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Captain Allen's Weekly Fishing Report Archives |
July 2001
| July 27th - A date that will go down in Bermuda's fishing history. It started like any other day, with a few charter captains chatting about their plans for the day. The tuna fishing had been so slow the last few days and the Blue Marlin fishing red-hot. No one was looking forward to a day in search of Tuna. Capt. Alan Card, of the 'Challenger,' calls me on 'De MAKO' and says, "Hey, you remember a few years ago when Tuna fishing was slow and you hooked the 996lb. Marlin, and spent all day fighting it?" Ha, do I! "Well, we need a day like that today. We should both hook up with a grander and spend the rest of the day hooked up!!" The conversation continued for about 20 minutes more, full of wishing & dreaming. Most of the bait had been on the north side of both banks. The 'Challenger' was headed to the north side of Challenger Bank, so I decided to head out to the north side of Argus Bank, about 5 miles further offshore. At 9:40am, 'Challenger' calls in a big fish hookup. I am now second-guessing my decision to go to Argus. At 10:16am, here she comes! On the long flat, after my black "JoYee Super Plunger," a one-time attack. Before Justin is harnessed up in the chair, she already has the 200yds. mono top shot off. We are burning dacron off the reel now as she tailwalks off the side of 'De MAKO'. Mate James clears the other lines and in reverse we go. Justin is not gaining any line, but at least he is not losing it as fast! Thirty minutes into our fight and AJ (Capt Card) reports that their fish is one of the biggest he has seen and decides to boat it if they get the chance. I now know we are talking about a sea monster as AJ has caught his share of granders and he knows what they look like. I start to wonder if it may be larger than my record 1,352lbs. About an hour into the fight, we get a first good look at our fish - she is larger than I first thought - a possible grander!! I think to myself, what a day - what if two granders could be caught in one day and at the same time. At 11:40am, the 'Challenger' has the fish alongside... it is a grander!! The crew are dragging her through the transom door and will soon be heading to the scales! (No chumming for the Challenger today!) One hour and 30 minutes into the fight, our fish is close. I ID her as at least a grander. I stick to my policy that all live Marlin will be released. James gets out the tagging stick, already fitted with a Billfish Foundation tag #148138. Justin North, our angler, fights hard for the last 50 feet of line. She does not want to come any closer but, with constant pressure, Justin gets the leader up. James grabs it and shouts, "Got the release." His long arms are getting longer as half a ton of Blue Marlin stretches him out. He has her alongside the boat. I leave my cockpit controls to grab the tag stick and tag her. She is larger than the 1,031 pounder we caught, a few years ago, but is no 1,300 pounder. I call her weight at 1,100 - 1,200 lbs. I tell James to quickly get the hooks out while she is still fresh! He grabs the bill. I reach in her mouth, with a small hand gaff, and pull on the back of the hook - out it comes! The only thing holding her to the boat is James (better him than me!!). Now, the most amazing thing happens - James turns her loose and she starts to sink down. We are all praying for her to make it when, all of a sudden, she turns and jumps clear out of the water, 40 feet behind the boat. What an awesome sight, one we all will never forget!! |
August 2001
| August 17th - August, so far, has been terrible!! The Blue Marlin fishing has slowed down to a crawl, averaging less than a bite a day, so don’t let her get off! as it may be your only bite for the day. Yellowfin Tuna have all but disappeared, with only a few Wahoo & Blackfin Tuna to keep us all happy. Remember last August and all the 100 pound Yellowfin? Now, that's how August should be - I sure hope they show up soon! Otherwise, it is going to be a long wait until the September Wahoo run. We did manage to hook up with another Grander on Friday, 10th. Angler, Jonathan Griffith, was in the hot seat for just a few minutes before she pulled the hooks. It was a great bite that none of us will soon forget. If you are interested in catching some Blackfin Tuna, we have had some success with live Robins on the eastern side of Challenger. Our best catch this week was 9 Blackfin (largest 32lbs.), a dozen or so Rainbow Runners and a few Bonitas. If you like Sharks, well there are a few Tiger Sharks that show up in the chum everyday on the eastern corner. We have had no interest in hooking them, though!! Light at the end of the tunnel - three boats fished today: DeMAKO, Sea Wolfe & Playmate, and all of us had Marlin bites! Playmate & DeMAKO both released Marlin, so maybe things are ready to change.......stay tuned! |
| August 26th - Blue Marlin fishing is hot!! Most of this week`s action came from the Marlin, with"DeMAKO" & "Challenger" in the lead. We, on "DeMAKO," ended the week with 9 Blue Marlin releases in 6 days of fishing. There was also an increase in the Wahoo catches on the troll, plus in the chum, with catches as high as 6 reported. The Yellowfin are still hiding, but the "Playmate" did find a nice one @ 104lbs. Hopefully, the rest will show up soon. Some "Tinker Mackerel" (live baits) have shown up in the harbour, which should mark the start of the live bait season in a few weeks. The Wahoo tournament is on September 9th, but I don`t think the baits will be offshore by then. The tournament is about a week too early for good live bait fishing, so you`ll have to go on the hunt for Robin. |
September 2001
| September 16 - Well, as you probably know, it is Wahoo time and I wish I could tell you the bite is hot, but it's not! The live baits (Tinker Mackerel) have not shown up and the Wahoo run is soft. Catches of 3-6 are common, with a few boats reporting catches as high as 10 Wahoo, from time to time. There has been a little improvement with the Yellowfin Tuna. Although the #`s of Tuna being caught are still down, the size of fish being caught is good (40-60lbs). Plenty of Sharks around, if you are interested, Dusky & BIG Tigers! The Blue Marlin have gone in hiding, with very few hookups being reported by anyone. Well, as you can see from this report, the fishing is not up to par, but with all the problems in the world today, if all we have to worry about is slow fishing, then we should be very thankful! I, for one, wish to send out my condolences to all the people affected by the horrible acts of last week. It is sad to think that we share this world with people who could do such a terrible thing. |
| September 23rd - The Wahoo are here!! “DeMako” caught
22 Wahoo, yesterday - Andrew Cook`s 64lbs. Wahoo being the largest. Most of our
action was multiple strikes. We had two triples, one fourple & two
fiveples! The end result: 22 Wahoo for 28 bites, the most action on Argus
Bank. The “Sea Wolfe” was live-baiting
on Challenger Bank, with Robins, and caught 10 Wahoo, mostly good-sized fish.
There are also a few good-sized Yellowfin showing up, with the “Sea
Wolfe" & “DeMAKO” both reporting catches of fish 70lbs. and larger.
On the Marlin scene, Kathryn, on the “Reel Action,” released a small Blue,
and the “Sheer Luck” jumped off a Blue at about 305lbs.
Unfortunately, due to the times, most of the charter fleet is tied up with no work. With the fishing just starting to heat up, this is no time to be ashore. Some of the smaller, more economical charter boats will start commercial fishing for the Wahoo but, with the downturn in business island-wide, a lot of hotels & restaurants will not be buying much fish, making sales hard. |
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