Weekly Fishing Report

Archives

On July 4, we fished the second day of the Bermuda Billfish Blast and the World Cup fishing tournament. There were a record number of boats, 196 worldwide in the World Cup and 43 in the Blast locally. The fishing in Bermuda that day was fair, but only 3 large fish were caught, the largest weighing in at 570lbs. on the “Off Piste.”  The “Waste Knot” also boated a 460lb fish, falling short of the minimum 500lb weight limit.  “De Mako,” with angler Ricky Sousa, released a 450-500lbs. class fish, earning DeMako 500 release points in the Blast, which will carry through to the Triple Crown series.  Great Job Ricky!

Bermuda did not win the World Cup for the fourth year in a row. This year’s honours went to the “Happy Hooker" in the Cape Verdi Islands, with an 850lb fish.

The big news is that a few good sized Yellowfin Tunas have shown up.  Not a lot, but nice fish between 50-100lbs.

The “Smooth Operator” was the big fish winner, in the Classic, with Rebecca Hawn’s 797lb. Blue Marlin.  They were the winners of, not only the Blue Marlin jackpot, but also the top lady angler award.  Congratulations to Rebecca and all the “Smooth Operator” crew!

Back on “De Mako,” we managed to release 3 more Blues, in the Classic - 2 fish very close to the 500lb mark.  We finished up the Classic in fourth place, with a total of 2,000 points and, in third place in the Triple Crown Series, so far!

Today marked day one of three days of fishing in the Seahorse Billfish tournament - the third and final leg of the Triple Crown.  We had a good day, with Ricky Sousa releasing two more Blues but, unfortunately, missing three Whites.  We now have 3,000 points, putting us in second place, just 300 points behind the “Rum Bum”.

“Smooth Operator” was leading the Blue Marlin jackpot, in the Seahorse tournament, with their 534 pound Blue and “Rum Bum” was leading the Triple Crown with a 500 point lead over “De Mako”

Just before noon, we hooked up with the fish we needed, a nice Blue in the 600-700lb range. This was the fish we were waiting for and, after a 40 minute battle, Ricky had brought her in sight with the leader just 20ft. from my good mate Pete’s hand.  But, it was not to be!  Just when all looked good, the hook pulled out and she swam free, very slowly - what a heartbreaker!  Hey, that’s fishing!

Just in the last few days, there have been some of those large Yellowfin Tunas spotted.  Every August, we see 100lbs. plus class Yellowfins passing by Bermuda.  Sometimes they are only there for a few days and sometimes they will stick around for a few weeks.  These fish are in the deep water and are best fished by trolling baits slowly around the schools, when you spot them on the surface.

There are also a few nice ones, 50-100lbs., being caught chumming on the SE corner of Challenger.

All in all, everything is slower than it should be.  You can Tuna fish all day and maybe catch a Tuna or two, or fish for Wahoos and catch three or four, or fish for Marlins and maybe get a bite or two.

Dear All

Yesterday was an unbelievable day Marlin fishing in Bermuda. I took Will Gonzalez (a Bacardi colleague) and Laurie Bailey (the wife of the tax manager that works with me) fishing on Mako Charters. We really got lucky on the timing of the Blues biting, especially given Denny and his gang were just here Thursday, Friday and Saturday fishing for 3 days without much Marlin action (they even tried to convince me that I was the bad luck charm....as I hadn't had much luck with Marlin bites on 2 other days I chartered this summer). However, yesterday the dry spell for Marlin broke and I was fortunate to experience my 2nd year in a row of a Mako Monday Marlin Mayhem. I have to begin by saying what I love about going deep sea fishing on a Monday is there are very few other commercial boats or charters on the water which gives you the feeling you own the sea, and together with the delight of what feels like playing hookie from work in your own back yard,..you just can't beat the Monday fishing feeling.

Our final count was 2 for 7 (2 Marlin caught for 7 hits at the lures) and I've never had a better day for visuals of Marlin going after and hitting the lures. The speed of the Marlin and angles which they attacked the lures varied and filled my mind with more awareness of their behavior than I had gotten in the past 4 years deep sea fishing. My new favorite spot on the boat is upstairs beside Alan, the captain, which provides great views, a good breeze and shade to keep you outside in the Bermuda summer heat for most of the day (versus the luxurious option of relaxing inside the air
conditioned cabin). The seas calmed down to 3-5 ft so we had relatively flat water behind the boat which helped with the ability to spot the fish going after the lures. I was lucky to land the first Blue around 9am approximately 1 mile from Challenger Banks. The fish hit the "Leopard" lure (I knew you ask Denny) and did the "windshield washer" with its bill trying to release the hook, something that Alan says often results in a release, but luck was with us and after about 1/2 hr of hard reeling, we landed a 225lb beauty. The rest of the action began 27 miles offshore at Argus Bank in a 3-4 mile stretch that Alan kept trolling back and forth on.

Next up was Laurie, a rookie Marlin angler, but a woman with an eagle eye for spotting fish and who has plenty of Bermuda fishing experience. Between 11am and 2pm she had 3 opportunities with Marlin on the line, but if you know fishing, these big monsters are not known for cooperating. Laurie's Marlin were jumping on top of the water and twisting and generally managing to avoid staying hooked. On her 3rd opportunity, the hook appeared to be set as about 500 yards of line peeled out and Laurie began her first Blue Marlin reeling experience. For 30 minutes she worked hard, breathed hard and did everything right (for a rookie) and the fish was about 40 yards short of the boat, down deep, when it decided to turn its head and the hook popped out of its mouth. The look of understanding and disappointment hit all our faces as the line went dead. Alan was very appreciative of Laurie's skills and assured her she did nothing wrong. In fact, he wanted me to have Denny show Victor how evenly Laurie managed to reel her line in for a rookie (i.e., it didn't look like Mount Everest) - attached is a photo for Victor's viewing pleasure.

Will was in the chair next and our 6th strike came at 3pm and the Blue took off for about 600 yards. Meanwhile, Pete is reeling in the lines and Alan is yelling that another Marlin is chasing one of the lures on our shorter lines (yes,....a possible double hook up)! Alan maneuvered the 2nd line and the 2nd Marlin played, but our dream double hook up didn't happen.  Meanwhile, Will's fish was giving us an air show on top of the water and he ended up reeling hard for about 30 minutes. Pete, the mate, took the leader on Will's fish (to make it a caught fish), but the fish took one look at the size of Pete and decided to get the heck out of there and splashed away for another 20 yards. Will managed to reel her back in on the strike setting (Alan wanted to see what Will was made of) and he ended up landing a beautiful 400 lb female Blue.

The fire was lit in our captain Alan as he kept us out on the water late trying to find one last Marlin for Laurie to land (and to try and tie last year's Mako Monday Marlin Mayhem record of 3 for 8), but it wasn't meant to be, so we ended up pulling into the dock around 7pm, exhausted, happy and shaking our heads.

You better believe I'm booking another Monday in August next year!

Cheers,
Julie

The Wahoo bite is getting better everyday and some nice fall size fish are starting to show up, like the 62lb. caught today, on De Mako, by Dean Clarke - just one of the six he caught today!

With September just a few days away and the start of the lobster season, please keep a sharp eye out for the lobster pots on the Edge, while trolling for all those Wahoos out there!

Live baits (tinker Mackerel) are up and in good numbers.  They are your best bet for getting some good Wahoo action. Baits are being found on the Edge, plus the northern side of both Banks and, with the Wahoo Tournament tomorrow, you can be sure there will be plenty of boats in all three spots.  There are also some Yellowfins mixed in with the Wahoo’s and yes, still the odd Blue Marlin.  The tide (current) offshore is very strong, in the wake of Florence, making chumming almost impossible.  So, Robins, as live baits, are not a good option.

Speaking of Wahoo’s, Peter & I are starting to firm up everything for De Mako’s San Salvador expedition, from the middle of November until December 12^th.   Anyone interested in fishing with us on this once in a life time trip should contact me soon, before all dates are gone!  Good luck to all in the Wahoo tournament!

Johnny ‘Wahoo” Reiss had De Mako booked today for his annual Fall Wahoo trip and, true to form, the Wahoo’s were out there waiting for Johnny and crew.

It was a steady bite all day..... not fast, just steady.  We would catch a fish or two, then miss one or two, but by days' end, we had tallied up about 600lbs. of Wahoo for a total count of 21 fish.  We had half a dozen fish over the 40lb mark, with Johnny’s 75 pounder coming in as the day’s largest.

The Wahoo bite has been all over, but the east and southern sides of Argus remain the hot spot.

Another great catch was Allan, of the Treasure Isle, catching a 102lb. Amberjack on Sunday, while on a fun trip with me on the Xiphias, fishing down Blue Cut.  Great job Skip!