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The latest models of sportfishing yachts are bigger and more powerful and have larger fuel capacities and can range much further than their predecessors. As a result, boats fishing tournaments out of Florida Panhandle marinas often fish oil rigs off the coast of Louisiana and, when things go right, get back to the scales with time to spare.
THE CAPTAIN AND CREW of the Rise Up had what they believed would be a place-winning yellowfin tuna on ice but had yet to boat a marlin and time was running short. Fishing off Louisiana, the Rise Up was a long ways from the Orange Beach (Alabama) Billfish Classic’s tournament scales. Boat owner Rusty Skalla and the others on board had resigned themselves to the near certainty that they would be weighing in a “meat fish,” but no billfish. Billfishing in the northern Gulf of Mexico tends toward long stretches of monotony interrupted by brief, unpredictable periods of pandemonium. With 30 minutes left in the OBBC’s fishing hours, pandemonium happened. The Rise Up was tied up with a contender. Twenty-three minutes later, the 120-inch fish was on the deck, and occasioned a celebration that was cut short by the need to immediately ready the boat for the run home. The Rise Up had another deadline to meet – getting to the scales before they closed at 7 p.m. – and doing so would require hauling, well, keister. To add to the challenge, electronic sensors on the motors detected a problem
and de-rated them, limiting the maximum number of RPMs at which they could be run. The captain had no choice but to shut the engines down, let them cool and then hope he would be able resume normal operation. He would prove able to do so, but not for long. Three times, the Rise Up would de-rate on the way in. If it had happened twice, the Rise Up may have made it to the scales on time. As it was, it arrived at the scale 100 seconds late. The tournament weighmaster, as a courtesy, put the tardy marlin on the scales. “Seven hundred and seventy-one pounds,” he announced. That is, it weighed 120 pounds more than the tournamentwinning blue marlin. The Rise Up had missed out on $150,000 in prize and Calcutta money by a matter of less than two minutes. Such are the stakes and the uncontrollable variables that affect the sport of big game, blue-water tournament fishing. And the stakes are only getting higher. The latest generation of sportfishing yachts features boats that are bigger, more expensive, have greater ranges and burn a lot of fuel.
EXPERIENCE MAGAZINE
WINTER - SPRING 2018
23