Catch Reports from 2005

More wahoo - this time young Ollie Wilkinson snagged a 27lb fish that was almost as long as he was tall!! The youngster did well to bring the fish to the boat (pic)

Since then we have had some spectacular fishing - both in a good and bad direction!

The Canadian contingent have been out in force - the Uniats had a memorable day bringing in 3 wahoo tom 33lb and losing FIVE more! They also hooked 2 sailfish and 2 blue marlin including 1 bigger fish which took a widerange lure which had just been wound to within 8ft of the boat to keep it clear of a sailfish we were fighting! Derrick tagged that fish but unfortunately the marlin managed to throw the hook as did a smaller blue which we hooked in 120ft of water along the reef edge..

Fellow Canadian Wally Litwinow had a better result - he bought both his fish to the boat - first was a 200lb blue which took a flat lined ballyhoo and gave him a good fight for 45 minutes (pic), second five minutes later was a 35lb sailfish on a widerange std size.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR CUSTOMERS !

Boat running again at last! - Tagged and released a sailfish of 40lb today for angler Steve Branum of Huntersville NC and missed another on the half day trip. Seas blue - waves 4ft - plenty of flying fish around so bodes well for the fishing outlook.

The wahoo action slowed a little although we still had a 25lb fish for Ashton Ward on Monday. Tuesday we tagged a 50lb white marlin for Joann Riley plus lost a 200lb blue after a 5 minute airborne display.
Unfortunately on Wednesday as we were returning to harbour a valve broke in the port engine and smashed the piston, damaged the head and disintegrated the turbocharger! We will be down for 2 weeks whilst the engine is repaired....now you know why big game fishing is not a cheap sport.......!

Today we did 2 half days for passengers on the Ocean Village cruise ship. The morning saw 2 wahoo to 20lb plus dorado and barracudas(top photo). The afternoon saw two larger wahoo of 30lbs each plus horse eye jack and barracudas (2nd photo).
When the seas got rougher in the afternoon the wahoo grew bolder - a small blackfin tuna was sliced in half and then chopped again by wahoo before we could boat it!
Good fun for all those involved.

WAHOO BONANZA!

We have seen great wahoo action as a lot of these fish suddenly materialised following the passage of a tropical depression.
Friday saw Mike Roberts & friends catch two 20lb wahoo and a dorado in the deeper water followed by a superb 45lb wahoo for Mike himself (pic below).

We havehooked 4 more marlin recently - a large blue which we played for over 90 minutes before breaking the 50lb line after the fish dived deep, a 250lb blue which we had close to the boat and were about to tag when the swivel eye opened and prematurely released the fish, a 55lb white marlin tagged and released for Chris Eccott (Chris and friend Paul Simpson were also unlucky not to get a solid hook up on a nice blue which hit a widerange lure on the last day of their visit), and finally yesterday we tagged a 150lb blue for Marc Forni (see pics).
Marc caught this fish on his first ever half day deep sea fishing trip - beginners luck strikes again!

Yesterday saw wahoo to 16lb for clients from the Princess cruise ship (see pic). Saturday was very slow fishing for Peter & Margarita Clarke - no big strikes only barracudas and blackfin tuna. After such a slow day Doug Bowers still elected to do a half day trip today to celebrate his 70th birthday (!) - he was rewarded after 1 hour with a big hook up which we initially though was a yellowfin tuna. One hour and fifteen minutes later we were able to tag a blue marlin which we estimated to be in the 500lb+ bracket!! This is one of the top 4 marlin we have ever caught and Doug did well to beat it on 50lb test. Only negative was that the fish popped the leader shortly after being tagged so we were unable to get a photo (pic shows Doug recovering from the battle!)
  Doug has fished with us many times in the past and caught marlin before but this is his biggest fish by far.

Today we did 2 half days; in the morning we just went down the reef edge and caught barracudas and a little tunny - bigger fish were seen feeding but no strikes from them. In the afternoon Billy and Jamie Ray (newly weds) changed the pace by asking to go for the bigger fish in deep water. We were able to locate some big tunas about 7 miles offshore and got a good strike after trolling for 45 minutes. Jamie was on the rod and she did a good job although the fish gave her some serious pain. After 1 hour and 10 minutes on 50lb test we were able to gaff a yellowfin tuna which was later weighed at 203lb!
  Our second biggest ever! 
  If you read the last few catch reports you will know how glad we were to get one of these fish at last!

Went out with some SGU students on Saturday and had a frustrating time! Big yellowfin tunas were feeding about 8 miles offshore, they would allow us to approach but would not go into the spread. We worked them for an hour and a half and never had a strike! I suspect they were preoccupied feeding on small squids.
  We found another school of tunas - same response, we revisited both these schools later in the day but they just became less and less active. We had a strike from a small dorado next to a floating branch but that did not get the hook. Finally at the very end of the trip we had a big strike from a 30lb wahoo which got airborne but failed to get hooked - 1 minute later another hit went begging due to angler error! Despite working this area for another half an hour no more hits were forthcoming. The students had their appetites wetted and are looking forward to the return match! Calm sunny weather and blue water.

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Since last report fishing has been unspectacular although on Saturday we did hook a good fish (billfish or wahoo?) close to where we had just seen some big yellowfin tunas come to the surface. Unfortunately that fish came off and although we saw many other 100lb+ tunas they were not biting...
  Today we went down the edge with 2 novice fishermen who enjoyed catching barracudas and rainbow runners.
  Water still green but seas were very calm today.

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Today was another trip down the edge in windy & lumpy conditions. Briefly hooked a nice kingfish going down but it came adrift. Going up saw 2 barracudas, 3 blackfin tunas and lastly a 22lb wahoo for Curtis Clark.

Yesterday we did a half day down the edge with people from a Windjammer cruise. Got lucky in the first 20 minutes with a 48lb wahoo which took the lady angler 10 minutes to bring to the gaff. After that we struggled with just a few small barracudas landed.
  Business has been very slow so catch reports have not been updated very often.

Trip down the edge today produced small barracudas and then at the last minute a 10 minute fight on 30lb test resulted in a 50lb wahoo for Eric Swartz's party (see pic below).
  Yesterday other SGU students had to be content with a few barracudas and a blackfin tuna. Weather very wet with heavy showers - rainy season has finally arrived.

Only 2 trips in last week - first went down the edge for barracudas, blackfin tunas and a bar jack. Today was a half day for Mr & Mrs Fiske. We went offshore at first where we saw plenty of dolphins and 1 sailfish but no strikes. Seas were mirror calm - we don't get many days like that. Eventually came in close to shore at Gouave and had a kingmackerel rocket out of the water and strike but not get hooked. 2 more strikes went begging before we hooked a big wahoo which the lady angler struggled to beat on 50lb test - the fish was later weighed at 47lbs - picture to be posted when received. Very enjoyable trip in the calm weather.

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A half day on Sunday produced 5 blackfin tunas and a rainbow runner down the reef edge. Monday was Brian & Janet's 2nd day and it nearly produced a blue marlin which had 2 goes at a big lure but did not get hooked. Just seconds later we had 2 dorado strikes and caught one.
  After that worked out to 20 miles offshore and found another set of birds working bigger dorado. Hooked a nice one for Janet and whilst she was bringing that in a bigger bull followed - we hooked that one for Brian and he and a good fight with the 35lb bull on 30lb test. 

After a slow period with just the occasional wahoo and blackfin tunas we changed our luck yesterday with a nice dorado for David Custer and again today with a 50lb white marlin tag and release for Dr Brian Jordan followed by two 20lb dorado for his fiancee Jan

Did a half day today for clients off a cruise ship (Costa Classica). They were new to this so we went down the edge where they were happy to catch 7 barracudas and even happier to get a 22lb wahoo coming back up. 

Day after last report we went out and caught 2 dorado to 15lbs in the deeper water and only a rainbow runner coming back up the edge.
Since then we did a trip where we had a 150lb yellowfin tuna up to the back of the boat only to have the hook pull after a less than successful gaff attempt...... We also had 2 other tuna strikes that surprisingly did not result in hook ups - all this was happening around a large pod of porpoise.
  Since then we raised a nice marlin which investigated the teaser before charging a bait - it missed! Overall action has been slow (full moon influence) but there are some good fish out there if you can get them to bite.
  Seas are very blue but choppy in 20kts of wind but nothing over 6ft and well spaced mostly.

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Date: 25 Mar 2005

Since last report have done trips on the west and east sides of the island. West produced sperm whales and porpoises but only a tentative sailfish strike. East produced small wahoo, king mackerel and barracuda.
  Today we were on the West again and in 4 hours hooked 2 blue marlin - first charged the boat and managed to throw the hook, the second we tagged and released for Matt Rotondo after a 20 minute fight. After that action we had a couple of sailfish show interest in the baits without actually hitting them.
  Congrats to Matt from NY on his first marlin - hope you get many more.

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Date: 22nd Mar 2005

Since last report have done trips on the west and east sides of the island. West produced sperm whales and porpoises but only a tentative sailfish strike. East produced small wahoo, kingmackerel and barracuda.
  Today we were on the West again and in 4 hours hooked 2 blue marlin - first charged the boat and managed to throw the hook, the second we tagged and released for Matt Rotondo after a 20 minute fight. After that action we had a couple of sailfish show interest in the baits without actually hitting them.
  Congrats to Matt from NY on his first marlin - hope you get many more.

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Two days ago we did a half day on the West side where we saw a lot of small blackfin tunas and and 1 sailfish strike. Things were slow so came back up the edge of the reef and finally were rewarded with a 18lb wahoo.
  Next day took my own advice and went around to the east side of the island. Bit bouncy getting there but we were quickly rewarded with 3 dorado to 15lbs and a couple of small baracuda's. Going further up the East coast did not find any birds - think i should have gone further out (south). We also lost about 3 other dorado which threw the hooks
  Today was a shorter trip for people off the Costa Classica cruise ship. Went back to the West side (close) and scored a 31lb wahoo and had 2 other 'hoo strikes (the mate saw the first fish rocket out of the water behind a marlin lure - he reckons it was close to a 100lbs....)