We asked the most well-traveled anglers we could think of about their favorite fish locales and what kept them coming back to the same places year after year. Not surprisingly, many of the people on our list were hard to locate - let alone make contact with. In the interviews with those we were able to track down, several of the same locations pop up time and again. But each person comes away from a place with a different set of experiences, memories and anecdotes that determines whether or not they will return to that particular corner of the globe.
David Finkelstein
Working as a travel writer for Marlin for more than a dozen years, David Finkelstein has to rummage through an incredible number of places in his mental Rolodex before choosing his favorite. Even so, there was little hesitation before he said, "I'd have to say that would be the Lakshadweep Islands and the Bangaram Island Resort, located in the Arabian Sea off the southwest coast of India."
One of the truly unspoiled places in the world, the Lakshadweeps seem to have escaped notice by much of the world, and Finkelstein says that's probably for the best. Adlai Stevenson visited the islands in 1952 and said of them, "I found one of the most luxurious and exotic fragments in the entire globe," and little has changed since.
"It's really pristine," says Finkelstein. "You've got nothing fancy here - you fish in palm-frond canoes or commercial skipjack boats - and it hasn't really been fished for big game." Even so the waters teem with sailfish, dorado and big yellowfin tuna. "Just off the reef we've come across huge schools of 100- to 200-pound yellowfin jumping in water like porpoises. And at times, the tuna make their way into the lagoons and the natives hunt them with harpoons," says Finkelstein. "We even rig up at the airport so we can fish on the ferry ride over to the resort. We've hooked up with sailfish and tuna on the way over, much to the surprise of the other passengers."
Skip Walton
Trying to cover as much territory as possible, Skip Walton has fished from Montauk to Venezuela, from Cabo to Peru to the Indian Ocean, Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand. "You name a fishing hole and I've probably been there," says Walton.
Madeira jumps to the number-one spot for Walton, a Washington lobbyist who's looking to retire. "If you're going to go fishing for blue marlin, you want to catch big fish. And there's no place around right now that can touch Madeira for big fish." Madeira's 5,000-foot elevation creates calm seas on the leeward side that suit Walton's preferred style of fishing: He got out of the chair in 1986. In seven days of fishing with Capt. Roddy Hayes on the Margarita, Walton caught seven fish that averaged over 700 pounds - all on stand-up gear.
Madeira's beauty and European atmosphere also hold sway over Walton, who says the island is "like a little touch of Switzerland sitting in the Gulf Stream." He fell in love with Funchal's cobblestone streets and sidewalk cafes. "Madeira's just a delightful place, but the very best thing about it are the fish," says Walton.
Australia's Great Barrier Reef ranks second in Walton's book for many reasons, but he especially loves the Aussies and says that the mother-ship operation can't be beat. "You don't leave to fish for the marlin until 10 a.m., so you can dive and do some spearfishing or take a dinghy and plug-cast for dogtooth tuna and giant trevally in the morning," he says. "Then you go outside the reef and get a shot at a monster marlin. At the end of the day, you run back in through the cut in the reef and you're home. You sit down, have a scotch and water and watch the Southern Cross - get up the next day and do it all over again."
Sounds pretty good.
Billy Pate
Past owner of World Wide Sportsman and consummate blue-water fly expert, Billy Pate had "been there done that" long before most of us ever got started. His recipe for a good blue-water fly-fishing experience requires several key ingredients - any one of which if left out spoils the entire undertaking. For Pate, calm weather, aggressive fish and the right size of targets all have to be present for any successful blue-water fly-fishing adventure.
Pate says the one place that offers up all those things with the most consistency is Quepos, Costa Rica. "It's always calm and there's always fish," he says. "Plus, the Pacific sails are the easiest of all the billfish to tease up." Other aspects of Costa Rica that Pate enjoys are the friendly local population and the good food resulting in "minimum danger from all sides."
Raiford Trask
A decade of chasing stories and fish for both Marlin and Sport Fishing magazines gives Raiford Trask a unique perspective on the virtues of the world's great fishing destinations. As a writer he's treated like royalty by lodge owners and travel outfitters eager to give him the best possible experience. In other words, he's got a great gig.
But Trask, who also claims to be the president of Hextech Technologies and Cape Fear Rod Company, was able to see through all the bull-puckey he's been exposed to over the years and find two genuine offshore destinations that he'd like to fish forever. "If I can't fish in Albemarle Sound for rockfish - my favorite place would have to be a toss-up between Bom Bom on the African island of Principi and Tropic Star Lodge in Piqas Bay, Panama," says Trask.
"I like Bom Bom because you can expect to get three to seven shots at blue marlin in the 600- to 1,000-pound range in a day. Also, big sailfish show up there from October through December, and that's where most of the Atlantic sailfish records come from," says Trask. White sand beaches lined with palm trees and a first-class lodge don't hurt Bom Bom's image either.
And speaking of first-class lodges, Piqas Bay's Tropic Star has been hosting the world's best big-game anglers for more than 30 years. Trask likes the variety of game fish found in waters surrounding Tropic Star, "because you have excellent chance at a really good-size fish as well a great shot at scoring a grand slam."
As an afterthought, Trask, a North Carolina native, says, "By the way, that bluefin fishing off North Carolina ain't bad by any stretch of the imagination!"
Hans Pfenninger
A native of Switzerland and IGFA representative, Hans Pfenninger started his saltwater fishing career in the early 1960s while working for the defense industry in Sarasota, Florida, and San Diego, California. Today, Pfenninger's trips are major expeditions - he never fishes less than 20 days in a row, always fishes solo and uses only his own equipment. He takes no chances with the time and money he invests in these trips and spends many months researching and corresponding with any lodge he intends to visit. "This screening process never lets me down and helped me find the support I need - not as a fishing client spending a vacation, but as a fishing technologist introducing new methods and equipment," says Pfenninger.
Pfenninger enjoyed the fishing at the Isles Murcielagos off the coast of Guanacaste, Costa Rica, so much he spent 26 weeks there. The water surrounding the islands contains incredible numbers of blue and black marlin, sails and roosterfish. "Nowhere in Central America did I find the variety of species mixed with black marlin of such incredible size," says Pfenninger. He released several fish over 800 pounds on 50-pound tackle there. The lodge near Coco, Bahia Pez Vela, doesn't exist anymore, but Pfenninger says the Murcielagos can be reached from Flamingo in a fast cruiser.
Another of Pfenninger's favorites is Tropic Star Lodge. "Management at Tropic Star is so cooperative they bought a downrigger just for me to use while I was in Panama." Now that's true customer service.
Skip Smith
As the former captain of Jerry and Deborah Dunaway's Hooker, Skip Smith enjoyed fishing in the world's best spots free of charge - now he has to employ what he calls "Skip-o-nomics" to pick and choose his favorite fishing locales.
"Right now Fort Lauderdale is my favorite spot to fish because I can catch a plane to anywhere in the world from here and the fishing's pretty good until the world's hot spots hit their seasonal peaks," says Smith, who recommends planning your trip for an area's peak season to maximize your chances of a good trip.
To get the most for his dollar, Smith likes destinations he can quickly get to and get fishing. "Venezuela is great because it's not too far away and it's got a wide variety of species," Smith says. "You fly in one day and you're fishing the next."
As for the Pacific side, Smith favors Pinas Bay and Costa Rica. He also likes to fish Australia but says that the cost and time involved can be a stumbling block for many. When choosing any destination, Smith warns that traveling anglers should be careful: "A lot of places don't have the knowledge and/or the experience you'd expect."
Anything you want to add, Skip? "Yeah. I can't wait until Cuba opens up."
Ken Jones
Traveling throughout the Caribbean as mate and photographer with the late Rus Hensley on the Beastmaster, Ken Jones saw a lot of billfish come to the transom. Now working in the same capacity on the Captivator, Jones has expanded his travels from the Caribbean to Europe, Costa Rica, Madeira and beyond. "I can't really say that any of the places we visit is any better than the others," Jones says. "We always look forward to going everywhere. Cozumel and St. Thomas are always very reliable, and Venezuela's great for the sheer variety, though we had to put up with a lot of aggravation in the earlier days.
"My favorite spot right now has to be Madeira," he says. "I'm absolutely convinced that there's the potential for incredibly huge fish there. I almost feel apprehensive about fishing there every day because you leave the dock knowing you have the potential to set the all-tackle world record - and that's a strange feeling." Jones says that in most places a huge fish is special, but in Madeira, "you're afraid to put out a piece of light tackle because a fish of biblical proportions might eat it."
As an added bonus to the big fish, Jones cites Madeira's pleasant atmosphere as a compelling reason to visit. "It's a real culture shock when you get to Madeira because there's absolutely no crime there at all," he says. "You can be sitting in bar at 11 o'clock at night and see little kids walking around on the streets by themselves."
Tony Peqa
An outdoor writer who has written travel and fishing articles for almost every fishing publication in the U.S., Tony Peqa has quite a few miles under his belt. Peqa likes to take an area's total experience into consideration before making recommendations, and he mentions different places to match different criteria.
"For pure fishing power, my first choice would be Panama for both inshore and offshore fishing - Piqas Bay for offshore, and Hannibal Bank for both offshore and inshore."
For the adventure of a lifetime, however, Peqa likes the newly opened Midway Island atoll. "Midway has such a deep history, and it gives you a feeling of going back in time," he says. "It's like the whole place is still in the 1950s. It's a very peaceful and special place. Plus, you have the feeling of extreme remoteness because you're literally in the middle of the Pacific." Giant ulua frequent Midway's lagoon, and big blue marlin roam just outside the reef. Peqa was one of the first to visit the island, and his boat released an estimated 700-pound blue.
For an truly exotic place, Peqa suggests Phuket, Thailand. "We caught maybe two to five sails a day down there, but we should have caught more like 20 or 30. We saw a lot of fish."
Don Tyson
"I like to tell people my favorite place to fish is the last place I caught one," says Don Tyson, the head of the Tyson Foods Corporation and trustee of the International Game Fish Association.
When I press him further on his top choice for a destination, the answer catches me by surprise. "If you limited me to one place in all the world, it would have to be Cabo San Lucas, because you'll catch something there almost any time of the year," Tyson says. "You've got wahoo, blue marlin, dorado - just about everything. Most other places are seasonal, but Cabo and the Sea of Cortez are just teeming with ocean life."
Jean Paul Richard
With his 165-foot mother ship and 41-foot game boat at his disposal at all times, Jean Paul Richard enjoys the freedom to travel and fish where he likes, whenever he likes. His options, quite literally, encompass the world.
This past winter, however, Richard found a place that excited him like no other: the waters off Porto Segulro, Brazil. "For big marlin I don't think you can beat Brazil," Richard says. "In 50 days we had 196 strikes and caught 76 blue marlin. A few were around 1,000 pounds, and lots were in the 700- to 900-pound range."
Starting in Vitoria, the French Look worked its way down the coast before settling in Porto Segulro - a famous resort town where many Brazilians spend their holidays. "We were the only boat fishing there and we had a lot of fun ashore in the evenings," says Richard. When the French Look finally left in May, the fish were still biting. The only reason they left: They had to get on their way to Australia.
