Innholdsfortegnelse for August/September 2025 i Salt Water Sportsman

Since the beginning, back when it was a regional publication for coastal anglers in Massachusetts, Salt Water Sportsman has been about the achievable, repeatable fishing experience. After all, when our earliest readers looked around, whether it was Boston Fish Pier, the Cape Cod Bay flats or the Monomoy Island surf, fishing was everywhere. The world wasn’t very big back then. Commercial air travel was in its second decade—as old as Facebook is to us now. Of course, the world has gotten much bigger since then. I just checked FlightAware, the world’s largest flight tracking and data platform. As these words are being written, there are more than 19,000 aircraft in the air around the globe, with more than 180,000 arrivals in the past 24 hours. As these words are being…

An innovative new messaging system from Garmin enables sending critical warnings to AIS-equipped Garmin chart plotters. Information is sent in real time about the presence of North Atlantic right whales or other marine mammals in vessel transit areas. ¶ This newly announced Garmin AIS (automatic identification system) feature represents an important step toward delivering timely, location-based alerts to vessels in a cost-effective, scalable and highly efficient manner, according to the Whale and Vessel Safety (WAVS) task force. ¶ “This is exactly the type of advancement needed to move pertinent data and information to vessel operators,” says WAVS Chairman John DePersenaire. “Garmin’s solution uses infrastructure that already exists on thousands of boats.” ¶ An initiative of the Viking Marine Group, WAVS is a nonprofit coalition of marine industry leaders, scientists and…

Solid is an inadequate word toconvey the smooth, graceful performance of the Everglades 375CC. When I thumped from dock to deck, creased through a shrimp-boat wake and cut hard turns in seas, this boat felt like it was machined from a solid block, not assembled from a thousand pieces. Everglades designed and built the 375CC with all the rugged performance and fishability necessary for the angler who’s going out no matter what, then added comfort and fun for the crewmembers who are a little more discriminating about easy luxury. The performance comes from a combination of reliable Yamaha power and Everglades’ legendary RAMCAP construction. Everglades builds an extremely durable hull, and then it adds high-density foam modules cast under immense pressure. They are bonded into specific areas, forming an unsinkable…

OPAH: DELICIOUS WARM-BLOODED WEIRDNESS The opah, also known as moonfish (Lampris guttatus), is the only known fish that is fully warm-blooded. While fish like tuna and certain sharks are locally warm-blooded, opah maintain an elevated temperature throughout their entire body. ¶ This warm-blooded trait, known as whole-body endothermy, gives the opah an advantage in deep, cold ocean environments. It’s made possible by a fascinatingly unique gill design. It uses a counter-current heat exchange system where warm blood from the body heats cold blood returning from the gills, minimizing heat loss. ¶ Discovered by NOAA scientists in 2015, the opah’s full-body endothermy rewrote what we thought possible for fish physiology—and secured its place as one of the ocean’s most fascinating species. They inhabit temperate and tropical oceans worldwide, typically at depths…

HOT BITES WORLDWIDE YOUR INTERNATIONAL ITINERARY Load the suitcase and get your passport ready—bucket-list fishing awaits on the far side of the horizon. If you dream of bonefish and permit, giant marlin and tuna, roosterfish and cubera snapper, there has never been a better time for travel fishing. Destinations are easy to reach, resorts are ready to host anglers, and fishing is better than ever. LOS BUZOS, PANAMA Terrible weather is a big concern for traveling anglers. Los Buzos, Panama, sits in the Panama Wind Gap, which protects the Pacificside resort. “In the last 10 years, we’ve lost fewer than 10 trips to weather,” says owner Morris Palmer. Fishing is year-round, with the dry season (January through March) seeing the best action for snook and corvina. The wet season (April…

Rods shattered, reels stolen, rusted tackle, gear soaking wet and stinky—these are just a few true horror stories of a traveling angler. Nothing is worse than arriving at an overseas fishing destination and discovering damaged or missing fishing gear. No one knows the pain more than anglers who travel for a living. International fishing guides and world-traveling adventure anglers have learned lessons the hard way and use the best travel cases guaranteed to survive the world’s worst baggage handlers. SNAPPING STICKS Fishing rods are long, thin and fragile, making them difficult to transport. Not only are fishing rods susceptible to forces outside a rod tube, they also face danger inside the protective case. Larry Dahlberg, host of The Hunt for Big Fish, has broken more fishing rods than most anglers…

Pilothouse boats help anglers expand the seasons and stay comfortable in chilly foul water, thanks to a fully enclosed helm and cabin area. That’s what makes them so popular in cold, drizzly regions like Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, as well as the Northeast. One of the finest in this category is the Commander 2800 from Sea Sport. This beefy outboard-powered model is the perfect size for both leisure family cruising and the diehard fisherman. By adding 2 feet in length and 13 inches in beam over Sea Sport’s 2600 series, the 2800 gives boating anglers many convenience and comfort features that simply might not be feasible on the smaller series. For example, with a 9-foot-9-inch beam, the 2800 boasts a full galley that includes a two-burner propane cooktop, a…

You can greatly expand your horizons by crossing the United States border at sea to fish in foreign waters, but make sure your boat is in tip-top shape. Bring tools and spare parts, and always carry an EPIRB or PLB, satellite devices that can summon help in an emergency. Here’s what else to consider. HEADING TO THE BAHAMAS When making a trip to the Bahamas, weather and sea conditions should be high on the list of concerns. Use apps like Windy to show the direction and intensity of the wind and currents. Up-to-date forecast information from NOAA’s National Weather Service is critical to help plan a safe crossing. Generally, any wind from the north is bad news because it clashes with the Gulf Stream, which travels north. Keep your return…

You can always tell when a boat is designed by people who actually fish, and the Pathfinder 2300 HPS leaves no doubt that its builders know what works from firsthand experience. Since its introduction, this model has undergone a steady evolution of tweaks to reach the state of perfection for shallow-water fishing it is today. But it still has the size and capability to dash offshore on clement days to the nearest weed line for some mahi madness. One of the things that jumps out about the Pathfinder 2300 HPS is how few options are needed to go fishing. It offers as standard equipment nearly everything an angler needs to head off into the backcountry to fish. The options list is there merely to customize your boat to fit your…

The 256 Bay from K2 Boats based in Arkansas stands as the flagship of the Blackjack series, and as such, can transport anglers into bigger, rougher water while still providing an exceptionally smooth and comfortable ride. Large, strategically located lifting strakes, plus an 8½-foot beam, enhance stability and ensure secure handling in hard turns. Built to stand up to the rigors of hardcore anglers and pro guides, the 256 Bay features vacuum-bagged, handlaid fiberglass construction with a foam-filled core and stringers—no wood to rot. The hull shows off aggressive yet classic styling with a handsome tumblehome in the stern quarters and a well-defined Carolina flare forward for a dry ride. ¶ Standard features include custom upholstery and gas shocks on all hatch lids. The console has a large door in…

Recently, I commissioned a custom-built aluminum fuel tank for my 22-foot centerconsole fishing boat. In ordering the new tank, I asked the fabricator to forgo the traditional hole on top for mounting a fuelgauge sending unit. Why? Because my boat doesn’t have a fuel gauge, at least not the conventional type. I tossed this once-ubiquitous marine gauge nearly 10 years ago. My reasoning was threefold. For one, traditional marine fuel gauges are notoriously inaccurate. With fuel sloshing around inside the tank, the float on the sending unit bobs about like a cork in a tempest-lashed ocean, sending the needle on the fuel gauge swinging to and fro, rendering the instrument almost useless. Second, mounting a sending unit means creating a hole in the fuel tank—and any hole will eventually leak,…

OFF THE SHORES OF MULLAGHMORE ON the northwest Irish coast, between the green hills of Benbulben and the cliffs of Slieve League, stretches Donegal Bay, whose bluegreen waters come alive in summer with giant bluefins strafing through schools of sprat, needle-eye and mackerel. Pursuing those behemoths under such hospitable circumstances—in sight of scenic hills and towns with restaurants and bars not far from the docks—feels like a rare privilege in sport, and it is, especially considering that only 10 years ago, Atlantic bluefin was scarce and its stocks considered in danger. Most of Donegal Bay’s bluefins are of the eastern stock, spawned in the Mediterranean. They mix with western Atlantic bluefin across the North Atlantic. Both stocks use the Gulf Stream as a guide in their migrations. On its eastward trajectory…

I never saw the road entrance to the resort we stayed at on Ambergris Caye, Belize. That’s because Charlie Saki, of Matachica Resort and Spa in San Pedro, picked us up by boat. The region is centered around salt water and English-speaking tourists. Divers and fly anglers are as common as sargassum weed—just part of the landscape. Belize is nestled between the Caribbean Sea to the east and jungle to the west, with Ambergris Caye less than 200 miles south of Mexico’s popular Cozumel cruise port. The world’s second-largest barrier reef runs the entire length of the country’s coastline. Impossible not to notice along the beaches, waves crash over bountiful corals that tickle the surface. Inside the reef, protected lagoons double as tarpon highways, even during prevalent eastern trade winds.…