by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
When attorney Jefferson Morrow climbed into an inflatable kayak 40 miles off the Pacific coast of Guatemala to chase down a 150-pound sailfish, fellow attorney and friend Homer Bliss grabbed the cam corder. The cameras have been chasing Morrow ever since.
The kayak wasn’t much bigger than the fish, but Morrow reeled in the sailfish using fly-fishing gear as friends watched and Bliss filmed from a nearby boat. Morrow’s companions that day admit that, for a while, they weren’t sure who was catching whom as they watched the fish drag Morrow around. When Morrow finally landed the fish, he knew he had a story for the boys back home. But he had no idea the story would garner worldwide interest.
Since Morrow returned from Guatemala, Bliss’s videotape has run on MSNBC, ESPN, CBS This Morning and Inside Edition. The media tour continued Wednesday when Morrow appeared live with Bliss on ESPN.
Morrow shakes his head when he thinks about the attention he’s getting.
“It’s befuddling really,” he said. “I never expected any of this.”
This isn’t the first time Morrow’s fishing exploits have gained national attention. He appeared on Alltel Stadium’s Jumbotron before last year’s Super Bowl in Jacksonville. Then, an ESPN film crew caught Morrow’s battle against a 150-pound tarpon off of Jacksonville Beach’s shore.
Fishing from a kayak looks a little crazy, but the method is sound. Basically, the fish gets tired from dragging around the kayak (and the fisherman). Once exhausted, the fish is relatively easy to land. Morrow honed the technique catching tarpon in Jacksonville.
Bliss said the pair got some bemused looks from the Guatemalan fishing boat captains. Those looks lasted until they saw Morrow and Bliss successfully land the fish. The reaction gave the first hint that Bliss and Morrow might have struck a nerve in the fishing community.
“After we caught the first one the radios just lit up,” said Bliss. “A lot of the captains thought we were on some harebrained scheme, but pretty quickly they realized it had some promise.”
Bliss’ videotape isn’t just grabbing the attention of television networks. Advanced Elements, an outdoor outfitter, has designed an inflatable kayak specifically for catching billfish.
Might an endorsement deal be in the works? Morrow already looked every inch the pitch man, arriving at White Hawk studios in Riverside Wednesday decked out in an Advanced Elements shirt. Morrow touted the company during his ESPN interview as well.
“It was an Advanced Elements kayak,” Morrow said on-air. “I don’t think you could do it in a rigid-hull kayak.”
In addition to its effectiveness, Morrow said fishing from the kayak brings excitement to the sport.
“You’re down in their territory,” he said. “You sense it and the fish senses it. It’s a totally different experience from fishing on a boat.”
The pair are already plotting their next eye-to-eye encounter. The next stop is the Galapagos Islands, where Bliss and Morrow hope to hook up to a blue marlin.
Both acknowledge they’re pushing the envelope of the kayak approach by chasing the blue marlin, a fish that can weigh up to 1,000 pounds. At that size, the fish could take the kayak anywhere it wants, including to the ocean floor.
“Marlin have a tendency to sound, that’s when they head straight for the bottom,” said Bliss. “That could be a problem if you’re hooked up to a 1,000-pound fish in 7,000 feet of water.”
But it will probably make for interesting viewing, Bliss concedes.