Andy Witherspoon, Skipper

After growing up in Northern California, I have since spent a great deal of time skippering boats in the San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Barbara, and Hawaii.  More recently I have been running two luxury sportfishing catamarans in New Zealand for Gamesail.

I have done an enormous amount of fishing and diving around the world and have been a qualified Divemaster for the last 8 years. I have now earned my New Zealand Captains License and  I also love to cook having been in and out of the restaurant business several times over the years.  I currently write a column of my favorite seafood recipes for New Zealand Fishing Coast to Coast. 

I relocated to Santa Barbara  in 1985 and graduated from UCSB where I developed my love of fishing, diving, sailing and the ocean in general. Experiences and opportunities I had there have allowed me to build a career 'on the water.

Earlier this decade, I sold out of a very successful tropical fish wholesale and retail business which I had built up after leaving college.  This sale allowed me to become more footloose in my movements and I have chased the best fishing and diving for the last 5 years. I moved to Kona, Hawaii and became a charter skipper, freelance skippering in the busy local tourism scene. I also skipper my own “Game On” charter boat - fishing the world famous “Grander Alley” out of Kona for huge Marlin, Tuna, Mahi Mahi etc as part of the large local gamefishing charter fleet. I now spilt time between the best fishing season in Kona and the best season in New Zealand. Let me take you out for a day aboard Game On, you won't be disappointed.

28 Foot, Custom Rigged, Farallon Sportfishing Vessel

Game On

Game On is a special craft, purchased from the owner of Farallon Boats out of San Francisco, CA. This particular model was a prototype for a new breed of sport fishing vessel. Game On has been specially modified both by the owner of Farralon and by Mr. Witherspoon, himself. All the rigging has been specially chosen for performance, safety and reliability. The boat is equipped with all the latest gear for finding and catching big game fish. At 28 feet in length, Game On is perfect size for a small group, offering a nice trade-off between luxury, space and speed. The front cabin is big enough two sleep two people. There are four comfortable chairs plus the fighting chair. The boat sports a live bait tank, food/beverage cooler, and a large fish hold.