Robert Eliason
Location: Destin, FL/Gulf Coast, USA
Charter/Boat: 'Sin Pelo' - 2023 64' Viking
"I was born in Tennessee and lived on the Tennessee River until I was 5 when we moved to Destin, Florida for the sole purpose of cobia fishing.
I have been fishing my entire life. There are pictures of my mom pregnant with me on the boat that I grew up fishing on and started working as second mate on when I was 14.
My family used this charter boat the ‘Un Reel’ for the cobia season, and we would go anywhere from 30-50 days between March 15 - May 15 based on weather conditions. In 1999 my parents caught 5 cobia over 100lbs. My mom was the first lady to win overall first place in a weekend cobia tournament. We swept the Hogs Breath Cobia Shootout in 2006 with me taking first place.
I started working for a captain in the summer of 2008 and worked with him and other charter captains until I went to college in 2012. This captain and my family broke two all class world records. My sister broke the female under 18 all class greater amberjack world record which has been beaten unfortunately. I broke the male under 10 all class world record for a gag grouper and it is still standing to this day.
The summer of 2013 is when I moved to private boats. 2014 started my tournament career on the deck of the ‘Don't Blink’ 56 viking. We placed money in meat fish during the Mobile Big Game Memorial Day, MGCBC Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic, and the ECBC Emerald Coast Billfish Classic and the Labor Day tournament.
In 2015 I was moved to first mate on the same boat with a similar story. Placing in meat fish calcuttas in the same 4 tournaments. This boat we pulled 7 meats no lures with dredges a combo of naked, chin weighted, and iLanders with mullets or Ballyhoos 2 flats 2 shorts 2 longs and a Shotgun. It was a mess trying to clear lines without a few good mates.
In 2016 I moved boats to a new family the ‘Lyons Pride’ (a 62’ Viking), then we bought a 68’ Viking. We fished the Gulf Coast Triple Crown consisting of the Orange Beach Billfish Classic, the Cajun Canyons Billfish Classic, the Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic, the Emerald Coast Billfish Classic, and the Grand Championships.
We won first place kill Blue Marlin in OBBC 2017 on a live bait going 4-7 that weekend. We placed in tournaments through the years and made money but unfortunately never got first place again in a tournament. The boss got diagnosed with cancer and sold the boat in 2020, or I would still be with them. I ran the Lyons Pride for the last 8 months of owning it.
Then I moved to an older style 64’ viking EB called the 'Reel Blues' and we did Smaller tournaments in Louisiana. We won first place billfish release, first place ladies, first place Mahi and first place junior in the Cocodrie classic in 2021. The Ruckus was the boss lady’s favorite lure on this boat as she had about 15 of them. We lure fished almost every weekend on this boat and released over 50 blues in 2021 when I was running the boat.
I started working with these owners in august of 2022 and took delivery of the boat in February to Viking south to finish the tower. Our first trip was Vikings Key West Challenge where we got first and third place Mahi. We are on the waiting list for Walker’s Invitational, fishing the Key West Challenge again. This summer of 2024 we are leaving South Florida for Orange Beach, Alabama to fish the Gulf again. Looking to fish MGCBC, ECBC, and the Grand Championship.
We have a 2023 64’ Viking known as the 'Sin Pelo' with MTUs, Furuno sonar, tuna tubes, tower, Seakeeper, willyvac, starlink, all the bells and whistles pretty much."
For charter information, contact Robert at the following outlets:
Email: 850marlin@gmail.com
Instagram: @robert_eliason @sp_sportfishing