( 5 reviews )
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( 2 of 2 found this review helpful ) Posted: Sep 24 2005
This was a great book for me. I frequently fish single handed and for now only dream of offshore fishing single handed. Carlos Bentos lives in my area and I recognized many of the boats in this book and know a few of the people too. I can say it definitely inspired me to further myself towards my fishing goals. A great inspiration and a great story....
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( 4 of 4 found this review helpful ) Posted: Nov 21 2004
Let me start out saying this is an outstanding book it is 200 pages on marlin fishing as the title says. The author Carlos Bentos who was originally a resident of uruguay and came to U.S. byway of being a broadcaster for voice of america until he decided to take a chance and opened a resturant and eventually led to an additional 4 more successful resturants all around the washington dc area. A trip to north carolina for trip on a charter boat for marlin led to his desire for the marlin and desire for his own boat. The author lives in annapolis and ocean city maryland. Ocean city being the area where is boat is docked and where he mostly fish's out of. In a sport fishermans arena dealing with the bill fish which has boats that cost anywhere from 1/2 a million to at least 3 million dollars and crews that can make anywhere from 60,000 to 100,000 or more annual salary he is the only one on his boat except maybe an occasional tournament judge the author is the owner,captain,the mate,and the fisherman. While he fishes for the fun and in tournaments for many different types of bill fish it seems that he mostly is catching white marlin this along the atlantic coast. It descripes how they do catch and release and taggging of the marlins and how this provides migration information. There is a great chapter in the book were mr. bentos tells how when he was a small boy in his native country while at a family gathering it was his mother who instilled the deep desire and love for fishing. It is pretty amazing the tournament money that is awarded to the different catergories. The idea a single man doing all the operations on the boat is truly not the norm but it works for the author has won more than 30 competitions including the annual ocean city white marlin tournament which about a 1/4 of the book is dedicated his participation in the tournament of 1996. If you like this type of book i would recommend "The Hungry Ocean" by Linda Greenlaw and The Perfect Storm by Sebastin Junger alll though Mr.Bentos does not think to highly of these books or the boat captains of the fishing boats feeling that even though they may have a love for the sea the way they fish using longlines with upto 4,000 hooks is not very skillful nor very glamourous and that they are just building a bank account. Once again this is an excellent book!
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( 4 of 4 found this review helpful ) Posted: Aug 28 2003
A delightfully narrated story by a South American born raconteur who is also an award winning restaurateur in Washington DC. Carlos takes you on a page turning journey through his thoughts and inspiration deep sea-fishing off the eastern Atlantic shores. The highlight is his participation and triumph in the annual white marlin fishing tournament in Ocean City, Maryland. Carlos is a gentle spirit with herculean courage. After reading this, I feel I have to go meet him as well as his new restaurant, the Fathom Grille in Ocean City. This is a very quick and uplifting read. It reminds one we are only limited by our perception of what is possible.
