ROFFS™ Fishy Times Newsletter – 43rd Edition – “Sporty Game” Wins $1.6 Million in Bisbee’s, Deepwater Horizon Update & How to Catch Big Marlin NEWS Gamesmanship – “Sporty Game” Wins 1.6 Million in Bisbee’s Black & Blue Tournament Above: ROFFS™ client Dan Lewis who fished the Bisbee’s Black & Blue aboard his boat the “Sporty Game” with his winning fish. Photo credit: Capt. Dave Lear There are several possible reasons of explanation: Competition, adrenalin, pride, bragging rights or the lure of cold, hard cash. Whatever it is, the Bisbee’s Black & Blue has a reputation for last-day theatrics and this year’s edition was no exception. With no clearwinner, jackpot-wise, stepping up the first two days, it took a flurry of fish the third and final day to keep the late-drama streak alive. And in the end it wasn’t a monster fish or a tournament record making the most impact. But with 37 pounds to spare, Sporty Game scored the top prize and the biggest payout of the week. The team had bet across the board in all possible jackpots in the optional categories and stands to win close to $1.5 million for its catch. Angler Carlos Cervontes fed a live skipjack to the marlin near the Iman Ledge and after a short fight the Sporty Game crew had the fish in the cockpit. Owner/captain Dan Lewis, of La Jolla, California, has been fishing the B&B since at least 2000. “It was a great fish,” he said after the weight was announced to the roar of the packed throng surrounding the scales. “This is always a very competitive event and there are still more fish to come in.” The 337-pound mark would hold up through the evening, however. PLEASE CLICK HERE for more on ROFFS™ client Dan Lewis and his big money fish on our website now… Fallout Plume of Submerged Oil from Deepwater Horizon The sinking of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico led to uncontrolled emission of oil to the ocean, with an official government estimate of ?5.0 million barrels released. Among the pressing uncertainties surrounding this event is the fate of ?2 million barrels of submerged oil thought to have been trapped in deep-ocean intrusion layers at depths of ?1,000–1,300 m. Here we use chemical distributions of hydrocarbons in >3,000 sediment samples from 534 locations to describe a footprint of oil deposited on the deep-ocean floor. Using a recalcitrant biomarker of crude oil, 17?(H),21?(H)-hopane (hopane), we have identified a 3,200-km2region around the Macondo Well contaminated by ?1.8 ± 1.0 × 106 g of excess hopane. Based on spatial, chemical, oceanographic, and mass balance considerations, we calculate that this contamination represents 4–31% of the oil sequestered in the deep ocean. The pattern of contamination points to deep-ocean intrusion layers as the source and is most consistent with dual modes of deposition: a “bathtub ring” formed from an oil-rich layer of water impinging laterally upon the continental slope (at a depth of ?900–1,300 m) and a higher-flux “fallout plume” where suspended oil particles sank to underlying sediment (at a depth of ?1,300–1,700 m). We also suggest that a significant quantity of oil was deposited on the ocean floor outside this area but so far has evaded detection because of its heterogeneous spatial distribution. PLEASE CLICK HERE for more on the fallout plume of submerged oil from the Deepwater Horizon diasater on our website now… Above: Map of the northern Gulf of Mexico showing the sampling locations (black dots) and the Macondo Well (white star) overlaid on the National Geophysical Data Center Coastal Relief Model bathymetry. Above: A new one from ROFFS™ Aritst of the Year – Dennis Friel.  Please click here to see more of his work on our website now! How to Catch Giant Marlin by Teasing Them to the Boat Warm, cobalt currents pushed hard over the Azores Bank, where massive schools of chub mackerel (what we call slimy-mackerel in Australia) were holding down deep. All hands dropped weighted sabikis; the baitwell soon brimmed with the large, lively baits. Capt. Zak Conde called from the bridge to his young mate, Andrew Kennedy, to quickly bridle-rig a couple of mackerel and get them into the bait tubes bubbling with seawater. Each rig consisted of a circle hook attached to a 25-foot, 500-pound monofilament trace, carefully coiled and rubber-banded neatly to a stand-up 50-pound or 80-pound chair rod. A short length of plastic tube secured each end of the band, and needed only a quick pull for release and -deployment of the bait. The size of the marlin raised would dictate the appropriate tackle selected. That ability to instantly match tackle to fish is one of the beautiful things about switch-baiting, especially in these Atlantic waters, where the first fish could be a modest 300-pounder, and the next a true monster. Thoughts of the many granders hooked here crossed my mind as we set the spread of artificial lures in motion. Off the outriggers, we ran long two large, hard-body lures rigged with single Bristow hooks  and two 12-inch, hookless softheads deployed via electric teaser reels at the bridge. The lines off the teaser reels ran through fixed rings in the middle of the outrigger poles; we positioned teasers in close on the second and third waves. A mixed pattern like this targets multiple species and, as a rule, smaller blue marlin as well as whites tend to attack the longer (more distant) lures, whereas the larger marlin don’t mind the short (closer) ones. It’s the wash from the hull that sucks in the big mothers; it’s surprising how close they’ll come in to have a crack at a teaser. PLEASE CLICK HERE to read more about how to catch giant marlin by teasing them to the boat on our website now… Above: Good teasers, great bait and well-honed procedures help hook big marlin. Photo credit: Jessica Haydahl