ITB Staff
While it has been years since most places in the world succumbed to the dink ballyhoo revolution, Hawaiian captains still proudly pull plastic. In some of places where lures still appear, their selection is haphazard…the old, “Grab that one over there and throw a hook in it” type thing. In Kona, lure fishing is equal parts science and applied engineering with a healthy dose of aesthetic appeal mixed in.
Photo courtesy MidAtlantic Tournament
MidAtlantic Tournament, August 23, 2021—It was indeed a tournament for the ages! The 30th MidAtlantic wrapped up last night and saying it was one for the record books would be an understatement! Records were set in several categories including two before the first day of fishing when a tournament record field of 203 were entered breaking the previous record of 183 set last year.
Photo courtesy Blue Grand Marlin Championship
Blue Marlin Grand Championship, July 29, 2021—Thirty minutes after the fifty-eight tournament teams entered into the 2021 Blue Marlin Grand Championship at The Wharf departed Orange Beach, all but one was headed to their first stop in hopes of winning The Greatest Show in Sportfishing. One boat, Skin Deep, a 63’ Ricky Scarborough, suffered a major mechanical failure and began limping
back toward Perdido Pass. After a haul-out revealed a broken prop and a damaged strut, it seemed their tournament weekend was all but over.
Photo courtesy Boom Boom Sportfishing
On June 22, Captain Tony Brown with Boom Boom Sportfishing and his crew caught an impressive 1,040-pound Pacific blue marlin four miles off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii. The experience was especially memorable for Tony and his crew because their deckhand’s family was the charter group that day.
Nineteen-year-old Cole Pirrung has, like many anglers before him, been fishing for most of his life. Pirrung says he was always at the river and lake with friends and the first time he ever went offshore was with his grandparents to try bottom fishing when he was around 12 years old. His father, Dave Pirrung, also played a large part in Cole’s interest to go after bigger fish along the Atlantic coastline having fished the Big Rock when his sons were all young.
Casting the fly to the blue marlin.
Nick Smith is one of the world’s foremost billfish fly anglers. Here’s his rundown of what to expect and how to handle what happens between hook up and successful release of a blue marlin on the fly. The following assumes 20-pound class tippet (things change with lower test class tippets). This description begins with the strike, once the fish has taken the fly.
Things don’t always go as planned and even after this blue marlin came unglued on the leader, Eight Eights Capt. Mark Pagano wasn’t ready to give up on the tag. The fish remained on the surface for a brief moment where first mate Kyle O’Conner was given the opportunity to tag the free-swimmer. With angler Jill Yates and Michelle Keeney wiring the fish.
The Griffin team with their blue marlin. Photo courtesy Unscene Productions
Photo courtesy Will Drost
