Mike Benitez

Captain Mike Benitez was a founding legend of Puerto Rico sport fishing. Starting in 1951, he built his own boat, bought his mentor's charter business, and in 1956 guided a client to a 756-pound world record blue marlin that put the island on the map. He fished the world's great marlin grounds, from the Virgin Islands to Australia and Madeira, and earned the IGFA's sportsmanship award. Benitez passed away in 2012. His In The Spread Big Game Legends interview preserves the stories of a true pioneer.

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Mike Benitez helped invent sport fishing in Puerto Rico. When he started out in 1951, the island was barely on the map as a fishing destination. By the time he was done, it was one of the most famous big game ports in the world, and Benitez was one of the reasons why. He is a foundational figure in the history of the sport, and In The Spread is honored to preserve his story as part of the Big Game Legends series.

He learned from the best of the early days. Under the mentorship of Art Wills, Tommy Gifford, and Johnny Harms, Benitez learned to fish the waters of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Bahamas. He earned his captain's license, built his own boat by hand, a 36-foot Rybovich replica he named the Rebecca after his daughter, and bought Wills' charter business, taking over the San Juan Bay Marina to run his operation.

Then came the catch that changed everything. In 1956, Benitez guided a client to a 756-pound all-tackle world record blue marlin, and the news put Puerto Rico on the map as a sportfishing mecca overnight. Through the 1960s and 70s he was at the center of the sport's growth, tied to the International Billfish Tournament at Club Náutico de San Juan, Johnny Harms' marina in St. Thomas, and the tournament that became the USVI Open. He fished St. Thomas every summer, hooking marlin by the dozen out on the Drop before the rest of the fleet knew it was there.

His curiosity carried him across the planet. Benitez fished Hawaii, Florida, North Carolina, Louisiana, Brazil, Venezuela, Panama, and Australia, where in 1973 he landed a 1,162-pound black marlin alongside Capt. Peter Wright. In the 1990s he was still at it, running a charter boat out of Madeira. In 2011 the IGFA honored him with its Chester H. Wolfe Outstanding Sportsmanship Award.

There may be no more fitting close to a life like his. In 2011, during the first IGFA Great Marlin Race, Benitez implanted a satellite tag in a marlin. One hundred and twenty days later, that fish surfaced off the coast of Angola, 4,776 nautical miles from Puerto Rico. The date was January 5, 2012, two days after Benitez passed away. The marlin he spent his life chasing carried a piece of him clear across the Atlantic.

In his In The Spread Big Game Legends interview, Benitez shares the stories and hard-won knowledge of a lifetime at the birth of modern big game fishing. It is a chance to learn from one of the founding legends of the sport, in his own words.