There’s a strong Acadiana connection to the story about the 12-year-old Florida girl who recently hooked and boated a 624-pound marlin while fishing near Cape Verde, Africa, in the eastern Atlantic Ocean.
Elizabeth Arn’s feat was chronicled in this space July 10. The story caught the eye of avid outdoorsman Henry Mouton, a former Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission member who lives in Lafayette. Mouton pointed out Arn was fishing on the charter boat Dacia, a 43-foot long G&S, which is owned by Paul Beaullieu from Lafayette.
Dacia is skippered by legendary charter boat captain Randy Baker, who was at the helm when Arn caught her potential world-record billfish May 31. She was on board with her father, Jonathan Arn; 1st and 2nd mates Stephen Hall and Chase Travers; Capt. Scott Murie, who gaffed the monster, and Baker.
Beaullieu is the son of the late Ted Beaullieu. The Beaullieu family was widely known across Acadiana, particularly at Cypremort Point, where both spent many years at their camp.
Beaullieu’s passion for fishing was born at the camp. How passionate? His story about owning two boats is told by Dave Ferrell in the June 2022 issue of InTheBite – The Professionals’ Sportfishing Magazine. He’s one of at least three boat owners who find running two or more game boats in different locales is the best way to meet goals set for their programs.
“I was raised as a fisherman my whole life and just kept going further and further. The next thing you know, wherever the marlin are, that’s where you want to be,” Beaullieu said in the long feature story with the headline “The RISE of the Multi-Boat Program / The Advantage of Splitting Time Between Boats.”
According to the story, the first sportfish boat he bought was a 1985 60-foot long Hatteras, the Nomad, in 2010. Beaullieu filled the need for a new captain when he hired Baker in 2012. They’ve been together since then.
One of their first trips was a memorable one. They fished the Bahamas, Isla Mujeres and the Dominican Republican before pointing the bow to Costa Rica, where Baker and Beaullieu enjoyed one of the finest six-day marlin fishing trips in history.
“On the first day we were 18 for 27 with a grand slam. … On that second day we went 20 for 26; then 23-30 on the third. We ended up with 79 blues, three stripes and three sails, and never got close to a FAD,” Beaullieu said, noting they found a floating log covered with bait and drifted more than 100 miles with it.
Their appetite whetted, the boat owner and the captain sought an upgrade in boats and eventually bought a 63-foot long F&S, the Sea Angel. They renamed the boat Dacia, which is Latin for nomad.
They had a boat fit for fishing Costa Rica. They turned their attention to getting a boat specifically for Cape Verda, where the Florida girl caught four blue marlin in late spring.
The idea for the second boat “kind of came up when we started looking at G&S. I always thought that Randy and G&S go hand-in-hand,” Beaullieu said, noting Baker worked at the G&S boatyard in Freeport.
The 43-foot long boat was completely overhauled and put up for sale in Cape Verde. They snapped it up, sight unseen and also christened it Dacia.
Beaullieu plans to ship his crews back and forth rather than an entire boat. There’s less wear and tear on a boat that way.
“I definitely plan to spend the whole season in Cape Verde … the rest of the time will be in Costa Rica,” Beaullieu said. “The Cape Verde season ends after July 4, but we may go back a bit after that. Last year they caught some big fish in July and August.”
He plans to live primarily in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica.
“We will fish Quepos south to Panama all the way up to Cabo and Magdelena Bay. I’ll probably fish the Bisbee’s Black and Blue. I plan on fishing the World Cup this year in Cape Verdes as well. I love fishing,” Beaullieu said.
DON SHOOPMANis outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.
