Marlin June/July 2022

“The respect of one’s peers is literally priceless. It cannot be bought for any amount—it can only be earned.” That’s how fishing legend Mark Sosin summed up the IGFA’s Tommy Gifford Award. Named for one of the sport’s greatest saltwater charter captains, its recipients are selected each year through a rigorous process conducted by the Legendary Captains and Crew committee, itself comprised of some of the top names in fishing: Bobby Brown, Bark Garnsey, Billy Harrison, Steve Lassley, Jack Morrow, Mike Myatt, Charles Perry, Bouncer Smith, Gary Stuve, Laurie Wright, and Peter B. Wright, as well as longtime Marlin contributors Karl Anderson and Skip Smith. This year, the IGFA honored Smith as part of the 2021 class of Tommy Gifford honorees, along with Ben DeGutis, Roger Greene, Pete Groesbeck, Andy Mezirow…

editor@marlinmag.com IN MEMORIAM: CAPT. JOHN COCHRANE The Texas and worldwide big-game fishing communities lost a great man with the tragic passing of Capt. John Cochrane. He had just returned from catching more blue marlin in Costa Rica when he died in a single-vehicle crash near Galveston, Texas, on April 3. Anyone who knew John also knew of his incredible fishing accomplishments, elite skills, and experience as one of the best big-game captains to ever come from the Gulf Coast. He fished all over the world and had numerous tournament wins, including the most recent Pelagic Pura Vida Blue Marlin Tournament in Quepos, Costa Rica. He holds the current Texas record for the most blue marlin releases in a calendar year. John leaves a legacy of giving back to our sport as the co-founder…

IN THE MOMENT Photographer Pepper Ailor shared this image and experience from the second leg of the 2022 Los Sueños Signature Triple Crown: “There were five minutes left to fish on the last day. We needed a blue marlin to win the daily and then raised this one. Greg Angel fed it a bait, but the blue somehow missed it. But disappointment turned to cheers five minutes later when they announced we had won the tournament.” LOCATION Ailor was fishing on Rum Runner with Capt. Joe Crawford. TECH SPECS CAMERA: Nikon Z6 LENS: AF-P Nikkor 70-300mm ISO: 125 APERTURE: f/4.5 SPEED: 1/2000 sec…

• As a journalism major at Morehead State University in eastern Kentucky during the late 1970s, Richard Gibson landed a part-time job as a photographer for the school’s newspaper; the experience taught him that a career in news and sports photography was his calling. After graduation, Gibson went to work as a staff photographer for the Virgin Islands Daily News in St. Thomas, where he covered the annual marlin tournaments; it was his first exposure to the world of offshore sport fishing. With 58 Marlin covers to date—and counting—Gibson is still looking for that next great shot. What was it like to fish the North Drop back in the 1980s and early ’90s? Spectacular! There weren’t too many traveling boats yet, and with so little pressure on the edge, it led to…

• Sea Angel and Rum Runner are two of the most familiar teams that have been fishing the Los Sueños Signature Triple Crown in Costa Rica nearly every year since its inception, and while both teams have visited the awards stage, neither has won the overall series title. This year, they combined forces and emerged victorious by the narrowest of margins. Team Sea Angel on Rum Runner, a 72-foot Viking owned by Carlos Pellas and captained by Joe Crawford, featured a blended team of anglers representing the Pellas and Angel families and close friends, including Greg Angel, Carlos Pellas Sr., Carlos Pellas Jr., Austin Angel, Greg Voell, Emilio Munkel, Julio Chamorro, and Felipe Mantica. This year, 35 teams participated in all three legs of the Triple Crown and were therefore eligible…