Congratulations Ryan Doxey for receiving the 2018 Jim Peachey Outstanding Captain Award at this years Houston Big Game Fishing Club annual awards banquet.
The award is presented each year to a Professional Captain and Club member that has consistently represented his profession to the high standards that Jim demanded of himself and those he worked with.
The Schulz brothers, Pete and Tommy, have been teaching, outfitting, volunteering and raising kids to do the same in Jupiter/Tequesta area for 25 years. Their families: Pete and Greta, Clayton, Jessie and JP along with Tommy and Stephanie, TJ and Kristina are so grateful for the opportunity to have their own business and thankful for everyone that has been a part of Fishing Headquarters’ success.
Over the years, they have been involved with Boy Scouts, Saltwater Sportman seminars, hosted seminars of their own, presentations at the WPB Fishing Club, supported the Kids Fishing Program at the Club as well as other kid’s events, father and son camp outs, Tequesta Field Lab, Snook Tagging and more. A member for 40 years, Pete has served on the Board of Directors of the WPB Fishing Club for 15 years, serving as its Chair since 2009. Tommy is not far behind, a member for 37 years. Every Saturday morning since 1998, from 8 to 9am they host Fishing Headquarters Live on ESPN 106.3 FM or ESPNWestPalm.com.
The angler community in Palm Beach County and beyond are invited to celebrate this milestone with Pete and Tommy, their families and friends Friday, Saturday and Sunday, April 20-22. Look for 25th Anniversary sales with 25% off or $25 off select items. There will be raffles throughout the weekend with a Costa giveaway with purchase. Saturday and Sunday expect food and drinks as well as manufactures reps on hand with giveaways. Tune to ESPN for more details.
Courtesy of Coastal Angler Magazine – Palm Beach Addition
Friedrichshafen, Germany. ZF Friedrichshafen AG will increase their research and development spending again and work even faster to produce technologies for the future of mobility. CEO Wolf-Henning Scheider, who has been in office since February 1, made this statement at the company’s annual press conference in Friedrichshafen today. ZF ended the fiscal year 2017 with record sales of €36.4 billion, which, when adjusted for exchange rate effects and M&A activities, elicited organic growth of 6 percent. ZF also further reduced the debt incurred from the acquisition of TRW Automotive and posted a higher adjusted EBIT of €2.3 billion, despite increased research and development costs.
“The world of mobility is spinning at high speed,” said Scheider. “We plan to provide our customers with pioneering solutions in all fields under our motto ‘See – Think – Act’, which is why we will further increase our research and development spending.”
In 2017, ZF spent €2.2 billion on research and development, an increase of almost 15 percent compared to 2016. This year, significantly more than two billion is set to be channeled into development work around the world, with the aim of advancing electric drives and the hybridization of transmission technology as well as vehicle safety systems and automated driving. This means that the share of the budget allocated to R&D will be raised from 6.1 percent to around 6.5 percent this year. Equally, ZF wishes to continue investing in property, plant and equipment (2017: €1.4 billion). Two new plants for the production of electric drive components are planned, among other things.
Sales increase by six percent
In 2017, ZF experienced a nominal increase of 3.6 percent to €36.4 billion in Group sales (2016: €35.2 billion). Adjusted for exchange rate effects and M&A activities, organic sales growth is six percent. “This result shows our employees’ commitment and high level of motivation,” said Scheider. The Commercial Vehicle Technology and Car Powertrain Technology Divisions had above-average sales increases of 7.2 percent and 9.3 percent, respectively. “Our extremely efficient automatic passenger car transmissions contribute to reducing CO2emissions. They are therefore a key component in attaining the European limit targets and global climate targets, and are in high demand. Combined with the highly integrated electric motor, this technology still features great growth potential,” said Scheider.
Regional growth was mixed. In both Europe and North America, sales rose by over three percent. Organic growth of eight percent in the Asia-Pacific region was reduced to around two percent by the negative currency effect of the Chinese Renminbi. It appears that the economic crisis in South America has, to a large extent, been overcome. Sales there increased significantly by around 26 percent, coming from a low level.
The headcount for the ZF Group was 146,148 on the effective date, December 31, 2017 (2016: 136,820). Additional posts were created mainly in China, Mexico, Portugal, the USA and Germany, most of them within the Active & Passive Safety Technology, E-Mobility, Car Chassis Technology and Car Powertrain Technology Divisions. Of these, around 1,700 worldwide were attributed to research and development alone.
Stable profits, greater productivity
Last year, ZF not only increased its sales but also its profit situation. Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased from €2.2 billion to €2.3 billion; the adjusted EBIT margin was equal to the previous year’s, at 6.4 percent. Both sales and earnings are therefore at the upper end of the amounts predicted early in 2017. The adjusted free cash flow amounted to €1.8 billion at the end of last year (2016: €2.0 billion). The equity ratio has risen again, from 21 to 24.4 percent. “We are looking back at a profitable and successful year,” said Dr. Konstantin Sauer, chief financial officer at ZF. “We have improved our processes and cost structures within a challenging environment, and have become even more productive. We have therefore been able to finance higher budgets for research and development, at the same time improving the earnings quality.”
In around two and a half years after acquiring TRW Automotive in May 2015, ZF succeeded in reducing gross debt to €6.4 billion, almost half of the original amount, by the end of 2017. “Based on the strong free cash flow, our aim is to further reduce financial liabilities and continue to drive forward the debt relief of the ZF Group in 2018,” said Sauer.
Prospects for 2018
Market development is volatile around the world. Taking this into consideration, ZF CEO Scheider predicts organic growth of around five percent for 2018. ZF expects to conclude the sale of the Body Control Systems Business Unit to Luxshare soon, which will result in a proportional drop in sales. Consequently, ZF expects Group sales of around €36.5 billion. As in the previous year, ZF is aiming to achieve an adjusted EBIT of around six percent and an adjusted free cash flow of over one billion euros.
More speed for innovation
The requirements of the dynamic development in the automotive industry are highly demanding, so ZF’s CEO Wolf-Henning Scheider wishes to accelerate project-related cooperation within the Group. “We are reinforcing the implementation of cross-divisional teams with a high level of autonomy in decision-making and cooperation,” said Scheider. “They are better able to adapt to the requirements in the new fields of technology, which are changing so quickly. We work even more closely with our customers for these projects and at an earlier stage so that attractive products can be brought into volume production much more quickly. However, this also means that a project can be abandoned swiftly if the expectations cannot be met. With this approach, a start-up culture can be present in a big group.”
ZF teams would constantly have to be recreated, strictly according to the current project requirements so that they can answer the questions of the future, in order to quickly develop the best possible solutions for the customers. Several automated driving projects serve as examples for this. “In conjunction with our tried-and-trusted development of volume production projects in the traditional fields, we now also work with a dual operating system,” explained Scheider.
The Billfish Foundation Announces 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award Winners
Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA – April 09, 2018 – Today, The Billfish Foundation (TBF), the world’s
leading sportfishing conservation organization for marlin, sailfish, spearfish and associated
highly migratory fish, announces this year’s winners of its prestigious Lifetime Achievement
Awards and its Club of Excellence Awards. The Lifetime Achievement Awards are named in
honor of three distinguished gentlemen who made exemplary contributions to advancing
billfish research and conservation throughout their lives. The Club Award is in recognition of big
game fishing clubs that have contributed to advancing the conservation and management of
billfish and other species, responsible sportfishing fishing and support of TBF.
THE WINTHROP P. ROCKEFELLER LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD will be presented to
Carl Liederman from Miami, FL for his extensive volunteer work over decades with recreational
fishing organizations. His tenacity and knowledge were, and still remain, valuable in assisting
organizations counter governmental measures that negatively impact recreational fishing and
related businesses. In addition, as President of Captain Harry’s Fishing Supply his ability to
identify potential economic fallout from proposed management measures is valuable for
organizations developing advocacy strategies for specific campaigns. He also recognizes that
good fish conservation and management measures return benefits to the fish and related
businesses.
THE JOHN RYBOVICH LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD will be presented to Captain Skip Smith
of Lighthouse Point, FL, a former TBF board member, is recognized for his long commitment to
responsible fishing practices, his world renowned achievements as a sportfishing captain when
running the Madam and the Hooker, the latter of which he now owns and charters in Costa
Rica. He is responsible for 48 world records while fishing all over the world. Skip is the
president of Smith-Merritt Insurance and is a successful producer of first-class tournament in
the Caribbean. He has volunteered repeatedly to assist TBF’s president on gear issues, once in
Washington, D.C. by presenting an expert’s opinion and demonstrating techniques to
government decision makers.
THE PAXSON H. OFFIELD LIFETIME SCIENCE ACHIEVEMENT WARD will be presented to Dr.
James “Jim” Franks, a fisheries biologist with 40 years of research experience in the Gulf of
Mexico. He is a senior research scientist with the University of Southern Mississippi’s (USM)
Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs, MS. He has authored or co-authored over 50
scientific papers on the biology and ecology of marine fishes. He serves on TBF’s satellite
tagging team in the Gulf of Mexico. He is a member of fish conservation organizations and
serves on fisheries resource management committees, including the Western Central Atlantic
Ocean Fishery Commission’s Scientific Advisory Group. He is a member and a recent Past-Chair
of the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute.
CLUB of EXCELLENCE AWARD
(1) TBF honors the 120-year old Tuna Club of Avalon established by Charles Frederick Holder,
author, sportsman, naturalist and co-founder of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, with other
anglers committed to responsible fishing ethics. Being 120 years old, the history of the Club is
considered the history of big-game fishing, one and the same, with goals to elevate the sport to
its highest standard and for the protection of the game fish in Southern California. Club
members also made the world's first rod and reel captures of tuna, marlin and broadbill
swordfish.
(2) TBF is honoring the 71-year old Ocean City Light Tackle Club established by a group of men,
who had fished together for a decade, including Alan M. Ferguson. In 1940 Ferguson landed a
114.5-pound white marlin on 6/9 threat, setting a world record and placing Ocean City on the
sportfishing map. Soon after the Club was established members adopted light tackle as the
appropriate gear for white marlin. Two Club members went further and pioneered the practice
of catch and release of white marlin.
Award presentations will be made during TBF’s annual gala on Friday, November 2, 2017 at the
Harbor Beach Marriott Resort on Ft. Lauderdale Beach, Florida. Come join the fun and
celebration!
TBF is a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt organization created in 1986 by anglers to insure the
advancement of billfish research needed to support healthy stocks of fish so great sportfishing
opportunities would remain available worldwide.
Join TBF and become part of the world’s best billfishing team!
An update from Hilton’s Realtime-Navigator
Shell’s largest floating platform in the Gulf of Mexico will be arriving on site sometime in May 2018 in Mississippi Canyon Block 392. This is about 18 nm
ENE of NaKika and about 30 nm inshore of Independence Hub in about 7,400′ water depth.
Balder is currently onsite setting up the mooring spread in anticipation of Appomattox’ arrival next month. This structure is certainly a heck of a destination in itself to go fish!
To give you an idea of the size of Appomattox….
SILKY shows as an exceptional custom yacht that has been well maintained by her full-time captain and crew. She has a very impressive appearance, speed and sea keeping ability. This Jim Smith is a proven fish raiser and loaded with sport fishing amenities. Her recently updated interior has a large 4 stateroom – 3 head layout rare in most 68′ Custom Sportfish! Upgrades over the past couple of years include: mezzanine deck, Palm Beach tuna tower, new teak cockpit, helm chairs were professionally redone, fresh bottom job 2017, and lots more.
Contact: Chuck Newman – 904-607-7286 / cnewman@unitedyacht.com
Bob Simpson, Big Rock Tournament Founder has died at 92
Bob Simpson had a vision of boosting the economy by highlighting fishing on the Crystal Coast. 60 years later his idea has turned into the largest tournament of its kind in the United States.
Director Crystal Hesmer says “It is with great sadness we have lost another member of the original “Fabulous Fishing Club.” Bob Simpson was a visionary and worked tirelessly to create what is now the “Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament.” He was told it was impossible and he persevered. We were so excited to have him as part of our 60th anniversary celebration and it will not be the same without him. Our thoughts and prayers are with his friends and family.”
Simpson was a part of the Fabulous Fishing Club that created the original tournament.
“Up until then we had never caught any marlin. Then a blue marlin drifted up on the beach. We had been talking about marlin and I was convinced there were blue marlin off here,” explained Simpson in a prior interview.
The club decided to offer local captains a cash prize to land a blue marlin. However, there were no sign of marlin that summer. The first blue marlin was landed more than a year later in the fall of 1957. And the rest is history. The tournament has grown beyond what Simpson ever imagined with a two-million-dollar purse and international following.
Simpson was the longtime owner of the famed “Sylvia II.” She operated out of the “Sanitary” as a charter boat before she sank during the “Great Ground Hog Day Storm” of 1976. Bob bought her for the princely sum of $300 as documented in his book “When the Water Smokes.” Syliva is known as the oldest fishing boat on the Carolina Coast.
In 2006, Simpson was inducted into the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, North Carolina’s highest civilian honor. During the 1960’s he was instrumental in building support for the creation of the Cape Lookout National Seashore and even provided the first tours to politicians in his WWII amphibious vehicle. His influence on today’s Outer Banks and the Crystal Coast is absolutely undeniable.
“You know, I’m proud of what we did,” Simpson said in a prior interview. “And I’m proud of all those people who worked with us and after us because they stepped up to the bat. We were told it was impossible – and we did it.”
Simpson will be greatly missed by our Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament family. We are forever grateful for the time we spent with an amazing angler, businessman, writer and former United States Marine. Tournament Director Crystal Hesmer is available for interviews.
As seen in the Coast Guard Mid Atlantic
All is quiet on the pier at Coast Guard Station Oregon Inlet, where two steely boats bob and sway in the shadows. One of the two suddenly roars to life, deck lights blazing and radar antenna twirling.
Five orange-clad figures bustle around on the boat, popping in and out of the compartments, snapping on life jackets. When the boat is deemed ready, they huddle up on the back deck and discuss the plan for this early morning underway trip.
Their objective: conduct a bar report.
Every morning, approximately 30 minutes before sunrise, the station crew heads out to assess the conditions of the Oregon Inlet bar, a sandy shelf that lurks only about 5 feet underwater at the inlet’s entrance. The bar serves as a harsh welcome mat for boats entering the inlet; rushing water collides with the sand bar, rockets up to the ocean’s surface, then spikes in a turbulent pile of breaking waves.
Station Oregon Inlet crews monitor the conditions at the bar, relay the information to local mariners, and help boaters navigate the dangerous strip of whitecaps and waves. It is a recurring part of the crew’s routine; depending on the weather and boat traffic, they often conduct bar reports more than once a day.
At 6:34 a.m., the crew reaches the bar, pleased to see that conditions are considerably mild. Waves arc about 2 feet over the ocean’s surface before dipping back down, tugged along by a strong ebbing current. Winds skim the waves at 10 mph, tossing up a pleasant, 64-degree breeze.
The 2-foot breakers are a welcome sight to the crew, who have experienced upwards of 14-foot waves at the bar. Boat rides are often wild, stomach-dropping roller coaster rides in the inlet, but such is life at a Coast Guard surf station.
The crew hovers near the bar to watch the procession of recreational fishing boats parade by, most of them headed out for a day of angling at the Gulf Stream. They all glide easily through the small waves at the bar, and the Oregon Inlet crew starts entertaining thoughts of breakfast back at the station.
Until, that is, a 60-foot sport fisher crests the bar, then completely stalls.
A flip switches on in coxswain BM2 Travis Porter’s mind. His eyes scan the name stamped on the boat’s stern – Lor-A-Di – and he calls out to its crew on the radio, trying different frequencies. When they don’t respond, he approaches. The Coast Guard crew sidles up alongside the stalled boat, their 47-foot Motor Lifeboat looking quite stalwart beside the sleek, white Lor-A-Di.
Through a shouted conversation, BM2 Porter learns that the vessel’s engines have failed and that the Lor-A-Di is completely dead in the water.
For a brief moment, he observes the vessel crawling south, tugged along by the strong current. He glances at the waves, now building to heights of 4 feet, and makes the call: “Prepare the deck for a stern tow!”
The well-trained crew flies into action, coiling lines and rigging gear. Even SN Nathan Kapsar, now technically participating in his very first search and rescue case, moves without hesitation, unfurling the heavy towline. On Porter’s command, the MLB’s engineer, MK2 Mathieu Desautels, chucks a heaving line to a crewman waiting on the Lor-A-Di’s bow: success in one throw.
Station Oregon Inlet coxswains and crew members practice towing on a regular basis, and on this February morning, it shows. In a matter of minutes, Porter tows the Lor-A-Di over the bar and away from the breaking waves.
Once clear of the whitecaps, the Coast Guard crew detaches the tow and waits nearby while the boaters examine their vessel for damage and try to restart the engines. They rumble to life, but the Lor-A-Di’s captain reports a severe vibration in the propeller shafts. They need to head back to Wanchese Harbor, but they won’t be making the journey alone.
Porter and his crew focus on the new mission at hand: escorting the seven people aboard the Lor-A-Di back to their homeport.
Although it’s only about 10 miles to Wanchese Harbor, the going is slow and the trip takes over an hour. The Station Oregon Inlet crew sees the Lor-A-Di safely moored, then waits for another MLB crew to arrive and relieve them.
This second crew conducts a vessel inspection to check all of the mariners’ safety equipment. The inspection goes smoothly; this was only the Lor-A-Di’s second voyage, and the brand new sport fisher is well-equipped.
Meanwhile, Porter wheels the MLB around and points the bow southeast, where the sun now gleams over the waters of Oregon Inlet. They have already accomplished so much, and all of it before breakfast.
Later, when asked about this case and others like it, Station Oregon Inlet personnel revealed that this is a common occurrence in the area.
“I have been stationed at Oregon Inlet for four years and have been a part of about 50 cases,” said Porter. “The most common case we get here is towing disabled vessels. Oregon Inlet is beautiful, but is a very dynamic and challenging area for mariners.”
“The shoaling conditions change on a daily basis, which is another reason this area is so dangerous,” SN Kapsar added.
When the station crew responds to a disabled vessel, they often find that the culprit is none other than the Oregon Inlet bar.
“We see lots of capsizing, grounding, and damage on the bar,” said Senior Chief Petty Officer Mark Dilenge, the station’s officer in charge. “Even on a flat day, the amount of ocean water that flows in and out creates huge tidal effects, which can be super dangerous.”
On Sept. 16, 2017, a fishing boat capsized while crossing the bar, sending all five people aboard into the water. The Station Oregon Inlet crew rescued all five and brought them ashore.
Luckily, the crew is not only well-trained to tow vessels around and over the notorious bar, they are also well-equipped.
The 47-foot Motor Lifeboat is the workhorse on which station personnel rely to facilitate these missions, and rightfully so – the robust, aluminum boat is capable of handling much harsher conditions than those the crew experienced on Feb. 23.
In order to avoid being pulled to safety by a 47 MLB, the Station Oregon Inlet crew urges mariners to keep a constant eye on weather forecasts, heed the station’s bar reports, and take time to familiarize themselves with the Army Corps of Engineers’ depth surveys.
After properly outfitting their vessels and preparing themselves for every voyage, boaters should be able to fully enjoy Oregon Inlet and all its charms.
“I love the area,” said Kapsar. “I love how much history the Outer Banks have. The first Surfmen were here, and now I get to be a part of that history, protecting the same coastline they did.”
Earlier this month sportfishing legend Capt. Bart “Black Bart” Miller passed away. Bart leaves behind a lure company bearing his name and a list of marlin fishing feats that will likely never be duplicated. Miller was a veritable legend in the sportfishing industry and his passing was met with sadness from the many whose lives he touched. InTheBite is proud to have published some of Miller’s perspective. Here, from the archives, is one such piece. Rest in Peace Capt. Bart Miller.
There is a gofundme account set up to help Miller’s family with costs associated with his medical care. Should you wish to contribute, it would be greatly appreciated by those who feel his loss most directly. https://www.gofundme.com/captbartmiller
By Captain Bart Miller
This age old question may never be answered scientifically, as it is far too subjective & intermingled with personal superstitions & general preference for one color versus another.
For example, nearly all men like the colors blue, black, white, purple, silver, green and gold. Is it any wonder that these very same colors are popular when choosing fishing lures and skirt combinations?
It is also apparent that fishing destinations have dominant color choices that are shared by the vast majority of captains & crew’s; Green in the canyons, blue & white in the Carolina’s, blue & pink in Hawaii, black & purple in the Bahamas, petrolero brown, silver, black & orange in Mexico etc… Many of these color combinations, while proven in one area, can also work well away from home.
When I first started trolling in Hawaii, there weren’t a lot of choices. I used a white plastic outer skirt, and later, white strip skirts with either black or a rusty red rubber inner skirt. These base colors, while very plain, worked just fine; but no one seemingly trusts such a limited selection of color options these days.
Fishermen world wide have their special color favorites which become trusted standbys, each earning their place in the spread, whether in tournament competition or just out for a friendly troll. So it really boils down to what you truly trust and are comfortable trolling vs. some unknown combination that leaves you with a measure of negative feelings.
So did vast color options become the fashion because they are now so readily available or because they really make a difference? My first thought was that the action of the lure superceded color importance, and later I began to value the concept of incorporating the use of proven color combinations.
Years ago, I tried something I had never tried before. I called this combination the invisible man. I poured a clear head with no color and no insert, then I skirted this clear head with clear skirts. Once deployed into the water, you could see motion, but not shape or color. This no-color lure is once again a part of my arsenal today and proves the age-old adage that color really matters in the eye of the beholder.
Marlin are now believed to see certain colors where once they were considered to be colorblind. Two theories come to mind as being valid in determining your final color selection and they would be to “Match the Hatch” and to consider having the proverbial oddball combo in the spread.
In conclusion, my favorite colors would be Pearl shell heads because they match all skirt combos, and my favorite skirt combinations would be, black & pink, black & purple, blue & pink, black & rainbow, blue & white, and pink & red. Sometimes I go beyond that color palate but not very often!
Great fishing, Aloha
Captain Bart Miller
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) closes the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) Angling category fishery for large medium and giant “trophy” BFT (measuring 73″ or greater) in the southern area effective 11:30 p.m. local time, March 17, 2018, through December 31, 2018. The southern area is the area south of 39°18’N (off Great Egg Inlet, NJ), outside the Gulf of Mexico. The intent of this closure is to prevent further over-harvest of the Angling category southern area trophy BFT subquota. Fishermen may catch and release or tag and release BFT of all sizes, subject to the requirements of HMS catch-and-release and tag-and-release programs.
