Weekly Fishing Report

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De Mako had a good trip home, with NW10-15kt winds, making the 600-mile crossing a smooth and fast trip.  N.C to Bermuda in 33 hours, while burning 1,050 gals.

Well, it seems the fish are not opposed to De Mako changes, as one of our first trips out this Wednesday, with Dr. Ernie’s group, saw us catching 20 Wahoos.  We had only four small fish (15-20lbs.) and the rest of the catch were fish in the 30-60lbs. range, with a total weight of more than 700lbs.  We had a few triple hook-ups that gave us the opportunity to try out De Mako’s patented flip out mezzanine gimbals (check out the photos), that work great!

Most of Wednesday’s action took place on the edge, with just a few fish coming off of Challenger Bank, although I have been told of some good catches on both banks.  With no other bookings for the week, James & I have been winding line on some new tackle and getting bait before it starts to get real crazy, very soon!

Some bait has started to show up on the north side of the Banks, plus a few Tunas have been caught there.  The signs look good for the start of the “Tuna run” to begin, this coming week. With the change in the weather, and May just around the corner, the “Wahoo spring run” should get in high gear very soon!

The Spring Wahoo run on the Edge is still hot & cold.  You can go out and catch 15 Wahoos one day and go right back to the same spot the next day and have hell to get a bite!  Don’t lose hope... as the old cricket saying goes, ”Stick to the wickets and the runs all come”!  And, for you Americans that don’t understand cricket, just keep on fishing - the bites are coming!

We started off May on the right foot, yesterday, with the Collier family trip.  After Jack Jr. & Ford had caught their share of Tunas, it was time to retreat to the A/C and watch a movie, leaving the fishing to Mom & Dad!

May 7th - 54 Yellowfin Tunas in the first 3 trips is how DeMako started off this week.  Still a good bite from the Yellowfins taking place down on the north & west side of Argus Bank.  We have been anchoring up and chumming for them, although some of the other boats have also been successfully trolling for them.  The average size fish taken in the chum has been 20-40lbs., with the trolling fish being smaller, with the odd big one mixed in.  There is also a pretty good Wahoo bite down on the edge of Argus, plus on the tower.  The Wahoo bite, on the Bermuda’s edge, remains hit or miss (10 one day and a blank the next!).  Challenger Bank must be asleep - not much to report there at all.  My advice - stay on the edge and take your chances with the Wahoos, or go all the way to Argus and have some fun with the Tunas!

Ricky Sousa & Big Al, on Wednesday’s trip, take the  “Best catch of the week” with 26 Yellowfins & 1 Wahoo - A lot of pulling for two anglers!  No recovery time!

May 16th - The Tuna fishing just keeps getting better!  De Mako has had a strong week, with the Yellowfins in the chum. The bite started on Argus Bank and then moved to Challenger.

We have also seen an increase in the size, with most fish in the 30-pound range and a few in the 40’s.  Catches of 8 to 18 Tunas per trip, with a few Wahoos, Bonita & Rainbows mixed in are common.

Joe Guerin, on Saturday’s trip, was red hot!  With a nice haul of Tunas, plus an 18lb Rainbow Runner and a 45lb White Marlin, he caught in the chum!  And how about Joshua’s 86lbs. Wahoo on Friday -  add this to a 64lb Wahoo, making a total catch of 9 Tunas & 5 Wahoo’s!

Today, it was the girls verses the boys and Gambrel & Sonya finished on top, out of a total of 17 Tunas caught.  Must have been the Baiter!

May 23rd - We saw a slow down in the Tuna bite, this week.

The conditions are still the same, with the tide (current) going into the SE and the bites still on the north side of both banks, but the numbers were just not there.  We still had Tunas coming right in the chum, but they were very leader-shy, making it difficult to rack up any sizable numbers.

We did manage a sizable number of Wahoos, on Jimmy’s birthday trip on Friday.  With the slower Tuna fishing, I decided to start the day from the NW edge and slowly work our way to the banks.  Well, the Wahoos had a different idea and we never left the edge.  We finished up catching 19 Wahoos and were back at the dock for a few cocktails by 3.30pm.

A great day all round - great fishing and a great gang!

May 30th - Close but no cigar!

1^st Innings

Thursday morning was terrible - rain, wind and thunder.  So, we postponed our departure.  By 10.30 a.m., there was great improvement in the weather, so we headed out to Argus.  By the time we got to the outside edge of Argus, we had caught a few Wahoos & Tunas.  We were seeing quite a few Tunas feeding on the surface, so we decided to switch over to some “dink bait fishing” and try our luck with the Yellowfins.  Within 5 minutes, Mathew was hooked up!  After boating a nice 50lb Yellowfin, we were back on the move and within minutes, Johnny was hooked up to something big!

It did not take long to figure out that we were dealing with DeMako’s first Blue Marlin encounter of the year.  The odds were against us.  We had a large Blue Marlin on a 30W reel, with 60lb line, and only a 130lb test leader.  It was only a matter of time before the coarse bill of the Marlin would saw through our light leader.  We needed the fish to make a mistake and let us get close enough so James could grab the leader and make it an official release.

Despite the great job that Johnny did, and all the backing down & maneuvering, after an hour and 10mins, the Marlin cut through the leader with only a few yards to go!

 “ Close but no cigar!”

2nd Innings

With Johnny “Wahoo” Reiss on board again for Saturday’s trip, we started the day with Bill boating a massive 94lb Wahoo, first thing in the morning, right up on the edge.

Great catch, but 6lbs short of the elusive 100 pounder.

“Close again!”

This week we have seen Blue Marlin attacks everyday and De Mako has managed to get off the mark with two fish.

The first Blue we released on Wednesday, after a good day’s fishing down on Argus, catching 7 Wahoo’s  & 6 Yellowfin’s.  We were making our way home when we got the bite from a 400lb. Blue.  Angler Mark did a great job in catching this fish in 20 minutes on a 50-class reel - Great Job, Great Release!

On Saturday, before we even made the Bank, we released our second Blue for the season.  Again, on a 50 reel, this time with Eric in the chair, releasing a 250 pounder.  Congratulations, Eric!

The best of the Tuna fishing is still down on Argus Bank, and Challenger Bank is still slow.

The White Marlins have made a good showing this week, with many boats reporting attacks and releases.  The Blues are also showing sign of improvement, with more encounters even though only a few boats are spending any time looking for them.

“DeMako” ended the week very strong, with Saturday's “Island Construction Tournament” win, with 18 Tunas and 2 Wahoos -

a total weight of 583lbs.  Great fun…… thanks, Big Al!

Sunday was “De Mako’s” first official Marlin trip, in which we saw Tommy Holder do a fine job at catching and releasing a 250lb Blue Marlin - Congratulations!

We ended last week with Tom Holder releasing a nice Blue Marlin and started this week with younger brother, Donnie, releasing a Blue and a White Marlin.  Under James' supervision, Tom did a great job handling the leader on both his brother’s fish.  Watch out for these boys, they are good and I am sure you’ll see them in the fishing magazines in the coming years.

The Marlin bite is starting to heat up, with a lot more White bites than Blues, so far.  Unfortunately, fishing with 130’s and big lures makes for a lot of missed White Marlin, but it is a great time to try your luck at catching a few on light tackle, if you are so inclined!

The hot Tuna bite, down on Argus, is slowing down everyday and still no signs of life on Challenger.  The big question is where and when are they going to show up next?

Wahoo are in their summer mode, with a few here and there, and most of them “Summer Lizards” (15-20lbs).

Full moon this week, so stand by!!

 Let’s start with the Good Day! 

The Marlin bite had really heated up.  We started the week with Teem Capital pulling out all the stops.  How about a 124lb Yellowfin on 50lb test, standup gear!  Ed did a great job up until the last 5 minutes, when his back said “I’m not taking this anymore” and it was Marty to the rescue to finish the fight.  On the way home, it was Marty’s turn for some pain and, after a 20-minute battle, a 700lb Blue Marlin was to the boat, somewhat ready to be tagged, -so we thought!  As it turned out, the Marlin had other plans and proceeded to pull poor James all over the cockpit for the next 10 minutes.  Finally, after releasing the leader three times and lots of bruises, James tamed her down to the point that Ed could put a tag in her and we could release her to fight another day.

Second fish story of the week... the Bad Day!

Sunday’s action for us started after lunch, with a White Marlin miss followed by a Blue Marlin miss.  O.K., not a good start, but a few minutes later, we have another Blue on and a few seconds later, it to was gone!  At this point, we are starting to get a little frustrated. Little did we know it was going to get worse - a lot worse!

About 15 minutes later, a big Blue, 800lbs plus, crashes the long rigger, buzzes the reel and drops off, then falls back on the stinger.  Finally, we are hooked up!  This fish is big and hot; backing down as fast as “De Mako” can go is not working, we are still losing line fast, 800 yards of line out and screaming!  Drastic times call for drastic actions.  It is time to turn the boat around and chase her down.  James quickly stands the outrigger up and I spin all 57 feet of “De Mako” around in a cloud of black smoke!  The chase is on and, for the first time since we hooked up, we feel we have some control.  But, it was not to be; with one more run the line parts!  What happened?  We had turned around and were in hot pursuit, with only 15 lbs. of drag.  After disappointingly winding in the line, we find that it has parted some 600yds. down in the reel.  A close inspection reveals that a factory splice in the line had pulled out.  A splice?  What splice?  This is a new 1500 yd spool of spectra; there should not be any splices in it.  What is going on??

Back at the dock, I decide to empty all the reels of the new line and find three more splices in the remaining reels... not good!