InTheBite

Gamefisherman Introduces New 50-foot Walk Around

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Launching of the NEXT GEN
50′ WALK AROUND

Designed to Fish & Travel
We are very excited to announce that Gamefisherman will soon be adding another member to its list of family members.  In April, we will be starting the latest in our series of new builds.  As we approach the West Palm Beach Boat show we wanted to give you a brief description of what this new model is all about.

The 50’ walk around will be powered by quad outboards.  Since delivery will be in 2020, the owner has reserved his right to choose motors further into the build.  Early indications say that some of outboard manufacturers will have 500+ HP outboards available by then.  The new 50’ walk around will come with a huge cockpit and full mezzanine seating for up to six people.  It will be outfitted with a Marlin Tower with a four sided enclosure so the bridge deck will have full temperature control.

The Gamefisherman 50’ walk around is designed to fish and travel. It will have two large insulated in deck fish boxes and a 50 gallon livewell built into the transom.  Belowdecks it will have a master stateroom forward with a full walk around queen.  The master will have its own private head and shower.  The interior will feature a large galley with refrigeration, microwave, and stovetop with fridge and freezer combo below.  A separate aft stateroom will feature four separate bunks.  In addition, the boat will have a second head and shower that can accommodate the rear stateroom guests. The quad outboard engines are predicted to push her to a cruise speed of 40 MPH, with a top end approaching 52 MPH.  This model will be equipped with a Gyro to be located in the cockpit.  This new setup will be sure to capture the attention of others in the tournaments circuit in Florida.

50′ Walk Around SPECS
LOA: 50′ | Beam: 15’9″ | Draft: 2’8″
Displacement: 36,000 lb. | Fuel: 800 gal.
Water: 150 gal. | Power: Quad Outboards- HP and model to be determined

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

 

 

Old Salts Rule: Captain Sam Crutchfield

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Here’s the full Old Salt interview with Capt. Sam at the Fort Pierce Inlet.

Captain Sam Crutchfield – The Florida Sportsman

by Dale Wills

Singer, songwriter, newspaper columnist, book author, duck hunter and longtime captain – Sam Crutchfield can catch most anything that swims in fresh or salt water. Were that not enough, Capt. Sam is also proficient in Morse code and was bitten by an alligator while wade fishing for bass in a Florida lake. Captain Sam Crutchfield is an outdoorsman in every sense of the word. When speaking with Sam you could hear about most anything – a play by play story of a big blue off Walker’s Cay or about any number of adventures in Florida or the Caribbean. Today, at the age of 79, you can still find Capt. Sam at his local boat ramp fishing in the Indian River Lagoon and along the Treasure Coast beaches almost every morning. “You can never get a missed day of fishing back,” he says gently.

The Young Captain Sam

Born in 1939 in Polk County, Florida, Capt. Sam Crutchfield was hooked on fishing by the age of six. His father had a little boat and motor and would run out of Camp Mack on the Kissimmee River targeting big bass on shiners and artificials. His favorite holes were the Polk County phosphate pits, which according to Capt. Sam, “made the bass really big.” It was here that Sam caught his largest bass to date – a 17.2-pound whopper. Sam recalls how the incredible bass fishing during his youth has changed. “I remember the day they started dredging the Kissimmee to create the canal to Lake Okeechobee. It broke my heart, and it’s never been the same since.”

Captain Sam Crutchfield with his all-tackle 77-pound world record dolphin. It stood for more than decade.

After high school, Sam joined the Coast Guard. “I enrolled in Radio School with the plan to relocate to Fort Pierce to be on the Ft. Pierce inlet. Upon completing my training, I quickly realized Ft. Pierce did not have a radio position. I then selected Jacksonville Beach Coast Guard station to be my new home.” Back then, radio communication was Morse Code (which Captain Sam can still encode today).

Captain Sam’s two day on, two day off schedule in Jacksonville was ideal. “Hunting and fishing was easy with my schedule. In the fall, I would hunt ducks on the land currently developed as the TPC Sawgrass Golf Club in Ponte Vedra, Florida. It was one of the best flyways you could imagine. Widgeon, pintails and teal were so prevalent,” says Sam. “In the spring and summer, I would fish the Jacksonville pier in which I witnessed over a half-dozen fifty-pound kingfish caught.” Sam is careful to note that his biggest kingfish, caught off of Ft. Pierce, tipped the scale to 67-pounds.

A Career in Sportfishing

After his service in the Coast Guard, Capt. Sam finally moved to Ft. Pierce to attend Indian River Community College – and fish. During this time Sam started mating on charter boats. This was the beginning of a lifelong sportfishing career.

Crutchfield earned his captain’s license in 1966. “I started running a small 19’ inboard charter boat with a 70-hp named Lucky. We mostly fished the Ft. Pierce inlet and Indian River Lagoon for snook, tarpon, trout and redfish. I was lucky to be mentored by Capt. Rollin Matheson at the time. He was a big influence on me when I first started,” Sam recalls. “We used all conventional tackle with wire leader. I remember when the first spinning reels came out. Eagle Claw introduced ‘cat gut’ as a type of mono and the spinning reels were awful. They got their names ‘spinning’ because they would spin the line up in a mess.”

Crutchfield’s first charter boat, the Lucky.

A couple of years later, Crutchfield upgraded his boat, purchasing the Lucky Too, a 23’ T Craft with a 225-hp inboard Chrysler. The boat was equipped with two big live wells and two fishing chairs and could take a party of four fishing comfortably. Then, in 1973, he upgraded the boat again with a 30’ T Craft also called Lucky Too with a CAT 3160 diesel engine.

“My charter business progressed to mostly offshore fishing then.” In 1976, Sam purchased a 40’ Warren O’Neal-built boat out of North Carolina. The boat was originally built for sportfish legend Omie Tillet and is still in charter service today out of Oregon Inlet. During the late 70s and early 80s, Captain Sam built a steady charter business from Ft. Pierce which evolved into a world class operation booking clients in the summers to fish out of Walker’s Cay in the Bahamas.

During the fall, Sam was dialed into duck hunting around Lake Okeechobee and Louisiana – when he wasn’t charter fishing his local Ft. Pierce waters. Sam also mentioned he forged a great relationship with his dock partner and friend Chip Shafer during the height of his charter career. “Captain Chip’s friendship has meant a lot to me over the years, and we are still fishing buddies today,” says Capt. Sam.

In 1985, Capt. Sam retired from charter fishing, making the switch to private boats. His first private position was working for Charlie Campbell on the Escape, a 53’ Hatteras out of Stuart, Florida. “I had the opportunity to fish and help Charlie with his hunting ranch in Okeechobee. It was ideal, but short lived,” recalls Captain Sam.

Crutchfield’s largest blue marlin. Caught and released in Walker’s, it was a tank.

Around 1988, Capt. Sam switched gears again and accepted a new captain’s position on the 53’ Hatteras Lillian B. The new job allowed him to return to Walker’s Cay on a regular basis. The position evolved into working on a second family-owned boat, a 60’ Hatteras called Silver Streak. Captain Sam would split time on both boats. This lasted until the early 90s.

Captain Sam recalls many evenings sitting around the dock at Walker’s where he and so many others were, as Sam puts it, “living the good ole’ days but just didn’t know it.” The dock parties at Walker’s and Captain Sam’s love for music eventually paved the way for Captain Sam’s next career – in the music business.

In 1995, Sam finally traded the ship’s wheel for a microphone, jumping full time into his singing career. Captain Sam recalls how Walker’s Cay charter captain Billy Black and friends – and the nights of singing and playing guitar on the dock after fishing – influenced many of his songs. Most of his lyrics were conjured up in the shadow of the iconic Walker’s Cay scale. If you like fishing even a little bit, you can’t help but enjoy Crutchfield’s songs like Trollin, Ugly, The Mullet & The Mackerel & The Ballyhoo and Big Game Fishin’.

“I really enjoyed making music, but didn’t realize that once you start making albums, every year you need to come out with another and another. I decided to quit making music after 13 albums,” Captain Sam recalls. (If you are interested in buying one of Captain Sam Crutchfield’s CDs for the boat, give us a call at InTheBite).

A Lifetime on the Water

Captain Sam’s lifelong interest in fishing proved to be one of his best decisions. “Through the years there were good times, bad times, sad times, and most of all, the wonderful times when good folks got together on a fishing boat to share the fun and excitement of sportfishing,” he says. “Recently on a morning fishing trip a young fella yelled ‘Hey old man, have you fished here all your life?’ ‘Nope,’ I answered. ‘Not yet!’”

Captain’s Wife-Approved Destinations

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by Alexandra Stark

One of the many charms of the sportfishing lifestyle is the travel to exotic places. By the very nature of the activity, just about every place from which you can catch a marlin or sailfish has a beach. Most also have marinas and a place to grab a bite to eat. For a captain’s wife, the chance to spend a vacation in a place where the boat is fishing can be a wonderful perk.

If you were setting up a travel plan, how could you select a location that combines great fishing with everything necessary for a special trip for your special lady? Get this wrong at your own peril – Ascension Island has world class blue marlin fishing, but how would she feel about “feeding bread to half-wild donkeys” as the headliner of her land-based itinerary? There are also many places with great night life and amenities that don’t hold up the fishing side of the equation.

There are places, however, that play host to great fishing and the types of amenities and activities that make them ideal for captains and their wives. We’ve selected the following locations by asking professional captains and their wives for their recommendations. The following is a profile of a few of the best, with an interview from a professional who describes the ins and outs of each location.

Andrea Angel, with her husband Captain BC, is a veteran of many fishing vacations.

Los Suenos Resort and Marina, Costa Rica

By now everyone in the world has heard of the great billfishing opportunities out of Los Suenos. The world class fishing is matched by a resort that overlooks no detail in providing an incredible atmosphere. It truly boasts of a whole gamut of activity – one that any captain’s wife would certainly enjoy.

Ashley Bretecher, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications has been with Los Sueños for 16 years. When she started it was to help during the high season only. Ashley left for a year to go to school and decided to come back to stay. Los Suenos is now home to Ashley and her daughter. Here is Ashley’s perspective:

  • What are some of the reasons most people choose to come to Los Suenos? While the reasons vary between guests, most come because they can enjoy the Costa Rican jungle and Pacific Ocean in 5-star luxury, with superior service and amenities. The marina and our fishery have and continue to be the primary driver of real estate sales, given the blue skies, flat calm waters, and supreme bill fishery. We are also known as a premium inshore fishing destination with plentiful roosterfish, cubera snapper, grouper, and amberjack.
  • What about Los Suenos is especially attractive to women? Los Sueños is especially attractive to women because they can enjoy all the same activities that their husbands enjoy, with the benefit of a 5-star resort. There is shopping, medical services, restaurants, chef services, cooking classes, full service spa, golf, fitness facilities, yoga, tennis, beach club, and plenty more. All this in a safe and secure environment. We hear it all the time – they can go out walking or jogging and feel completely safe at all times

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Cabo San Lucas is a place full of adventure and wonder. Its desert climate mean lots of sunshine and little rain. The waters surrounding it host a world class striped marlin fishery, with big blues and blacks mixed in. Aside from the fishing, Cabo offers an unmatched quality and diversity of accommodation and activity (dune buggy riding, parasailing, desert camel riding, spa days, drinking margaritas on the beach…you can even take pictures with baby lions!)

If you can’t figure out a good place to grab a cold drink in Cabo, you might have a serious problem. The Marina Cabo San Lucas is a great place to start. Photo courtesy Marina Cabo San Lucas

Darren “Diz” Carey is the General Manager of IGY’s Marina Cabo San Lucas, the 375-slip marina that plays host to sportfishers and megayachts – up to 380’ – from far and wide. A British ex-pat, Diz offers some wise perspective on what a companion/fishing vacation to Cabo might look like. His perspective is delivered charmingly with an understatement, thoughtfulness and wit.

  • What are some of the reasons most people choose to come to Cabo? There are many fishing tournaments in Cabo San Lucas, most notably the Bisbee’s Black and Blue Marlin tournament each October.
  • What about Cabo is especially attractive to women? “Cabo is especially attractive to everyone if you ask me. Cabo has it all –

 shopping from designer brands to the best fakes – you can buy a $10 Rolex or walk down a little ways and pay $25k for the real thing. There are health spas with a large spectrum of services and pricing, 19 luxurious golf courses, restaurants spanning from taco bars to Michelin star chefs,” Carey says. Carey recommends the organic farm to table restaurant “Flora Farms” for a great meal and a good time. Whale watching and turtle hatchling release are must sees if you are there in the right season. There are also secluded beaches with wild horses are in Cabo, yes, this actually exists and it’s free!  Carey reports that there are three stores in the marina that cater to women, even selling the latest in fishing gear.

One of Cabo’s many charms: You never know what you might see. Photo courtesy IGY Marinas

  • What is one thing about Cabo San Lucas that most people do not know? “Though many people are attracted to Cabo for the fishing and the partying, there is also a recent uprise in upscale and high-end restaurants that are getting national acclaim,” Carey reports. Baja has also recently opened its first and only craft brewery, El Toro Baja Brewery. Another surprising fact is that there are many family packages available when visiting Cabo so that the entire family, including the kids can have a wonderful time in this magical place.

The Abaco Islands, Bahamas

There is just so much to do in the Abacos, so many places to go – rent your own boat or grab a ferry and you can do most anything. Everything is right next to each other and you can do something new every day. The main hub is Marsh Harbour, but don’t miss Manowar Cay or Treasure Cay. The most popular spot is Guana where you can join the sportfishing crowd every Sunday at Nipper’s and Grabbers. Visit Pete’s Pub by boat while you’re at it.  You can swim with the pigs on Pig Beach in No Name Cay. The blue marlin fishing in the spring time is the high liner. The Abacos feature lots of canyons and bottom topography with plenty of coverage for tournament fleets.

Kevie Thomas, Rooms Division Director, Abaco Beach Resort & Boat Harbour Marina Marsh Harbour, Abaco, The Bahamas.

Kevie is a local and oh so proud of her Bahamian culture. She provides an insider’s perspective on what a trip to the Abacos, a group is islands and barrier cays in the northern Bahamas, might look like. “I was born and raised here, but I would not want to live anywhere else. Abaco is one big family, everyone knows everyone. It’s just a relaxing great place to live.”

“Don’t leave me on a beautiful beach with a waterfront resort!” said no wife ever. Photo courtesy Abaco Beach Resort

  • What are the reasons most people choose to come to the Abacos? “People choose to come to Abacos first and foremost because of the warm, friendly, kind and loving people. Abaco is also the destination of choice for the boaters because there is so much you can do. We have some of the best deep sea and bone fishing, diving, snorkeling and best beaches in the world. We are surrounded by little Cays each offering something different to explore. The Abacos are so protected that boating is still possible, even on windy days.”
  • What about the Abacos is especially appealing to women? Women like if they do not want to fish on that particular day they can go beaching, island hopping, shopping or visit a very nice restaurant for lunch or just relax by the pool.
  • What is one thing about the Abacos that most people do not know? Abaco has so many unexplored natural resources, like the blue holes, one of the amazing wonders of the world and this island is covered with them.

Key West, Florida

Want an island experience without the need for a passport? Key West provides an excellent fishery for everything from sailfish and wahoo to all manner of snapper and grouper exploits. It is also home to a vibrant hospitality scene, complete with a laid-back atmosphere, plenty of options for having a good time and eating something tasty.

The Oceans Edge Marina provides the fishing facilities necessary to compliment Key West’s full suite of good time attributes.

Brianna Birtles is the marketing director at Oceans Edge Marina in Key West.   “I have been in Key West for six years now, having moved from New York. I was sick of my NY commute and in need of a change. I visited Key West prior to and decided to (do as David Sloane’s book suggests) ‘Quit my job and moved to Key West.’  I had previously worked in both advertising and travel but looked to completely restart and build a career in hotels.” Just 90 miles from Cuba, Key West is the most Southern City in the United States.

  • What are the reasons most people choose to come to Key West? People travel to Key West to enjoy the beautiful, surrounding waters, many water activities, fantastic fishing, the vibrant Cuban culture and many musical influences.
  • What about Key West is especially appealing to women? “Key West has many female fishing enthusiasts that travel here to Key West for tournaments like: That’s What She Shot. Additionally, women travel to Key West for our beautiful scenery, luxurious spas and resorts and lots of fun on Duval!  Key West also has a very close connection to the arts and history.”
  • What is one thing about Key West that most people do not know? Key West once declared war with and succeeded from the US. In the 19th century, Key West was one of the country’s most prosperous cities per capita thanks to its numerous shipwreck treasures. Key West is home to the only living coral barrier reef in the continental US. Last, but certainly not least, Key West is NOT known for our beaches. Due to the surrounding reef system we don’t naturally produce beach.