural teak transom.

“Our family is from Amherst County in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Not a lot of saltwater fishing there, says Michael Lamb. A Virginia native whose fishing roots began in the Rappahannock River, Lamb credits his father grudge against a particular sailfish for sparking his interest in sportfishing.

After serving in the Army for several years, Lamb father was fortunate to come home from Vietnam in the late 60s. Through a friend in Roanoke, Virginia, he found out about a mechanic job in Morgan Bluff, Andros, Bahamas, working for Owens-Illinois. At that point his only experience on the ocean was aboard a troop carrier to Vietnam.

So, my dad, mom and my two oldest brothers packed up for Andros. To this day, Morgan Bluff is considered a true outpost due to its extreme location on the very northeastern end of the island. One can only imagine the way of life more than five decades ago.

There was nothing to do in Morgan Bluff in 1968 except go fishing. So, my dad goes down to Fresh Creek and they find this half-sinking wooden boat that a guy from the Northeast brought down to make a charter boat out of it. They got one engine running and brought it around to Morgan, then hauled it out with the big forklift they used to lift the timberlogs. He rebuilt the engines and hired a Bahamian to strip the paint, Lamb says. Island life was not easy, and the men would work six days a week, then fish in the evenings or on their day off. My dad plan was to work at Morgan Bluff for a little while and then cruise the islands with his family in this 32-foot wooden boat, so he called it Island Rover.

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As the story goes, he hooks a sailfish one day and the thing jumps all about. They were running out of line, so he tightened the drag a little bit and the fish broke off. Remembering back to when I was a little kid hearing this story it was like my dad was the Old Man and the Sea. My earliest childhood fishing memories were hearing about the story of that sailfish he never caught.

By 1973 the best of the forests had been cleared and Owens-Illinois relinquished all its licenses to the newly independent Bahamian government. Michael father moved the family to Palm Beach where he attended college to become a minister, eventually moving back to the Tidewater region of Virginia. Offshore fishing was not a possibility for us with our financial position. Ministers in rural towns dont make a lot of money. We were living in eastern Virginia on the Rappahannock River and my dad bought a small boat with a blown engine and had his boys help fix it up. We sold it for a little more than he bought it for and took that money to invest in another broken boat.

We would fish at least two days a week for spot, perch and croaker. We took annual family vacations to the eastern shore of Virginia to go flounder fishing. Wed fish every day, that was all we did, and we had a lot of fun. Growing up, fishing was the time we spent together as a family. We kept it all and would eat fish two nights a week year-round.

As they grew older and more interested in fishing, Michael, along with his three older brothers, Carey, Lee and John, would often pile into a single-cab Toyota Hi-Lux pickup truck and ride to Deltaville, Virginia, where they would visit the boatyards to look at the different boats, dreaming of the day they could all fish in the ocean together.

Like my father, my two brothers were also diesel mechanics, so it was easy for them to catch a ride on boats. My oldest brother Carey, through an guy named Danny Wadsworth, started fishing on a 42-foot Ocean and ended up taking that boat to Pirate Cove in the late 80s. Carey would work Monday through Thursday, then go fish for three days out of Oregon Inlet or Hatteras as a mate for Danny. My brothers were all very close and that how I started offshore fishing. Danny Wadsworth eventually bought a 51-foot Ricky Scarborough called Point Runner and then he built the 60-foot Guthrie still fishing as the current Point Runner.

The lessons learned fixing up neglected boats as a kid paid off later in life professionally. I remember sitting in my office during the financial crisis as companies were going bankrupt everywhere. I saw endless opportunity in the midst of the carnage and started the company that I would run for ten years by acquiring a number of broken concrete and aggregates businesses and fixing them. I studied finance in college and grad school, but it turns out that some of the most valuable business lessons I learned took place as a kid in the backyard with my dad and brothers fixing old Evinrudes and Johnsons so we could get out on the water. That where I first learned about investing in distressed assets.

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I ended up moving to Florida in 2008. All d ever done was tuna fish out of Oregon Inlet and fish the Big Rock a few times. We trolled for blue and white marlin and caught more tuna fish than I ever wanted to see. So, I bought a 17-foot Carolina skiff and taught myself how to snook and tarpon fish. I had to move back to Virginia when I started my own business but was still visiting south Florida pretty regularly, bringing about 10 groups a year to charter fish with Capt. Art Sapp.

While some think that an owner should just foot the bill, those programs rarely make the podium. A good team needs a great leader, and while the captain bears a lot of responsibility, the owner is the one that ultimately puts the team together and sets it up for success.

I came down in the winter of 2015 and made the decision to keep the company in Virginia but move my family back to Florida. So, when I moved back, the Liquid team was transitioning from its owner, and Art and I had talked about partnering on the next boat, Native Son. At that same time, Danny Wadsworth was looking to retire, and my brother Carey talked me into working things out to keep the Point Runner in the family.”

“Danny had groomed Chris Kubik to be the captain, but he needed a partner. I put the deal together and the first year we were fifth in the White Marlin Open for releases and won the Pirate Cove tournament. Second year Point Runner won the Boat Builder”we had a pretty good run, but what I really wanted was a big boat that I could use to travel with my family in the Bahamas. As an Oregon Inlet charter boat, the Point Runner was never going to be that. So, after a few years it was time for me to step away.

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In all of the history of sportfishing, youd be hard-pressed to find more inspiring boat builders than the Merritt family. Id always wanted a Merritt since I knew what a Merritt was. The first time I saw a Merritt was in 2006. It was the prettiest boat Id seen in my life. Then I learned about the history of the boat and how influential the Merritt family has been to the sport. I feel like it the quintessential sportfishing boat, even though I grew up around the North Carolina builders as they kind of evolved and developed. When I moved to Pompano Beach, I had to pass by the Merritt boatyard every time I went fishing. I knew that when the time came for me to buy a larger boat, there was really only one brand that I wanted.

Fittingly, the son of a minister, Michael Lamb met Roy Merritt in church one Sunday morning and later started talking to him about buying one of his boats. We decided the 58-footer was the one for me and he represented me in the deal on hull #63.

Just as Michael inherited his love for boating and fishing from his father, he also sought to honor his legacy by carrying on the name of his boat. The transom of hull #63 is now adorned with its gold leaf Island Rover namesake by master craftsman John Teeto. Some traditions instill faith, but practicing tradition is also a way to foster a sense of belonging and create positive memories.

As for the one that got away, It funny, at 78, my dad still had never caught a sailfish. So, in 2016 he came to visit us in Florida. I took my son Cooper, my brother Lee and my dad fishing and we hooked a double-header on a slick calm day. My dad finally got to catch his first sailfish, and with two of his sons and his grandson on board. I cant wait for him to release his first billfish on the new Island Rover.

Hot off a win at the 2021 Sailfish Challenge, Michael Lamb has an exciting three year plan for Island Rover. After we finish up sailfish season, were going to the Bahamas for two months, fishing as many tournaments as we can during that time. Then were going to the Mid-Atlantic around the Fourth of July. Well enter a few tournaments up there, then the boat comes back in October for some upgrades. In 2022, I want to go to the D.R. and Bermuda. The goal for 2023 is to have the boat travel through the Panama Canal all the way up to Mag Bay. After that, well probably just do it all over again!