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Tradition and Trajectory at Tropic Star Lodge

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By Elliott Stark

Since 1963, Tropic Star Lodge has been attracting anglers from around the world to one of the most remote, beautiful and inaccessible places in the New World. The fishing out of Piñas Bay, Panama is good enough to justify travel here. It has been drawing anglers since Zane Grey came here under sail power in the 1920s. No matter how many marlin and tuna there may be, describing Tropic Star Lodge simply in terms of fishing somehow misses the point.

Located in the Darien region of Panama, Tropic Star is completely inaccessible by road. The InterAmerican Highway – the thorough-fare that runs from Canada, through the United States (as Interstate 35 it traverses the Central time zone from Minnesota to Texas), into Mexico and Central America – stops in the Darien province. The nearest road is about 100 miles from the Lodge. This is an incredible attribute especially when you consider that most every other place in the world that is totally inaccessible by road is on an island or someplace in Mongolia.

Tropic Star’s expanded, updated dining room.

When viewing the coastline of other places, change is measured in years or decades. “This place has really grown since the first time I came here in 2005…” Looking at the dense, old growth rainforest that extends to the waterline in every direction you look, it is evident that the Darien is different. With the exception of the Lodge itself, a handful of villages and cellphone towers, the coast line looks very much the same today as it would have when the fi rst Spanish conquistadors sailed by in the 1500s. The trees and landscape look the same way they always have.

More than simply an assemblage of trees, the landscape is a wild. The rainforests are cloud machines. When looking at the shore-line, the emergent streams of water vapor seem as though they could be emitted from the chimneys of gnome or fairy houses hid-den beneath the canopy. The physical setting of the place is as magical as it is awe inspiring. It is the type of place that is hard to describe without comparing it to itself. It is even more magical when you consider that there could be lurking 80-pound roosterfish or refrigerator-sized cubera snapper in the waves that break on the rocks just beneath the trees.

Protected by a natural harbor, returning to the dock after a day of fi shing makes for an easy transition to relax mode.

A Lot Goes into A World Class Fishing Experience

Everyone has heard of the IGFA world re-cords produced by those fishing out of Tropic Star Lodge (over 300 to date). Equally as impressive, especially given the setting and the remoteness of where it is located, is the scale of its operation. When running at it’s peak, the Lodge will employ up to 120 workers. Much of its workforce hails from the neigh-boring village of Piñas. Managers and other specialist employees come from other places and live on premises.

A good black marlin on the leader is an experience not soon to be forgotten.

Because the Lodge is so remote, the options for bringing in supplies and people are either by boat, plane or from the village of Piñas. For the majority of guests, it is air travel – a 45 minute flight from the regional airport in Panama City – that gets them to Tropic Star. The Lodge operates a large red steel hulled vessel to bring in supplies from the city. The majority of the work – from construction and property maintenance to vessel up-keep – is performed in house. Tropic Star operates a fleet of 17 Bertram 31s. The iconic boats have been at it for a long time and have caught a lot of fish. Some of the Bertrams were purchased in the early 1960s and have fished here for more than five decades. The Lodge is currently undertaking a major fleet renovation.

The boats will be repowered with Volvo engines. The cockpits will be reconfigured, with the cabins enclosable in eisenglass and with additional insulation over the engines. The bridge will be reconfigured as well to allow comfortable seating and viewing from the top. The boats are also fully repainted and made to shine as brightly as when they were new. The goal for completion is two and a half years for the entire fleet. Currently three 31s have been upgraded.

Tropic Star’s historic dock and iconic fleet of Bertrams.

The haul outs and refits are done in house. The Lodge’s fleet normally moors in Piñas Bay on balls placed apart from the fuel dock. The haulouts take place in a covered ware-house complete with a track that runs lifts to and from the water line. During our trip in December 2018, the woodshop was crafting fighting chairs from locally sourced hard-woods. This same wood shop and carpentry skill are also on full display in the upgrades taking place in the guest accommodations.

With a fleet of upwards of 20 vessels – the 31s and a number of upgrade options and a charter operation that fishes most of the calendar year, the Lodge’s tackle needs are immense. Tropic Star operates what may be one of the largest private sportfishing tackle facilities in the world. Each boat is provided with a daily allotment of leaders of assorted sizes. Marlin rigs (for use with large bonito) are 18/0 circles on 400-pound mono. Medium bonito (hook and leader size are paired with bait size) are 16/0 on 300-pound. Sailfish and tuna leaders (for live runners or belly baits) are either 12/0 or 8/0 snelled onto 150-pound leader. Each morning, each boat is provided ten of each of these leaders. Between the leaders and respooling the reels, the Lodge goes through more than one million yards of line per year.

The constant threat of attack by large sailfish keep live baits on their toes.

A Sportfishing University Town

Like many of the workers at the Lodge generally, all of Tropic Star’s captains and mates are from the village of Piñas. This homegrown talent is brought to the Lodge each morning on a panga. Prospective mates go through a serious two-year learning process before ever fishing with a client. After acceptance into the training program, a mate applicant’s career at Tropic Star begins with six months of working in the tackle shop. It is here that he learns tackle maintenance, leader tying (lots and lots of leader tying), reel spooling, smelting lead head bonito feathers and the like.

Black marlin and piña coladas…what’s not to love?

The next step in the process is working on the dock – filleting fish, cleaning and tying boats, etc. From there, it’s training aboard boats without clients. Mates learn on board skills under the tutelage of captains, mates and management. When they progress from this point, it is to serve as a second mate to work alongside an established captain/mate tandem. After a period of this service, they can be nominated for serving as first mate with their own captain. The idea behind the rigorousness of the process is quality control, with an eye for guest experience.

The vast majority of the captains at the Lodge were groomed through this system as well. Living in Piñas, captains enjoy a high profile and bring in a healthy living. Over the course of Tropic Star’s 55-year history, this atmosphere has produced a footprint of fishing talent and skill that far exceeds what you would expect from a remote jungle village. In fact, relative to population density, it would be difficult to imagine that any place in the world has produced more fishing talent than Piñas.

The Man in the Black Suit

There is a category of fishing action that only happens in Panama. One-hundred-pound tuna stacking up blue runners (ku-jinua as they are called) on logs, jumping completely out of the water – creating acres of carnage as they eat as many as they can as quickly as possible… The sight of dozens of 30-50-pound dorado behind the boat at once, with the realistic chance to see a 70-pounder – that happens here, too. Pulling a live bonito, you can catch anything from stud roosterfish, jumbo cubera snapper, sailfish, big dorado and of course the black and blue marlin that headline the fishing. In short, there is something for everyone in Panama. The fish run large and the action can be epic.

While there are options for most anyone here, it is the black marlin that is the headliner. This region of Panama is perhaps the most reliable place in the northern hemisphere to target blacks. The season for the man in the black suit begins to heat up in late November, building into December. Its recognized peak is the January full moon. There are large female blacks around, with the possibility of running across the fish of a lifetime. The black marlin fishing will remain good here until the water turns over. The timing of the event is variable (a consequence of northerly winds that blow consistently enough to create upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water), but it generally happens between sometime after the middle of February. While the offshore scene turns off a bit, the Lodge switches over to a booming inshore bite full of big snapper, grouper and all kinds of things.

The story of the black marlin fishing here has been told before. While nobody has ever complained about running across one while trolling offshore in Costa Rica or Mexico or somewhere, there is something about deploying a spread of live bait with the intent of catching one. Many people come to Panama with the hope of ticking the black marlin off of their Royal Slam list, but fishing for these brutes can put a spell on you. There is something in the savagery of the way they attack live baits and their measured, almost thoughtful ferocity while on the leader that brings people back to this part of the world over and over again.

Tradition and a New Trajectory

Tropic Star Lodge is currently at a very interesting point in its development. A recent change in ownership has brought investment in infrastructure and the fleet – along with a number of modifications that maintain the Lodge’s many traditions while providing an even better experience. Chief among these is the formation of a new private boat membership program that allows registered private boats to purchase fuel, meals and accommodation at the Lodge. For vessels staying longer than seven days, Tropic Star can bring in provisions from Panama City. Private boats are even invited to participate in the Lodge’s annual billfish tournament each November. Teams of three anglers pay $300 per person. The tab includes their tournament registrations and dinners at the Lodge. All of this is designed to make Piñas Bay as inviting as it is remote.

Beyond creating programs designed to make the private boat fishing experience at the Lodge more inviting, it has invested in capital improvements to the same end. Tropic Star has expanded its waterfront dining room – complete with wrap around windows that make breakfast or dinner a scenic experience – and increased dining capacity by 25%. Not only can the culinary department handle more dining guests, but the Lodge has added a door between the bar and dining room. Segmenting the bar makes it easier and less formal for traveling boat crews and anglers to grab a beer and relax, while being a side from the more formal dinner service.

A waterfront bar is also currently under construction. Located between the entry way to dock and the restaurant, it is an inviting place for private crews to decompress after a day of fishing and enjoy a cold beer or two – with their feet planted on solid ground. The waterfront bar, much like the outdoor dinners cooked on the grill three nights per week, is designed to provide casual, inclusive experiences for charter guests and the traveling boat alike.

Panama is a great place to fish. It is, however, a very dangerous place to be a bonito.

Why would Tropic Star make such a commitment to provide fuel, lodging, mooring and provisions to traveling boats? The answer is very simple. The target market for drawing private boats is largely three demographics – the Panamanian fishing scene, sportfishers in Central America and boats traveling to and from the Canal. Unlike places in the Bahamas, Costa Rica and the United States, the Pacific Coast of Panama has relatively few reliable sources of diesel. The coastline between Panama City and the Lodge is covered in either rainforest or mangrove – with only a handful of small villages (that do not have marinas).

Aside from a couple of marinas in the Pearl Islands or traveling with a mothership, there are not many options for fueling in the region. By inviting private boats to register – with the promise of reserved fuel and lodging, Tropic Star opens the waters surrounding Piñas Bay in a way that is otherwise not possible. The result of this hospitality and ease of doing business has been an increase in the number of private boats (and an increase in repeat customers). A number of boats make an annual pilgrimage from Costa Rica to the Darien region of Panama for the black marlin season each year.

Beyond boats that are already in Central America, the prospect of fishing the Lodge becomes easy and doable to boats transiting the Panama Canal. Why not incorporate two or three weeks of black marlin fi shing on the front and back end of an extended Central American campaign. The Lodge, after all, sits within 120 or so miles of the Bridge of the Americas and the Pacific mouth of the Canal. If you have a bunch of buddies who want to share the experience, they can charter a Bertram from the Lodge and fish alongside you.

The Fishing in Context

When fishing Tropic Star, it is readily apparent why it is a bucket list experience. Our first day of fishing we caught a grand slam – highlighted by a 400-pound black marlin. This was great… but you can catch grand slams in a lot of places, right? How about the dolphin fishing? One night at dinner, another group reported going “31 for 34” on dorado. These were big ass fish – 25 to 50 pounders. They were so prolific that we decided to run teasers to stop hooking them. Sometimes there would be a swarm of 40 dorado behind the boat at the same time. If a big one came up, we’d feed it a bonito or sling it a popper.

Then there is the history. There is a photo John Wayne at the Lodge in the dining room. Any place that is good enough for the Duke is good enough for me… Were that not enough, the food is really is also really good and the pool makes a great place to go for your personal best Piña Colada record. It is a wonderful place.

Capt. Shane Jarvis: Building a Remote Private Island Lodge

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Captain Shane Jarvis’ story is one of the meeting of opportunity, passion and hard work. Jarvis and his father have transformed a remote island in Panama into a first-class fishing operation – from the ground up. Here is his story.

Think running a charter boat in Miami or the Outer Banks is a tough way to make a buck on the water? Try operating a completely self-sufficient fishing lodge on a private island 12 miles off the coast of Panama. Were the need for self-sufficiency not enough, now consider that the island was bare when you bought it. Captain Shane Jarvis and his father may have undertaken the fishing equivalent of “Field of Dreams” – if you build it, they will come.

While overseeing such an operation comes with a long list of challenges, there is an equally long list of advantages. For Shane Jarvis, who owns Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge and captains one of the boats, the easy access to the famed waters of Hannibal Bank and Isla Montuosa represent the ultimate payoff for all of the hard work.

The variety of big fish, both inshore and off, found right out his front door keeps on delivering year after year and he’s created a very unique fishing lodge experience. When asked about his best fishing day off Panama, he had to think about it for a minute.

“There have been a lot over the years,” he says, “but if I had to pick one, I’d say the day we got a 50-pound dorado, a 50-pound cubera snapper, caught a bunch of tunas up to 100-pounds or so and released two black marlin.” Yes, that was all in the same day.

The now 47-year-old fisherman took his first trip to Panama with his father in 2001, and they got a taste of the fishing in the Gulf of Chiriqui. “I was amazed with all of the different species, the size of the fish and the amount of life we saw,” he recalls.

A few years later, Shane and his father worked a deal to build on some land located on Isla Paridas – a private, lush-as-a-jungle piece of land off the coast of Boca Chica. “My dad made a ‘will build to suit’ deal with a guy on the island who was a carpenter and had realized that the dream house he was building was something he couldn’t swing financially.

At the time, I was taking a year off down in Key West fishing because the company I was working for had just been bought out,” Shane says. “My dad called me up and asked me if I wanted to send my boat down to Panama to help build the new vacation house. I jumped right on it.” They shipped down a 25-foot Sea Craft and Shane packed a bag, planning to stay for six months. After a few months exploring the area, the idea of creating an upscale boutique fishing lodge with plush amenities, solid fishing boats and top-of-the-line equipment came to life.

The dining room on Isla Parida.

“The fishing is off the charts, and the outfits that I had seen were not doing justice to what I thought could be done,” he says. “I started running day charters out of Boca Chica in 2004/2005 and we enlarged the plans of the houses we were building on the island. My dad sent his 33-foot World Cat down, we put up a website and I started to host clients on the island a couple of years later. We have been growing and growing every year to where we are now.”

But learning how to run a lodge and fishing operation off the grid came with a steep learning curve. The two houses on the island are totally self-reliant. Electricity comes from generators and solar panels. “There’s a lot of things that you can take for granted. Septic tanks, digging wells, pumping and storing water,” Jarvis says, describing all that goes into creating a remote lodge from the ground up. The lodge must provision itself with water, fuel, food, drinks and tackle, and be able to fix whatever breaks.

“The logistics are a bitch,” Shane admits. “Our team works hard maintaining everything and keeping all of the systems in order. Everything has to be brought out by boat, so planning is key. We  have learned mostly from our mistakes over the years and have a pretty good system down now that flows relatively smoothly.”

They customized a small barge that holds 800 gallons of gas for the fishing boats and 200 gallons of diesel for generators. The barge is powered by twin 90-hp outboards and makes the 12-mile run to Boca Chica in about 45 minutes. To make things even more challenging, there’s an 18-foot tide swing in town.

Large, consistent yellowfin on poppers are Shane’s bread and butter.

So, they have to meet the fuel truck at just the right time because the tanks in the boat are gravity fed. Shane keeps a staff of six or seven guys to help him run the operation. While there are some nuances to operating the barge, the story of its creation speaks for itself.

“We bought it in Asheville, North Carolina. We had it specially made by an aluminum fabricator that does a lot of workboats. It’s basically a 30’ by 12’ x 3’ deep box that is reinforced all over. We didn’t want to install any tanks internally because they would be hard to work on if something broke, so we mounted bolt-on tanks that can be removed if we haul anything big,” Jarvis recalls.

“We modified a trailer for it. It was one of those catamaran trailers with the two platforms and the stanchion in the middle – we removed the stanchion. We had to get wide load permits in four states when we trailered it from North Carolina to Port Everglades in Florida. We shipped it down to Colon (the Caribbean entry of the Panama Canal).

I then pulled the trailer on my truck from Colon to David.” The lodge offers two guest houses — one sleeps five and the other sleeps eight. Most groups take up the entire lodge. Sometimes there may be two small groups on the property at the same time. A big group is eight anglers, though the lodge can accommodate up to 12.

The lodge runs two 33-foot World Cat center consoles and the 25-foot Sea Craft. The fishing season kicks off in November and runs through August, but the prime fishing time is from January through May. The marlin and dorado fishing is great from November to February and the tuna bite is best from March to July.

Black marlin action peaks from June through August. And the inshore fishing is good all year long. With so much variety, it’s not hard to find something biting. “The great thing about the fishery here is that there are so many different looks,” Shane says.

On a normal fishing day, he’ll run 40 to 50 miles out unless the client wants to fish inshore. Most days they’ll fish offshore and hit some inshore spots on the way in. Shane prefers to fish live bait, cast poppers and swim baits on big spinners or live-line and chunk for tuna.

“I’ll slow-troll if we want to focus on marlin, generally live-baiting with bonito,” he says. “Sometimes that doesn’t work, or bait isn’t available, and we will troll plastic if that’s what the client wants.” On the way back in, they’ll stop at one of the rocks by the island and end the day with a few rooster fish and cubera snapper. It’s a very personalized fishing experience.

When you head to Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge, you pretty much own the place. It’s just you and your group, the boats and the Pacific Ocean as your playground. Given how smoothly it flows now, it may be easy to forget that the fishing and the logistics are in many ways the result of Jarvis mastering the learning curve.

No Worries Mate: Working a Season on the Great Barrier Reef

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Photo courtesy Dave Ferrell

By Dave Ferrell

Grander marlin popped up like ants at a summer picnic this past November on the Great Barrier Reef, providing lucky anglers and crews with some of the best black marlin fishing they’ve seen here for some time. According to Granderwatch.com, boats took or released 15 fish over 1,000 pounds this year, with two weighing over 1,200 and one topping 1,400! (And the way they routinely let go of 900-pluses on the Reef, you can rest assured crews caught plenty more). Th e 1,431-pounder, caught on the Too Easy II on November 29 with Capt. Russel Gage at the helm, narrowly missed Capt. Peter Wright’s Australian-record fish weighing 1,442-pounds caught way back in 1973!

Not only do you get to use the heaviest tackle and the biggest baits to catch the biggest fish, you get to leader those fish on .040 wire or 600-pound-plus mono…and use the gaffs when they are big enough! It’s a learning experience that you really can’t get anywhere else in the world. So yeah, everybody who wants to pull on a big fish wants to work on the Reef for at least a season…and if you are serious about fishing as your profession, you should. But it’s not all “Granders every day and rum all night” either…a season on the Reef means long, hard days with barely any time off. You cook, clean and fish nonstop for 60-plus days, almost 24 hours a day. You do pay a price for every big girl you get to pull on…but it’s worth every penny.

This 1,431-pound black, caught aboard the Too Easy II in 2018, was a mere 20 pounds off the Australian record. Photo courtesy Dave Ferrell

Not a Regular Gig

Nicholas “Nick” Bovell gets around. A good fisherman with a tremendous work ethic, Bovell hails from Trinidad, but has fished all over the world with some of the best crews in the business – including stints on Gray Ingram’s Big Oh. He’s seen a lot of big fish on the leader and he knows how to get them in the boat – a skill that’s become increasingly rare since most sportfishing crews let the vast majority of their fish go unless they are in a big-fish, big-money tournament.

Those skills with a gaff make him a prized team member for crews looking to take big fish…That’s precisely how he wound up on the Adventum with Capt. Darren “Biggles” Haydon in 2018 for his third season on the Great Barrier Reef.

Bovell came to fish on the brand new Adventum thanks to Haydon’s relationship with the boat’s proud new owner, Kevin Hodgson, from South Africa. Hodgson hosted Captain Haydon on a trip to Cape Verde to fish his big boat. It was in Cape Verde that Haydon talked to the new owner and his captain, Dean Comberbach, about a possible first mate for the boat’s first season on the reef. Comberbach, who would be coming along for the boat’s maiden season as the second mate, brought up Bovell’s name.

“I was looking for the right job and was grateful for the chance to come back here. There are a finite number of boats and spots each season, especially good ones,” says Bovell. “The fish on the Reef are the biggest in the world and they test everything,” says Bovell. “And it all starts with the bait fishing in the morning…everything has to be perfect. There’s no Baitmasters out there, so you have to catch and process all of your own bait.”

You go through a lot of bait when you are black marlin fishing on the reef, even if you are only pulling two or three at time. Everything in Australia sports a nasty set of teeth and chop-offs can come fast and furious. “The sheer volume of everything is a lot more than I expected,” said Comberbach, “Catching and processing a lot more bait than I’m used to was a big adjustment. Instead of having ten baits rigged and ready, you need 20 here. Looking after your baits is such a critical element to this fishery. The boats are mainly set up for taking care of bait; with good brine boxes, freezers, storage…everything. The attention to detail in every aspect was startling. The weather is a big factor too… It can blow like hell for an entire month…20 knots…which just makes everything a bit harder.”

“You certainly don’t have to rig scad like you do here anywhere else in the world,” says Bovell. “Bait rigging here is an art form, and I’ve learned from some of the best guys. This place can humble anyone really quick. The mates here are really good fisherman who  have worked with some of the best captains, who, in turn, were some of the best mates. And they all catch the biggest fish in the world. I’m so grateful the for local mates that have taught me. They have been very welcoming. If you’re not cocky and a dick they are very welcoming. Dave Cassar helped me out a lot; and Jay and Rhys [Reese] on the Askari and Dean Ford. I’m very grateful that they let me come and enjoy their fishery. They all have a lot of knowledge and have seen a lot of big fish…you can learn if you listen.” “You just can’t buy a boat and come here and do this shit!” says Comberbach. “Just listen and learn. Put your ego aside. If you are not hitting the bed entirely wore out every night, you’re doing it wrong.”

The ever-present opportunity to wire big blacks keep mates keen for the long heavy tackle season. Photo courtesy Dave Ferrell

Long Days

One unique aspect of the Great Barrier Reef fishery presents one of the biggest challenges for any crewman who wants to spend a season on the reef – the live aboard charter. A fishing trip to Australia takes a lot of time, money and commitment. Charters here usually run five days or more, with an average charter lasting ten days. Most of these are done without the benefit of a mothership – with the charter and crew sharing close quarters for the duration of the trip. Most of the charter boats here are 50-feet or less. This means that cooking three squares a day (plus snacks), doing laundry, washing tons of dishes and trying to make sure you guests have a great trip…no matter what kind of fishing or weather you might encounter – is all done in close quarters. It’s a 24/7 job that you never get to leave. There are no trips home until the season is over.

This is what it’s all about. This is also why you rig a lot of bait. Photo courtesy Dave Ferrell

“It’s not that hard, it’s just different. Not going home or getting off the boat each day, a lot of guys have a hard time with that aspect. A lot of the guys from North Carolina make it; not so much the sailfish guys from south Florida,” says Bovell with a grin. With everything going on at once, Bovell likes to establish a routine and stick to it. “Since you are essentially a floating hotel and restaurant, getting into a good routine ensures that you don’t forget to do something. We can’t control the fishing, but we can control what you eat and how much fun you have. I’m not the guy who likes to stay up late and entertain, I get up early and clean all the heads. I tap out early and let Dean stay up late…hangovers are the worst!”

When working a season in the cockpit, prepare to rig lots of baits… and big ones. Photo courtesy Dave Ferrell

“You certainly provide a lot more than just the fishing,” agrees Comberbach. “You have to provide entertainment above and beyond. You are still on when the sun goes down.” Although he agrees that a routine keeps things humming, Comberbach also realizes the need to know when to make adjustments to fit each client. “You really get to know your clients when you are with them 24 hours a day. You can start to anticipate what they are going to need or want. If a guy is going through a ton a of beer a day, you have to make sure to make time to get those beers into the cooler so you don’t run out of cold ones!” With just a short 60- or 70-day window to the big fish season, crews scramble to come into port with one charter and leave the next day with another. After a fi ve or 10-day trip there’s a whole host of cleaning and provisioning chores that need to be executed in a very short amount of time.

“You have to pull all the sheets and get all the laundry done and then you have to make the boat look like it’s the first day of the season. I like a clean boat. Th e clients appreciate it and it makes things easy for us as well…less hassle,” says Bovell. “Team work makes the dream work…and it takes a really good team to go 60 or 70 days straight here.” “We spent 30 days with one charter, the owner Kevin Hodgson, and we had one half day in Cooktown,” says Comberbach. “We were on this brand-new boat and we were working a few things out…fortunately nothing major occurred and we never missed a day of fi shing. You just have to build some trust with each other and do a good job. It helps if you have a great captain like Biggles. Capt. Haydon is amazing. He makes the hard stuff look easy…his program is sick.”

Mates Rhys Younan-Wise (left) and Jay Househan of the Askari. Photo courtesy Dave Ferrell

Keen

Aussies still frequently use a lot of words that American English speakers have largely abandoned – with “feral,” meaning “wild,” an obvious favorite of mine. (Ferrell-feral … get it?) “Keen” is another example. Keen pretty much translates as “eager” or “hungry” to do something. According to local Aussie mate, Rhys Younan-Wise (pronounced Reese Uniwize), on the Askari, “keenness” for fishing is the most important thing a mate can bring to Great Barrier Reef when looking for a job. “Th ey can expect hard work and long days…you need to be keen. You need to be a very keen fisherman to be able to handle it and do it for the whole season. Lots of rookies show up…and lots of rookies do really well. But to perform consistently for the entire season you really have to want it. It’s a long slog, but good fun!” he says. “It’s all worth it when you finally get here and catch the big one,” says Jay Househan, Askari’s second mate. In addition to being keen, that Younan-Wise suggests making sure you have a job lined up before you get there. “

These days, with all the Facebook and other social media, it’s a smart move to get in contact with a lot of people and let them know that you are wanting to come. Get your name out there among the captains and mates. It shouldn’t be too hard to get a bit of work. And once you’ve done it, your name gets around pretty quick. It’s not hard after that if you do a good job. Just make sure you get your name out there before you turn up. If you turn up without a job…just keep walking the docks. Keep talking to people and making friends. Keep asking all the captains…somebody is going to go down during the season.” “You don’t do it for the money either,” says Bovell. “You get paid, but it’s not a whole lot.” It’s the experience that keeps you coming back. “The wildness of this place, out on the reef at night, with all the jacks in the lights it’s just indescribable,” says Comberbach. Comberbach got a real treat during his first season when the Adventum caught a big fish for the owner.

“We wanted to take a big one for Kevin. He’s always wanted a big one and we were working hard towards doing it. To get it done you have to have a plan.” The plan came together on October 29th and Dean was on the gaff. Dean made a perfect shot in the dark under the lights and the team got the 1,260-pounder into the boat. It was Capt. Haydon’s biggest fish in his 31 years on the reef. Can you imagine? Your first year on the reef, sticking a 1,260 in the dark? Gives me a horn just thinking about it.

 

 

InTheBite Dock Talk: Tropic Star Lodge in Pinas Bay, Panama

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Panama’s Tropic Star Lodge has been a staple of the sportfishing landscape since 1963. The present is a very interesting time at Tropic Star.

This all access pass provides a look at one of the most unique and historic fishing operations in the world:

Read Tradition and Trajectory at Tropic Star in our latest issue of InTheBite

 

 

Jan/Feb Issue 2019: Hitting the Docks Now

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Forget about New Year’s resolutions… InTheBite is straight to the point in 2019.

Grab a copy of the latest Jan/Feb Issue, hitting the docks now!

Australia’s Fraser Island Produces Big Numbers

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Captain Brett Alty’s 50’ custom charter boat Mistress is at it again. Upon arrival back at Fraser Island at the end of September Mistress tagged 32 marlin within just 7 days and 3hrs of fishing!  As Yogi Berra, the New York Yankees catcher was as famous for his baseball skills as for mixing metaphors, once said “ This is déjà vu all over again.”

As was reported earlier in In The Bite E-News  Mistress enjoyed outstanding success at Fraser last year as well, tagging 104 in just 42 days during the period late August to late Nov. Mistress fished through early December before returning to the Gold Coast for some much needed maintenance. All told from August through December 2017, the Mistress tagged 128 marlin in 48 days of fishing. An astounding average of 2.7 fish per boat day!

We were on our lonesome for the entire period from August to October, but in November we were joined by three motherships and 10 gameboats all sharing the most commonly used anchorage at Rooneys Point. Among them the Gold Coast boats Caboom, Special K, and French Look 111, plus the charter boat Kekoa. Word of the outstanding fishing had spread quickly.

In late February, Mistress returned to Fraser and fished another 44 days. During this period currents weren’t ideal and weather patterns dictated that most fishing was done around the New Moon.  We generally don’t find the best Moon Phase optimal; rather the week before and after the Full seems preferable.

Nevertheless Mistress managed another 71 tags to bring the total for the year ended 30 June to 199. As we were hoping for a nice round and memorable number –like 200—the 199 was a bit disappointing. How close were we to the magic 200? On the last day of the fishing year we developed the dreaded “Rubber Hook “ syndrome, going one for five for the day. Damn. The 199 marlin tagged were comprised of  150 blue marlin, 30 little blacks and 19 assorted heavy tackle blacks and stripes. That’s world class fishing by any measure. During this period we were frequently accompanied by Dave McMaster a light tackle specialist on Poledancer and we had some memorable social nights.

Then, just to cap it all off, Mistress won the Hervey Bay Gamefish Club tournament fishing against a fleet of 40 odd boats. This time fishing heavy tackle with 9 blues in the 2 ½ days of fishing. We also won this tournament in 2015 catching 15 little blacks on light tackle, and were second on a countback in 2016 to the well performed Sunshine Coast Privateer Kamikaze.

Frazer Island Background

There are some interesting aspects to the fishery at Fraser. The blues and stripes strike very aggressively. With the stripes there was none of the usual Tap—Tap— Tap. The majority just climbed on like a Blue. All the fish were in excellent condition. They were all fat. Much more so than the ones we see on the Gold Coast only a couple of hundred miles south.

There were also yellowfin tuna present ranging from a few kilos to up to 75kg out on the shelf. On one occasion there were so many yellowfin around that they were beating the Blues to the lures. Captain Brett could see blues coming up in the lure pattern, but they were being consistently beaten to the lures by frenzied yellowfin.

A new Giant Black Marlin Fishery on the Horizon?

In June/July we also tagged, and quite predictably lost quite a few, tiny little Blacks. Some vainly trying, but failing to hook themselves on lures were as small as 2kg (5 pounds)! We reported this to Dr. Julian Pepperell (Australia’s preeminent billfish scientists—and one of the world’s foremost experts) who was intrigued because he thought that fish of this size would be probably only two to three months old. If this is the case it means that they were most likely  spawned about February or March. This has quite serious ramifications as it means that there is a black marlin spawning period outside the traditional September to November Cairns breeding period. Julian requested that we keep a couple of the Heads off these tiny Blacks so that he can inspect the oeliths and more precisely determine their age.

If Julian’s initial prognosis is correct it may well lead to another Giant black marlin season, most likely somewhere near Fraser Island. No doubt when we get confirmation of Julian`s estimate we and other long range liveaboard boats will be out in the wild blue yonder doing some exploratory fishing trying to find this new breeding ground.

The 2018 Season

Mistress started its latest session at Fraser with a three day, three hour fishing trip that initially targeted little blacks. After tagging eight, in the  morning of the 3rd day the crew decided to go heavy tackle seeking a Slam. Well the Lady angler, one of the three on board, caught her first blue and then was unlucky to pull the hooks out of a stripe.

On his second trip, Captain Brett decided to fish Heavy Tackle for four days. The Mistress wound up with an absolutely outstanding 23 tags deployed from 32 strikes. All blues! That’s 5.75 blues per day. Fingers crossed  this keeps up!!

On the fourth day Captain Brett actually moved away from his spot and called a couple of his friends in. His sole charterer was worn out from fighting so many fish and his two deckies were worn out from constant work rerigging/ resetting lures and leadering fish. How’s that for a problem?

Now Mistress has done a total of 11 days and 3 hrs at Fraser since the end of September and has tagged 42 marlin comprising 33 blues, eight blacks, and one striped. That’s an astonishing average of 3.72 per day of fishing.

At the moment there are around six  boats fishing at Fraser, among them Brad Dobinson’s Special K and Captain Simon Carossi driving Assegai. Simon also has his Mothership there.

I imagine that once again there will be a fleet descend on Fraser in November. Some of the Cairns charter boats have announced their intention to come down. There will also be boats from both north and south making an extended visit around their Hervey Bay Gamefish Club Tournament attendance (Tourny 16th  to 19th Nov).

There are plenty of fish for everyone and I expect that as we fish the area more we will all learn more and enjoy an even greater level of success. As if it’s not outstanding already.

For more on the Mistress operation, or to book a trip, check out their website: http://www.fishingmistress.com/

 

Bisbee Los Cabos Offshore Tournament Pays Record $1,165,000 Prize Money

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CABO SAN LUCAS, BCS, Mex. – A 458-pound black marlin landed on the final day of the Bisbee’s Los Cabos Offshore Tournament was worth $520,485 in prize money to the Wild Hooker Team aboard the Wild Hooker.

It took tournament angler Danny Hogan 1 hour, 25 minutes to subdue the monster which ate a skipjack tuna.

The winning fish narrowly beat a 455-pound black marlin caught aboard the boat Predator. The second-place fish was worth $333,418 in prize money.

In all, the tournament’s 123 teams composed of 763 anglers and crews competed for a record $1,165,000, according to event director Wayne Bisbee.

Other notable winners in various categories included:

·      A 235-pound yellowfin tuna by Team Overtime aboard the boat Overtimevalued at $129,860;

·      A 73-pound tuna by Team Altata Bay aboard the Catamaran valued at $78,200; and

·      A 455-pound black marlin by team Los Compadres del Dorado valued at $9,686.

Winning amounts are determined by tournament entry fees together with various daily and event jackpot prizes.

The tournament was divided into seven categories limited to marlin, tuna and dorado.  Five billfish exceeded the minimum weight of 300 pounds, eight tuna and numerous dorado were brought to the scale.  All the fish (2,869 pounds — 8,607 meals) that were brought to the scale were given to charities for orphans, homeless or disabled.

Team “Sea Angel” Wins 2018 Los Cabos Billfish Tournament

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2018 Los Cabos Billfish Tournament Final Results

The 20th Annual Los Cabos Billfish Tournament recorded 150 billfish catches across three days of fishing. 

CABO SAN LUCAS, MEXICO (MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2018) — Radio Channel 28 stayed lively all three days of the 20th Annual Los Cabos Billfish tournament, with the tournament fleet averaging 50 releases each day. Last year, anglers released 61 blues and 31 striped marlin; this year, the striped marlin bite returned with a fury. In total, the fleet of 52 boats caught 150 billfish, consisting of 109 stripes, 29 blues, five blacks, five sailfish and two spearfish. Days one and two saw stronger afternoon bites, while day three’s afternoon bite was the slowest of the tournament.

Fishing teams were competing for $642,300 in cash, plus prizes.

The overall winner of the 20th Annual Los Cabos Billfish Tournament was Team Sea Angel, scoring 1,700 points. Sea Angel didn’t weigh any fish, but thanks to their 28 striped marlin releases and one blue marlin release, they were able to hold onto the top spots in the Overall Team Division and Overall Release Points Jackpot. Plus, they won the Day Two Release Points Jackpot. The team, consisting of Capt. Billy Chase “BC” Angel, Andrea Angel, Greg Angel, Austin Angel, Chase Travers, Fico Ortega and Juan Carlos Buenes, earned $113,500 for their efforts and an invitation to the 2019 Offshore World Championship in Costa Rica. For his outstanding showing, Capt. BC Angel won the top captain and received a Garmin Quatix watch.

The Los Cabos Billfish Tournament awards 300 points for black and blue marlin releases, while striped marlin, sailfish and spearfish are just 50 points. Marlin weighed over the 300-pound minimum are awarded points based on their weight. In 2018, each pound was worth 1.5 points, so a 500-pound black marlin catch earned 750 points. The Los Cabos Billfish Tournament point system favors blue and black marlin releases, or catching a monster marlin for weigh-in, but Team Sea Angel was able to defy the odds by totaling 28 striped marlin releases. The year 2018 was the first time a team not weighing a marlin won first-place team in the tournament.

Second-place in the Overall Team Division went to Team Chupacabra with 1,548.5 points. The team released two blue marlin and four striped marlin for 800 points. On the third day of fishing, angler Blake Stamper landed a 499-pound blue marlin worth 748.5 points. The monster blue marlin won all four levels of the Day Three Marlin Jackpot and the Overall Largest Marlin Jackpot. The team, consisting of Capt. Clay Hensley, Bo Jenyns, Jason Douglas, Blake Stamper, Don Stamper, Don Logue and Pablo Pino, earned $195,950, the largest check of the tournament.

Third-place in the Overall Team Division was secured by Team El Suertudo with 1,400 points with four blue marlin, three striped marlin and one spearfish. The team also scored the Day One Release Points Jackpot and Second-Place Overall Release Points Jackpot. Their top-three finishes earned them $57,780 in total. The El Suertudo team consisted of Capt. Greg DiStefano, Bruce McDonald, Alfonso Ortega, Guy Yocom, Oswaldo Ortega, Gary Mason, Dave Elow, Azam Flores and Noe Isaias Cruz.

Three qualifying marlin were caught during the tournament, with Team Chupacabra’s the heaviest. But two other marlin catches on days one and two won teams Carpe Diem and Second Wind large cash payouts.

On day one, Carpe Diem’s Dr. Rick McShane landed a 467-pound blue marlin. The blue marlin won all four levels of the Day One Marlin Jackpot, earning $81,750 for the team. The 2018 Carpe Diem team was made up of Capt. Jeff Hamm, Dr. Ricky McShane, James McDonald, Gary Benson, Kellium Tice, Alex Hill and Juan Manuel.

On day two, Team Second Wind won the day with a 363-pound black marlin caught by angler Ryan Donovan. The catch solidified all four levels of the Day Two Marlin Jackpot and second place in the Overall Largest Marlin Jackpot for a grand total of $119,550. Second Wind got redemption with their day-two catch after weighing a marlin on day one that was seven pounds shy of the qualifying weight of 300 pounds. The Second Wind team consisted of Capt. TJ Dobson, John LaGrone, Ryan Donovan, Tony Frascone, Erik Chang and Jerry Bribiesca.

Team Yahoo had two strong days of striped marlin fishing after a slow first day to win third place in the Overall Release Points Jackpot. On day three, the team also won the Daily Release Points Jackpot with 12 striped marlin released worth 600 points. Team Yahoo consisted of Capt. Ricardo Escamilla, Bryce Schell, Mike McKamey, Kurtis McKamey, Jose Escamilla, Ricardo Escamilla and Valentine Ucamp. In total, the team won a check worth $18,420.

Teams entered in the Tuna/Wahoo/Dorado Jackpot who weighed gamefish species were also able to get on the winner’s stage and take home cash prizes. No qualifying dorado were landed over the three days of fishing so that prize money was distributed to the tuna and wahoo winners. On day three, no qualifying wahoo were caught, so that purse was split between the day one and two winners.

Day One

Angler Edward Cota, of Team Estella Del Norte, landed a 66-pound yellowfin tuna to win the Largest Tuna Daily Jackpot. The fish won Team Estrella Del Norte $10,762. The team consisted of Capt. Adrian Miranda, James E Rosenwald, Daniel Camacho, Adrian Miranda and Edward Cota.

Angler Jesus Garcia, of Team El Animal, landed a 37.2-pound wahoo to win the Largest Wahoo Daily Jackpot. The fish won Team El Animal $13,837. The team consisted of Capt. Hugo Beas, Jesus Garcia, Jose Roberto Sanchez, Jose Macias and Daniel Fiol.

Day Two

Angler Scott Leonard, of Team Game Time, landed a 31.3-pound yellowfin tuna to win the Largest Tuna Daily Jackpot. The fish won Team Game Time$10,762. The team consisted of Capt. Javier Zamaya, Kris Anderson, Scott Leonard, Matt Condon and Manuel Gil.

Angler Jim Smith, of Team Mjolnir, landed a 43.9-pound wahoo to win the Largest Wahoo Daily Jackpot. The team consisted of Capt. David Harris, Brandon Walton, Jim Smith, Brandon Baiocco, Jared Dow and Kevin Schloot.

Day Three

Angler Jim Smith, of Team Mjolnir, landed a 70.3-pound yellowfin tuna to win the Largest Tuna Daily Jackpot. For their day two and three catches, the team won $19,987.

Bermuda Blue Marlin Wins 2017-2018 IGFA Great Marlin Race

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Blue Marlin Tagged in Bermuda Swims 5,089 Nautical Miles to Win 2017-2018 IGFA Great Marlin Race

DANIA BEACH, Fla. – July 9, 2018 – The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) today announced that a blue marlin satellite-tagged on July 21, 2017, during the Bermuda Triple Crown Billfish Championship has won the 2017-2018 IGFA Great Marlin Race (IGMR).

The winning billfish swam an estimated 5,089 nautical miles (nm) in total or 2,658 nm point-to-point from Bermuda to about 600 nm northeast of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. This is the longest distance ever recorded by an IGMR-tagged blue marlin in Bermuda.

“Congratulations to tag sponsor Mike Verzaleno whose generosity allowed us to track the incredible journey of the winning billfish,” said IGFA President Nehl Horton. “Strong support from recreational anglers is the key to the success of this innovative, citizen-science conservation initiative.”

The IGMR is a partnership between IGFA and Stanford University that pairs recreational anglers with cutting-edge science to learn more about the basic biology of marlin and how they utilize the open ocean habitat. The goal of the program is to deploy 50 pop-up archival tags (PAT) in marlin at billfish tournaments around the world each year.

Since 2011, more than 350 satellite tags have been placed on billfish during IGMR tagging events. In the 2017-2018 race season, 58 tags were deployed on 31 blue marlin, 18 black marlin and nine striped marlin in seven countries around the world.

Marlin tagged in Bermuda during the 2015, 2016 and 2017 Triple Crown Billfish Championship tournaments swam a total of 16,464 nm and the winning fish accounts for 16 percent of this distance.

To learn more about the IGFA Great Marlin Race, visit https://igmr.igfa.org/Conserve/IGMR.aspx.

Emerging Billfish Destination – Fraser Island, Australia

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Fraser Island, Australia: Emerging Billfish Destination

Photo courtesy: Anthony Goulding

The following is a guest post provided by Australia’s Barry Aulty. Owner of the Mistress, a tournament-winning charter boat captained by Brett Alty (Barry’s son), Aulty provides a sneak peak an emerging destination that boasts the possibility of super slams and large blue marlin. Add this one to the list of wish list destinations….

By Barry Alty

Location

Fraser Island, located off Australia’s eastern Queensland coast is a National Park with pristine rainforests and inland lakes of varying hues. Stretching nearly 75 miles, Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world.

How to Get There

Hervey Bay is the step off point for Fraser Island. It has a well serviced airport, a range of resorts, hotels, motels and restaurants, and is an easy four-hour drive from Brisbane, Queensland’s capital city. It is a 4WD paradise accessible by barge from the nearby town of Hervey Bay.

Photo courtesy: Anthony Goulding

The Fishing

Fishing Fraser Island is most popular during the months between July-October. Local runabouts have tagged and released juvenile black marlin, up to 30 a day, near the northern end of Fraser Island just outside of the Breaksea Spit.

The established juvenile black marlin fishery has recently been supplemented by the discovery of a well-rounded adult marlin fishery as well. The waters are marked by the presence of a lot of bait and multiple species of marlin. The blues have averaged around 400-pounds with our biggest to date circa 700. The Stripes have ranged from 240 to 300-pounds. They climb on like blues– none of this tap tap tap nonsense!

Photo courtesy: Anthony Goulding

Any place where you can catch an average of nearly three marlin a day is a fantastic, world-class fishery. What makes it even more incredible is that there are four species available with Pacific blues and blacks being the most predominant, followed by stripes and Pacific sailfish.

The Mistress, skippered by Captain Brett Alty who has driven Gameboats in Perth and the Gold Coast in Australia, has explored the waters offshore of Fraser Island. Capt. Brett says ” I have never seen anything like this, so many species available and Blues and Blacks in big numbers by any standard. There will definitely be a Grander Blue here somewhere.”

Mistress began fishing again off Fraser Island beginning of March 2017. The day before my 73rd birthday, in December, we tagged our 100th blue marlin for the season (which started in July 2017). As of March 2018, the boat’s total was 136-marlin.

Photo courtesy: Anthony Goulding

The Mistress is a family affair. Captain Brett Alty is Barry’s son. According to Barry, Brett’s birthday present for his father will be a grander blue. We hope it’s a good birthday and look forward to reporting the present! ITB