What: At the top of our sport is a collection of boat owners, captains, crew, anglers, and their family and friends that literally live to fish and have fun with one another. They say you can’t buy happiness, but you can buy a boat—and a bite. It’s no secret that billions of dollars are spent on boats, tackle, crews, and travel. Today’s large sportfishing vessels have become small businesses in their own right, with full-time personnel and charter operations working to deliver exceptional fishing and travel adventures. To some, this may seem excessive, but how awesome is it to be able to use your means to do what you love; chasing the next fish and relaxing with family and friends on your own boat, outfitted to your exact needs and lifestyle? When: Naturally, these sportfish teams and their boats move with the seasons. Captain Neil Sykes, who is in charge of the Virginia-based 72’ Viking, Mercenaria, gave us some insight into their operations. “Domestically, we do a lot of tuna fishing in late spring and early summer. We shift focus toward marlin fishing usually around late July with various tournaments sprinkled in throughout those months,” he says. In the winter, owners and their crew set their sights on sunnier sojourns to the south. The destinations have a few obvious things in common: they’re all warm and are surrounded by saltwater teeming with fish—Florida, Bahamas, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Costa Rica, and beyond. As far as the fisheries themselves, each is known for slightly different traits. Wintering in Florida, anglers are typically focused on the sailfish bite or a variety of meatfish to fill the box with. Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica are known for their proximity to fishing grounds that support large schools of bait, billfish and a hectic bite. Bermuda typically doesn’t host the same quantities, but makes up for that with quality—it’s one of the places anglers head in search of the biggest blue marlin and a shot at catching a grander (a 1,000+ lb. marlin). And of course, all of these These elite sportfish owners and their crews stop at nothing to chase the bite in their own boats A proper end to a day in Bermuda 14 BLUEWATER
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzI5NTg=