ROFFS™ Fishy Times Newsletter – 45th Edition – Blue Marlin Magic, Blackfin Fishing in FL Keys with George Poveromo & Complaints About Port Canaveral’s Rail Idea NEWS Blue Marlin Magic Book Review

Book Review: Blue Marlin Magic  (Steve Campbell – author | Images, Photos & Illustrations by Doug Perrine, Jon Schwartz and Craig Smith)

By Mitchell A. Roffer, Ph.D. (President, Roffer’s Ocean Fishing Forecasting Service, Inc. – ROFFS™)

If you want to learn about blue marlin fishing and related science, as well as, read, view, study, imagine, plan and perhaps fantasize about visiting,  fishing, and/or diving in the Kingdom of Tonga, a very blue paradise, then this is the book for you. It really does not matter if you fish in the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean or the Atlantic Ocean and surrounding seas, you will be able to transfer the knowledge gained from this book to your local fishing. This is a large sized, hard bound book with countless double paged glossy color photos taken by renowned photographers Doug Perrine (Hawaii), a former officemate at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS), Jon Schwartz (California) and Kim Westerkov (New Zealand).

Above: Cover of “Blue Marlin Magic” by Steve Campbell.

This is the book that will be well used on your family room table, office desk or the salon on the boat. Author Steve Campbell has put together what I consider a cross between a travel guide, fisheries oceanography text (with fishing research results) and fishing handbook. The visual presentation is what first caught my eye, but the information in the book makes it difficult to decide what the best aspect of the book is. Campbell is a well-known sport  fishing captain in New Zealand and other locations in the South Pacific Ocean. He is the International Gamefish Association (IGFA) Representative for Tonga, an IGFA Ambassador Captain, an Executive Committee member of the Tonga International Gamefish Association (was President), operates the Ika Lahi International Game Fishing Lodge and is a strong advocate of conservation and tagging. Captain Campbell and his clients have caught more than 1,730 blue marlin, 96% were released earning him Tonga’s Top Billfish Captain for 14 consecutive seasons. But enough of the author and photographers.

Capt. Ariel Medero was cool, calm and confident as we drifted for trophy- class blackfin tuna over the Marathon Hump with two gunwale-based rods. The scene around us, however, wasn’t as serene: anglers live-chummed, flutter-jigged and even trolled for tunas averaging 5 to 10 pounds. But Medero knew something those aboard the busy dozen or so boats didn’t, and it was paying dividends for us.

As if on cue, Medero’s rod bent over as a boat trolled by. He lifted the rod from the gunwale and maintained pressure as the fish took off straight toward the ­bottom. It was likely another big ­blackfin. Earlier, we had boated fish weighing 26 and 27 pounds, and we had lost four others to frayed light-fluoro leaders. The fights had lasted an average of 20 minutes on our 20-pound-class conventional ­outfits, but Medero’s latest encounter easily surpassed that mark. Some 35 minutes after he hooked up, I finally sunk a gaff into a ­whopping 33-pounder.

Capt. Ariel Medero, who operates Big Game Sportfishing Charters out of Marathon in the Florida Keys, is typically in his 35-foot center console catching grouper and snapper on the reefs and wrecks, running and gunning for dolphin or daytime swordfishing. On this trip, however, he plied his other specialty — catching trophy blackfin tuna — aboard my MARC VI while we shot a TV show episode for 2015.