Learn the techniques to hook, fight, and land billfish and other offshore species with hands-on instruction and angling support in real-world conditions.
Copeland is our program director and lead instructor. She’s a 20-plus-year industry professional and possesses a genuine love for sportboats and fishing. Having worked as a dockmaster, deckhand, captain, assistant tournament director, writer and editor, Copeland still fishes competitively for sailfish in her home waters of South Florida and for big game wherever her travels might take her. Passionate about teaching, her goal is to not only connect you with your dream fish but also to connect you with like-minded people who share the same interests as you do.
A second-generation captain, Covin grew up on his father’s charter boat at the famed Bud N’ Mary’s marina in Islamorada, Florida. Covin began working as a mate on some of the industry’s top tournament boats traveling year-round, and began his captain’s career in 2000, fishing from St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands to the Gulf and East Coasts of the US. A previous Hatterascal captain, a Bahamas Billfish Championship winner, and a three-time Billfish Foundation release award winner, Covin now runs a corporate-owned boat out of Palm Beach.
Co-owner of L&H Sportfishing in Miami, Florida, Debbi and her husband, Capt. Jimmy David, have three extremely fishy children, each of whom are accomplished fishermen in their own right. Debbi grew up in South Florida and has been fishing since childhood in some of the best billfish destinations the world has to offer—South Florida, Oregon Inlet, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Isla Mujeres, St. Thomas, Cape Verde, and Hawaii—and continues to be a tournament angler to be reckoned with, seemingly immune to the stressors of the competitive arena, and racking up numerous tournament victories in her favor.
David was born and raised in South Florida and has acquired five world records to her credit as a junior angler, amassed multiple tournament wins as Top Female and Top Junior angler. She has traveled around the world hunting billfish in the continental US, Hawaii, Cape Verde, Guatemala, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Bahamas, Cabo San Lucas and Magdalena Bay. David recently acquired her USCG 100-ton Master Merchant Mariner credential.
Delgado is a native of South Florida and has nurtured a deep passion for the ocean and fishing since he was a child. With a career spanning 15 years, he has immersed himself in various roles within the sport fishing community, transitioning from a full-time crew member to a freelance mate, ultimately achieving the esteemed rank of captain. Presently, he runs the 64-foot Viking Game Time based out of Coral Gables, Florida. Throughout his career, Vinny has extensively fished and competed in the Bahamas, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, the US and British Virgin Islands, South Florida, and the Florida Keys. He excels in mentoring both novice and seasoned anglers alike and brings a wealth of experience to enrich those offshore fishing pursuits.
Based out of Islamorada in the Florida Keys, Goodrich has been a full-time freelance captain and crew member for over 15 years, which has allowed him the opportunity to fish and work side by side with some of the best tournament teams in the best fishing locales on the planet, helping to mold him into a world-class team player and teacher. From grunts to granders, or from novice anglers to the most experienced fishermen, Goodrich makes learning the art of angling both challenging and fun; he is also one of our most tournament-winning instructors.
Jenyns was born into a fishing family in Brisbane, Australia. His father, Capt. Ron Jenyns, won nine consecutive Australian sailing championships, represented Australia at three Olympic Games, and was a pioneer of the Great Barrier Reef black marlin fishery. Since he was 16 years old, Jenyns’ father taught him everything he knows about marlin fishing, prompting him to spend his next 17 years on the the Great Barrier Reef. He’s traveled the world’s finest big-game fishing grounds, including Ghana, Madeira, Kona, Bermuda, Mexico, and the US East and Gulf Coasts in search of giant marlin. Jenyns has released nearly 2,000 marlin and weighed many granders over the course of his career.
Like many offshore-fishing careers that begin on the charter docks, Kennedy’s began at the famed Bahia Mar in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Known to his friends as “Sheepdog,” his discipline, reliable reputation and relentless work ethic quickly propelled him from the charter sector to the private sector, where he especially excelled at tournament fishing. Working around the world—Azores, Bahamas, Bermuda, Costa Rica, Hawaii and Mexico, to name a few—Kennedy has developed a set of skills that any fisherman would admire, including those that encompass light-tackle, world-record fishing and heavy-tackle trolling. His biggest heavy-tackle accomplishment? A 1,075-pound blue marlin he captured in the Azores.
Based in Palm Beach, Florida, Morris was born and raised in the Florida Keys and grew up charter fishing with his dad, Capt. David Morris, out of Bud N’ Mary’s Marina in Islamorada. Fishing is in his blood: Morris’ mother landed a 500-pound blue marlin when she was seven months pregnant with him. He started washing boats in elementary school; enamored by them, and the fish they brought in, he has learned from some of the Keys’ greatest, such as Capts. Alex Adler, Paul Ross and Scott Stanczyk. Morris started tournament fishing at age 11, and has since traveled the world marlin fishing up and down the Atlantic Seaboard, in Bermuda, Cape Verde, Australia, St. Thomas, and the Bahamas. Be fast, they don’t bite all day! is his credo and enjoys passing on the skills and knowledge of his lifelong passion in a fun and upbeat way.
Touted as perhaps the best wireman today, Perry has been fishing since he was six years old. His father taught him to hunt and traded Sunday school for fishing; they didn’t catch anything they didn’t clean or shoot anything they didn’t eat. After spending some time in Australia on leave during his service in Vietnam, he returned to the US in 1973, and the rest, they say, is history. Both tenacious and focused, Perry fought big blacks on the leader just as hard as the anglers did from the chair. He says that even with all the fish he’s seen, it’s the camaraderie that really makes fishing worthwhile, and “nothing is better than hanging out with a bunch of people who love the same things you do.”
A Palm Beach County native who is currently completing her Master’s degree in Florida Studies from the University of South Florida at St. Petersburg, Ricca’s experience on the water is wide-ranging, from working on drift boats, private sport-fishermen and center-consoles, to fly-fishing, live-baiting, and drift-fishing for sailfish. She’s also worked the legendary Silver Sailfish Derby for multiple years and has fished numerous KDW tournaments. While she holds a Bachelor’s degree in fine art, Ricca is also an accomplished fly-fisherman and artist, known for her oil paintings of old-Florida scenes, as well as inshore and offshore fishes.
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