The first Billfish Expo was organized by Capt Skip Smith who put together a group of captains from around the world to speak on the different species of Billfish and the techniques used to catch them. I found that it was really interesting to hear the other captains and boats builders speak about their specialty area. One of the hightlights for me was to see the top boat builders standing next to each other on stage. Roy Merritt,Paul Spencer and John Bayliss along with the builders of Viking and Tribute all there together at once. Really interesting to have the opportunity to see everyone there in the same room. Some of the pros that were featured came and went throughout the day due to other speaking they were doing that day. For me the most well presented was done by Steve Lassley and Pete Grosbeck of Team Bad Company. Their presentation on Striped Marlin was very well done and showed the differences of the West Coast style works for them. Steve’s presentation on electronics was also very well done. The pictures of what to look for on the screens was good for everyone to see. Karl Anderson’s input helped to validate the info.Even though it is common to us it was good for the audience to see what the manuals and speaking is try to show.Professor Arthur Mariano did a very interesting talk on Billfish science that opened my eyes on a few things as well as point out that there is no way to get some of the data that is out there. We have paid for the research with our tax dollars and it needs to be shown to us. For now it is held for a number of years before it is made public. He encouraged everyone to try to make an effort to make this info public sooner. All the areas were well covered and Skip did a great job hosting the event asking good questions to the featured speakers. Over all a success. It was flattering to be included this year. Great to see old friends and be around the buzz of the boat show. For more info on the Billfish Expo go to www.Billfishexpo.com.
