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Captain Allen's Weekly Fishing Report Archives |
April 2002
| April 4th - The “Yellowfins” have arrived!!
That’s right, the Yellowfin Tunas have started their run with catches as high as 18 fish being caught a day, and
some good-sized ones, too! Catches of school-sized fish, 15-30lbs, with a few nice ones mixed in, up to 80lbs.
I
personally caught one on the “Rabbit Hunter” that weighed 72lbs. The Tunas are being caught chumming, with action taking place on the northern side
of both banks. You will see no surface action, but they are there. The credit for the first good Tuna catch goes to Joey on the “Gringo” with his catch of 13 fish on Monday and with “Nothings Easy” catch of 18 fish on Tuesday. The Wahoo fishing is also improving with some better catches being caught on the SW edge, plus look for the start of the Wahoo run down “north” shortly! How about the improvement in the weather? Now you know summer is just around the corner. We are seeing as many as 5 fishable days in a row now, not like a few weeks ago where you would be lucky to get out fishing once a week. So, you have no excuses to get ahold of your mates - get that boat ready and I’ll see you out there!! |
| April 20th - Wahoo!
Things are finally getting started. The Wahoo are having an on-again, off-again
bite. With catches of 6-10 fish on the good days and the old 1 to none on the
bad days. The Yellowfin Tunas are playing the same game on the Banks. Rule of thumb so far for this year: if you have a good catch today, DO NOT GO BACK THERE TOMORROW! All of this will change very soon as more bait comes in and the fish will not be moving around as much, so you can expect better fishing reports to come. We are still waiting on the year’s first Blue Marlin, which should be caught before Mother's Day.... well, that is my prediction anyway! My friends, Kirk & Sue Evans, who are having a 61ft. Sunny Briggs being built, decided to come down and fish on "DeMAKO" this Friday. Sue caught 4 Wahoos - two over 40lbs! - while Kirk managed to pull in 3 Wahoos - one over 40lbs. and one that was so small it only had one strip!! Ha ha! You may have noticed a lot of fresh Bermuda Rockfish (Grouper) on the menu in the restaurants lately. Well, my friend Andrew, on the "Reel Action," has this Rock-fishing thing down to a tee! He catches his limit almost every trip. Boy could you imagine getting the Marlin catches up to that standard! Anyway, that’s it for this week……….Check you later!!! |
May 2002
| May 5th - Things
are looking up!! The Wahoo bite is much more consistent than it has been and
taking place in many areas. The hot spots are SW. edge, from the Sonesta to Chub Head, southern side of Challenger
& Argus Banks, plus the east side of the island is also showing good signs,
with the “Trick Shot” reporting some good Wahoo numbers. On the Yellowfin scene, we are seeing a good class of fish being taken both on the
troll & chumming. The “Nothing's Easy” had a few nice ones on the
weekend, with two fish around the 100lb mark - one caught trolling and the
other caught while chumming on Argus. Surprise
attacks from Dolphin & Marlin are becoming more frequent, too! Congratulations to the “Jamie C” and crew for catching this season’s first Blue Marlin at approximately 250lbs, plus there has been a few other Blues hooked in the last few days. “De MAKO’s” best Tuna catch of the week goes to Kevin Scannell, with 10 Yellowfin Tunas & 2 Dolphin while fishing all by himself! Great Job Kevin! “De MAKO’s” Best wahoo catch of the week goes to Johnny Reiss and gang, with 18 Wahoo - the biggest @ 57lbs. |
| May 12th - Lots
of Wahoo’s, BIG WAHOO’S!! The spring Wahoo run is in full swing, with great
catches coming from all over. Hot
spots being Eastern Blue Cut to Sally Tuckers; inside edge of Challenger and the
southern side of Argus. Make sure
your reels are full of good line, as you will have a few screamers in a day’s
fishing, with Wahoos over 50lbs being caught daily, like the two caught by John
& Joe Heinmiller on “De MAKO” last Saturday (60lbs & 74lbs). Or, how about the ten we caught today on a ¾ day trip with Karma’s top
Wahoo of the day @ 68lbs. Great job Karma!! Now, on the Tuna scene, things are a bit different. The Yellowfins made a pretty good showing on the south & western side of Argus for a few days, with a few boats getting some good catches, but most of the fish on the small size (15-20lbs) and a few 40-50 pounders mixed in. “De MAKO” had a good Tuna day on Friday, with 10 Yellowfins, plus 4 Wahoos and a 30lb Bull Dolphin, with most of the action coming from the kite. With the famous Barry “Kite” Brewer at the controls, how could we lose. Great job Barry! I had a ball! Ha Ha! The bad news is that on Saturday they disappeared again, so we will have to be happy with the Wahoos until they come back. On the Billfish scene, things are still quiet, with the odd hookups from Blues & Whites being reported. But, don’t panic because all that will change in a few weeks as the water keeps warming up. Well, it’s time to end this report so I can head out tomorrow to find some more fish for the next report. |
| May 20th - Yes,
the Wahoo’s are still biting and biting good!! Take our catch for today: “DeMAKO” with the “Dantra” crew onboard managed to
catch 19 Wahoo’s and 1 Yellowfin Tuna, and be back at the dock by 2:00pm. This makes 82 Wahoo for “DeMAKO” this week in 6 ½ days fishing!! You know how it
goes... when you’re hot, you’re hot!! Thinking of trying your luck on this holiday weekend? Well, the hot spots are SW edge, from the breaker to the point; Challenger’s inside edge; Argus east & southern sides. Try to get an early start as the best bite is in the morning - Good Luck!!Now, if you are looking for some Tuna action, you are going to need some luck as the Tuna bite has not improved at all. Still just a few good catches here and there. As for the best spots to try, well, in theory, where the Wahoo’s are, so should the Tunas be - once again, Good Luck!! On the Marlin report, the only release for the week goes to the “Gringo” crew with a 500lb Blue, released on an afternoon half day trip back of the breaker, with only the first line in the water - talk about being in the right place at the right time! Way to Go “Gringo” There were also a few other Blues hooked and lost, plus a few Whites released but, as we all know, Whites don’t count!!! |
| May 27th - The
Wahoo run is still going strong, with DeMAKO’s tally at 144 Wahoo’s in the
last 11 trips! The catch of the week definitely goes to Jamie Todd and crew, with their outstanding performance on Wednesday. How about 15 Wahoo’s, 1 Yellowfin Tuna weighing in at 82lbs, 1 Blue Marlin release (200lbs) and 1 White Marlin release (70lbs). Congratulations to Jamie on his White Marlin release and a special congratulations to Cragin Curtis for releasing DeMAKO’s first Blue Marlin for the season (1down 49 to go!!). The Yellowfin catches are still spotty, although there are more and more signs that the big Tuna run will start soon. Yellowfins have been seen jumping on the east and southern side of both banks, but they are following the old rule of “Jumping fish & barking dogs don’t bite!!” The Billfish are coming!! With the full moon this weekend, expect more and more attacks and hopefully more releases. |
June 2002
| June 3rd - The
Wahoo bite has slowed down with the warming of the waters. Do not
expect any great Wahoo run until the water cools down again in September. The warm water marks the start of the Tuna & Marlin run, plus all the
small stuff, i.e. Bonitas, Rainbow Runner, Mackerel and let us not forget the
Sharks!! Talking about Sharks, the other day we were winding in what should have
been our ninth Wahoo for the day and boom, a big explosion, and all we ended up
with was the head of a 30lb Wahoo. It was gone in one bite! Sunday was the second annual Island Construction Fishing Tournament, which saw 6 boats heading out to the banks. All in all, it was a great day of fishing. Calm seas and good action, with the “Gringo” coming through with top honours, with a total of 300lbs. of fish. Most of the fish caught were Wahoos & Tunas, but a few good sized Dolphins and Horseye Bonitas (Almaco Jacks) were caught by the fleet. Almaco Jacks are common in Bermuda, with the average fish weighing about 5lbs, but “DeMAKO managed to catch a few exceptional ones this week: like Terry’s 42lbs. on Sunday and Max’s 49lbs. the next day. I would like to say congratulations to Alan Reid for organizing another great, fun tournament. We are looking forward to next year’s event! The Marlin scene is still slow, with a fish or two seen every day but, in most cases, with the Marlins winning. This will all change very soon as more and more boats pack up their Wahoo gear and bring out the big gear!! The tuff luck story goes to Max after battling a 100lbs plus Yellowfin Tuna on 20lbs test line for more than 2 hours today on “DeMAKO” only to have the hook pull out 20 feet from the boat. Oh man that hurts!! |
| June 10th - The
water, air & the tuna fishing have all heated up! The weather has been great this week, with lots of sunshine and calm seas making for great conditions for chumming of Tunas. The east side of Argus and the SE side of Challenger have been producing some good catches of Yellowfin & Blackfin Tuna, plus some Rainbow Runners, Bonitas and, of course, some Dusky Sharks coming up and taking a few bites out of the odd Tuna. As predicted, the Wahoo fishing has slowed down to just a few being caught here and there, with most of them being caught in the chum. The good news is the Marlin scene has improved, with Blues & Whites being seen, caught and lost everyday. Congratulations to the “Sea Wolfe” crew for their 500lbs + Blue release, the “Stella Blue” with a 125lbs Blue release & the “Sea Scorpion III” with their Blue Marlin release. There was also a 470lbs Blue Marlin killed on the “Playmate.” “DeMako” had a great week of chumming for Tunas, but some slow action with the Marlin. With only a 70lbs White released by Kieth Flaherty and a few other Whites missed, plus a big Blue that dropped off - tuff luck, Spider! Good luck to all the boats and teams fishing the “Light Tackle Tournament” this week! |
| June 21st -
It’s Marlin Time!!
The Blues are making a strong showing, with more and
more hook-ups everyday. Congratulations to Tim Petty, for his successful release
of an 800lbs plus Blue today on ‘DeMAKO,” We
had just started our day, about 8 miles offshore, when all of a sudden, she came
in from the left side - a full speed attack on the short flat line. James
had just enough time to clear one outrigger line and we were already low on
line. It was time for me to get us
on the move. One engine in forward, one in reverse, twist her and back around,
with the other two lines still in the water.
Now, with “DeMAKO“ in full reverse and in hot pursuit of this
magnificent fish, James doing his best to clear the remaining lines that are now
dragging off the bow of “DeMAKO,” Tim is just looking with amazement at the
speed at which the line is melting off the reel, knowing at some point he will
have to crank it all back on! After
the first 90 seconds of chaos, we are in control with all lines in, the cockpit
organized with Henry directing the chair, Jack on the tag stick and Glen &
Jimmy on camera! We are ready for
the long haul, but with the increasing of drag over the button, and Tim putting
on steady pressure, we manage to bring her to the boat in just 45 minutes. This
is good, as the quicker we can release her, the better the chance of her
survival, and that's what it’s all about!
We have her alongside and get some nice photos as James does his best to
hold all 800lbs.
The photos are finished, the tag is in, alright let's turn
her loose! Congratulations to all
onboard - great job! Other notable releases go to Linda Cady releasing her first ever Blue, approximately 300lbs on “DeMAKO” on Wednesday, plus congratulations to the “Sea Wolfe” for their 300lbs Blue release today. |
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