David Lukof locked into a battle with a super 300+lbs. Marlin on the unbeatable Explorer. Take a look at this monster:
According to our buddy Jeff (who was filming): “Dude had heat stroke after this. He’s been chasing a marlin for 30 years. He said ‘I’d fight it till I died’ he might have actually been close!”
Amazing catch and release by the superstar Captain David and Mate Carlos!
It is risky to keep fishing down here with the monsoon rains looming just a few days away, but the fearless Wanderer had to tend to some unfinished business on August 24.
Our great friend and neighbor Jeff Grosshandler of Namaste Oasis brought a very special VIP for this trip. Bruce Northam is the mind behind the blogย American Detour and his books, essays, speeches and articles have been published in just about every major magazine imaginable. He is a seasoned world traveler and we were stoked to welcome him and his crew to our little slice of paradise.
More importantly, this fireballing Marlin attacked the Wanderer‘s spread and the legendary Captain William put the moves on this monster. First Mate Alex exhibited the calm professionalism that has made FishingNosara famous in the safe billing and release of this majestic marine creature.
According to Jeff, “the footage the camera guys took is incredible. That trip couldn’t have gone any better, when the marlin hit – Bruce literally jumped out of his seat and screamed “look at the f*ckin size of that thing!!!!!!” and it just got better from there.”
This is a great accomplishment for Jeff as this is his first Marlin release. I think that this monster just couldn’t resist his FishingNosara throwback jersey! Once everyone got their photos, this fish was safely release like all billfish caught by our team.
The Wanderer is due for a complete refit and repaint which will get underway in about a week, and it should come as no surprise to our regular readers that the flagship cemented her place at the head of the class with this epic late-season Marlin release.
Javier Hernandez (President of Fupperno) notes that his club has united to stop overfishing and irresponsible practices that affect fish resources and the balance of marine ecosystems.
By making this tournament catch and release, they hope to improve and change the management of marine resources and raise awareness. You can read the full story in the June 12 issue of the Voice of Nosara.
The first weekend was slow with high winds and uncooperative Snook leaving the anglers wanting. However things fired up on June 23 with several Snook releases on the scoreboard.
The winner was Senor Luis Rodriguez with a 24lbs. Snook released. Regular readers of this report recognized Mr. Rodriguez from his 38 lbs. Snook that was posted here on April 28, 2012. His winning snook weighed 24lbs. and earned Luis the first prize of $200. Here is video of the release:
Second place went to Mr. Carl Wells with this 7 lbs. Snook and $150 to go with it.
Third place was taken by local legend Luis Siler with this little 2lbs. Snook. His prize was $100 which he generously split with three other anglers who caught similarly small fish.
Regardless of fish sizes, this tournament was about far more than money and poundage…The swell of activity on the Fupperno Facebook page has proved that Nosara has a viable, thriving, and enthusiastic scene of land-based Snook anglers.
As this community of anglers grows and flourishes, they are lucky to have a person like Javier in a position of leadership…Mr. Hernandez sincerely cares about the future of this fishery and dreams of a day when catch-and-release will become the norm with Snook tournaments much as it has with offshore billfish.
Finally and most importantly, this tournament provides a beacon for the next generation of anglers and provides them with a moral compass heading that points to a future of sustainable, humane interaction between man and the sea.
“These are those of tomorrow,” said Javier. “We are very proud of participants like these at a young age, and they are great for the sport of fishing. Congratulations and best wishes!”
Enjoy the inaugural episode of The Discoverer Project. We will be presenting these video vignettes of our progress as often as possible as the Discoverer takes shape. No phony actors or multiple takes here folks, just real guys taking real risks to make a real dream come true.
Mike Grosshandler and the Explorer fight a wonderful Sailfish. Check it out:
This fish put on quite a show, but was not the only monster to invade the Explorer‘s spread. Three seperate Marlins came shopping but the Grosshandler boys couldn’t bring the hooks home.
The next day Uncle Art released this very nice Sailfish, estimated to weigh between 110lbs. and 140lbs.