The CaptApp Top Global Points captain for the month of June 2019 was Kenny Ross Fishing Out of Marina Pez Vela In Quepos Costa Rica. Capt. Kenny and his team released an amazing 90 Blue Marlin to achieve the top spot. http://www.captapp.com
Ken is a very well known captain in the Sport fishing world having been a traveling captain from Bermuda to Venezuela ,the windward and leeward islands to Cancun and basically all places in-between. Some may recognize him as one of the televised BXRL championship captains years ago coming into your living rooms on Saturday mornings or possibly have been in a tournament competing against him where you would remember his booming voice on the VHF. There is also a good chance you have worn a boat shirt printed by Ken’s wife Pat at one point or another. www.fishingtease.com .Most of the family is Involved in boating or fishing in one form
Ken is a very well known captain in the Sport fishing world having been a traveling captain from Bermuda to Venezuela ,the windward and leeward islands to Cancun and basically all places in-between. Some may recognize him as one of the televised BXRL championship captains years ago coming into your living rooms on Saturday mornings or possibly have been in a tournament competing against him where you would remember his booming voice on the VHF. There is also a good chance you have worn a boat shirt printed by Ken’s wife Pat at one point or another. www.fishingtease.com .Most of the family is Involved in boating or fishing in one form
or another. His twin sons have both chosen a life on the ocean with Kurtis working as an officer in commercial maritime shipping and Logan in the private Sport fish sector . Brielle their daughter is an Operating Room Nurse in South Carolina and an avid Angler as well.
Kenny is now based in Marina Pez Vela in Quepos Costa Rica on the 64ft Hatteras AMIRITA .
The AMIRITA is owned by Ecuadorian business man and IGFA Trustee Juan “Pepe” Anton. Kenny’s time on as captain for Pepe has taken him through the Panama canal and down to Ecuador multiple times as well as St.Thomas and the Dominican Republic to name a few .
With over 30 first place Billfish tournaments under his belt ,and many personal records most people only dream of, Capt. Kenny has certainly made his mark on the sport fishing world in his 37 years as a pro and shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.
Kenny , who was it that got you interested in fishing ?
My grandfather was the first to get me out on the water. My first fish I caught out with him was a Queen trigger fish but there were many more after that. The main influence that made me want to fish professionally was my uncle , the one and only Cuban Louie from Miami. There I was as a kid listening to all these crazy and amazing stories about his travels . I knew at a very young age that I was going to be a Sport fishing captain.
For those of you who don’t not know Cuban Louie he was and still is a larger than life character very well known in the South Florida and Bahamas tournament scene for decades.
What was your first job?
My first paying job was on a head boat Named NEW POPEYE out of bakers Haulover. We would catch Mutton snapper ,King fish , Bonito , and the occasional sailfish if someone wanted to mount one.That is the boat where I learned kite fishing and lots of other fundamentals.
For my first captains job I was 18 Years old on a 58’ Norseman named Shelly M owned by a local Miami business man.
What was your first traveling job?
I was Mate on the El CONDOR captained by David “Tiny” Brown. We fished Cozumel, Provo and Grand Cayman. I was 19 yrs old when I made that trip.If you could choose one place in the world to fish you have not been where would it be ?Madeira because it seems that you have a greater chance to catch a fish of a life time there.
What is the most common style you use fishing for for Blue Marlin?
That would all depend on where we are fishing ,size of the fish we are targeting and who we have on board for anglers.It is easier for me and my crew to change our style of fishing to complement the skill level of the anglers.Nothing worse than watching someone who hasn’t spent a lot of time Blue Marlin fishing get discouraged after missing a few fish, Especially when they are only there for a short time.My personal favorite is teaser fishing with 2 cockpit teasers, 2 dredges and two bridge teasers.If we are looking just for big blues would be 4 large lures with two bridge teasers and pitch baits standing by. In a place with smallBlues 4 ballyhoos ,two dredges,two bridge teasers with pitch baits ,which happens to work everywhere.
What is your go to teaser for Blue Marlin
Black Bart’s – Grander Candy !
Who would you say were your biggest influences in your career?
Luis “Cuban Louie”
Pictured here upper right Louie Alcalde had a profound impact on Ken’s career choices at a young age.
Bart Miller:
We would talk about lure fishing and lure design for hours how they pulled what size and types of hooks positions in the spread.
We never fished together but I always valued his advice and it worked.John Hardwick :Summer 1979 I decided not to go back to the New Popeye and try charter fishing.
Captain John Hardwick captained the Little Flo a 56’ Lamay ” if I’m not mistaken”.
He spent hours teaching me Techniques on how to wire fish correctly when we didn’t have charters and how to maintain teak, bright work, change oil,ect.
I thought I was on top of the world, and I was.
Speaking of being crew I’d like to say a few words about mine through the years . I’ve been very lucky to have fished and continue to with some of the best fisherman who have in turn taught me a lot as well .Three great fisherman from Venezuela . David
Hernandez, Gilfredo Lopez, and Alberto Sanchez and also Steve “Skibo” Ekle From Maryland USA .During my first years in Venezuela Gilfredo “Juanga” Lopez and I were friends for quite a few years before we started fishing together.First on board the Dream Catcher during the BXRL days and now on the AMIRITA.2008 David Hernandez and Eddy Larrea from Ecuador jumped on board Amirita. Eddy has a lot of big fish experience from Ecuador.We were together when we caught the largest fish that all of us have caught including my wife, (as the angler) in Cebaco Bay Agujas Reef Panama.A few years later David left to run a boat in Panama where he is today.2012-2016 Skibo joined the team fishing D.R. / St Thomas and helped us get dialed in dredge fishing and to get our anglers up to speed bait fishing.2016-2018 Troy Kent from Palm Beach Florida off the “Sandra T” joined our trip to St Thomas, Aruba then to Costa Rica when we had some great days fishing. Troy retired from traveling in early 2019 .2019 Juanga (Gilfredo) and I got the band back together and with Eddy still here and it should be illegal to have as much fun as we do working and fishing together.All the guys had special skill sets and that is what made it so much fun for everyone onboard.There is a few more but theses guys were with me the longest and I’d fish with all of them again.
Can you give us one great personal fish story?
There are so many, but one fairly recently sticks out.Fishing on the AMIRITA with owner Juan “Pepe” Anton ,his friend Norman Pichardo ,my mates Troy Kent, Eddy Larrea, and Tony Anchia at the Sea Mounts off the coast of Costa Rica .We started off our day at 5:30am and at 5:31 we were hooked up, that was the start of what became an unbelievable day Blue Marlin fishing.One after another we just kept raising blues all in the 200 to 300 pound range.All singles, until around 10:30 AM when we hooked our first double and caught them both.The next was a triple that turned into a quad and they manage to cross lines and we ended up with nothing except 3 chaffed thru lines.A quick reminder of how your luck can change in an instantNext we encountered another blue who decided to eat one of our teasers biting off “Grander Candy” in the corner of its mouth and then hooking a fish that jump back into the spread and cutting off another teaser and 3 other main lines.After that happened we had to pull off the spot and regroup, It was only 11:30 and we had caught 8 fish.By 1:00 pm we had caught 12.In a 30 minute window we had hooked a double all lines and teasers were cleared with the exception of the right short which was being cleared by Pepe when he hooked a blue 15 feet away from the boat.I yelled down to Troy that we were going after Pepe’s fish since it was so close to the boat, as we backed down on the fish Troy had the leader in less than 6 seconds, we managed to catch all three.By 3:00 we had caught 15 and then started to think, was 20 possible ?Then we pulled off two in a row and missed a couple more in the next hour and then thought 20 ? may be not.Between 4:00 and the 5 o’clock we caught a triple and then a double which seemed like it took forever to get to 20 but we did it.Holy cow we had just caught 20 Blue Marlin for the day “so we thought”Before we could get done celebrating and congratulating each otherThe right teaser sounded off, Pepe pitched a bonito and hooked his fish with Norman doing the same.By the time we released the second fish it was close to dark.And we all thought 22 what a day. But the fish gods were not done shinning on us!We put the spread back out and caught a triple.Bringing our total to 25 Blue Marlin for the day.Im sure we were all in a state of euphoria or shock at the amazing day we just had.At the dinner table that night each one of us had our own story as to what each of us saw that day.There was so much going on at one time it was impossible to take note of all that was happening.There is definitely a few more stories with in this day that will have to be written down another time.When the salt spray settled we were 25 for 46 on Blue Marlins and pretty sure we went through a years worth of tackle in one day.
What is your favorite part of using CaptApp?
Getting to see all the catches of the day and week quickly with the push notifications is what I like the most. I just learned about adding old Logs. I’m old school and don’t use my phone much while fishing unless I’m using it to communicate to other boats. I like the fact that my crew can make those logs for me during the day and they are logging for all of us at the same time as well as the anglers … When the tournaments being run through the app and those private clubs get rolling that should be pretty interesting!
What were your top days fishing and some tournament background since I know tournament fishing has always been your passion?
- 83 Sails Released single day Cozumel, Mexico
- 12 Blues Released single day Caraballeda Venezuela
- 3 Blues 13 White Marlin Releases single day Punta Cana D.R.
- 10 Blues Marlin Release single Day Mayaguez Puerto Rico
- Release Black Marlin Cebaco Bay Panama over 1000 lbs
- 11 Blue Marlin Releases Single Day Cap Cana D.R
- 25 Blue Marlins Release single Day Costa Rica
- Over 30 First Place Billfish Tournament finishes.
- January 2006 Billfish Foundation, Top Captain for tagged White Marlin.
- January 2006 Billfish Foundation, Top Captain for tagged Sailfish Atlantic.
- January 2006 Aftco Award, Top Captain for tagged White Marlin.
- January 2006, Aftco Award Top Captain for tagged Sailfish Atlantic
As you can see here Capt. Kenny Ross is obviously quite accomplished and has become a permanent fixture in the World Of Sport fishing. We look forward to seeing him and his crew up on the leader-boards for years to come.
beliw are links to Captapp’s website leaderboards and also links for loading the app.
http://www.captapp.com
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.capttech.captapp&hl=en