BILLFISH RESOURCE DIRECTORY

[Warren_Brantley]

I thought it might be interesting to post names and e-mails along with the species you have caught. In this manner we can ask each other questions directly if so desired. Regards to all, WGB

[Warren_Brantley]

Atlantic Sailfish - Stuart & La Guaira
White Marlin - La Guaira
Swordfish - La Guaira
Atlantic Blue Marlin - La Guaira
Pacific Blue Marlin - Kona
Shortbilled Spearfish - Kona
Striped Marlin - Cabo
Offshore Grand Slam - La Guaira (9-28-04)

[Jeb_Brantley]

White Marlin (Hatchet Variant)- Orange Beach & La Guaira
Swordfish - Hillsboro Inlet
Pacific Sailfish - Cabo
Atlantic Sailfish - Stuart & La Guaira
Atlantic Blue Marlin - La Guaira

[Luke_Brantley]

Atlantic Sailfish - Hillsboro Inlet
Swordfish - Hillsboro Inlet
Striped Marlin - Cabo

[W._Jim_Egbert]

White marlin - Gulf Shores, AL
Atlantic Sailfish - Gulf Shores & Stuart
Atlantic Blue Marlin - Orange Beach
Striped Marlin - Cabo San Lucas

[Richard_Allen]

Atlantic Blue marlin - Caraballeda

[George_Woodward]

Atlantic Sailfish - Isle Mujeres
Atlantic Blue Marlin - Venezuela & Bermuda
Spearfish - Fla Keys & Venezuela
White Marlin - Punta Cana & Venezuela
Pacific Sailfish - East Cape Baja, Costa Rica, Panama & Ecuador
Pacific Blue Marlin - East Cape Baja, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Panama
Striped Marlin - East Cape Baja, Costa Rica, NZ & Ecuador
Black Marlin - East Cape Baja, Costa Rica, Panama & Oz
Swordfish - East Cape Baja

[Marlinhunter2]

Swordfish - Mexico & LaGuaira
Sailfish - Mexico & Costa Rica
Blue Marlin - Kona -550lbs
Black Marlin - Lizard Is, Australia 900lbs
Striped Marlin - NZ & Ecuador

[Wade_McArthur]

3 so far:
White Marlin, Venezuela
Atlantic Blue Marlin, Venezuela
Pacific Sailfish, Guatemala

[Alice]

28 Sailfish in Mexico
15 Striped Marlin - East Cape
2 Blue Marlin at East Cape
1 Swordfish at La Ribera
---------------------------------
2 Blue Marlin in Kailua-Kona
1 Black grander at Lizard Island
---------------------------------
8 Striped Marlin in Salinas
1 Blue Marlin in Manta

[Alice]

Oh, you meant species. My bad. Let's see five.

[Warren_Brantley]

An Observation: With only nine persons listing species so far (OK..... six, me and my two kids) a world wide diversity of locations to successly target billfish is beginning to quickly emerge. This is a fishing "market" (for those of us who billfish) that not one location or country can truthfully lay claim as being the ONLY place to reap success in our sport. I love it. Regards to all. WGB

[Warren_Brantley]

Think I got this right.....25 locations so far. (By the way George where is Oz?) So many places to go. And among these nine folks; some kids, some adults, some novices and others veterans we have: a grander (congrats Alice), an offshore grand slam (2 swords, 2 sails & a white by the way), and someone who meets IGFA Billfish Royal Slam Club criteria, perhaps several times over. (Only 41 members in that prestigious club right now.) Lots of knowledge for interested readers. Regards, WGB

[George_Woodward]

Oh, come now Warren, certainly you didn't think it was Ozwald State Prison did you?

Oz is short for Australia!

[Wade_McArthur]

If I thought there were marlin at Ozwald, I would go!

[Warren_Brantley]

There are absolutely so many places to go and catch billfish, some quite near, some far, that we have great choices in location and time of year to pursue our sport. (Off of Biloxi, Mississippi, USA this past weekend one tournament boat released 3 blues, 2 whites, a sail and a spearfish in 2 days!) If the marlin aren't somewhere they've got to be elsewhere. If we don't look we become nearsighted and think there are only a few locations to be successful.

This is a nice site to monitor the bite at different locations.

http://www.abmt.vi/Pages/f_reports.htm

Screaming reels. Regards, WGB

[Warren_Brantley]

Atlantic Sailfish - Stuart & La Guaira
White Marlin - La Guaira
Swordfish - La Guaira
Pacific Sailfish - Panama
Atlantic Blue Marlin - La Guaira
Pacific Blue Marlin - Kona
Spearfish - Kona
Striped Marlin - Cabo
Black Marlin - Panama
Billfish Grand Slam - La Guaira (9-28-04)
I think that pretty much takes care of them. Regards, WGB

[Jeb_Brantley]

Six Species so far (age 20)
White Marlin (& one Hatchet Variant)- Orange Beach & La Guaira
Swordfish - Hillsboro Inlet
Pacific Sailfish - Cabo & Panama
Atlantic Sailfish - Stuart & La Guaira
Atlantic Blue Marlin - La Guaira
Black Marlin - Panama
Three to go!

[squidnation]

White Marlin - NC, Ocean City, Venezuela
Sailfish - North Carolina, Ocean City MD, Venzuela, Fl. Keys, Canaveiras Brazil
Blue Marlin - North Carolina, Ocean City MD, Venzuela (estimated 900-1000 by mate Speedy and Capt Piranha), Costa Rica, Canaveiras Brazil (600lb)
Pacific Sail - Dominical Costa Rica, Hanaibal Bank Panama

[Polar]

2 species so far.
Atlantic Sailfish, Boca Raton, Florida (release)
Broadbill Swordfish Port Everglades Florida (2 release 1 kept at 61")

[Warren_Brantley]

In pursuit of his Billfish Royal Slam and to catch up with Dad. Here are the species. In many cases many more than just the one required by IGFA.

1. Spearfish - Gulf of Mexico (Capt. Garris on 'A Current Affair')
2. White Marlin - La Guaira (Capt. Carlos on 'Lady Farah')
3. Swordfish - Hillsboro Inlet (Capt. Kates on 'Intrinsic Value')
4. Pacific Sailfish - Cabo & Panama (Capt. Perez on 'Marea')
5. Atlantic Sailfish - Stuart & La Guaira (Capt. Williams on "Fighting Lady")
6. Atlantic Blue Marlin - La Guaira (Capt. Plaza on 'Gigi-IV')
7. Black Marlin - Panama (Capt. Alvarez on 'Ms. Tropic Star')
8. Striped Marlin - Cabo (Capt. Antonio on 'Blue Marlin')
9. Now where is that Pacific Blue? Kona here he comes this month.

Submitted by Capt. Warren Brantley (sponsor, bank and baby sitter).

[Legend]

All fly caught mind you:

1) Spearfish - FL Keys
2) Sailfish - FL Keys, Costa Rica and Panama
3) Striped Marlin - East Cape, Cabo, Salinas & Panama
4) Blue Marlin - East Cape
5) Black Marlin - Australia

Still chasing my swordie - maybe this summer in Mexico?

[Warren_Brantley]

Completing his Billfish Royal Slam at age 21 and catching up with Dad. Here are the species for Joshua Eli "Jeb" Brantley:

1. Spearfish - Gulf of Mexico (Capt. Garris on 'A Current Affair')
2. White Marlin - La Guaira (Capt. Carlos on 'Lady Farah')
3. Swordfish - Hillsboro Inlet (Capt. Kates on 'Intrinsic Value')
4. Pacific Sailfish - Cabo & Panama (Capt. Perez on 'Marea')
5. Atlantic Sailfish - Stuart & La Guaira (Capt. Williams on "Fighting Lady")
6. Atlantic Blue Marlin - La Guaira (Capt. Plaza on 'Gigi-IV')
7. Black Marlin* - Panama (Capt. Alvarez on 'Ms. Tropic Star')
8. Striped Marlin - Cabo (Capt. Antonio on 'Blue Marlin')
9. Pacific Blue Marlin* - Kona (Capt. Billy Dorr on 'Why Knot')

Time span was 8-25-01 through 5-24-07. (*Indicates a Black & a Blue over 500 lbs. In Hawaii known as a "beast"). Now onto cheaper pursuits for Jeb (not me): pond fishing with a cane pole. Submitted by Capt. Warren Brantley

[PriceIsRight]

Two so far:
1. Black Marlin -- Australia
2. White Marlin -- Cozumel

Going to Kona in November -- not ideal timing for fishing, but that's when schedule (and Delta SkyMiles) allowed.

[Huntress]

Hope I'm not too late to join in!

Atlantic Sailfish - North Carolina
White Marlin - North Carolina
Striped Marlin - Cabo San Lucas
Pacific Sailfish - Costa Rica

Hoping for a Blue very soon...

[Seth]

Black Marlin-Panama, Costa Rica
Blue Marlin-Bahamas, Costa Rica, Madeira
White Marlin-Bahamas
Short Bill Spearfish-Hawaii
Sailfish-Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico (all Pacific coast)

[Sportsman]

White (plenty) - NC
Atlantic Blue (5) - NC
Atlantic Sail (several) - NC
Long Bill Spearfish (1) - Oregon Inlet, NC
Pacific Blue (1) - Garza, Costa Rica
Pacific Sail (5) - Garza, Costa Rica

[Warren_Brantley]

Time to kick this thread back into action,

After the Royal I got the idea at Tropic Star Lodge from the then Dockmaster to try for a marlin on a handline; a person goal of Chris Dinwiddie. So the idea was planted in my brain in July of 2006. It is as hard as it sounds to do, especially if one does not speak Spanish (me) and fishes almost entirely in Venezuela, moving recently back to Cabo.

I defined the goal and gear to be a marlin fought from a boat with use of rope and leather gloves only. Species were limited to blues, stripies and blacks. The boat would be used in the traditional manner to maneuver so as to optimize catching the marlin. The gear in this case was 1000 feet of 1/8 braided nylon rope, 300 feet of black nylon trotline, a mono leader, a single hook and a bait. No rod. No reel. I used a Capt. with 40 plus years of experience who said no one had ever tried this. So he was quite interested in pulling it off as well.

Feat was accomplished on December 16th, 2007 in Cabo. First marlin was cut off when lines crossed another boat that was hooked up. Second marlin was caught.

That is succinct. This actually took 14 months over segments of 5 fishing trips to accomplish. Dozens of changes in tactics and gear resulted in the goal being reached. And when done it seemed so simple. Just a rope, a hook, a bait, a marlin and some Wal-Mart leather garden gloves.

I'm not giving away the secret on this one. It's too much fun to figure it out on your own. I do plan to catch some more this way beginning in March. One piece of advice I will give is be sure to buy Travel Insurance with complete Medical Coverage before you try it!

Cheers, Doc