Tag Archive: big game fishing


Watching The 1953 Record-Setting Black Marlin Catch From The Cabo Blanco Docks

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March 14, 2013
Alfred C. Glassell Jr, on Aug 4 1953 in Cabo Blanco, Peru with his world record rod and reel Black Marlin.

Alfred C. Glassell, Jr., on August 4, 1953, in Cabo Blanco, Peru, with his world record rod and reel Black Marlin.

Every big game fishing catch has a big game fishing story, and the biggest are the Black Marlin of Cabo Blanco, Peru.

Col. C. J. Tippett was the Director of the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club in 1953, when Alfred C. Glassell, Jr., caught the world-record black marlin on rod and reel on August 4th, 1953. Tip was present at the Club, although not on the boat. He had hooked several black marlin of his own, but none as big as this one.
No one else has hooked one as big as that since then either!  Glassell’s record still stands.

Big fish stories are notorious for their re-telling, and it just gets better when other people’s perspectives of the day can be collected and shared. Tip was on the sidelines for that catch, and he remembered it for the rest of his life. He described it three years later in a letter to his air force reserve commander:

“To Col. Samuel Galbreath,
Director, Operations Headquarters
Caribbean Air Command
Albrook AFB, Panama CZ

Dear Sam,

I had expected to be up to see you before this but we’ve been overwhelmed by work….” (I’ve cut out two paragraphs here of Tip’s letter to feature in an upcoming post about flying and ICAO and CairC…) … “I trust Mary is fine and that you are bearing up under the rigors of the tropics. I spent a couple of days at Cabo Blanco a short time ago and fished for the studio group who were filming “The Old Man And The Sea” and hooked into a new world’s record fish that we estimated at 1800 – 2000 lbs. The Warner Bros boys tell me it looks real pretty in cinemascope. It jumped several times about 40 ft. from the boat.

Hoping to see you soon, best wishes,

CJ Tippett”

The black marlin was actually 1560 lbs, and the “short time ago” was three years previously, but that’s normal for a fish tale.

The rest of the story of Tip’s time in Cabo Blanco, and why the Warner Brothers film crew was at the Club that day, and his work as Director of the South American Office of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and more, is coming very soon now – as I finish the final edits on Tip’s biography When No One Else Would Fly. To sign up for the book release notification, simply contact us. We never sell our readership lists.

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Famous People Who Met My Grandfather, Col. C. J. Tippett… Alfred C. Glassell, Jr.

Filed Under: Blogs @ "Colonel C. J. Tippett", Famous People Who Met My Grandfather, Fishing at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club by Corinne — Comments Off on Famous People Who Met My Grandfather, Col. C. J. Tippett… Alfred C. Glassell, Jr.
February 7, 2013
Alfred C. Glassell and Col. C. J. Tippett

Alfred C. Glassell, Jr and Cloyce Joseph Tippett won this trophy fishing for black marlin at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club, but for Glassell, these were not the biggest fish in the sea…

Alfred C. Glassell, Jr. was one of the founding members of The Cabo Blanco Fishing Club, along with S. Kip Farrington, Jr.

He was a tall man, and towered above the other people in every photograph he stood for, unless he was standing next to my grandfather, Cloyce Joseph Tippett.

Tip was frequently at the Club, managing operations, and he joined Glassell on the Club boats as they fished for black marlin and giant tuna.

In 1958, Tip joined Glassell and Farrington in a fishing tournament. Together, they won the trophy seen in the photo.

Five years earlier, Alfred C. Glassell, Jr. had won a much bigger trophy. He caught the world record for largest fish caught on rod and reel – and the record still stands today.

On August 4, 1953, Glassell hooked a black marlin using mackerel as bait. He fought the fish for more than an hour, knowing it was big enough to qualify for a record.

Tip was back on shore that day, at the Club, and had suggested that Glassell take along a film crew who were visiting Cabo Blanco, hoping to catch a marlin on film. They were shooting for the film version of Ernest Hemingway’s “Old Man and The Sea” and they were certainly getting good footage.

The black marlin was 1,560 pounds and Alfred C. Glassell, Jr. entered world history. He had the fish transported home whole and had it stuffed. For a long time, it hung in the Smithsonian Institution’s Hall of Sea Life. Now, it hangs in the offices of the National Museum of Natural History.

Tip’s biography includes many stories of The Cabo Blanco Fishing Club, and stories of aviation history. The book is coming soon, and you can sign up here for an email announcing the book’s release.

 

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The Cabo Blanco Fishing Club and The Boat Captains

Filed Under: Blogs @ "Colonel C. J. Tippett", Fishing at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club by Corinne — Comments Off on The Cabo Blanco Fishing Club and The Boat Captains
January 24, 2013
The Cabo Blanco Fishing Club and Col C. J. Tippett

Cloyce Joseph Tippett stands under the stuffed bluefin tuna on the wall of the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club’s main salon. He is posing with the boat captains and crew. The man in the checked shirt, to the right, is S. Kip Farrington Jr, founder of the Club. This picture was taken in the 1950s.

In the 1950s, in Cabo Blanco, Peru, world record catches were not unusual at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club.

The club had been founded by the biggest names in sport fishing of the time, and members included rich and famous men. Everything about the club was focused on catching record fish, and the boat Captains were no exception.

The Cabo Blanco Fishing Club hired the captains and crew from the village, and the neighboring villages up the coast. These men had a lifetime of fishing experience, and additional training at the member’s expense in the fine art of world record fishing rules. 

Cloyce Joseph Tippett, who was pursuing a day job as the Director of the South American Office of the International Civil Aviation Organization, formed by the United Nations after World War II, was the also the Club’s director, and he often wrote of the dedication and enthusiasm of the boat Captains.

“The crews are quite depressed when the fishing is bad,” Tip wrote in a personal letter to a friend in the early 1950s, “They take it much worse than the guests!”

Fishing for black marlin and other big game fish was not just a job for the boat crews, it was a passion. The giant fish were often a food source for the village families, but it was more that as well.

The Club members were proving their sportfishing dedication by paying the extraordinary membership fee, but they were under-achievers compared to the commitment of the fishing boat crews.

This photo, showing Tip in the middle, Kip Farrington on the right, and the boat crews in the middle, is one of few images illustrating these behind-the-scene heros of The Cabo Blanco Fishing Club.

Tip’s book is coming soon – getting closer every day. It has a huge amount of fascinating detail about The Club, and Tip’s involvement with it. Join my growing list of people who want to be notified when the book is released by contacting us. We never, ever, sell your contact information.

 

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240 lb Bluefin Tuna caught at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club in 1959

Filed Under: Blogs @ "Colonel C. J. Tippett", Fishing at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club by Corinne — Comments Off on 240 lb Bluefin Tuna caught at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club in 1959
November 2, 2012
Col. C. J. Tippett at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club

Col. C. J. Tippett caught a 240 lb Bluefin Tuna at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club on March 2, 1959. When he wasn’t setting aviation records, he was going for fishing records!

A major and exciting part of my grandfather’s upcoming aviation history biography is the big game sportfishing that he did at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club in Peru in the 1950s and 60s.

This was a legendary time in sportfishing, and Col. C. J. Tippett, known as Tip, was at the heart of it as he served on the Board as an honorary member. He was the club manager, and he fished alongside some of the biggest names in billfishing history.

On March 2, 1959, Tip landed a 240 pound Bluefin Tuna on rod and reel, which was not a world record, or even a club record… but it was a delicious source for the Club’s gourmet dinner menu. This was not his first and only Bluefin Tuna catch, he brought in so many fish that his granddaughers now feel compelled to contribute to the IGFA’s effort toward the Billfish Conservation Act.

It was a Monday, so Tip must have been pulling a long weekend away from his day job in one of the highest civil aviation posts of the era, working for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

The Bluefin Tuna is a predatory fish and eats smaller fish, as well as squid. Tip’s usual bait was bonito, caught on hand lines by the boat crew or Tip’s daughter, Sue, when she joined her Dad at the Club. The bluefin tuna was not only huge, as tall as Tip and twice as wide, it was also a rocket. The fish can move incredibly fast through the water and puts up a stunning fight when hooked.

Back in Tip’s day, conservation was not yet part of the big game fishing world, but many of the millionaire members of the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club went on to lead conservation efforts. The fish that Tip caught in the 1950s and 60s would sell today for thousands of dollars each.

The book, as well as magazine articles about his story, are coming out soon… and I’ve got a mailing list building for people who want to be notified when the stories come out.

I never, ever, use that mailing list for any emails other than my own, and you can sign up here.

The stories of the Club in Tip’s memoir have me hooked tight.

 

 

 

 

 

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