Marlin April/May 2022

Want to get away from it all? I mean really get away? If you do it's hard to beat Point Nemo. Located in the southern Pacific Ocean and named for the captain in Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Point Nemo is the remotest spot on our planet. It’s roughly 1,600 miles from the nearest landmass. Ducie Island, part of the Pitcairn Islands off South America, is to the north; Motu Nui, one of the Easter islands, lies to the northeast; and Maher Island, off Antarctica, is due south. The town of Concepción, Chile, is 2,600 miles away; Wellington, New Zealand, is 3,000 miles in the opposite direction. It’s not particularly deep, but you’ve got the fishing all to yourself. What makes this spot noteworthy is that it’s the perfect place…

editor@marlinmag.com IN MEMORIAM My brother, Jimmy Loveland, passed away in his sleep on February 4, 2022. He first came to the Virgin Islands in 1962 with Capt. Johnny Harms and Capt. Jerry Black to develop sport-fishing charters out of Caneel Bay Resort for Laurance Rockefeller. Harms, Black and Jimmy pioneered sport fishing in the Virgin Islands, studying the local charts and testing the fishing grounds. In 1966, he caught a 761-pound blue marlin, the fourth largest ever caught at that time. He later caught a 124-pound wahoo that established the 50-pound-test men’s world record at that time. Purchasing a 55-foot boat and naming that second boat Fish n’ Fool, he branched out into the tour business. Jimmy was the first operator to feature weekly tours to Treasure Island and the Baths in…

RUN FOR HOME As Hurricane Irma pinballed its way through the Caribbean in 2017, many boats were forced to take evasive action in order to avoid damage from the storm. Aboard Chad Damron’s 75-foot Weaver, Sodium, photographer Richard Gibson found himself first heading southeast to St. Lucia as the storm struck the Virgin Islands, then en route back to Miami a few days later. LOCATION Gibson snapped this image at sunrise in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. TECH SPECS CAMERA: Canon EOS 1DX Mark II LENS: Canon 24mm ISO: 250 APERTURE: f/4 SPEED: 1/640 sec…

• When the Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic kicks off this summer, it will celebrate 25 years of promoting the state’s offshore fishery to visitors from near and far. And like a proud father, Bobby Carter will be watching it all and assuredly enjoying every moment. Along with Marlin co-founder Bill McClellan, it was Carter’s idea to bring a world-class tournament to the state, with the first event taking place in 1997. Last year, the Classic featured a total cash purse of more than $1.8 million for the 101 participating teams, making it among the largest offshore tournaments in the United States. Did you grow up on the Gulf Coast? Yep, I was born in New Orleans and went to college at the University of Southern Mississippi, where I graduated with a…

TEXAS SWORDFISH The daytime deep-drop broadbill bite picks up off the Lone Star State; stitched belly strips and rigged squid are highly productive. EAST CAPE, MEXICO SUPER SLAM Chase blue, black and striped marlin, plus sailfish, in the Sea of Cortez while enjoying the friendly vibe of old-school Baja. NORTHERN COSTA RICA SAILFISH The bite moves up the coast in late spring, with most of the sailfishing revolving around Flamingo for the months of April and May. LOUISIANA SWORDFISH AND TUNA Your call: Deep-drop for daytime swordfish or target yellowfin tuna around the production platforms scattered throughout the upper Gulf of Mexico. CAPE VERDE BLUE MARLIN The season gets underway in late April and just keeps getting better, with blue marlin in both size and numbers found throughout these islands. ILHÉU BOM BOM BLUE MARLIN Good numbers of blue marlin, with a few trophy-size fish, will migrate…

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