Free Republic

...It was the fish of a lifetime—a 76.5-pound white marlin that won him the world’s largest annual billfish tournament, the White Marlin Open, and $2,818,662 in prize money... He swears it happened just like that. Fishing is full of tall tales about the one that got away, and polygraph tests... are now used in high-stakes fishing tournaments. Mr. Heasley, like many winners, was required to take the test. Texas and Alabama, have passed laws to combat fish-tournament fraud. A few weeks later, Mr. Heasley, along with two crew mates, one of whom said he was hung over after drinking 15...

OFF DARIAN JUNGLE, PANAMA -- An Atlanta area family had a very frightening experience while on a Fourth of July weekend fishing trip off the coast of Panama - and it was all caught on video. Marietta resident Robert Schultz, his 18-year-old son Stephen and 20-year-old daughter Allison were on a fishing trip before Stephen went off to college at Colorado State. Stephen had a Black Marlin on the line about 30-miles off Darian Jungle, Panama. The beautiful fish, estimated to weigh about 600 pounds, had jumped a couple of times and then unthinkable happened. The marlin came out of...

SATURDAY, JUNE 04, 2005 12:00 AM No fish tale: Blue marlin lands in S.C. record book BY TOMMY BRASWELL Of The Post and Courier Staff News of big billfish always spreads quickly throughout the fishing community. Talk of a possible record blue marlin Friday had the docks teeming with curious spectators. There was no doubt this one was a keeper: An 881-pounder. The news lured local anglers to Charleston Harbor Marina to bear witness to the massive marlin caught in the Charleston Harbor Boater's World Marine Centers Billfish Tournament. When the weigh station opened at 5 p.m., spectators were crowded...

The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - The federal government is considering requiring recreational anglers to get a permit before fishing for species such as swordfish and shark in the Atlantic. The permits would be required before fishing for highly migratory species of tunas, billfish, swordfish and sharks, the National Marine Fisheries Service said. “The use of an annual permit in the HMS recreational category will allow us to better define how anglers participate in the Atlantic highly migratory species fisheries and affect the economies of coastal communities,” said Bill Hogarth, director of the fisheries division of the National Oceanic and...