Tournament-Winning Team to Campaign New Hatteras GT59

Hatteras recently announced that highly successful anglers Chris and Laura Jessen, owners of Fish Tank Sportfishing, and their award-winning captain, Ben Horning, will campaign the all-new Hatteras GT59 Hatterascal during the 2019 tournament season.

The Jessens and Capt. Ben have enjoyed tremendous success fishing competitively in their Hatteras GT63, FISH TANK, in Costa Rica since December 2014, winning first place in five tournaments and placing in eight others. Among their many awards, Laura was recognized by The Billfish Foundation (TBF) as its 2015, 2016 and 2017 Top Overall Tagging Lady Angler as well as Top Winning Lady Angler in four tournaments. Chris was the Top Overall Release and Tagging Angler in 2016, while Capt. Ben was the 2016 Top Tagging Captain.

In fact, Chris Jessen announced in October that he, Laura, Capt. Ben and Mate Erick Martinez had caught their 5,000th billfish together (the total is now well over 5,200).

“I would also like to say we catch all of our fish on standup gear, unless we are in a Lure tournament, which isn’t very often,” Chris Jessen said. “So fewer than 30 of these 5,236 billfish [to date] were probably caught in a chair!”

In addition to his angling skills, Chris is also an accomplished photographer (that’s his image of a striped marlin taking a bait off Cabo San Lucas just below). To see more of his awesome work, check out Fish Tank Sportfishing on Facebook and Instagram.

“We have a nearly 60-year-old tradition of naming our newest sportfish model Hatterascal and sending it out on the tournament trail to show the world what it can do,” said Hatteras Yachts President and CEO Kelly T. Grindle. “We are delighted that the Jessens and Capt. Ben, with their excellent tournament track record, are going to campaign Hatterascal next year while we complete construction on the new Fish Tank, the first Hatteras GT65 Carolina.”

The preliminary schedule for Hatterascal’s 2019 tournament entries is as follows:
• May 15-18: The Shootout – Custom vs. Production, The Abaco Beach Resort & Boat Harbour Marina, Abaco, the Bahamas.
• June 19-23: Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic, Miramar Beach, Fla.
• July 9-14: Blue Marlin Grand Championship, Orange Beach, Ala.
• August 5-10: White Marlin Open, Ocean City, Md.
• August 12-16: Pirate’s Cove Billfish Tournament, Manteo, N.C.
• August 19-24: Mid Atlantic, Cape May, N.J.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to run the Hatterascal for some of the Atlantic and
Gulf tournaments next year,” Chris Jessen said. “Can’t wait!”

You can read more about the new Hatteras GT59 here.