Author: Charlie Levine

Surf Expo 2012 One of the biggest parts of Surf Expo is the swimwear section, which just happens to be dominated by lady’s swimsuits. Who are we to complain about that? Surf Expo boobies These chicks were super cool, and I have to get one of those “I Love Motor Boating” trucker hats. Check out their full line at www.boobiesrule.org. Proceeds go toward breast cancer awareness. surf expo Some of the world’s best shapers took their turn in the shaping room. guys paint I watched these guys paint a mural for a bit. Pretty cool. The finished boards are auctioned…

Indian River Oysters | Florida Oyster Reefs In just two hours on a Saturday afternoon, about 50 volunteers created roughly 200 oyster mats to be placed in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon as part of a restoration project that’s been ongoing for more than six years. The oyster reef restoration effort is led by Dr. Linda Walters, a biology professor at the University of Central Florida, located in Orlando. Walters and her colleagues created the program to help rebuild the oyster beds that were dying off at an alarming rate, having declined by more than 85 percent. Oysters act as nature’s water…

Bluefin Tuna As the saying goes, even elephants eat peanuts. This 920-pound bluefin was hooked on a pretty small Bomber diving plug. Tuna Bluefin tuna have a large eyeball so they can see at extreme depths when hunting prey such as squid. What’s For Dinner The big bluefin was full of triggerfish and Bermuda sea chubs. Bermuda Tuna The 920-pound bluefin tuna set a new Bermuda record eclipsing the 727-pounder that was caught several years ago by Andrew’s brother Capt. Alan Card. Not a Wahoo Capt. Andrew Card often fishes alone for tuna and wahoo off of Bermuda. He and…

It’s not the new world-record yellowfin tuna. Although it was caught on a Mustad circle hook, it’s not going to win $1 million bucks in the Mustad Hook a Million sweepstakes either. But it may very well be the largest yellowfin tuna ever caught on rod and reel. And for angler Ronnie Tegland, that’s plenty. Ronnie was fishing with his dad, Ron Tegland, friend C.G. Miller and mates Tony Green and Martin “Lobo” Ruiz on the family boat, Tenacious, a 65-foot Monterey that was previously owned by golfer Greg Norman. The Tegland family keeps Tenacious in San Jose, Mexico, and…

You’ll often hear Florida referred to as the “Sportfishing Capital of the World.” The moniker is well deserved as Florida is home to one of the most abundant saltwater fisheries in the United States. Anglers flock to the Sunshine State every year to get in on the action, but of all the fish you can catch in Florida, the Atlantic sailfish is one of the most popular to target. I guess that’s why the sailfish is the state’s official saltwater fish. Both tourists and locals chase sails because the fish thrive close to shore off of south Florida, they put…

Joe Cermele, the author of “The Complete Guide to Surfcasting,” isn’t just a good writer, he’s also one heck of an angler. You only need to flip a few pages into his book on surfcasting before you get the sense that this author knows what he’s talking about. And, even better, he knows what readers want in a how-to book — and delivers it in spades. This 320-page book delivers every bit of information you could possibly want on the subject of surfcasting, or catching saltwater fish from the shore, jetties and/or inlets. There are several chapters devoted to the…

If you regularly read fishing magazines, odds are you’ve seen some of Pat Ford’s photography. And, more likely than not, his photo was on the cover. Ford has traveled around the globe feeding his obsession to catch fish of all sorts and capture the action and beauty of the sport with his camera. In his latest book, “Fly-Fishing Daydreams: The Most Exciting Fly-Fishing Adventures Around the World,” Ford takes the reader to the world’s best fishing locations. From throwing flies to high-flying makos in Mission Bay, California, to chasing salmon in the icy waters of Russia’s Kola Peninsula, Ford recounts…

There’s an old adage that says it’s better to have a friend with a boat than to have a boat of your own. The reasoning, of course, is that everything about a boat is expensive. Which brings up another favorite saying: What does BOAT stand for? Break out another thousand… Yup, boats are not cheap and neither is fuel, bait or dockage. It all adds up quickly but the times you have on the water are likely the best times you will have in your life. You never know what you’re going to find when you leave the dock. It’s…

If you think running a marathon sounds like a lot of work, try swimming 2,282 nautical miles. That’s what it took to win the 2010 Great Marlin Race… and the 2011 race is already underway. Going into its third year, the Great Marlin Race has combined competition, science and recreational anglers to gather much-needed data about the migrations of marlin. Billfish are some of the most difficult species in the ocean to study because they make vast oceanic treks each year. Researchers know very little about where they roam. Gathering such information is a crucial step to protect the animals,…

On Labor Day weekend, Legendary Capt. Mike “the Beak” Hurt was at the helm of Chiqelin, looking for striped marlin off the Southern California coast. The crew consisted of four other people, including Beak’s son, Shane Hurt. The fishing was picking up and the crew had spotted some of the first marlin of the season, but then some black smoke on the horizon took precedent over the fishing. “We had seen the boat about an hour earlier,” Beak said. “We kept an eye on it, looking to see if they were doing any fishing. We had just started seeing some…

On August 12th the first California-caught striped marlin of 2011 was finally landed, marking the beginning of the season. Team Shimano found the slack-tide sleeper just above the 267 at 33:19/117:52 and the fish ate a mackerel. Angler Justin Poe landed the fish with Robby Gant running the boat and Tracy Melton and Jason Levine manning the cockpit. They weren’t fishing on a 60-foot sport-fisher, they landed it on Trinidad, a SeaVee center console, proving that you don’t need a big boat to find and successfully land striped marlin in California. More boats are reporting striped marlin each day, and…

Just after sunset, as the sun began to fade and the moon started to rise, Greg Myerson hooked into the fish of his life. Using a live eel, the most go-to striped bass bait known to man, Greg came tight to what he knew was going to be a big bass. But he never would have guessed that the fish he was about to reel in would ignite a media storm that the fishing world hasn’t seen since Al McReynolds caught a 78-pound, 8-ounce striper off the Vermont Avenue jetty in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1982. The conditions were…

When I first saw the photo of the 81-pound striped bass that Greg Myerson caught on August 4th, my eyes grew wide and my freaking jaw dropped. When I heard he caught the fish right where I grew up fishing, I was kind of stoked, but more jealous. Myerson lives in North Branford, Connecticut, the same town where my parents have owned a business for more than 40 years. And he was fishing out of Westbrook, Connecticut, which is just one town over from where we kept our boat growing up. Odds are his 81-pound striped bass was hanging around…

Each year I attend a bunch of different trade shows, boat shows, seminars and outdoorsman shows. They’re all cool in their own way, but the ICAST fishing tackle show is by and far my favorite one of the year. ICAST began as a buyer’s show where tackle wholesalers could go and make orders for the coming year. A bunch of buyers still come to the show, but it’s grown into a full-on media blitz. This is the spot where all of the big tackle manufacturers unveil their new products for the upcoming year. For me, it’s like being a kid…

Test Location: Miami Beach, Florida Conditions: SW winds 15 to 25 knots, 3- to 5-foot seas outside Haulover Inlet The best way to get a feel for any boat is to visit the production plant and see the building process with your own eyes. You can tell a lot about the company by looking at the little things that end up making a big difference. What might seem insignificant, such as wiring supports, hardware, pump access, the amount of insulation in a fish box or a million other minor details all add up. The good builders treat every element the…

I recently asked our Facebook friends to share their earliest fishing memory, and I was shocked by the response. In less than 18 hours we had received more than 120 comments, and I’d say that about 90 percent of the stories recounted trips or time on the water spent with a parent, uncle or another family member. I’ve always said that fishing isn’t just about catching a fish. Fishing is about spending time with friends or family, and it’s intimate time. And by intimate, I’m not saying cue the porn music, I’m saying you’re with a few people on a…

We cruised along at roughly 20 knots in a 2- to 4-foot chop, and the Simrad BSM-2 Broadband Sounder we were testing never lost the bottom and the screen never turned into a wash of rainbow-colored lines. The bottom-lock was certainly impressive, but wait a second, was that some structure we just cruised over? No problem. The captain of the boat, Bill Dobbelaer, who is also the sales manager of Gray Taxidermy and a longtime offshore and deep-drop fisherman, hit the backtrack button, rewinding the image on the screen to the exact rock pile we had just run over. He…

Somebody pinch me… The last few weeks have been so incredible that I can’t help but share a few stories. I often hold back on telling too many tales of my travels and fishing opportunities because I don’t want to sound like a braggart. I hate braggarts! Those guys who go on and on about themselves… It makes me want to puke. I mean shut up already. But at the risk of making you want to punch me in the nose, I have to say, life is pretty good right about now and I feel very fortunate to share it…

Capt. Ronnie Fields and his team on the 59-foot Spencer Caroline slid into first place on Day Two of the International Cap Cana Billfish Shootout and never let go of the lead. It’s the second year in a row that Fields has won the top spot in the tournament. He won the 2010 event as captain on Gray Ingram’s Big Oh. “We just stayed consistent,” Fields said. “The crew did a great job making the most of every bite we got.” The marlin bite did not disappoint the fleet who made the journey to Cap Cana Marina and Resort on…

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last five years, you know that braided line is some of the toughest stuff to ever fill a spool. It’s got so many advantages (less friction in the water, more strength for the diameter, abrasion resistance, zero stretch, etc.) that I use it for just about all of my fishing except for trolling and even then I use it for backing. About the only downside I’ve found to braided line is that it can slice you like a fillet knife if you take a wrap with a bare hand. But other…

Travel Guide To Fishing In Florida If variety is the spice of life, than the state of Florida is the chili pepper of the fishing world. Whatever type of fishing you like to do, the Sunshine State can accommodate. “You want to fish a wreck for snapper and grouper? No problem. Fly a kite on the reef for a bunch of sails? Yup, Florida’s got that, too. Chase tarpon, snook and bonefish on the flats? You betcha. You get the idea, and we’re just scratching the surface.” There’s always an option available when fishing in Florida. No matter the time…

The good folks along the Gulf Coast just can’t catch a break. Whether it’s a natural disaster the likes of Hurricane Katrina, or a manmade disaster of epic proportions such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, life is getting pretty unbearable down in the Big Easy. Finally, after losing last year’s season because of the oil spill, everyone in Mississippi and Louisiana was chomping at the bit to get back out and see what sort of life they could find in the Gulf. The fishing in this part of the world is some of the best I’ve ever experienced. “On…

I walked into Bass Pro looking for a new pair of fishing boots. I had a trip coming up and my old boots were shot. I tried on a few pairs and finally decided on the most comfortable pair of fishing boots I’ve ever put on my feet. They actually had good support, unlike a lot of flat-footed rubber boots out there, which I knew I’d be thankful for after standing all day on a pitching deck. I was anxious to try them out. We rolled up to the dock in Long Beach for a little early season rockfishing and…

Mikelson 43 Sportfisher Review The Mikelson 43 Sportfisher offers tons of living space in a very fishy platform that can maneuver with the best of them. helm The flybridge offers two sets of controls. The main helm area is situated all the way forward for great visibility when cruising or glassing for birds. A rear control complete with Zeus joystick offers the perfect perch for chasing down fish. galley The aft galley keeps the cook in the action. You can watch the baits through a large window as you make a sandwich, or chat up the other guests in the…