July 23, 2011

Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament – July 17-23, 2011

FishingNosara and Nosara Paradise Rentals were super-stoked to be a sponsor and exhibitor of the 2011 Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament once again. This tournament is the mother of all Kingfish Tournaments and FishingNosara has pulled out all the stops for this great week of fishing.

A free trip to Costa Rica was raffled to one lucky winner. Also we were running a complementary shuttle service in our brand-new 6 Passenger Safari Cart from the parking lots to the main tournament entrance.

Of course there we were loading people down with coasters, coozies, hats, shirts and tons more promo items. But the biggest moment of the weekend was this cover shot from the Florida Times Union:

Nice shirt and hat fellas!

What an great weekend for all the Jacksonville-based friends and family of FishingNosara! Both our sponsored boats made it to the leaderboard and the big winner was one of our favorite clients from the 2011 season.

Captain Jack on the Drifter II made his first run in the tournament and weighing in a nice 15lbs. Kingfish. With over 250 boats in the event and only 50 reporting to the scales, Captain Jack effectively is in the upper fifth of Jacksonville anglers in the tournament.

Over on the Fishtastic Craig Sutton, Mate Andrew Herbenick and Paula Price had rough luck the first day, but saved the weekend with a 28.75lbs. Kingfish that put them in the top 20. Great performance from a boat that always catches fish.

The big winner was none other than Eddie McGowan on the Tail Chaser. You remember Eddie, right?

Just a few short months ago Mr. McGowan had a fantastic week of fishing with Captain David on the Explorer. Clearly the time with a world-class angler like Captain David had an effect on Eddie and helped him win his first major Kingfish title.

Captain David sends along his best wishes and is very happy to hear of Eddie’s great tournament winning catch. Great work by Eddie McGowan and the rest of the FishingNosara team!

Jacksonville Fishing Update

To prepare for his upcoming trip to Nosara, US Representative for FishingNosara Craig Sutton took his 31′ Fishtastic offshore in Jacksonville, FL for a full-on Dorado harvest. Along for the ride were First Mate Carl Schmidt, Mates Andrew Herbanick and Matty Jorn, and of course the lovely Georgia peach Ms. Paula.

First off the boat ramp at 5:15am, lines in the water at 7:00am, and fish in the boat by 8:30am…things were off to a fast start.


This picture was taken at 10:45am with the Dorado count around 25. By days end the Fishtastic had 51 fish in the box! Commented Andrew, “This is why I love Florida!”


We will post the pictures from the marathon filet session later…for now just know that we Florida boys (and Georgia gals) know how to fish!

January 29, 2011

Captain Craig Sutton, US Representative of FishingNosara, invited Matty and longtime Nosara client David Leibowitz for a day-long Wahoo hunt off the Atlantic Ledge east of Jacksonville, FL.

Without trusty First Mate Carl Schmidt, Craig took care of the gaff while calling on David to reel up the monsters and Matty to handle the boat. Though not the most seasoned crew the Fishtastic has ever seen, they got the job done to the tune of four big Wahoos.



We used our specialty Wahoo spread that includes skirted bonita strips, planer/spoon combo, and the infamous Cedar plug.


Rest assured that when we are not fishing in Costa Rica, the FishingNosara team is constantly engaging in this kind of “corporate field research”. Pura Vida!

LATE ADDITION: Jack wanted to get his bit in, so check out this awesome King Mackeral from August 2010. Captain Jack and his boat Drifter II are legendary in Northeast Florida much like his babies the Wanderer and Explorer are in Garza.


July 11, 2010

2010 Ancient City Kingfish Challenge

37.70lbs. King Mackeral caught by Craig Sutton on Fishtastic.

Captain Craig Sutton and the Fishtastic came in second place in this year’s tournament. First Mate Carl, Andrew, and Paula were on the crew for the catch, which was in first for the whole first day and most of the final day, but that’s fishing.

We were honored to give away a week in Nosara to the lucky winner of the raffle. Great work by the crew, the staff, and Capitan Craig!