NetJets US Autumn 2023

EDWARD C. ROBISON III
© CASA DE CAMPO
OUTDOOR PURSUITS
LAND AND SEA
Clockwise from top:
Casa de Campo,
Dominican Republic; Big
Cedar Lodge, Missouri;
Ashford Castle; Ireland.
“If you’re too busy to fish, you’re too busy,”
says Johnny Morris, billionaire founder of the
Bass Pro Shops retail fishing empire. Morris
was repeating an old sportsman’s adage, but
he knows what he is talking about firsthand. In
addition to running the two biggest retailers
in this field, Bass Pro and Cabela’s, as CFO—
Chief Fishing Officer—he has personally set
fishing records for multiple species, all around
the world. He talks at length about the natural
beauty of the settings, the bonding, the honing
of skills, the heart-pounding excitement of
© ASHFORD CASTLE
hooking a big one and the fun you still have
even when they are not biting. Most of all, he
understands why thousands of his customers
choose the same bumper sticker: “I’d Rather
Be Fishing.”
If you’d rather be fishing, the hardest part
might be choosing which great place to go,
because there are world-class lodges and
resorts for every style of angler in every corner
of the globe. Here are some of the very best.
Ernest Hemingway’s “Old Man and the Sea”
protagonist hooked a giant marlin, the largest
of the billfish: marlin, spearfish, sailfish, and
swordfish. Billfish remain the Holy Grail of
deep sea sportfishing, and there may be no
better place to complete the Billfish Grand
Slam—three of the four in one day—than
at Panama’s legendary Tropic Star Lodge
(tropicstar.com). Sitting on the remote coast of
the pristine Darien Jungle, more International
Game Fishing Association (IGFA) records have
been set here than at any other resort on
Earth, 300-plus. Blue marlin of up to 800lb
are regular occurrences. They also have tons
of massive dorado and enormous schools of
yellowfin tuna that can top 300lb. All billfish
are catch and release, and like most top
fishing lodges, packages are all-inclusive with
daily fishing, gear, guides, lodging, and all
meals.
40 NetJets