Kansas has plenty to brag about when it comes to fishing. We’ve got some of the best crappie fishing in the Midwest and our walleye and catfish opportunities are outstanding. And if you ask lifelong Kansan Andy Fanter about fishing prospects here in the Sunflower State he’d rank them right up there at the top of his list.

“I just love to fish,” Fanter, 41, said. “I started when I was 4 years old. I grew up catching catfish, crappie, largemouth bass, and white bass is probably my favorite.”

But Fanter was recently honored, for the second time actually, for catching (and releasing) fish that most Kansans will never see save for photos or on television. The Billfish Foundation (TBF) announced the winners of the 2011 Tag and Release awards. Fanter, from Great Bend and fellow billfish angler, Tim Twiddy, of Glasgow, Scotland, tied for top honors in catching and releasing the most blue marlin in the Atlantic Ocean.

“Today, instead of catch-and-kill, more anglers are tagging more fish than ever before,” said TBF science and policy director Peter Chaibongsai. “We had a total of 5,399 release records and 4,410 tag records for competition, an increase over last year.”

So how does a guy from Kansas end up with a record like this?

“I was in Hawaii meeting with a new client,” said Fanter, who is an economic consultant for heavy equipment dealers, “and I decided to book a one-day trip while I was there on April 1st, my birthday, in 1996 and caught my first marlin, and I actually caught two.”

More deep sea fishing expeditions would follow on subsequent trips to Hawaii in the next couple years. In 1998, Fanter made a trek to Venezuela, and he swallowed the billfishing bug hook, line and sinker at that point.

“That really got me hooked,” Fanter said of his passion.

The next half-dozen years Fanter booked trips for several days each year. He experienced success and enjoyed the challenge, scenery and the journey of catching various species of marlin and other billfish.

“In 2004 through 2009 I was going 20-30 days a year,” Fanter said.

One of his favorite destinations now was Cape Verdes Islands near the northwest corner of Africa. In 2007, Fanter caught 57 blue marlin in 18 days, which garnered him his first annual release award from TBF.

“That year was pretty special as the average fish we caught was right around 400 pounds,” Fanter said. “I had one day on that trip I’ll never forgot, I was fishing stand-up (no chair) and I caught six that were all over 400 pounds. All of them were stubborn and it took 30-45 minutes minimum to get them to the surface.”

Despite catching and releasing more blue marlin the next year, 63, Fanter didn’t win the title in 2008.

The technique for catching these huge fish is trolling at 9-12 mph. Fanter says they put two lures out about 25 yards behind the boat.

And between those and the boat they’ll put out two teasers which entice the fish but don’t actually have any hooks in them.

“What we like the fish to do is come up to the teasers and it’s just like playing with a cat,” Fanter said. “You pull the teasers towards the boat and grab a rod already rigged with a 12-inch dead tuna on a circle hook and throw it in front of the fish as you yank the teaser away.”

Fanter’s normal gear is a stiff stand-up rod with a 50-pound reel and 50-pound line and at minimum a 300-pound leader.

“Once the mate touches the leader it counts as a catch,” Fanter said. “And then we try to get it released as quickly as possible and usually that circle hook is right in the corner of his mouth.”

This past year Fanter caught and released 13 marlin in nine days to tie Twiddy for the 2011 award.

“I caught three this year on stand-up three days in a row and had two fish that weighed 750 pounds and one we put at about 950 pounds,” Fanter said. “It was pretty special.”

Fanter’s love of billfishing doesn’t come cheap or easy. The fishing boat charter fee is about $1,300 per day. Hotels and meals cost about $100 each day. Airfare to get to his favorite destination in the Cape Verdes Islands usually runs about $1,800 round-trip and takes a day-and-a-half to two days of air travel to get there.

“They’re catching the most blue marlin of any place in the world so it’s the place to go,” Fanter said. “You’re fishing over beautiful, blue water and you’re only about 30 minutes from the fishing grounds when you leave in the morning.”

There’s little doubt that trips like this and the success is what keeps Fanter looking forward to more just like it. You’d think coming back to Kansas would be a letdown for some, but Fanter enjoys his home-grown fishing roots, too.

“I have as much fun catching a 10-inch crappie out of a hole, or a 800-pound blue marlin, or casting a spinner for some released trout, or casting or trolling for walleye,” Fanter said. “Fishing is fishing, and it all takes a set of skill and equipment to make things happen. That’s why I love to fish because you don’t ever know what is going to happen.”

To prove his point, Fanter admits when his wife, Erin, picked him up from the airport (Erin accompanied him on her first trip this year) they often stopped to fish at a farm pond between the airport and their home. It’s not blue marlin they’re catching, but to Fanter that suits him just fine.