InTheBite

  • Home
  • News
    • All News
    • Featured Stories
    • General News
    • Captain of the Year
    • Tournament Results
    • First Builds
    • Splash Reports
    • Old Salts Rule
    • Tackle Tips
    • Dock Talk
    • Crew Records
    • Conservation
  • Tournaments
    • Calendar
    • Captain of the Year
    • Champion’s Cup
  • Shop
    • All Products
    • Subscriptions
    • Back Issues
    • Shirts
    • Hats & Visors
    • Miscellaneous
    • Release Rulers
  • Classifieds
  • Job Board
  • Contact
    • Contact InTheBite
    • InTheBite Media Kit
  • Log in

The Young Guns of Sportfishing: Chris Kubik

December 18, 2018 By InTheBite Editor

By Elliott Stark

Although you have to be pretty dedicated to fishing to buy and run a bluewater charter boat, there are some people whose desire to make a sportfishing career happen goes the extra mile. Captain Chris Kubik is one of those people. Having grown up in Atlanta, Kubik travelled to the Outer Banks in the summers as a child. When he was 16, he saved up enough to charter a boat. After catching a white marlin, he was hooked.

Growing up Kubik would read anything about fishing he could get his hands on – magazines, fishing reports, you name it. “I read a story about a guy who wanted to fish and headed to the dock to start handing out ice until he got a job fishing…So that’s what I did,” Kubik recalls.

“I loaded up my Honda Accord and headed to Oregon Inlet. I drove overnight from Atlanta, it took about nine hours. I got there early and slept in my car for an hour and I started handing out ice. I got a job on an inshore boat about three weeks later and started picking up freelance offshore trips from there,” he says.

Kubik rented a place to sleep while waiting for his fishing dreams to materialize. Does this sound like an awesome thing to do? “It definitely was not awesome. It was terrible. I rented a piece of crap trailer – it was the most God-awful place you could imagine. It was rented by the week, if that tells you anything. There was a house on some land with a bunch of trailers on the property. It was a bunch of crackheads and me. I was afraid to unload my stuff out of my car because they might have stolen it,” Kubik says.

Kubik worked on the inshore boat over the summer and soon made friends with a mate who had an extra room where he stayed. His living conditions improved and Kubik has never looked back. “Fin Gaddy had an opening,” Chris recalls. An owner/operator, Gaddy runs the Qualifier, a 54-foot Mann, out of Oregon Inlet Fishing Center. “I knew the mate who was leaving and Fin let me freelance for a couple of days. I’m not sure why he hired me because to be honest at the time I was not very good… I guess he thought he could teach me and he did.”

Captain Chris Kubik – Point Runner, 60-foot Guthrie

Kubik would fish with Gaddy for ten years. Fin provides a bit of perspective on what makes Kubik such a force on the water. “He just has a competitive spirit about him. When I first met him, he’d only fished a little bit offshore. He was such a genuinely nice and sincere person that it almost made me uncomfortable,” Gaddy says with a bit of a laugh. Soon after hiring Kubik, Gaddy and the Qualifier headed to Isla Mujeres, Mexico. “He’d never caught a sailfish. After two days he’d caught 58. It was sort of a trial by fire. Chris got to learn in the right places. It was his dream to come here and fish and he made it happen.”

“Fin taught me everything I know about marlin fishing – teasers, dredges, maneuvering on fish. Attention to detail was the biggest thing – the importance of keeping everything perfect… knots, connections, everything. He is very meticulous in that regard,” Kubik recalls. “If he wanted to teach me to rig something on our day off, he would pull out five or six mackerel and show me how to do it. A lot of guys won’t do that because they don’t want to waste the bait.”

“When I left the Qualifier, I started mating on the Point Runner. I would run it when Capt. Danny Wadsworth (owner/operator) needed a day off. I worked there for three years and bought it last year,” says Kubik. The Point Runner is a 60-foot Guthrie powered by c12.9 Cats. Kubik’s operation is based out of the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center. Kubik follows in one of sportfishing’s greatest traditions – the North Carolina owner/operator charterman.

When asked about the lessons he has learned along the way, Kubik provides some wise perspective. “Spend time learning before you think about moving up,” he says. Advice to young guys breaking into the industry? “Don’t feel like you deserve anything… because you don’t. These days it seems like there is a lot of entitlement. All the young kids want to be paid to ride out. Don’t be afraid to start on the bottom and work your way up. If you work hard and are motivated, you’ll succeed in fishing. If you look around at tournaments, most guys pull the same thing. But if you pay attention to detail, you can stand out.”

You can find Captain Chris Kubik and the Point Runner available for charter out of Oregon Inlet most of the year. In the winter time, Kubik runs a private boat – the Sea Hag, a 61-foot Blackwell – in Florida and Isla Mujeres. If you’d like to book a trip with Captain Chris Kubik, send him a note at Chris@pointrunner.com

or visit www.pointrunner.com.

Shop Subscriptions

Filed Under: Featured Stories, General News, News Tagged With: boats, Charter Fishing, custom boats, fishing center, Florida, guthrie yachts, InTheBite, Isla Mujeres, magazine, Mates, north carolina, Oregon Inlet, Point Runner, sea hag, sportfishing, tournaments, Tuna, yellowfin, young capatains, young guns of sportfishing

Bite Strong in Isla

January 22, 2015 By Michael Calabrese

Sponsor Advertisement

Sponsor Advertisement

Keen M working the birdsJanuary 2015

By Mike Calabrese- For over a week now, most boats fishing the waters of Isla Mujeres have been on the receiving end of steady Sailfish action. While the bite has moved a bit further north, the fleet is consistently getting 25+ shots a day. Same story here as anglers are greeted with a nice mix of bird and baitball action along with a steady trolling bite to fill the voids. If you have never witnessed Sailfish “cutting” into a school of sardines with frigate birds competing from above, Isla is the place to do so. Truly “National Geographic” stuff we are witnessing here. Some top scores for the week include Capt. Newt Cagle and the Dirty Business boat catching 42 out of an untold number of bites(1/20) and the Blue View, skippered by Taylor Hanson catching an impressive 32/43 today (1/21). Looks like another big frontal blow coming over the weekend hopefully will stir things up and get the fish back south a bit.

For more Dock Talk Click Here



Filed Under: Dock Talk, General News Tagged With: Isla Mujeres

Greetings From Isla Mujeres

January 12, 2015 By Michael Calabrese

fire_tlzJanuary 12, 2015 Greetings from beautiful Isla Mujeres, Mexico! An off year of fishing last year combined with a booking issue at Villa Vera marina and hotel have seemed to slim out the fleet for this season. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Dock Talk, General News Tagged With: Don Teo, Isla Mujeres

Connect With InTheBite

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Subscribe to InTheBite Magazine Today!

InTheBite current cover image

Our latest issue is hitting the docks now! Be sure to subscribe to the hottest bluewater mag on the market. Purchase or Subscribe »

InTheBite Champion’s Cup

InTheBite Champions Cup Logo

New for 2022, the Champion’s Cup is an optional paid entry with a winner-takes-all prize format for teams who want to up the stakes in each division utilizing our longstanding tournament scoring formula.

Captain of the Year Cup Standings

COTY / ITB Cup Logo

News

  • Old Salt: Capt. Eddie Herbert

    Old Salt: Capt. Eddie Herbert

    By Carol M. Bareuther, RD The moon and stars shone brightly in the pre-dawn night as Capt. Eddie Herbert started the engines on the 80-foot Merritt Reel Tight. His destination, the Virgin Islands’ North Drop. Reel Tight owner Jim Lambert Sr. took his passion for fishing seriously. He wanted to be first off the dock so he could catch and... [Read More...]

  • Splash Report: Bayliss Boatworks' Overtime

    Splash Report: Bayliss Boatworks' Overtime

    Every boat built by Bayliss Boatworks is a truly custom project. In the case of Overtime, the newest 67’ 6’’ build to hit the water, the sportfisher is the weapon of choice for a Cabo-San-Lucas-based program. With the help of the experienced captain and owner team, Bayliss Boatworks designed a sportfishing yacht unique enough to meet the demands of conquering... [Read More...]

  • First Build: Jarrett Bay's Sensation

    First Build: Jarrett Bay's Sensation

    By Nichole Osinski "If you’d asked me when I was 16 years old if I was going to build a boat, I would have told you you’re crazy," says Jarrett Bay Founder and President Randy Ramsey when recalling his 30-plus year career in the boat building industry. But to understand how the company has risen to where it is today,... [Read More...]

  • InTheBite Christmas Gift Offers

    InTheBite Christmas Gift Offers

    In addition to the other products listed below, InTheBite is offering two amazing holiday gift deals: a free gift subscription and a hat, shirt and sticker bundle. Act now before the offer ends on December 24th at midnight! Christmas Special: Hat, Shirt & Sticker Bundle (While Supplies Last) Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the fisherman in your life?... [Read More...]

  • Tackle Tips: L-Bar Bottom Rig

    Tackle Tips: L-Bar Bottom Rig

    Capt. Bill Buckland, Fisherman’s Center Supplies Needed: L-Bar, 250 lb mono, 11/0 circle hooks, three-way swivel, deep drop gang rig and sash weight. The L-Bar is an excellent accessory to utilize when deep dropping for bottom fish. It is especially effective for catching tilefish. With a traditional five-hook gang rig, the hooks are suspended in the water column. Utilizing the... [Read More...]

Search InTheBite

Copyright © 2023 InTheBite, LLC · All Rights Reserved.