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I Always Like A Red Head—Is Lure Color Important?

May 13, 2022 By InTheBite Editor

rod hayes lure colors

Rod Hayes Lures

By Peter B Wright

How important is the color of a lure to a billfish, a tuna or any other large pelagic game fish?

For many fish, including everything from small bait fish to giant marlin and tuna, color vision can be hugely important.

Consider mahi-mahi. Almost certainly, they would never have developed their outstanding coloration if they were not also gifted with color vision. This is a part of what makes them, and other tropical fish often found in tanks and aquariums, so special.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured Stories, Fishing, Tackle Tagged With: lure color, lure size, Marlin Fishing, Offshore Fishing, peter wright, popular, red head lure

New State Record for Dolphin Fish

May 10, 2022 By InTheBite Digital Editor

Georgia DNR, Brunswick, Ga., May 5, 2022—A 53-year-old Midway man is the new state record holder for dolphin fish (Coryphaena hippurus), also known as mahi mahi, after the Georgia Department of Natural Resources certified his catch Friday.

James Roberts of Midway landed the 68-pound, 1.6-ounce dolphin on April 26. He was fishing over Deli Ledge approximately 80 miles east of St. Catherines Island, according to DNR’s Coastal Resources Division, which administers the Georgia Saltwater Game Fish Records Program.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Fishing, General News, News, Press Releases Tagged With: dolphin, georgia fishing, mahi mahi, Offshore Fishing

A Mate’s Pay

May 6, 2022 By InTheBite Editor Leave a Comment

mates on boat

New Lines

By Ric Burnley

A good mate is worth his weight in gold. From wiring a blue marlin to serving cocktails, the second in command on a professional sportfishing boat has many jobs to master and many people to please.

So, how do you quantify the value of excellence? How do you compensate a person for unwavering dedication, extensive technical knowledge, a crushing physical toil and a winning attitude? Paying a mate what he’s worth would quickly run most operations out of financial resources. With all the adventure, excitement, drama and sheer fun of professional fishing, at the end of the day, it all comes down to a wad of cash passed from the fisherman to his best friend on the water. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Crew, Featured Stories, People Tagged With: boat career, boat mate, charter fishing pay, fishing pay, Offshore Fishing, popular

Form, Function and Fishing: Learning from Fish Physiology

April 18, 2022 By InTheBite Digital Editor

black marlin jumping

Black marlin have wide, powerful bills built for smashing tuna and not breaking.

ITB Staff

They say that you can tell a lot about a person by the way they present themselves. A few observations about the anatomy of a fish can just as accurately provide ways to approximate how they behave. There is an adage in biology that form follows function. The way something appears can tell you quite a bit about what it is good at doing.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured Stories, Fishing, Science Tagged With: billfishing, fish physiology, fish tail, Offshore Fishing

Turn Off Your Radar

April 15, 2022 By InTheBite Digital Editor

boat radar

By Captain Scott “Fraz” Murie

I’ve been approached several times recently about frustrated captains who say, “I’ve got something for you to write about in your next two-minute warning column.” Their frustration is real. Their complaint is a valid one.

And it concerns radars. It seems that everyone who owns a boat these days has a radar. From the cruisers and bay boats, monkey boats to the motor yachts and mega sportfish boats. A lot of the bigger boats have two radars. It’s a valuable tool for safety and fishing but it seems that everyone with a radar turns it on as soon as they’re leaving the dock, then they leave it on 24/7.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured Stories, Fishing Tagged With: boat radar, Offshore Fishing, oil rig, Radar, sportfishing

Krazy Salts Wins 2022 Chub Cay Invitational

April 12, 2022 By InTheBite Digital Editor

Chub Cay Invitational

Chub Cay Invitational, April 12, 2022—With a spicy, last-day rally Krazy Salts won the 2022 Chub Cay Invitational, which concluded this past weekend at the Chub Cay Resort and Marina in the Bahamas. Krazy Salts, an 80-foot Viking based in Palm Beach, Florida, earned top boat honors after releasing one blue marlin and five sailfish for a total of 1,000 points. The boat is owned by Dave Anderson Jr and Dave Anderson Sr, with Capt. Keith Greenberg at the helm.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: General News, News, Tournament Results Tagged With: chub cay invitational, fishing tournament, krazy salts, Offshore Fishing

2022 Signature Triple Crown and Ladies Only LEG 3

April 12, 2022 By InTheBite Digital Editor

 

©Los Sueños Resort and Marina | Photographers: Pepper Ailor or Ronald Rojas

Los Sueños Resort and Marina, April 12, 2022—There were thirty five teams that ended up participating in all three legs of the 2022 Signature Triple Crown and which were therefore eligible for the title of Series Champion. In the end though, there can only be one Champion and that honor was earned by Team Sea Angel on Rum Runner. They earned 14,100 points over the three legs of the series and ended up winning on time. Max Bet released four marlin on Day 3 of the third and final leg alone to tie on points, but released their last fish four hours and 23 minutes after Sea Angel on Rum Runner.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: General News, News, Tournament Results Tagged With: fishing tournament, Offshore Fishing, Signature Triple Crown. los suenos

Pelagic Announces Inaugural Pura Vida Blue Marlin Classic Fishing Tournament

March 1, 2022 By InTheBite Digital Editor

pelagic

February 6, 2022—Marina Pez Vela, Quepos Costa Rica—Who is the top blue marlin fishing team in the world? Pelagic is proud to present a new tournament celebrating the rich history of Blue Marlin fishing in Costa Rica. The Pelagic Pura Vida Blue Marlin Classic, is the first and only tournament in Costa Rica to focus on the most highly regarded gamefish in the world—the Blue Marlin.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Fishing, General News, News, Press Releases Tagged With: fishing tournament, Offshore Fishing, pelagic, Pura Vida Blue Marlin Classic

Tackle Tips: Quick Loader and D.R. Blue Marlin

February 21, 2022 By InTheBite Digital Editor

targeting blue marlin

Eight Eights — D.R. Blue Marlin

Based out of Singer Island, Florida, though rarely at her homeport, the 72-foot Viking Eight Eights is on a constant quest for billfish releases. “Our normal schedule is with the boat 21 days. Then we take 10 off and come back for another 21. Out of the 21 days we’ll probably fish anywhere from 15 to 18 days depending on weather and what’s going on,” says first mate Kyle O’Conner.

In 2020, captains fishing out of Cap Cana reported 91 days where they released five or more blue marlin and 15 days with 10 or more releases. “Last year we got to the Dominican Republic July 1 and in two and a half months we caught 100 blues. We had close to 500 billfish releases and 300 tags for the 2020 season,” O’Conner says.

Man-made FADs highlight this world-class Caribbean fishery, with plastic jugs and styrofoam insulation banded together with scrap seine netting and palm fronds, then strategically tethered to the seafloor in efforts to attract forage and predator fish. Targeted with 30-pound outfits, juvenile blue marlin swarming the warm waters of the D.R. are intelligent and accurate feeders, at times displaying finicky tendencies. Here’s how they are fooled on the Eight Eights:

Rod Blank: BlackFin
Rod Builder: Bill Buckland
Guides: FUJI SiC
Thread Wrap: Green/Orange diamond
Butt: AFTCO #1 unibutt
Reel: Shimano Tyrnos 30
Main Line: Berkley ProSpec 30 lb.
Leader: 100 lb. pink fluorocarbon
Hook: 9/0 circle hook
Bait: Baitmasters medium ballyhoo
Skirt: MoldCraft Junior Hooker
Rigging: EZ Swivel

ballyhoo for the quick reloader

Ricardo Núñez — Quick Loader

Whether it’s washing the boat or rigging ballyhoo, the best deckhands are fast and efficient in everything they do. Dredge fishing for billfish typically entails naked swimming ballyhoo pulled from the transom corners, but outrigger baits are often outfitted with a small lure head like a MoldCraft Junior Hooker or Squidnation Slammer to create a larger profile and also help ballyhoo track better in rough seas.

When fishing a chugger/ballyhoo combination, the use of Ringer Swivels to firmly mount and expose circle hooks is a widely popular method. Some mates use an open-eye rigging needle as a makeshift puller to bring the chugger head into place over the O-ring, but a more streamlined approach utilizes a quick reloader fashioned from a length of #19 wire leftover from dredge teaser pin rigs.

With a tiny clasp bent into the end, mates can hook the O-ring and force it out of the lure head to accommodate a circle hook. The simple device not only allows for easy storage and organization of multiple chugger heads, but more importantly enables mates to simplify the process of adding skirts to rigged ballyhoo.

Steve Kenealy was first mate on the 86-foot Merritt Reel Tight and spent countless hours rigging ballyhoo on the docks of Isla Mujeres, Mexico. “We first started using the quick reloader down there about two or three years ago. We can go through a pile of baits when the sails are snapping and this simple tip helps automate the rigging process. It’s a great little device that was introduced to us by a local mate named Ricardo Núñez.”

The best mates know that the more systematic they become in their daily tasks, the less energy is required. Like poking out the eyeballs of a ballyhoo, where you could do it one fish at a time or line up multiple fish on an arrow shaft, this quick loader makes performing a repetitive task easier than ever.

Filed Under: Featured Stories, Fishing, Tackle, Techniques Tagged With: Ballyhoo, Dredge Fishing, fads, fishing tackle, Offshore Fishing

Blue Marlin Steal the Show During 6th Annual Pelagic Rockstar Tournament

February 2, 2022 By InTheBite Digital Editor

January 14 – 16, 2022—Marina Pez Vela, Quepos Costa Rica – Excitement and anticipation was in the air as 83 of the world’s top sport fishing teams assembled in Quepos, Costa Rica for the 6th annual Pelagic Rock Star Offshore Tournament. Located on the Pacific coast of central Costa Rica, Marina Pez Vela and the surrounding area of Manuel Antonio National Park is known as one of the most biologically diverse places anywhere in the world, and the fishing is second to none.  Open to the public, Marina Pez Vela is a super clean, modern, world-class yacht harbor with a wide variety of restaurants, bars, and shops – including a PELAGIC brand store – which makes it the perfect back drop for the sportfishing history that was about to be made.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: General News, News, Press Releases, Tournament Results Tagged With: billfishing, Offshore Fishing, pelagic, pelagic rockstar tournament

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News

  • 42.3-Pound Dorado Earns $232,150

    42.3-Pound Dorado Earns $232,150

    May 17, 2022, Loreto B.C.S —Sunday concluded the third Marina Puerto Escondido Fishing Tournament as 51 Teams competed for over a HALF-MILLION DOLLARS IN CASH PRIZES, the highest ever awarded for a fishing tournament in the Loreto area. According to Stenson Hamann, Marketing Manager of the event, "The attendance has grown 85% over its short three-year history, beginning in 2019." Team... [Read More...]

  • Boats Sunk for Artificial Reef in Memory of Capt. Patrick Price

    Boats Sunk for Artificial Reef in Memory of Capt. Patrick Price

    By Zachary Granat Last year, on Sept. 6, 2021, Capt. Patrick Price passed away after a battle with COVID-19. This month, the MCAC Artificial Reef Fund honored him by sinking two artificial reefs off the coast of St. Lucie County. Two boats, the 65-foot Spirit of Palm Beach—renamed the DayMaker—and the 98-foot Last One—renamed the Capt. Patrick Price Reef—are now... [Read More...]

  • Colombia To Ban Recreational Fishing

    Colombia To Ban Recreational Fishing

    By Zachary Granat On May 2, the Supreme Court of Colombia ruled that recreational fishing was unconstitutional. As a result, Colombians expect a ban on recreational fishing to take effect within one year. The decision comes after the Court’s 2019 ban on recreational hunting. Then, the Court held that recreational hunting was animal cruelty and a threat to the environment.... [Read More...]

  • Blue Marlin Blast Fishing Tournament

    Blue Marlin Blast Fishing Tournament

    By Toine van Ierland, Tournament Director Cape Verde on fire! In both 2020 and 2021, we were forced to postpone the tournament thanks to COVID-19, but on the night of April 24, 2022, we finally kicked off the 2022 EFSA European Championship Big Game Fishing Tournament, AKA The PENN Challenge. And what a tournament it was. Expectations Two weeks prior... [Read More...]

  • New State Record for Dolphin Fish

    New State Record for Dolphin Fish

    Georgia DNR, Brunswick, Ga., May 5, 2022—A 53-year-old Midway man is the new state record holder for dolphin fish (Coryphaena hippurus), also known as mahi mahi, after the Georgia Department of Natural Resources certified his catch Friday. James Roberts of Midway landed the 68-pound, 1.6-ounce dolphin on April 26. He was fishing over Deli Ledge approximately 80 miles east of... [Read More...]

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