InTheBite

Ritchie Howell Splashes Out of the Box 61’

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Ritchie Howell recently completed a 61’ sportfisher and the result was a beautiful vessel that is currently fishing out of Los Sueños. There is, however, an interesting story to how the vessel came about. “I was building the boat for a customer from Venezuela. He was willing to take a chance with me. We wanted to design something exciting, something ultra-modern,” says builder Ritchie Howell.

“I noticed some guys up north were achieving some great performance numbers and had always wanted to try it. This buyer gave me the opportunity. We set out to engineer a stepped bottom. We had the opportunity to perform some CFD analysis – a computerized tank test,” Howell describes. CFD is computational fluid dynamics analysis. CFD is a pretty complicated deal, but simply stated – it is the use of applied mathematics, physics and computational software to view how a gas or liquid flows.

Photo courtesy Pepper Ailor

Howell’s interest in CFD analysis lay in determining the optimal position of the step to minimize friction between the boat’s hull and the surface of the water. “We ran four computerized tank tests. These are pretty expensive. We’d run it and tweak the bottom. The goal was to reduce friction – we go to the point that we achieved 50-knots,” Howell describes.

“The step introduces a break in the suction of the water to the hull. It’s not as much about introducing air as it is to bend the suction of the water,” Ritchie relates, scientifically. “The faster you run, the more water wants to suck the hull down to the water. The steps in the bottom allows you to break the attraction, freeing up the hull.” With reduced suction and decreased friction comes greater speed.

Hull render courtesy Ritchie Howell / Ocean Designs

“It is really awesome. We put a pair of C18As on the boat with four-blade wheels,” Howell says. The boat’s top end is 39.3 knots. “I am building a new 61 with the same hull technology. The next one will be powered with 1800 Manns – we anticipate even more speed. We’ve just started the hull and figure it to be a 20-month build.”

The new step-hulled 61’ now fishes in Los Sueños. Its original buyer sold the boat upon completion, as the situation in Venezuela made it impossible for him to bring the boat there as he originally planned. It is the Sea Fix.

SPECIFICATIONS

LOA: 61’8″
Beam: 18′
Draft: 4′ 6″
Weight: 64,000 lbs
Fuel:1350 gallons
Water: 250 gallons
Engines: Caterpillar C-18As, 1150 HP each
Gears: ZF 1.75:1
Generators: (2) Caterpillar 21 KWs with sound enclosures
Speed: WOT 38.5 knots – faster with 4 blade wheels

Surviving Dorian: A Story from the Abacos

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By Margaret Cross Rice

Woody and Margaret Rice rode out Hurricane Dorian in their home in Sugar Loaf Cay in the Abacos. It was a hellacious ordeal. For more on Hurricane Dorian, its impact on the Bahamas, the state of the Abacos today and the response to the storm, read the January/February issue of InTheBite magazine.  

In 2008 Margaret Cross Rice and her husband, Kenneth L Rice, Jr.(Woody), retired to Sugarloaf Cay in the Abacos. On September 1, 2019, Margaret and Woody and their two friends, Simon and Melay, survived one of the worst hurricane disasters in recorded history. 

Friday night, August 30, we were 90-percent ready for the storm.

I still needed to plan a couple of meals and get all the plants off the porch and inside the upstairs house.  I began taking items such as clothes and our all-weather jackets with the life vests to our downstairs bunker. Melay, one of our Sugarloaf helpers, wanted to stay across the pond at the house he usually occupies during a hurricane.  Eleven property owners share this pond on the horseshoe-shaped 62-acre island off the Eastern Shore of Marsh Harbour.

No one else was on the island. Most of the residents leave right before or sometime during the summer months. Simon, our neighbor to the east of the pond, was on the island for a few weeks and came to stay with us on Saturday morning at about 11 a.m. He had his little Chihuahua Peanut in tow.  We had our less than three-pound Papillon that we rescued 12 years ago. I thought that I should charge my Nook and bring some playing cards.

The weather reports at this point were rather grim, but no one said that Dorian would be 200 plus miles an hour. Weather reports indicated that we could expect a slow-moving category 4 or 5. Since my husband and I had been through many hurricanes such as Hurricane Donna in the early 60’s, etc., and my mom was pregnant with me during the 1949 hurricane, my husband Woody and I thought we would be fine. After many preparations, we focused on the water situation. Having enough water was vital.

Photo courtesy Ron Methot

The electric would go out and we would switch to our generator before the hurricane started. If the generator stopped, we needed extra water, and of course, we ran out of diesel because Dorian lasted so long. With the food and water we had, a hurricane of this magnitude would be survivable for us. My husband had built our Bahama home beyond the International or Dade County building code which became mandatory for all new homes built in Florida after Hurricane Andrew.

All four of us believed, according to slightly different weather reports, that Dorian would come in at 8 p.m. Saturday after some tropical storm business. Well, the next report on Saturday was that Dorian would now hit us about 8 a.m. Sunday morning after the opening tropical storm winds.

Woody and I knew that our downstairs was a concrete bunker as safe or almost as safe as our being in the President’s underground bunker in Washington, D.C. And that’s what I told my sister who thought Woody, Simon, and I were akin to the Three Stooges. That became the moniker Anne used when she called Simon’s family who could not understand why Simon did not get out of Abaco while he could. Woody and I did not leave because our house is a large investment and Woody is also the island’s best friend.

I tried to explain to my sister and brother and friends why we were staying, and only my brother seemed to understand that my house would be incredibly safe. Early Sunday morning, after about an hour’s sleep, my husband said, “the winds are increasing, we need to get downstairs while we can.” We took quick showers, the last ones we would take for three days.

At four in the morning, we went downstairs to the bunker where Simon and Peanut had already spent the night. Our little dog Papi stayed in his carrier most of the time because he is so old, but he and Peanut eventually worked things out, as animals usually do.

The tropical storm, Act I, began picking up speed at about 11 a.m. and Dorian was soon upon us. Upstairs we have Pella hurricane impact windows that are supposed to last through a 140 miles an hour. At 200 miles an hour plus, the upstairs windows held. In our bunker downstairs we have double glazed windows and the aluminum shutters on top of the windows. Nothing blew out.

Dorian’s first slam lasted about five hours; then came the eye of calm. All three of us went outside and surveyed the damage, stunned that the next-door neighbor’s house was gone and the neighbor’s cottage to the south was gone. His main house, however, appeared to be standing. The other houses to the east, including Simon’s, appeared to be intact. Our house had some water damage upstairs because the house to the north of us must have hit the edge of our roof. After about an hour of total calm in the eye, the monster winds began again for phase two.

This was the real horror. Our home of poured concrete shook so badly that the bed we were sitting on began vibrating. The deafening rain and wind were hitting the aluminum shutters with no relief. The three of us had evacuated to the bedroom after the living room sliding glass doors, protected by shutters, appeared to be coming apart. Simon and Woody put wood in the bottom tracks, preventing the glass slider from ripping and
exploding inside.

While we huddled in the bedroom with the two dogs, Simon saw the back door begin opening. He raced over and shut the door. Then Woody and Simon attached a piece of covered wire to a new nail in the door casing. Problem solved. This second Dorian slamming lasted hours and hours.

On Monday afternoon the hurricane moved its huge bloated self slowly away as another tropical storm came in to take Dorian’s place. About 5 p.m. Monday afternoon we surveyed the damage again. Because of the heavy rain, we could not see much, so the three of us assumed that everything looked as it had during the eye on Sunday. Not exactly. The main house of our neighbor to the south was standing but gutted and the entire Eastern Shore of Marsh Harbour looked like the aftermath of a bombing.

Photo courtesy Ron Methot

Our house had another leak, probably due to a neighbor’s shed blowing over us. Woody, Simon, and I began working to dry everything, including the tile floor downstairs. Our double-hung windows were good downstairs in our bunker, but the 200 plus winds had pushed the rain through the windows. During Dorian, I had used every towel but three to mop up the water that just kept coming in. We knew the water was not rising, just raining, no flooding.

The tide did come up but not near the house and not near the front door. Meanwhile, our friend Melay was stuck without a radio at the only surviving house next to Simon’s. All four of us had forgotten to make sure he had a radio.  When the generator blew over at this surviving house, Melay lost power during the second phase of the storm.

On Tuesday afternoon the tropical storm was still raging, but not the worst we had experienced.  Woody and Simon walked the island to rescue Melay, who was fine but out of food, although he had plenty of water. All three of them came back to our bunker after a quick survey of Simon’s house. He had some roof and gutter damage and a small hole in one of his walls due to another house’s debris slamming into his place.

Going and coming around the island was another nightmare for the men. They had to climb over the island jungle that had now collapsed; bits and pieces of houses and boats and smaller personal items were blocking the way.
By Wednesday, September 4, Woody was able to get the water flowing from our cistern, and we had quick showers. We get our water or did get our water from a pipe running from Marsh Harbour’s Eastern Shore. No more water pipes thanks to Dorian.

Photo courtesy Ron Methot

We stored the city water in our three thousand tank cistern, but before the storm hit, we were down to 1200 gallons. The one pump broke. Unfortunately, the hurricane also caused a leak, and the day we thought all was well was the beginning of the end for both the cistern and then the generator. They failed us early Friday morning.

September 6: We had been using the generator only at night, which meant the generator worked for 12 hours on and 12 hours off, but I suppose it too became traumatized by the storm. So…Friday morning Woody was able to get our neighbor’s Boston Whaler working. This is the only working boat on the island.

The rest are destroyed. Three houses out of 12 on the island made it through Dorian. Saturday morning.

September 7: Melay, Woody and I motored to Simon’s house to take showers and have coffee. Four hours earlier, Woody, Melay and Simon had taken the generator from another neighbor’s demolished house. They hooked it up to Simon’s electric panel and changed his burned-out water pump.

We were now able to have showers, do laundry, and charge our phones and VHF radios. Woody and I bought a Satellite phone years ago which we have been using to call the U.S. No cell service yet since the top fifty feet of the main cell phone tower was blown away. On Sunday afternoon friends came by in their boat from Florida with food and water and diesel.

Although our experience has been and is awful, we are really blessed that Melay, Simon, Woody, and I are alive. Melay no longer has a home in Marsh Harbour, so he will be living with us. One of my friends almost drowned in her house during Dorian and lost everything. Other friends also lost their homes or parts of them, while clinging to each other for hours and praying to survive.

My U.S. family and friends keep asking why Woody and I don’t leave. The answer: looters will take over our home. This is not the U.S., and we need Martial Law established in Marsh Harbour. As homeowners on Sugarloaf Cay, Woody and I must stand our ground.

 

Thank you, everyone, for your thoughts and prayers. Please help the Bahamians survive and rebuild. If this 200-plus storm had hit Florida, the same horror would have happened there.

Margaret Cross Rice
Sugarloaf Cay
Marsh Harbour
Abaco, Bahamas

Targeting Marlin and Pelagics from a Center Console

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Captain Adam Peeples runs the One Shot Charters out of the Destin, Florida area. In addition to running a first-class operation, Peeples is a combat veteran with two deployments in Iraq and a stint as an instructor at the US Army Sniper School to his credit.

By Capt. Adam Peeples

Here in the Northern Gulf of Mexico, we are fortunate to have an excellent marlin fishery. Whether live baiting blue marlin, pulling an all-around spread for pelagics, or targeting white marlin during the late summer with naked ballyhoo, there are plenty of options to get connected with a feisty billfish.

Targeting marlin from a center console requires a slightly different approach from a large sportfish vessel. As most of my trips are charters, I am more likely to troll a variety pack in my spread than to specifically target marlin in most situations. I want to capitalize on a potential marlin bite, but I also want to appeal to the potential wahoo, mahi, or tuna that may be in the area. I’ve had success with pulling lures for marlin, but in some situations, I would rather put a couple of live baits out than dragging lures.

Setting Up for Both Scenarios on the Center Console

On my Cape Horn 31T, my typical spread for marlin and pelagic fish in general includes five hooked lures and three teasers, with a pitch bait on standby. Off the transom, I pull a set of bowling pin type teasers. I connect the teaser to the starboard transom cleat, and I use a laundry basket to store, deploy, and recover the teaser. The laundry basket works perfectly for keeping the teaser from getting fouled during deployment and recovery. It also makes it easy to move the entire rig out of the way while fighting a fish.

Next, I have Squidnation’s “Flippy Floppy Things” on both riggers. I have clamp-on teaser reels attached to the underside of the T-top within arm’s reach of the helm. This enables me to immediately retrieve one or both teasers in the event of a bite while never leaving the helm. The specific lures I pull will vary depending on the situation, but typically I start with a Moldcraft Super Chugger on the left flat.

The right flat behind the bowling pins is always going to be a dolphin scheme lure as the teaser itself is dolphin colored. It usually is a Black Bart Eleuthera Plunger, but sometimes I will switch that out with an Ilander Black Hole/Ballyhoo combo. And the left rigger will have an Ilander Sea Star/Ballyhoo combo, while the right rigger is my “wild card” position. I will switch this lure out with whatever I am in the mood for, often a skirted ballyhoo or Moldcraft Wide Range.

The shotgun is usually a Marlin Magic Ahi P bullet. The sweet spot on my boat is 1700 rpms. In most conditions this gives me a troll speed of 7-8 knots. If the seas are rough, then RPMs can vary based trolling down sea, beam to, or straight into the swell. Space comes at a premium on a center console, so when we get a bite, the primary objective is to first clear all lines and teasers.

All rods, the teaser basket, and any other loose items are moved to the bow of the boat and away from the angler. It is very important to keep the deck clear and free of obstacles while fighting a fish in a stand-up harness, especially in a battle that requires a lot of boat driving. I prefer to fight fish off the port side of the boat and have the angler move forward and aft as needed throughout the fight. When it is time to leader the fish, I direct the angler forward of the console while taking a slight left turn. This keeps the fish away from the props and allows the fish to be brought alongside the boat for a safe release.

The Effectiveness of Live Baiting

While pulling baits is my preferred method of fishing for marlin, there are circumstances when live baiting is more effective. I like to live bait around FADS, drill ships, and even on large pieces of flotsam that are holding bait. Not having tuna tubes, catching and storing several large marlin baits is not really an option for me. What I can do is catch the bait on location. Baits are immediately bridled and deployed so I can have two lively baits behind the boat in a matter of minutes.

Live baits, especially blue runners, love to find their way into the props and around the motors on an outboard powered boat. It’s a team effort to deploy each bait. As soon as the bait is bridled, it is pitched out to the side of the boat away from the motors. Simultaneously, I give the throttle a quick bump forward and pull away from the bait. I will continue to pull away from it until it is right where it needs to be behind the boat. The first bait out goes into the right rigger clip to keep the line off the water and help maintain separation between the second bait.

Putting the second bait out requires the same method; the only difference is that I run the second bait closer to the boat straight from the rod holder. After that, I simply bump troll the baits in the area I want to fish. I prefer using this technique when I am in a very fishy area and want to spend time working the same spot.

If you choose to target marlin from a center console, there are a multitude of rigging options and aftermarket products available to set up a center console for blue water fishing. I prefer to keep things simple on my boat, but the possibilities are endless for how technical one wants to be. Getting the bite is only one piece of the puzzle. Correctly positioning the angler, driving the boat, and the endgame of wiring and handling the fish are just as important to successfully catch marlin from a center console and should not be overlooked.

Final Results for the 2020 Pelagic Rockstar Offshore Tournament

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Photo courtesy Pelagic.

Final Results for the 2020 Pelagic Rockstar Offshore Tournament

Billfish Release

Base Entry

1 Top Fly 3600
2 Rum Runner 3100
3 Game Plan 2800

Tuna Gamefish Division

Base Entry

Rank Team Day 1 Day 2 Points
1 Sea Hag 118.8 70.6 189.4
2 La Otra Vida 128.6 59.4 188
3 Fire Fly 98.8 98.8

 

Dorado Gamefish Division

Base Entry

Rank Team Day 1 Day 2 Points
1 Full Nelson 26.4 32.6 59
2 Mainline 24 31.2 55.2
3 Adios 28.1 26.2 54.3

Small Boat Billfish Release

Base Entry

Rank Team Points
1 Amys Dream 2100
2 Kelly Dawn 2000
3 Swordfish on Moon Walker 1600

Small Boat Tuna Gamefish Division

Base Entry

Rank Team Day 1 Day 2 Points
1 Cairns Australia on Big Eye II 164.8 164.8
2 Amys Dream 76 76
3 Gamefisher II 65.6 65.6

Small Boat Dorado Gamefish Division

Base Entry

Rank Team Day 1 Day 2 Points
1 Merman Magic fishing on Wetass II 27.6 46.2 73.8
2 Hooked Tifarno on Good Day 20.4 26.8 47.2
3 Gamefisher II 29.6 29.6

Top Angler

Large Boat Billfish Only

Rank Angler Points
1 Kurt Forsberg 1700
2 Christian Rojas 1600
3 Diego Porras 1400

Top Female Angler

Billfish Only

Rank Angler Points
1 Joni Smith 1400
2 Beth Kawaja 800
3 Nancy Llacuna 500

Ascension

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Photos courtesy Bryan Toney

By Mark Johnston

While Ascension Island doesn’t have high end luxury resorts or even a marina, statistics show it may be the best place in the Atlantic to catch a giant blue marlin. Three of the six largest blue marlin ever caught in the Atlantic were caught in the virgin waters surrounding Ascension. This statistic is all the more amazing considering how little fishing activity occurs around the island. While Ascension may lack certain amenities, it does provide access to a professional boat with a veteran crew who thrive on catching big blue marlin.

The Ascension Season

During the October 2016 through January 2017 season, Captain Bryan Toney experienced incredible blue marlin fishing off Ascension. Fishing the 36-foot Rampage Harmattan, with Olaf Grimkowski, Divan Coetzee and Matt Brown, Toney went 47 for 80 on blue marlin. This included 23 blues over 500 pounds, in fewer than 70 days of fishing. The biggest fish were in the 900-pound range.

Toney describes an additional six fish over the 1,000-pound mark that pulled the hooks. He also experienced a few days of catching three nice blues. Toney’s most recent season follows a 2015 campaign in which he produced a women’s world record 1,305-pound blue marlin in Ascension. The captain believes there are still bigger fish to be caught.

When not fishing the Atlantic, Toney captains the Marlin Magic out of Kona. The Hawaii native is no stranger to big blue marlin. He plans to return to Ascension in 2017 from October to January 2018.

“If you want the best odds at catching not only a big marlin but also a giant marlin, then Ascension is hands down the best spot on the planet. The odds end up being about 1 in 10 fish that you see are 900-plus,” Toney explains.

If interested in fishing or learning more about Ascension Island, contact Bryan at konagrander.com.

Texas Marine Coalition: Bringing the Boats Back Home

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By Captain Kevin Deerman

For a number of years now, many Texas boat buyers have avoided bringing their boats to their home state after purchasing them. What could prompt Texan boat owners to register their boats in other states? The answer: high boat sales tax rates here in our state.

In recent years, many other coastal states have reduced or eliminated their tax rates and found substantial increases in boat sales and registrations. These tax savings make it much more appealing for Texan boat buyers to purchase their boats out of state. Were the sales tax paid at purchase not bad enough, there is an additional factor at play in keeping boats out of Texas. In order to register a boat in Texas (something that is necessary if you plan to keep a boat in Texas waters for an extended period of time), you must pay sales tax in Texas – even if you have already paid tax on the purchase of a vessel out of state.

The TMC is committed to re-establishing Texas amongst the other leading coastal states in boat sales and generally promoting growth in the marine industry

What is the effect of this double taxation? Some sportfish vessel owners who would normally have kept the boat in Texas for most of the year, and traveled only a few months a year, now do the opposite. Rather some owners instead keep their boat in other states for most of the year, only returning to Texas to fish the tournaments. The effect of this displacement hurts the thousands of Texans who make their living in the marine service industries. This includes sportfishing crews, yacht brokers, mechanics, financial services, insurance agents, marinas, fuel docks, boatyards, marine supply stores and many others.

To address this and other concerns, a group of marine industry professionals in Texas have joined together to form the Texas Marine Industry Coalition (TMIC). The TMIC was created primarily to address this issue head on. The group also provides a voice for Texas marine businesses, employees, venders, customers, and all men and women that make their living in the marine industry. The TMIC is committed to re-establishing Texas amongst the other leading coastal states in boat sales and generally promoting growth in the marine industry.

The TMIC is now working with lobbyists to pass pro-sportfishing legislation in the next legislative session. Primary goals of this legislative agenda are bringing our tax rate down, establishing a boat sales tax cap similar to those in Florida and other coastal states and reducing restrictions on out of state boats to make it more attractive for them to bring their boats to Texas. The net result of this legislation would be marine industry job creation and spurring more economic activity for the benefit of coastal communities and the many businesses that benefit from bluewater sportfishing. Hopefully, with the support of the people in our industry, we can look forward to getting more boats back into Texas waters. For more information on the Texas Marine Industry Coalition visit the website at tmicoalition.org.

– That’s the report from Texas!

Why I Fish a Center Console

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Center Point is a section dedicated to bluewater fishing from a center console. The ongoing section explores techniques, rigging, approaches and best practices for offshore fishing from a center console boat. In this first column, Capt. Nick Stanzcyk of Islamorada, Florida provides his motivation for making the switch.

By Capt. Nick Stanzcyk
I grew up fishing on our family boat Catch 22. A 48’ Marine Management, it was your average charter boat with twin diesels, AC, bathroom and a 15-knot cruise. We fished every Sunday and then would travel to the Bahamas/Turks and Caicos for a few weeks each summer. In 2003, my family upgraded to a 54’ Blackwell. The boat was bigger, faster, and much more comfortable. The only bad news was the fuel burn was double and the maintenance and upkeep was at least five times that of the old boat. Not great for a charter boat. I got my captain’s license in 2003. My family was pretty heavy into swordfishing at that time. Most of the fishing was at night but my dad, uncle and their friends were slowly cracking the code for daytime swordfishing here in Florida.

My Dad wanted a faster boat he could fish with a smaller crew, so he ordered a 28’ center console. On the big boat you always needed a handful of people at the minimum to run the boat and fish safely. I started college a few months later at the University of Miami and ran charters part time on the center console on the weekends and on breaks. However, we sold the boat soon after because it didn’t get the speed we wanted, the fuel burn was more than expected and the boat wasn’t holding up to our expectations. We replaced it with a 34’ twin diesel crusader – the B n’ M.

Over the next six years, as I really started my charter career, I logged a lot of trips running the B n’M. I always joked and said it wasn’t fast but at least it was wet. In all honesty it was a great fishing boat, plain and simple, but I knew I wanted something bigger and faster. A few years later, I bought my own personal charter – a 36’ twin diesel express. I learned a lot with this boat, including working on diesel motors, generators, freezers and a better overall understanding of the “charter boat business.”

The boat had everything a nice 50’ boat had, except it was crammed into 36’ boat. Space was tight and the maintenance work was frustrating. It was miserable to go into the small engine room to change the oil, swap a bilge pump out, work on the generator, etc. And, I’m a small guy! This boat was a private boat before I owned it, and I realized it would make a better private boat than a charter boat. The ideal charter boat would minimize maintenance and upkeep.

Now we did catch plenty of fish on this boat, but after two years I finally decided it was time for a center console. I didn’t want to go in an engine room anymore (or at least anytime soon). Swordfishing was becoming my primary target species on charter trips so I wanted a boat with speed, stability and comfort. That’s when I came across Freeman Boatworks. My friend had fished one over in Venice, Louisiana and had nothing but nice things to say about them. I reached out to Freeman and eventually went on a sea trial at the Miami boat show. I’m pretty sure I had my mind made up before the show; I was going to get Freeman. I rode both the 34’ and the 37’, but I knew it was a better business decision to get a 34’. The build time was about one year back then. A few months passed and then they started calling me about getting a 37’ Freeman instead.

There was another 34’ coming to Islamorada and they wanted to have a bigger model down here. Scott was relentless and continued to stroke my ego about all the swordfish I caught. He would say all those big fish sure look better in a 37’ Freeman. Long story short, I gave him a green light to upgrade me into a 37’ from the 34’. Months passed and finally early the next year, I had a brand new 37’ Freeman delivered to Bud n’ Mary’s Marina. I told Scott (the guy who talked me into buying the 37’) I would trade him a swordfish trip in exchange for trailering the boat down from South Carolina.

I felt like a kid on Christmas when the boat showed up that night. It was pure excitement, big Yamaha outboards on the back, a pair of 16” Simrad screens on the console, JL speakers up and down both sides of the boat and a giant red, white, and blue wrap from Pelagic. The next morning, we put the boat in the water and Scott showed us everything on it. I figured he would drive back home after that, but he insisted on fishing that day. I was used to leaving at sunrise on my old boat and it was almost lunchtime now. I told him it was a 30-mile run to the close spot and we were already cutting the day short.

I wanted to give him the best-shot possible and put in a full day fishing. He insisted on fishing, so we loaded everything up and punched it offshore. I wasn’t used to running 35 knots, and sure enough we were out there in no time! I didn’t have any spots in the GPS, but I knew the area very well. On the second drop, the rod doubled over and we were tight. Two hours later, Scott caught his first ever swordfish –a 248-pounder! Not a bad way to break in the new boat! I knew I had made the right choice. It was also good for my street credit with Freeman. The last three years have been a fun ride. The boat became extremely recognizable with the red, white and blue wrap, and I’ve built a thriving charter business.

The best part is I haven’t had to go in an engine room in over three years! We’ve got better and better at swordfishing the last few years, and one reason we have more success is because we have more fishing time each trip. The boat is extremely comfortable when fishing and drifts amazing. I’ve never been on another center console that can drift in 4’ – 6’ waves with a similar level of comfort. The boat has it benefits when fishing for other species like sailfish and dolphin, too. You can walk (or run) around the entire boat while fighting fish, casting at fish, gaffing fish and you can chase fish with the angler on the bow. The boat has plenty of live well space with one well built in the transom and two in the deck and more storage than you could ask for in each sponson.

Sure, a center console isn’t for everyone, but for being a one man show and running a successful charter operation, I don’t see myself on another type of boat anytime soon.

Kona’s Capt. Shane O’Brien: $2.7 Million in Tournament Winnings at Age 30

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CAPTAIN SHANE O’BRIEN
Strong Persuader
43 Merritt, Kona, Hawaii
Wild Hooker: 68 Blackwell
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Owner: Allen Stuart

By Charlie Levine
Multigenerational fishing families run deep in Kona, Hawaii. The Big Island breeds good fishermen because the well-worn skills are handed down from captain to son (or daughter). Once inherited, fishing ability is modified, improved upon – rinsed and repeated. Thirty-year-old Captain Shane O’Brien is definitely part of that tradition.

Shane’s father, Fran O’Brien is one of the best wiremen in the business. He’s pulled on more granders than any other person in Kona. When Capt. Bart Miller had the notorious 1,656-blue marlin on, Fran jumped over from Bobby Brown’s No Problem and wired the fish. His fishing acumen runs deep, and he has passed it down to Shane. While the two O’Briens never fished together much  professionally, the elder captain opened many doors for his son.

“My dad introduced me to everyone and made it easy to get in the fishing business here,” Shane says. “He gave me every contact in the world.” At 12-years-old, Shane scored his first fishing job as a mate on a small charter outfit, making a whopping $20 a day. “I would’ve done it for free,” Shane says. “On the first day we caught a 465-pound marlin and I got to gaff it. Th at was the first fl yer I ever threw. He probably gave me a little more freedom than he should have, but I’m glad he did. It worked out.” Shane never looked back.

The next captain to take Shane under his wing was Kerwin Masunaga, a commercial captain and just about the fishiest guy you could meet (Masunaga was named InTheBite Hawaii Division Captain of the Year in 2017 and 2018). Together they’d target tuna, wahoo and a lot of bottom fish from Masunaga’s 34-footer. They’d run two- to four-day trips down to the southside of the island. It was a quick education for Shane in a range of fishing types, as well as boat handling and tackle prep.

O’Brien’s Kona dream machine – the Strong Persuader, a classic 43-foot Merritt.

When he turned 16, Shane started crewing one of the better charter boats, Foxy Lady, with Capt. Boyd Decoito during the summer. When he was 17, he got his first big tournament win. Th e boat took home $112,000. Th at win changed everything. Not only did he put some money in his pocket, he got to win with Allen Stuart – the man who would ultimately hire Shane to fish tournaments in Cabo and the Gulf Coast.

“When you win a big tournament like that, especially at 17… I was just high on life,” Shane says. Later that year Shane fished the Bisbee with Allen on the 61-foot C-Ya. They caught a couple small fish and didn’t place in the money but it was the same year that the crew on Bad Company won $3.9 million. “It was exciting to be around that kind of money,” Shane says. And seeing that crew accept that big check put an image in Shane’s mind of what he wanted to achieve as a captain. He didn’t wait long and got his captain’s license when he turned 18.

In 2007, Stuart bought the Five Star, a beautiful 1979, 43-foot Merritt stationed in Kona and named it the Strong Persuader. Aussie captain Craig Denham ran it and Shane worked under him and would fill in when Denham was gone. Before long, Shane was running the boat full time. “I’d decided I wanted to be a captain after I met my boss and knew there was longevity with him,” Shane says. “So many guys blaze in, fish one or two years and get out. With Allen, as far as fishing goes, he truly enjoys it.

He’s not doing it for the glory, or fame. He has a good time and has traveled the world.” For the first few years running the boat in Kona, Shane would fish with Allen three to four weeks straight in June and July. “We’d go hard,” he says. “We’d be the first to leave and come back after everybody was in. We’d stay out on the grounds overnight to get more fishing time in.” Their drive paid off. Shane and Allen won the second tournament they fished that year, the Skins, and took home $130,000. “As a brand new captain, it was exciting. It gave me a lot of drive,” Shane says. The operation expanded. Allen added the Wild Hooker, a 61-foot Blackwell stationed in Cabo and a second Wild Hooker, a 68 Blackwell to fish the Gulf of Mexico tournament circuit. They were soon fishing 10 to 14 events each year.

A young captain with an impressive tournament resume, Shane O’Brien is a name to remember.

They’d start pre-fishing the Gulf in April and May to get ready for the tournaments in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle. When those tournaments were done, they’d park the boat, fly to Hawaii
and fish four or five more events including the World Cup. Then it was back to the Gulf for late July. Sometimes they’d add in some Texas tournaments. Then off to Baja for the Bisbee’s and Los Cabos. That’s a lot of water and a lot of different styles of fishing.

“Live-baiting is pretty familiar to me, growing up in Hawaii,” Shane says. “The biggest difference is navigating the Gulf. We’d run 300 miles one way to fish these rigs in the middle of the Gulf. Then we’d go back to Hawaii where you might put the lures in one mile offshore. You’re always adapting but it’s the same core principles. Current, water temperature and structure and the basic ingredients for blue marlin. Then you put a few twists on it by networking with local boats.” Fishing in the Gulf can be excellent, but it’s a lot of effort and a lot of fuel. Shane says it wasn’t uncommon for them to burn 3,400 gallons a trip.

Like any good captain, a large portion of Shane’s responsibility takes place below the waterline. Fixing systems, updating electronics and when you have an old Merritt, a lot of varnish work. Being from Hawaii, where there is not an abundance of tradesmen around, you have to learn how to care for your boats yourself. That’s something he learned from his father – and the many other top captains in Kona. “All of the guys out here
are so good, and almost all of them helped me,” he says. “They’re always open with information, always answering questions. A lot of the captains here feel like my uncles.”

Shane’s boss just sold the 61 Blackwell and moved the 68 down to Cabo so the operation is purely Pacific now, but he’s still fishing the Gulf on friends’ boats. It’s hard to resist the opportunity to add some more trophies and dollar signs to the $2.7 million he’s already been a part of in his young career.

A young captain with an impressive tournament resume, Shane O’Brien is a name to remember.

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.