Good Morning Jimmy,
Captain Red on the Abigail III caught a 400lb. Blue marlin on the south drop last Thursday. Also 
sailfish are on the north and south drops. Captain Red was one for three on sailfish releases. Dolphin were found under a large weed line on the south drop yesterday. We have a full day charter today and Captain Red is heading south. We’ll let you know what we find out there.
Lori Bailey
Abigail III Charters
website
Tel. 340-775-6147 or 340-775-6024
email
Capt. Red Bailey
Holiday and New Years Greetings From The Edge Of The World!
Greetings Crew and Ahoy!
Today is Christmas Day on this side of the International Date Line, so Merry Christmas to one and all. It is a quiet morning here in the Majuro lagoon. It’s a pleasant 80F degrees and it seems as if the trade winds are reestablishing themselves which is normal for this time of year.
 I must admit that I’m a very fortunate guy. Unlike most people on this planet Earth, the luck of my birth has allowed me the freedom to live the life I choose and to be able to break away from the restrictions that are placed upon us by the societies that we live in. In short, traveling around the world and visiting people with different points of view encourages a wider vision of the world. In my case I blame this on National Geographic Magazine, of which my family kept all the back issues in boxes in our attic of our house. As a young boy I would spend hours going through all the back issues and when I finished looking at all the semi-naked and bare breasted exotic women I started to read the articles themselves. I was surprised to find a much larger and more interesting world than the suburban middle class world in which I was growing up. Every issue of that magazine left me saying to myself “I really want to go to that place just to see it before I die.” Well, I’ll never see it all but I’ve seen some pretty cool stuff out there.
Traveling outside of the comfort zone is, by definition, not always an easy thing to do. It can be unpleasant at times and even dangerous sometimes but most of the time it’s just fine and it always broadens ones horizons. People with different religions, different cultures and different languages see the world differently which makes the world a pretty exciting place to say the least! Heck, you never know what’s gonna blow up next!
Along the way I’ve met some very interesting people and have made some very good friends. As you know I try to share some of these folks with you through my monologues to you. I recently wrote about the fact that my boat was broken into while I was away from it over the summer and that most of my fishing gear and dive gear was stolen. Well, yesterday a box arrived in the post from a couple of my friends in Florida and it contained replacements for much of the fishing gear that went missing. Another friend, from upstate NY, wrote to me and said that since he didn’t use his dive gear anymore he would pass it on to me! Let me just say that I am overwhelmed by this generosity! I never asked for it or expected it. I am, however, eternally grateful. Thank you very much people. I’m not going to mention any names, you know who you are!
2011 is just around the corner. I’m not sure what next year will bring to us or where me and the Deev will be heading but I’ll be sure to let you know. Meanwhile, it’s Christmas Day here and I think that I will go fishing and then come in and look for semi naked and bare breasted exotic women!
All the best to one and all! Carry On!!
Chuck
Editor's Note: Chuck Handy is a sailor-fisherman-shipwright friend who is on a voyage around the world. At one time Chuck lived in St. Thomas and crewed on many boats including with Capt. Ronnie Hamlin and with Capt. Rick Defeo on Tyson's Pride. He has many friends in the fishing industry and we'll post his reports for everyone to read.
Early start to game season in New Zealand
With the La Nina weather pattern bringing warm humid conditions and a prevailing north easterly, we expected and hoped for an early start to the game fishing season.
 Sightings of flying fish, Manta Ray and cruising Hammerheads made things feel right and the arrival of vast schools of Skipkack Tuna increased expectations to the extent that the occasional boat couldn’t resist the urge to explore.
The rewards to the ”fuel gamblers” have been the first Striped Marlin of the season off Tutukaka, where another boat spotted a tailer. A very early Mahi mahi was taken off Whangaroa and this beautiful harbour also witnessed the weigh-in of a very large Yellowfin Tuna of 150lbs. With the scarcity of the latter over the last few seasons, we hope this fish heralds an increase in numbers this summer.
These early captures are sure to prompt a few more boats to venture forth away from the abundant schools of inshore Snapper, which usually dominate the attention of anglers at this time of year.
February is usually the safe bet for the arrival of Blue Marlin but my guess is that the first could be encountered before the New Year, if anyone is prepared to go out wide enough.
Happy Christmas to all.
John Kimberley
website
www.fishingpro.co.nz
LATEST NEWS - Dec 13 2010
Wow, has it been a month since my last update?
After finishing our trip with Steve and Catherine on a high with 2 really big fish, we couldnt wait to get back out for another trip, this time with Dave and his friends from Canberra.
This was Daves second trip to the reef this year, and decided to come back and fish on TRADITION this trip to try for a big one.
Well, with a few good fish seen in the middle, I headed out there for a day or two. The weather was flat calm, and with only one other boat around who had not seen anything, I headed up Number 3 Ribbon and the water was getting better and better the further I went. After a little time in the opening between #3 and #4, I headed up a little bit further on #4 and got the bite we were looking for. Dave fought a really tough fish for an hour or so with some blistering runs and big 30 foot long jumps. An awesome big fish for Dave, just what he had been dreaming about, a solid 900 lber!!!!
The rest of the trip was a bit slow, with a few smaller fish bites, but lots of big mackerals, and nice weather.
We spent a day with the Atlantic Princess and her guests, light tackle fishing and snorkelling, after a rough start to the day, it calmed off in the afternoon for a wonderful day with the boys.
Our last big trip out of Cairns started after a week off due to bad weather, and we spent a week out wide. We visited the remote atolls of Holmes Reef, Flora Reef and McDermott Bank, all of which are about 100nm from the mainland, and well within the range of TRADITION.
The fishing is as diverse as the reefs are, dogtooth tuna, yellowfin tuna , GT's, jobfish, blue and black marlin, coral trout, the region has it all.
We caught about everything on offer, with lots of GT's on poppers, jigging jobfish down on McDermott Bank. Where the water was alive with fish, dogtooths, schools of scad and rainbow runners on the surface and some nice yellowfin tunas just off the edge. We also managed to harrass the schools of yellowfin tuna and ended up with plenty for the table. The spearing was also better than most of the season, with lots of big trout in the shallows and deep water alike.
We didnt get a shot at any blue marlin, but did manage to get a few bites from blacks, and caught all 3 of them. A small one on the way from Flora to McDermott Bank, and then on the way in to the edge, caught one about 450 that just stayed on top and screamed off line while we chased her all over the ocean. And later in the day we had an awesome bite from another big fish. She crashed the big bait, and just kind of sat there swimming slowly out to sea. With sustained drag and some great angling, up she came, shallower and shallower on each run, till we got her up close enough for a good look. Lots of color down deep, and when she stuck her head up, WOW, another really big fish.
The boys tagged her and we pulled her next to the boat for a few pics before letting her keep going on her way.
A really nice big fish, and our 3rd solid grander of the season. An awesome way to end our heavy tackle season.
Overall the fishing was great early with the warm La Nina water in Sept and Oct, which just got warmer as we finally got into the calm November and December weather. The top and and middle never really fired like in past years, whilst Opal Ridge and Linden Bank were the most consistent all season. But saying that, I spent a lot of time up on Number 10 Ribbon Reef, and we had some incredible fishing up there, including many fish over 900, 7 bites in one day, and caught some monster fish at the Marks and up on 2nd Corner, the highlight being Georges big fish, which was our biggest of the season, an awesome big fish.
TRADITION experienced one of the best seasons of the fleet, with consistent bites and lots of big fish this year with all of our wonderful clients.
I cant wait for 2011, and have a few openings available if you have not already booked for your trip to the Great Barrier Reef !!!
Capt Tim Richardson
email Tim
visit website
+61 (0)427758768
Spilled Milk - Back in Majuro, Marshal Islands
Ahoy Crew!
Well, I made it back to the Marshall Islands and to my boat, the “Deev” after nearly four months of absence. After spending three months in the Caribbean and enjoying not one, not two, but three hurricanes, I got back to the States in November and it was cold in the Northwest, cold in San Francisco, cold in New England and cold in New York. I even found it cold in Hawaii! It was pleasant getting off the plane in Majuro and into the equatorial warmth!
While I was away I had learned via email of a series of break-ins on yachts in the harbor. After being reassured that the “Deev” was not one of those affected I was emailed a short week later that a third wave of break-ins had just occurred and that I was not so lucky this time. Fortunately I had some friends come aboard before I returned who cleaned the huge mess up quite a bit so that I did not have to see my beloved boat looking completely raped and disheveled. Everything had been dumped out of the lockers and the boat had been pretty much trashed.
It'll be a week or more before I get all the lockers reorganized and a more complete idea of what was stolen. The biggest personal tragedy for me is that they pretty much wiped out all my fishing gear and dive gear. I was really stocked up on fishing tackle, too. You might remember that two years ago I was boarded in the middle of the night by thieves and managed to chase them off after a scuffle. Since then there have been no break-ins or thievery so I thought the boat would be OK. But noooo.... This go around thieves hit at least seven boats. The chances of the bastards getting arrested or the stolen stuff returned is less than minimal but I sure would like the satisfaction of taking them out on a one way fishing trip. But you know how it is, can't cry over spilled milk and all that... Life on the fringe...
Being out here on the edge of the world again I must let you know that, once again, internet connections suck and it's very expensive to get online so I may not to be able to respond to your emails in a timely manner. I will try to get back to you eventually, though. My Gmail, handy.c.g@gmail.com is active as is my Yahoo account, woodchuck13@yahoo.com. I will be checking them both. You can leave messages for me on Skype as well but connections there can be particularly sketchy.
It was really nice touching base with many friends and family the last few months. Thanks, or as we say out here, kommol tata.
All the best and Carry On!
Chuck
Editor's Note: Chuck Handy is a sailor-fisherman-shipwright friend who is on a voyage around the world. At one time Chuck lived in St. Thomas and crewed on many boats including with Capt. Ronnie Hamlin and with Capt. Rick Defeo on Tyson's Pride. He has many friends in the fishing industry and we'll post his reports for everyone to read.
Fishing Report - Guatemalan Billfishing Adventures - November 2010
As predicted we have seen some very good fishing this November off Guatemala. The amount of bait and activity out wide has been something to behold. Anglers who have made it to these rich waters have been rewarded with some superb action. Boats have averaged between 15 to 30 sailfish
releases a day with almost daily encounters with blue marlin in the 200 to 300lb range.
Mike Malin, his father Gene, Bill Frint and Rich Dorchak, were the first to join us in November going 7 from 22 on the sails their first day. The following they released 10 sails and strong blue in the 300lb range which Rich Dorchak did a fine job on as the angler. Their third day saw 8 from 21 and then 14 releases from 23 bites on the last day to see out a great trip which the group all thoroughly enjoyed.
Robert Schoenthal and his collegue Alex González made the trip down from a cold New York to enjoy our hot action. The duo released 7 from 16 bites on the 14th to start things rolling. With Alex having high sights on his first blue marlin we stuck to our guns in persuit thereof and were rewarded late the next day when the second blue of the day inhaled the mackeral pitchbait for Alex to enjoy the angling highlight of his life and release a feisty 225lb Blue to compliment the 6 sailfish Bob and he had already released. Day three saw Bob enjoying a relaxing day around the pool catching up on soem work, while we wore Alex out offshore, releasing 16 sails, putting some 30 to 40 pound dorado in the boat and having two blue marlin up we just couldn't connect on. To say Alex and Bob left happy would be putting it mildly.
The 18th saw our OBX/Decisive team with us from the East Coast to practice fish a day prior to the PCCA's final event which is historically held in Guatemala. Anglers Mike Viveiros, Dell Dembosky and Craig Johnson got off to an exciting start releasing a blue and 2 sails all at the same time all on 20lb early in the day. Only minutes latter we released another feisty blue to start their trip.
Following our initial plans of exploring prior to the tournament the following day we unfortunately seemed to leave the fish behind as we went looking but it did give us an idea of where not to go the next day.
The 19th saw the tournament start and we found the pick of the bite out west but we just could not get the hooks to stick and ended with a disappointing 13 from 38 bites, but Dell did release an exciting 250lb blue . After a good team talk we were back in high spirits on day two and found our groove, going an impressive 38 from 54 bites in 6 hours of tournament fishing to take top day honors and put us back within 5 fish of the top boat.
With a lot on the table for the final day we were back out west but just couldn't get it going with a slower pick for everyone. With 45 minutes to lines out we were still 5 fish behind the lead boat and found a pocket of fish for the Decisive to turn it on. First we released a triple, two sails and a blue marlin in the 250lb range, exciting stuff with 20lb tournament line and so much at stake. Next a triple of sails, then a double, then a single, down to the wire it went to tie on points but loose by 7 minutes on time. Not to be disappointed Team OBX/Decisive was victories taking the Grand Championship Team for the Event, with Mike Viveiros taking the Grand Champion Angler for the entire event and Dell Dembosky taking the Top Angler for the Guatemalan Leg. All in all, a fantastic showing, a new PCCA release record with 676 sails, 7 blue marlin and a striped marlin to make for some unbelievable action.
The 22nd and 23rd saw our neighbour Scott Lund and his friend Ron with us. The sailfish were most certainly around and we encountered unbelievable numbers of them feeding on balls of bait, but it was marlin the boys were after so on we pushed in search of the blue dog.
With a few sails under our belt and some 20 dorado we unfortunately were not rewarded with what we were after, but a great time was had never the less.
Our bookings have filled nicely and we are convinced that those that have scheduled a trip will be rewarded with some fine fishing this season. For those looking to treat themselves to the fishing trip of a lifetime we still have some open dates in April and May of next year, so drop us an enquiry.
Until next report, compliments of the festive season to you all. Tight lines, Eagle Claw circle hooks and healthy releases.
Capt. Brad Philipps
"Decisive"
Website
Email Cindy and Brad Phillipps: email
Editor's Note: Re-posting this link in case you missed Chuck's Thanksgiving story. We think you'll enjoy it! See Story
Marine Anglers,
 I can not believe it is December already. Maybe it’s because my head has been buried in data-entry for the past month, a painfully boring task but an extremely important one. As I approached the end of the tunnel in this task, I realized what was happening this year. In spite of the economic problems faced by most fishermen participating in this study, they have increased their tagging efforts to establish what will become a new second highest number of fish tagged in a year, more than 1,685 fish tagged. A total of 118 boats and more than 220 anglers have contributed to this effort. Dolphin have been tagged in each of the first 11 months of the year. Dolphin have not only been tagged in all 13 regions of the Western North Atlantic that are the principle focus of the study, anglers have also tagged dolphin for this study in the South China Sea, Eastern Pacific off Central America and the Mediterranean Sea. This is quite an accomplishment for any research program but especially one that is driven by fishermen because of their love for and concern over dolphinfish.
This issue of the newsletter discusses the first fruits of the European tagging effort in the Mediterranean Sea and the evolving mini-migration route exhibited by some south Florida dolphin. I hope you find it as interesting as I do. See Dolphin Report
NOTE. Please send in your field data cards for any dolphin that you have tagged but not reported. I need to have your cards in by January 7, 2011 in order that they can be counted toward your tagging total to earn the annual awards.
I thank each of you for your support this year and wish you and your family a safe and happy holiday season.
Good fishing,
Don
Donald L. Hammond
Marine Fisheries Biologist
Cooperative Sciences Services, LLC
961 Anchor Rd.
Charleston, SC 29412-4902
(843) 795-7524
cssllc@bellsouth.net
www.dolphintagging.com
All,
One word cannot fully describe this trip. Unbelievable, fantastic, tremendous, outstanding--there are not enough superlatives. We stayed at the Casa Vieja Lodge www.casaviejalodge.com (please visit this web site, the video alone is well worth the time) and it was the very best--5 stars. The facility is great but the shining star is the staff. Everyone is friendly, professional and appears to have the attitude that they cannot wait to do whatever it is you want. The food is the very best also--some pictures show the center pieces done for the awards dinner, just an example of the extra effort in making everything the finest.
 The tournament--Presidential Challenge of Guatemala, 3 days of fishing. All boats were docked at Puerta de Quetzal (Pacific)--FYI, Quetzal is the national bird and the name of the Guatemala currency. The attached photos have some fairly good sailfish action.
12 boats: 676 sailfish (not a typo)
7 blue marlin
1 striped marlin
Sparky, that's an average of 57 billfish per boat, and averaging 19 per day---some boats had 30-40 fish in a day--now that's a tournament! Doubles and triples were not uncommon.
1st place team: Casa Vieja/Rum Line
2nd place team: OBX/Decisive
3rd place team: Sea Angel
Top angler: Dell Dembosky
2nd angler: Jim Turner
3rd angler: Mike Viveiros
Rules: Three anglers, 3 baits in the water at all times, max 3 teasers, within 100' of the boat--no dredges, marlin 500 points, sailfish 100 points, circle hooks--most used 7/0 non-offset 2004el Eagle Claw, 20 lb test line, 15' leaders, IGFA rules, no time limit for fighting a fish, no fence, mates may not put bait in the water and may not retrieve baits or san cocho. Note: for the offshore fishing challenged, san cocho is the act of pulling in a bait/hook that has been hit or eaten by a billfish but the fish has not been caught--sometimes you get a head or mangled body back--sometimes just the hook. Boats leave the dock at 7 AM, lines in 8:30 AM, lines out 3 PM. Fuel is $4.00/gal.
All boats used about the same technique. 3 baits in the water per the rules--2 long riggers and a flat, teasers--2 chuggers and one chain, either ilanders or squid--followed by a baited chugger--some were preceded by a small bird. The difference I noticed here was one of the teasers was always on a rod in the cockpit and controlled by one of the mates. He would move the teaser to the fish when detected behind the boat in order to guide the fish to the flat line.
FUN FISHING WITH THE OBSERVERS
Four of us chartered the RUM LINE, 40' Gamefisherman, with Capt Chris Sheeder, the day prior to the beginning of the tournament--John (jungle rules) Treat, Doc Kretkowski, Terry O'neill and me. We started about 165 degrees from dock and 35 miles out. Seas were 1-1/2' to 2', light wind, no caps, 3' swells 15 seconds apart, blue clear water, 84.2 degrees. We could see 35'+ down. Started in 800' and moved to 1600' to a well known drop off. We fished 2 long riggers looped in the clips with 2 sailfish pitch baits and 1 marlin pitch bait ready. We raised 17 sails and 1 marlin. Avet 20# reels 6-1/2 rods. Had 11 bites, caught 3 sails and pitched a blue marlin off the right teaser. Had her on for 17 minutes and within 1 foot of the leader when the hook pulled--we counted it as a catch since there were no observers on board. It was a very good day and Capt Chris Sheeder is one of the very best. This boat won the tournament with 86 sails.
Day 1: CIRCLE HOOK, a 43' Willis. Capt Eddie went to about the same area as we fished the day before. As it turned out we should have gone with the rest of the fleet to the south and west. This team had won two of the PCCA tournaments this year, Aruba and Corrillo, Costa Rica. They fished their 60' Hatteras HATTABOY in Corrillo and their new 64 Weaver, SOUTHERN PRIDE in Aruba. 2 long riggers, no twist, 1 flat--see the bait rigging on attached photos (essentially the same on all boats). Raised 29 sails, 14 bites, caught and released 7 sails. 6-/2' rods, 20# Tyrnos for sails, 30# Tyrnos for marlin pitch spanish mackerel.
Day 2: RUM LINE Sea conditions were the same as the two previous days except the early morning ride was a little choppy but smoothed out to slick calm during the day. This day we went to the area the other boas had been so successful at on day 1. 45-50 miles from the dock at about 235 degrees to a drop off that held a tremendous amount of bait--about 40 miles offshore and 40 miles from the border with Mexico. This was a great group and a lot of fun to fish with. The day started with this crew putting a live pig in the head of the boat docked next to us, INTENSITY, just for the captain's enjoyment. Next, they installed a 1-1/2 foot disco ball over the helm station and turned the music up to 200+ db. The ball came down for the ride out but the music never stopped and the dancing continued all day. For those of you that think the loud music, with it's vibrations through the water has a negative affect on raising fish, I can attest that is just a myth. Today this team raised 53 billfish, hooked 43, caught and released 33. This team won the tournament with 28 sails the first day, 33 day two and 25 on the third day. In the attached photos, the guys in the strange hats and glasses comprised this team. Jim Turner, the owner of Casa Vieja Lodge is on this team. As we came into the dock the disco ball went up on the center rigger. I left the boat and as I was getting in the van to return to the lodge I could hear the BEE GEES belting out another tune--STAYING ALIVE from the speakers on the RUM LINE. It was a really good day and I had a terrific time.
Day 3: MOJO, a 37' Merritt express. A really good riding boat from Texas. I was on the boat two years ago in El Salvador and these guys know how to raise fish. The seas were the same as day 2 and we went to the same area to begin fishing. Had the first fish on in 12 minutes, released the last fish at 10 seconds to 3 PM. Raised 43 billfish including 1 marlin, caught and released 22 sails.
To learn more about the mission and future of the International Game Fish Tournament Observers Association please visit WWW.IGFTO.COM
I'm fishing in Los Suenos,Costa Rica for the next two tournaments, 30 Nov -12 Dec, 2010--the Marlin Invitational and the World Billfish Championship
Buena Suerte,
J
Good evening to you all,
There has not been too much to write about until now with very few days being fished. But, hopefully all that will change now that the kaskazi or NE wind has started. All of you that have fished up this way during the northern winter months will know how important the northeaster is for catching marlin. Leading up to the change the sea is flat calm with hardly a breath of wind and the little that there is tends to be rather variable in direction. As soon as the kaskazi, as it is known locally, arrives the ocean changes character. The sea looks much bluer and the waves tend to be bigger and further apart as the wind now blows contrary to the current. As the day progresses the wind picks up in intensity until by evening it is pumping and the rips, now more evident, become really quite rough. This is when the marlin come up to play!
The stripeys love to surf down the swells and often in large groups especially early on in the season. The sound of hands clapping from the bridge (our signal that a marlin(s) or sailfish is in the spread) is electrifying only bettered by the sight of those electric blue landing lights coming down the wake and the scream of a Shimano Tiagra reel. If you are lucky enough to be hit by a pack attack there is nothing quite like it and even the most experienced marlin anglers lose it.
As of today, the kaskazi has started! Let's go give 'em hell!
A couple of days ago whilst it was still flat calm with a southerly breeze Kamara II managed to tag a black marlin estimated at 200-lb on 50 for Finlay Croker from Scotland. His first marlin, but second billfish after the sail that he caught earlier in the day. Today Broadbill was out with Svend Christensen and Emil Sørensen from Denmark tagging a sail for Emil but they have another 5 days. The new look White Otter was also out and they had a double header from striped marlin at around 1pm, one of which they boated. The rips were really showing up nicely so its started guys!
 It might be worth noting that now there are three airlines flying in to Ukunda Airstrip although two of these fly from Wilson Airport in Nairobi. That is the other side of town from the main Nairobi Airport but now the third airline "Fly 540" has started offering direct daily flights from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi to Ukunda. This is a great move because it means avoiding Mombasa and the Likoni Ferry.
Apart from the fishing, Andy Thomas and I are setting up a Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Training Centre in Mombasa at Capt. Andy's Fishing Supply. The school will be known as the Indian Ocean Powerboat School and hopefully by year end we should be ready for business. The site inspection is scheduled for 1st/2nd December so hopefully all will be well. I am set to be the Chief Instructor and together with two other guys, Norman Kitonga and Phil Gschwend we were trained up as intructors to powerboat level 2. I also passed my yachtmaster offshore and we all got our VHF short range certificates and first aid certificates. This is to be the first training school of its kind in Kenya and after the fishing season ends we'll be trying to add a few more strings to our bow so that we can teach to a high level. Don't worry I shall be still fishing but sadly fishing does not fill up enough of the year these days.
 Thenew constitution that was adopted earlier in the year is giving renewed confidence to the nation. There is still much work to be done to implement it fully but so far so good and there is also a most encouraging move to catch up on corruption. For the first time in our history a few ministers have voluntarily stood down to pave way for investigations. There is much hope for Kenya and I really believe that we shall now go from strength to strength.
For those of you that may not know I became a grandfather a couple months back when my daughter produced a beautiful little girl, Abby. Tina will be going over to the UK to play granny next month but I'll have to wait until mid-2011 for my turn. I am going grey just at the thought of being a grandad!
We hope to be seeing some of you later in the season but wherever you may be have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.
Best wishes and tight lines,
Simon
Pat, Maia, Simon, Tina, Lyndsay, Chris and all our wonderful staff Sea Adventures Ltd,
website
Simon Hemphill email
Tel: +254 (0)722 796 198 (Simon) or (0)722 479 864 (Maia)
Hey Jimmy,
Good fishing here today in San Juan at a local light tackle tournament. FISHING HOOKER released 4 sailfish, 2 of them on 8 pound line. ISA caught the blue, white & sail for a grand slam, all on 16 lb. line. LADY V caught a blue on 8 lb. line (about 80 pounds) and caught a whitey on 12 pound line. PINK LADY caught 2 blues & a white, M & M released a white, EVELYN released a white, SEA BORN released a sail and HDP released a sail.
The blue water finally showed up only 5 miles out in front of the fort and the billfish were there.
I fished last wednesday aboard AMBAR and caught a white and a spearfish, but failed to find a blue or a sail to complete the slam.
Tight lines,
Juan.
The BIG FISH are here!!!!
We finished our trip with Ash and the boys with 2 more 300 lb fish.
Eduardo, Manuel and Elias joined us in Cooktown all the way from the Dominican Republic, a place I have fished and love for blue marlin.
Our normal nice November weather has not shown up yet, with 20 knots for the whole trip, but some good days of fishing though.
I headed back up to No: 10 Ribbon and fished downsea for the day, and saw fish right from the get go, for the day we ended up seeing 7 fish, had 6 on and tagged 3 up to 300lb, while the ones that got away were up to 600 lbs. With the wind continuing , I headed down to the bottom of 10 to try for repeat of the previous days effort, but not quite the same result. We only had one bite, and what a great bite it was, with Manuel doing a great job in the chair on a really tough fish that made all the wrong decisions. And eventually lost the fish to sharks after an hour with a lot of drag, she never stayed on top and didnt respond to changes of angle. A great fish though. The last 2 days the fishing slowed right down up the top and I was too far from the bite down south to get there. We had a great trip with wonderful new friends and some awesome food. Looking forward to next years trips with the guys both here and in the Caribean.
The Oenbrink family joined us for 5 days as part of their 12 month round the world trip. I met up with Steve, Catherine and Hannah at their home in Florida last year after lots of planning for a great week of weather and fishing to come to the GBR - They were not disappointed!!!!
Our first day dawned with the best weather we have seen all season, and it stayed that way for the whole trip, 10-15 knots from the SE.
After some baitfishing and lunch in the Agincourts after a great snorkel, we fised the top of the Ridge for the day and saw 5 fish , had bites from them all, had 3 on and got 2 for the day. The first few fell off, but the big fish came up on the Towcam and just engulfed Carls perfectly rigged scad and off she went!! An awesome fish that fought hard, jumped big, and gave Steve an awesome fight for close to an hour. She was a beautiful big fish that was no question over a 1000 lbs, our 2nd for the season. Our second fish for the day was for Kelly, who joined us from Florida as well, a long time friend and great to catch him a fun 300 lb-er just before dark.
Days 2 and 3 we fished amongst the fleet down on the Bank and Opal Ridge and had a few bites and had a couple of 300 lb fish fall off, inclusing one for Catherine and one for 11 year old Hannah whose fish fell off really close to the boat. It is so much fun having kids fish on the boat, and Hannah is no newcomer, she has been on boat, fishing and diving her whole life, and it showed after she caught us dinner of a 30 lb yellowfin and a big spanish mackeral earlier in the day.
Day 4 saw us have an awesome swim on the top of St Crispins Reef, and after a slow couple of days on the Ridge, headed a bit further north to fish by ourselves. The water was excellent up in the Agincourts but the green zones have taken away much of the edge we used to fish in the past. I wandered up to Escape Reef, and along the way we played with a big hammerhead shark, and worked my way down Escape, hitting all the spots. Late afternoon on a tack back into the shallows she climbed all over the scaley, a nice fish !! Catherine was in the chair this time, a nice jump out the back and the big fish headed offshore, TRADITION stayed with her and we made quick work of the fish and got a good look when she got closer, a real big fish!!!
Carl on the leader , Steve with the tag pole, she stuck her head up and gave us a big jump and then swam next to the boat before we cut her off. A really thick solid fish at 950 lbs, really close, but a touch short for that magical 1000.
Our last day saw a couple of bites and Hannah again in the chair with another tough 300 lb fish, which again won its freedom before we could tag it. Another year to grow and Hannah will be back to win next time!!!
What an incredible week, a solid grander for Steve, and his wife Catherine with a 950 !!!! Looking forward to seeing the rest of the the photos of their trip around the world and to see them back here in 2012.
Capt Tim Richardson
email Tim
visit website
+61 (0)427758768
Viking has come out with a new 42 which should interest many of our readers. See
It has been a late start to the fishing season for everyone in Guatemala but the fish are here and boats have already seen some great days. The 'Decisive' our 40ft Gamefishermen was totally repainted with some additional angler comforts installed during our down time. Although it took much longer than planned and hence the
late start, to say she is looking good and fishing well would be the understatement of the year.
It was a busy summer never the less, with Brad and Cindy welcoming a healthy baby girl into the world on the 8th of October, to complete their perfect pair. Some of Brad's off-season highlights were a month in Africa visiting family and friends with time spent hunting, as well as catching some magnificent Red Steenbras up to 100lb's on the 'Wild Coast' of Africa. Brad was also fortunate enough to fish the Boy Scout Tournament in St Thomas with friend Ed Burr on his magnificent 66ft
Spencer winning the final day with 4 blue marlin releases and a fine showing overall. A trip to the Florida Keys with longtime friend Scott Lund produced Brad's first day time swordfish. South African friend Kevin Hodgson invited Brad to join him on the most epic of trips to Nova Scotia during which the duo released a total of 13 giant bluefin tuna in three days, with three fish over the 1000 pound mark.
October saw Julie and Ros Lentz, Brad's fishing mentors from SA along with friends Pete and Lydia Smith visiting Guatemala for 2 weeks. The two couples were blown away by the natural beauty of Guatemala and friendliness of its people. With Decisive out the water for its paint job Brad accompanied the couples aboard the Rum Line, for two days of fun fishing. With green water the ride was far but there were a few sailfish and dorado out wide. Ros and Lydia both released their first
sailfish, nice going girls!! Julie released his first striped marlin and pulled the hooks on a small blue marlin after a few jumps to make for a memorable trip.
The 30th and 31st of October saw Scott Lund back with us were he left off last May catching multiple blues on fly, and the fishing was just as exciting. The first day proved a little tuff but by the end of it we knew just where they were not, releasing a few sails on the fly rod and some nice sized dorado for the table gormet galley. Going in the opposite direction the next day we found better water and within 15 minutes we had teased in a hot 250lb blue which inhaled Scott's cast and put up a superb battle. Making long runs with us in hot pursuit, it was a magnificent display of teamwork all around, culminating in a perfect release some 45 minutes latter.
Not to rest on our laurels, on we trolled only to find even bluer water. With three sailfish under our belts and hordes of small dorado all around we teased in what was more than likely a little striped marlin that would not switch to the fly. A little while latter we had another blue up which teased in well and made 3 turns under the fly, lighting up and getting our hearts going as it look like we were in for business but each time turning off just inches from the bite. By 3pm we were back at the dock and heading to a festive Antigua for Halloween celebrations and the end for another great fly adventure for our angler.
We have not fished this past week, but those boats that have been out have released as many as 25 sailfish a day at 14 to 20 miles from the port and plenty of marlin in the mix with reports of double header blues, and fish p to 500lb's in size to make things very exciting.
By all accounts it's going to be a bumper year for us here. History has shown that after a wetter than usual rainy season, and a previuos years El Nino, we see increased numbers of sailfish and marlin off our Pacific coast of Guatemala. What we are seeing so far is corresponding with this, so we are all awaiting with great anticipation the season ahead. We have some open days the end of November. December has consistently proven to be one of our top months and we have some of our last open dates during this top period to take advantage of before we again have openings in April and May. So for those that have not already booked their Guatemalan Billfishing Adventure we hope to see you down here with us for the trip of a lifetime.
Until next report, tight lines circle hooks and healthy releases.
Capt. Brad Philipps
Decisive
Website
Email Cindy and Brad Philipps: email
ATTENTION CHARTER BOATS IN THE CARIBBEAN - Have several teams interested in chartering a boat for the Capcana Shootout in the Dominican Republic first week in June 2011. Any of you planning on being there at that time and offering charters please contact us. Thanks and good fishing
There Is Just Something About Islands...
Greetings Crew!
Now don't get me wrong... I don't have anything against the major continents. I grew up in North America and love it. I've been to South America and am fascinated by it. (By the way, are North and South America considered two continents and if so what does that make Central America? Hmmm...)
Europe is fine, Asia is sublime, Africa is awesome... But there is just something about islands that is special.
I just spent the last two months in the British Virgin Islands on the little island of Jost Van Dyke working on the Island Sloop Project for the NGO, Jost Van Dykes Preservation Society. As many of you know this is an ongoing project that was started 5 years ago. This year marked the 4th year that I came down to participate in the project. I am happy to say that really good visible progress has been made again this year.
The first year, with the help of local high school students organized by then Project Director, Captain Kevin Gray, the keel was laid, the frames installed and the strip plank hull was built. (I spent a month there at Kevin's invitation and with the students help and under Captain Gray's supervision we banged the strip planking together. Denny Davis came over from the nearby island of Vieques and lent a hand as well.)
The second year saw the hull encapsulated in heavy bi-axial glass impregnated with epoxy resin. When I arrived with my associate, Captain Pete Washburn, Kevin directed us in the rolling over of the 32 foot hull (it was built upside down) and we framed the deck. We spent about a month doing that. That year saw the arrival of Susan Zaluski to take the helm of the Preservation Society and she is there to this day. The sloop project is just one facet of the Preservation Society. Under Susan's capable direction and fund raising skills the NGO has published environmental studies and gotten the islands residents involved in many cultural activities. You should check out the website.
The third time that I came down I again brought along Captain Washburn. He helped out for about 3 weeks and I stayed for 2 months. We put the decks on, glassed them and got the rub rails bent on and started the bulwarks and cap rails.
This year was another banner year. Pete was able to help for about 10 days and I stayed for 2 more months. The bulwarks and cap rails were completed, the forward hatch was built and installed, a cargo hatch was built and a 3+ ton lead keel was attached. This year also brought us Hurricane Earl and the floods of Tropical Storm Otto. (Hey, that's what happens during this tie of year. It's Hurricane Season!)
(As an aside... The Jost Van Dyke Preservation Society is a non profit, non governmental organization that is funded by tax deductible donations and grants. Some of the private donors include singer Kenny Chesney, Sir Richard Branson and Billy(?) from St. Croix. Susan applies for grants from the British Government and from UNESCO as well. Feel free to get involved if you have the inclination,)
I like this time of year in the Caribbean despite the weather threats. It is the slow season and the tourists stay away. It gives me more of a chance to hang out and interact with the locals. I like island life but I'm not big on tourist life. (Unfortunately the two frequently occur together!) After wrapping up my stay on JVD I went the Puerto Rican Island of Vieques to hook up with good friends. Now I am sitting on the island of Culebra less than 10 feet from the large bay of Ensenada Honda surrounded by mangroves and all the wildlife associated with it. Last night I was sitting on the dock, drinking a cold one, and watching giant Tarpon swim by. Neat stuff.
Travel to and from some remote islands can be a bit tricky if not impossible at times. In the Marshall Islands (some of the most remote islands in the world and where I am now keeping the “Deviant”) sometimes ship service and airline service are shut down for various reasons for months at a time! Sailing around the world on my sailboat, “Deviant” gets me to places that most people can never visit. I am truly blessed.
I tried to make arrangements to fly out of Culebra and back to St. Thomas to catch my flight back to the San Juan Islands in Northwestern Washington State the other day. Sorry... The only airline had been shut down by the FAA for some paperwork or licensing snafu. I thought that I could ferry over to the big island of Puerto Rico and then ferry back to Vieques and fly from there to St. Thomas but no, those flights were full or had been canceled. All of these islands can be seen from one another on a clear day! One of my old friends on St. Thomas, Frank Gazerek, a pilot with his own plane, got a call from me. “Hey Frank”, I said to him over a very sketchy cell phone connection, “I'm stranded on a remote Caribbean Island and need help. Do you fly charters?” “WoodChuck!” he said. “I haven't seen you in years! I definitely do not fly charters but I do fly to remote Caribbean Islands to pick up my old friends when they get stranded. I'll pick up a couple of the guys for the trip and we'll fly over, pick you up and have lunch there. We'll all pitch in to cover the fuel and landing costs. See you soon!” Good stuff for sure!
Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I'll try to put a nice group of photos together for you soon but for now I just want to fire this off while I have a decent internet connection.
All the best and Carry On!
Chuck... (from the islands... somewhere...)
Editor's Note: Chuck Handy is a sailor-fisherman-shipwright friend who is on a voyage around the world. At one time Chuck lived in St. Thomas and crewed on many boats including with Capt. Ronnie Hamlin and with Capt. Rick Defeo on Tyson's Pride. He has many friends in the fishing industry and we'll post his reports for everyone to read.
LATEST NEWS
Its been a great time since the last report, we fished my regular client Greg for 10 days again this year and he had one of his best ever trips on TRADITION. We started in the middle Ribbons and got one the first day and followed that up with 2 the second day, and then the current started to the north and water changed dramatically. After a day with not even a thought of catching one in the dirty water I decided to make a big move. I bait fished and ran from the middle Ribbons down to Linden Bank and we were rewarded with good fishing the rest of the trip. The first day we missed a couple of small ones and jumped off a 600 lb fish , the next 5 days saw us marking lots of fish and jumping off a few but also tagging a 300, 600, 800, 400, and 250 as well as seeing a big female and males spawning right behind the boat. Gregs big fish came late one day at 6pm, and she just exploded on the big bait and put up a great fight for us. Greg enjoyed his break from work and has already booked again for 2011.
Started on the 30th with Ash and the boys from the Gold Coast, and after a good bait session on the way north, fished the bottom of No:10 where we saw 4 fish tailing and caught a fun 250 lb fish. Yesterday I headed back up No:10 to where I had marked fish the day before and after driving over the same mark on the plotter, I saw her on the sounder and up she came right on cue, an awesome bite form a big fish!!! Reece did a great job in the chair and Steve was just incredible on the leader with some big jumps and just awesome power of a big fish. We followed that up with 2 more for the day, and missed a bouble header. With lots of fish marking along the whole reef, it is getting ready to go wide open!!!
The bite is on, there were at least 7 fish over 950 on the reef yesterday inclusing an 1177 lb fish, the first one weighted for the season. Which makes 10 over 1000 lbs for the GBR in October 2010.
What a season we are having so far, October saw us fish 50lb for 8 days with Lydie who did an amazing job with some nice fish up to 600 lbs!!!!, Georges awesome fish about 1100, Les's fish the same trip at 900, an 800 for Greg and Reece's nice 950+ yesterday!!! TRADITION ended up with 29 fish for the month!
I am fully booked until Nov 22, where I have an opening, as well as early December, which will give us that nice calm weather Nov is famous for, as well as big fish. With the full moon comes the tuna aggregation out wide, so looking forward to getting out there as well for some big eye and yellowfins up to 200lb, and some big black marlin that are feeding in these schools as well. Let me know if you want a chance to see some of this.
2011 is filling up fast, so if you want to come next season please let me know as soon as you can and get your deposits in. I also have a range of motherships available starting at AU$3000 per day.
Capt Tim Richardson
email Tim
visit website
+61 (0)427758768
Dear Friends,
After a few years of travelling around the World chasing marlins, I have returned to my home town of Vitoria, Brazil and started a charter business. Our project started last year when I noticed the need for a boat in conditions to match up with the location potential and demands of the clients. The boat of choice is a 41' Recon that is equipped with the best gear and electronics available. In our first month of operation the crew, boat and location proved to be up for the challenge. During October we fished for 8 days, raising 64 billfish (16 blues, 45 whites and 3 sails) getting 52 bites ( 12, 37 and 3) and releasing 27 (2, 23 and 2). We also got to weight 3 white marlin 142, 130 and 99 lbs, the smallest one is a pending womens world record for 130# class and estimated our biggest blue marlin up to 600 lbs. Our season will extend through March.
I would like to invite all of you to come down and check out this untapped hot spot in Brazil.
Feel free to look at our website for fishing reports and pictures of the catches.
Tight lines!!
Capt. Bruno Larica
Cell: 55-27-8184-0444
visit website
email Bruno
see results
VINTAGE TAKES TOP HONORS AT THE 2010
PLAYA GRANDE CARIBE HOTEL & MARINA
VENEZUELAN INTERNATIONAL SUPER SLAM
A fleet of 21 tournament boats participated in the 2010 edition of the Venezuelan International Super Slam in La Guaira, Venezuela, where 73 Billfish were released in the two days of the tournament including three grand slams in an event characterized by more blues and sails than the traditional high numbers of white marlin found in these waters from August to December. Broken down by species there were 30 blue marlin, 32 sailfish and 11 whites released.
After lines in on the first day of fishing, in the customary rough seas on and around the La Guaira Bank, local boat Aquaholic and Vintage, from Ft. Pierce, Florida, battled it out for the lead throughout the day. The top spot switched back on forth three times when just before lines out Aquaholic released their third blue of the day tying Vintage. At the same time breaking the tie by virtue of a 200 point bonus they received under tournament rules for having completed a grand slam earlier in the day. At day’s end Aquaholic had 2,100 points, Vintage 1,900, followed by the teams fishing aboard local boats Salabay and Pelagica who finished the day tied for third place with 1,400 each.
 Day two dawned flat calm and the bite slowed considerably producing a day’s total of only 21 releases as compared to the 52 of the previous day. However, Vintage managed to catch up in points with Aquaholic in the first hour of fishing by releasing a sailfish. They then proceeded to take the lead by 1:30pm with another sailfish and just before lines out added another sailfish and a blue solidifying their win over the anglers aboard Aquaholic who were unable to register any releases on the second and final day of competition. In the battle for third place Pelagica prevailed over Salabay releasing a blue and a sail while Salabay only released one blue thus ending the tie with a 200 point difference in favor of Pelagica.
In the individual angler standings the tournament’s top angler was Joey Trefeiner of Ft. Pierce, Florida, who released 3 blues and a sail fishing aboard Vintage. In second place aboard Pelagica was Venezuelan Jose De Veer with two blues and two sails, and in third was another Venezuelan, Maurizio Scioscia, who fished aboard Mogambo with two blues and one sail.
A very special thanks go to our title Sponsor the Playa Grande Caribe Hotel & Marina who rolled out the red carpet with great food and fine accommodations. In addition thanks for their support go to Arawana Outdoors, AKR Investments, Solera Premium Beer, Pepsi Venezuela, Diplomatico Rum, Marak Sporstwear, Decocar Plastics and the Brotherhood of the Hook.
Stay tuned for upcoming announcements about the Capcana Shootout in Dominican Republic the first week in June.
LATEST NEWS
Been a busy week on the Tradition, after Georges grander on Sunday, we followed it up with a 900lb fish for Les at the top of No: 5 Ribbon Reef. This year has seen some amazing bites, and this one was no exception, I raised her and didnt get a bite, so in the middle of the turn she climed all over the big bait and proceeded to give Les a good workout in the Scopinich chair. A bunch of big jumps at the boat and we were done for our 5 days, tagged 3 fish, to1050lbs!!! a great week and we look forward to seeing the boys again next year.
Brent joined us for 6 days , and the weather the first couple of days was slick calm, then the change came thru!!! 20 + knots for the last 4 days, and continuing for the next week, but with good anchorages and conditions the fishing has started to pick up and is not too bad for us. There has been more and more fish marking each day, and some big fish around, we are looking forward a great 10 days with Greg.
I am fully booked until Nov 21, where I have an opening, as well as early December, which will give us that nice calm weather Nov is famous for, as well as big fish. With the full moon comes the tuna aggregation out wide, so looking forward to getting out there as well for some big eye and yellowfins up to 200lb, and some big black marlin that are feeding in these schools as well. Let me know if you want a chance to see some of this.
Capt Tim Richardson
LATEST NEWS
Oct 12 2010
I know, I know, been a little busy!!!
Day 4 and 5 with Peter and Lydie we fished up on Jewell, Hicks, Hilder, and Day Reefs, bait fishing was awesome, and we got a 54lb spanish mackeral as well.
Marlin fishing was a bit slow, but the water looked incredible, and we saw a few fish but didnt get any to the boat.
Day 6 was a ripper, I went back to No: 10 Ribbon and we had a great day, tagging a fast little 200lber on 50, and then at about 5pm we fought a real nice fish for a half hour. We tagged the fish, called her 600 lbs, a great 12:1 catch on 50lb line. Lyide did an awesome job in the chair as usual with some great coaching from Steve, she made fast work of a tough fish in 20 knots of trade wind. Of course the Tradition kept right on top of the fish and changing angles to make the fish react when she went down and got settled.
The last 2 days were very lazy, lots of snorkelling and exploring Lizard Island and a few hours fishing in the afternoons. saw a couple but nothing to report.
In 8 days with Peter and Lydie we saw 11 fish, had 8 bites, fought 7 and tagged 5 fish up to 600lb all on 50lb IGFA line, and had a shot at the one we wanted, a great trip overall and we are all looking forward to next years 10 day trip fishing 50lb again.
On Saturday Oct 9 we started a 5 day trip with Dean and George from Spraytime Marine, who painted my boat this year, and Les and his son Paul, also from the Gold Coast.
On Saturday, while baitfishing, George bested his biggest fish, a catfish!! With a 30 lb GT, and in the afternoon Paul tagged a fun fish about 300lb on #8, and we had a great dinner anchored behind #9 Ribbon Reef in the calm. Sunday we had a great snorkel and baitfish session, and then started our day fishing downsea up No: 10 Ribbon Reef from the bottom, the water looked good all along but it wasn't untill we got back to 2nd corner that the day really livened up!!
The big scaley mackeral got destroyed by a BIG fish, she ate the bait from inside out, and with her mouth all over the bait, her tail was
3/4 out of the water, and struggling to gain traction against the water. She was just lit up from head to tail, the best bite we have seen for a while, well since the monster bite we had with the Russians last November.
We came tight and George did a great job in the chair on his first ever marlin, and what a fish it was. A bunch of big full airborn jumps tired her out quickly, and some great wiring by Steve a few times. A quick 15 minutes and she was at the boat and I decided to tag her and let her keep swimming out there in the Coral Sea. A perfect BIG fish, perfectly hooked and in excellent condition. We cut her off and watched her swim off downsea for a bit, before heading back down into the depths. There was no question she was a big fish, and I would call her somewhere around 1050 lbs, a huge head and perfect proportions, and when she was next to the boat and her dorsal stood up so tall, there was no question about how big she was. An awesome day, and a fish of a lifetime for any angler!!!! This fish was the first GRANDER of the 2010 Cairns season.
The tail end of the season is almost booked out, I can start a trip on Nov 21 out of Cairns to head back out to the edge, or even out to the tuna aggregation which should be in full swing then with the full moon.
Capt Tim Richardson
email Tim
visit website
+61 (0)427758768
See John Graves study on survival of billfish after their release. J-hooks - Circle Hook results.
see study
Hey everyone!
 We caught this swordfish right outside of Christiansted harbor on the "Oh Suzanna" daytime deep dropping for them. Sarah Griffin was the angler We did 3 drops in the Morning had another fish on but lost it. We were fishing in 1750 feet when this one ate the Wahoo Strip bait. The fish came right to the surface right away but I couldn't get back on the fish fast enough chased around ion the surface for 10 minutes then the fish sounded back down to our 1800 foot mark on the line where it stayed for about 1 hour then Sarah was able to start gaining line back and with in 30 minutes she had worked it back to the surface where we stuck the Harpoon and 2 flying gaffs in it.
She was using a Penn 80W with 65# braid and the Manual crank method "no electric reel" The fish was weighed on a certified scale @ St. Croix Marine they also Provided the crane for the hoisting the fish off of the boat and the weighing. To My knowledge this is the largest Swordfish caught in the Virgin Islands by a woman angler 560 lbs. The crew was Christian Rasmussen,Sarah Griffin, Daniel Griffin, Ryan Dipasquale, and Capt Mike Fuller.
Editors note: Way to go to Mike and his troops over on St. Croix!
Today the popular charter boat captain, Wilmer Alvarado, aboard S/F Guarimba went 4 for 6 on sails and 5 for 7 on the blues . . . tried for the elusive white to complete a grand slam but did not find them as they were mostly working the inside of the bank where whitey is usually scarce.
Marlin Fishing Brasil - October 2010
Hello friends and fisherman
I have not sent a report for a while and the upcoming season is fast approaching, so here is a quick recap of the year.
February and March this year had some great marlin fishing, with plenty of big fish and moderate to calm seas.
There was a good run of Black Grouper, up to 80 lbs, throughout March and April and a lot of yellowtails for a short time before the winter South Easterlies started.
David Watkins released the biggest blue marlin around with 700 lb.
With the constant 15 - 25 knot S/E wind over the last 4 months I believe we should have a good season this year. October is fast approaching and the weather has started to give us signs of summer, with light easterly winds starting to show up for a few days at a time. The Dorado are on the bite, in good numbers now, so the marlin will be on their tails. The southerly current is pushing bait onto the bank with small tuna and bonito working again.
Lea and myself are looking forward to welcoming back some old friends and meeting those of you about to experience our little bit of paradise for the first time. If you haven’t made a booking but would like to come and experience our quiet little town and one of the great untapped fishing grounds in the world we still have some time available.
If you hanker for a slower pace, and a step back to the feeling of being amongst the first to experience a new ground, then email us and we’ll endeavour to accommodate your fishing fantasies.
Cheers and tight lines to all.
Capt. Shawn Wallace
email
Phone: Shawn cell: 55-73-9972-0006 - Léa cell: 55-73-9978-3259
Marine Anglers,
See Dolphin Report
This has certainly been a different year for dolphin occurrence. This week I have received reports that dolphin fishing is still going strong off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and at the same time lots of fish are showing up early off the north shore of Puerto Rico. Strange year.
If there were any thoughts in peoples minds that anglers were loosing interest in the Dolphin Tagging Study, this issue of the newsletter will dispel that notion. More boat owners have signed up to tag dolphin this year, than in most prior years. Participants are tagging five, ten and even 20 fish in a year. This interest is pushing the 2010 tagging to possibly becoming the second-highest number in the program’s history.
I hope that you enjoy reading about some of the star participants.
Good fishing,
Donald L. Hammond
Marine Fisheries Biologist
Cooperative Sciences Services, LLC
961 Anchor Rd.
Charleston, SC 29412-4902
(843) 795-7524
cssllc@bellsouth.net
www.dolphintagging.com
LATEST NEWS
Oct 5 2010
I have been slack, and not updated here for a couple of weeks, as we have been super busy with our wonderful clients.
We started with Sean and Jay for 3 days out at Linden Bank, and saw a fish each day, but they didnt stay on long enough for us to get the leader, but the boys enjoyed their first trip on the Reef and had a blast throwing poppers, catching big wahoos and snorkelling. Sean is already organising his trip for next year!!!
John and Krissy joined us for their first trip as well, they have fished pretty much every where around the world and finally made it to Australia!!! John is heavily involved in conservation, and is chairman of www.conservationforce.org
Fishing was slow for their time here, but we did manage to get some good bites and had a blast light tackle fishing in the mornings and enjoying being on the Great Barrier Reef.
Sept 28 found TRADITION in Cooktown for the start of our main season, and we now fish everyday till mid Nov at the moment.
Lester and Liz joined us from NY for a couple of days fishing up to Lizard Island where they will spend a few days relaxing from their busy schedules.
We ran out from Cooktown and fished No 7 and 8 Ribbons, with a great afternoon bite. We raised 4 fish, had bites from all of them, and tagged a 750 for Lester and then a fun 300 for Liz. A great start to our main season!!! Anchored in the calm behind No 9 and enjoyed a great meal of fresh seafood for dinner.
Our second day saw us enjoy a great snorkel behind the reef and then we fished down No 10 Ribbon. At 4.30 the bite started and we had 3 bites over the next hour, and tagged a 300 lb fish. Into Lizard for the night, and dropped Lester and Liz off at the resort for their break.
Peter and Lydie join us again for their 5th year on TRADITION, and are enjoying their 'honeymoon' with us after getting engaged on their trip here last season !!!! Congratulations to them both on their wedding in France.
Lydie loves calm weather, but she can put up with alot!!! Which is a good thing as the wind has been honking at 20-30 knots now for a week or so.
Our first day greeted us with solid SE wind and we angled up to #8 Ribbon out of Cooktown. We only fished for a few hours after a late swim and lunch behind the reef of fresh mackeral. I had just got to where we caught Lesters big fish a few days before, and got a nice bite on the big bait and tagged an angry 400 lb fish on 50lb tackle for Lydie. We fished downsea to the opening, raised a good fish that didn't eat, and had a great night behind # 9 with Snow crabs, and garlic and ginger Moreton Bay bugs for dinner, yum!!!
Day 2 saw a nice lazy morning spent snorkelling and eating, we fished down # 10 and had a slow day untill we got up to 2nd corner when at 4.30, the tuna just disappeared from sight. I backed up while Lydie got set in the chair, and the boys cleared the other rod. We kept going in reverse for about a minute when a nice big fish erupted from the water about 100 feet behind the boat, well and truly big enough for what we need on 50lb for the womens world record. It didnt last long, she hit the afterburners and just ripped line off downsea doing giant long low greyhound jumps. I looked down at the spool and it wasnt turning anymore, but the fish was still going hard, guess we are not attached anymore!!!
Put the baits back out and in 10 minutes we had another bite and tagged a hot little 250 lb fish, and then jumped off a 300 at the back of the boat. A great day on the water, followed by a nice run into LI for the calm anchorage.
Day 3 we had a great bait fishing session, and fished the top of Day Reef for a few hours in the afternoon. Peter and Lydie love their snorkelling, and we went to a great spot on Hicks Reef where the coral is awesome. Lunch of fresh coral trout and fresh baked bread rolls made a great start to our afternoon.
I ran to the opening, we put the baits in and after an hour or so had a great bite on the big bait, and after a quick fight we tagged a nice 500 lb fish on 50lb for Lydie. What was amazing was the other 200lb fish that stayed with her the whole time, and even swam all the way to the transom. Got some great footage from the tower cam.
Back out today, for a look up the top end.
The rest of the fleet has had patchy fishing, one day seeing 2-4 fish, the next only 1, but there has been a big fish encountered nearly every day, with a few BIG ones let go already, signs of an awesome season are there, good clean water, lots of bait and good wind.
Don't forget you can always follow our season on Facebook, either at Tradition Charters, or Tim Richardson.
I am fully booked until mid Nov, where I have an opening, as well as early December, which will give us that nice calm weather Nov is famous for, as well as big fish. With the full moon comes the tuna aggregation out wide, so looking forward to getting out there as well for some big eye and yellowfins up to 200lb, and some big black marlin that are feeding in these schools as well. Let me know if you want a chance to see some of this.
Capt Tim Richardson
email Tim
visit website
+61 (0)427758768
Hey Rick,
We just returned from Venezuela. Fishing was real good for us. we fished 11 days.
24 for 30 blue marlin - 16 for 22 whites - 13 for 20 sails. Flat calm, most of it on the edge of the bank. We left them biting.
I'll be in touch.
Eric
Tradition has fished 6 days out of Cairns over the last couple of weeks after a great trip up the coast from the Gold Coast.
We raised 7 fish had a few bites but no conversions.
We had some great light tackle fishing, with a few big wahoos and played with the yellowfin tuna on the Bank as well. Our guests had a wonderful time, and are looking forward to fishing next season.
We spent a week in Cairns doing some maintenace, and are now on our way into Cooktown to start fishing again tomorrow, with a couple from New York for their first trip to the GBR.
Fishing has improved greatly this last week and the boats are seeing a few fish a day, and some really nice ones have been caught so far.
Cant wait to get up into the Ribbons tomorrow and see what we can find. Conditions are awesome, with good south current and lots of bait, and as such the fish are here in pretty good numbers. Very similar to conditions in the past that have turned into great seasons.
I am fully booked until mid Nov, where I have an opening, as well as early December, which will give us that nice calm weather Nov is famous for, as well as big fish. With the full moon comes the tuna aggregation out wide, so looking forward to getting out there as well for some big eye and yellowfins up to 200lb, and some big black marlin that are feeding in these schools as well. Let me know if you want a chance to see some of this.
Capt Tim Richardson
email Tim
visit website
+61 (0)427758768
The photo was taken at the entrance to Katlian Bay at the end of the road in Sitka. The whale is coming up to scoop up a mouthful of herring (the small fish seen at the surface around the kayak). The kayaker is a local Sitka Dentist. I haven’t talked to him yet, but haven’t heard of any injuries out of the experience.
Yep, that is me in the picture. Yep that is a whale that was just around the corner from the ferry terminal. "Paddle really fast" is the only thing I could think of at the time. Also thinking that I don't look like a herring, don't smell like a herring but with the same herring instinct of "get the hell out of the way of that big mouth!!"
Still living to tell yet another story.
Rich K
Sitka’s very own Dr. Richard Kraft during one of his routine oral examinations:
Hi Jimmy,
Hope all's well. Here's the latest report:
"Getting the Blues?"
Unfortunately, there a few places left in the world where an angler can realistically seek the capture of a giant Bluefin Tuna. New Zealand is able to buck this trend, but for how much longer, as these commercially precious fish are sought for business interests?
As it stands, a trip to the west coast of our South Island, at the right time of year on the right boat, will give you the very high probability of being successful. The season is very short and a week is usually put on standby as a weather window to allow a 2 or 3 day trip to be completed. This is not a good scenario for charter operators and has lead to a greatly reduced number of boats chasing these highly prized fish.
Charter prices need to be high to cover travelling costs, standby days and days lost to poor weather but the cost per fish is still very reasonable. So it remains good value for money and the career value for any angler to experience the prize of catching a Bluefin Tuna over 450lbs is hard to quantify.
Few fish are killed and anglers are using heavier gear than previously to avoid exhausting the fish…and the fisherman! Tagging and releasing a huge Bluefin is an immeasurable thrill, highly commendable and a great conservation message which we all desperately hope, won’t be in vain.
This season has seen some really good fish, despite lower numbers of boats out there, and the water temperature being higher than usual. Several fish over the 550lbs mark have been tagged. The top performing boat achieved a catch record of 24 fish in the few available trips, with a further 10 “lost” on the leader. The best was 740lbs, though unable to be ratified as a record due to the leader not meeting IGFA specifications. The same boat lost a fish described as an absolute “monster” due to the heavy rod breaking after extreme pressure.
So you still can “get the Blues” quite easily from New Zealand. If it appeals…”don’t dream it…do it!”... while you can.
Kind regards,
John & Jessica Kimberley
website
www.fishingpro.co.nz
First fishable day in the last 5 days due to hurricane swell. White marlin are still here. Report that John Bayliss had 19 or more today out of Oregon inlet. is a great sign that the white marlin bite is still around.
Capt Kenny Midgett
252 305-1394
kenny.midgett@ncdenr.gov
Hey Jimmy,
Red hot bite in Mayaguez for the 22nd annual Light Tackle Blue Marlin tournament hosted by the Club Deportivo del Oeste. 62 boats fishing 3 days released 214 blue marlin on 30 pound line, an average of 3.45 blues caught per vessel. The amount of double and triple header bites was really impressive. Second time Mayaguez records over 200 blue marlin in one 3 day tournament.
Best boat was 400cc with 8 blues tagged & released.
A little slow for us aboard WHEEZING but we did manage to release a couple of them.
Bubba on Tijereta and Jimmy on Marlin Darlin were also catching some fish, fishing the same spots the tournament boats were working.
Tight lines,
Capt. Juan Carlos Torruella
Rick
Vintage caught 4 out of 5 blue marlin Friday, 4 out of 6 blue marlin and missed 2 or 3 sails Saturday.
The moon is rising and it is getting better every day -
shaping up to be a great Fall.
A few white marlin, but not the major migration yet....
Eric
Amigos...
 The TSL fleet caught an amazing 86 Marlin this week, which included 21 Black Marlin and 65 Blue Marlin releases. Most of the time 8 or 9 boats were fishing. On Tuesday the boats caught a record 30 Marlin in a single day... The seas were flat calm...
While filming a TV Show for Cabela's, Bill Boyce and I caught 8 very active Blue Marlin, including a 700 pounder I caught on Friday. Will let you know when the 2 episodes will air...
What a trip...
Best,
Raleigh
Hey Jimmy,
Mayaguez is heating up and the boats the past couple of weeks have been seeing a lot of fish in the Mona Passage. I'll be running the WHEEZING there next week for the tournament unless IGOR screwes everything up.
San Juan has been a little slow after the IBT tournament... but here's a nice Yellowfin I caught on 50 pound stand-up tackle aboard the 20 ft power cat FLYN' JIG a couple of weeks ago. It weighed 154 pounds.
Tight lines,
Capt. Juan Carlos Torruella.
The White Marlin Bite is still hot. 20 boats fished out of Oregon inlet and Pirates Cove today and released a total of 220 white marlin for the day. Pirates’ cove boats Sea Toy, Obsession, Marlin Gull, Reel Deal, and Country girl all had 10 to 15 white marlin releases each. Best Fishing Ever over 700 white marlin releases in 3 days.
For information about fishing call Capt Kenny Midgett at 252 305-1394
Outrageous White Marlin Fishing !!
Beautiful weather and calm seas have provided a terrific setting for white marlin fishing. Amazing catches for the boats going after the Whites. Biopsea on a overnight trip came back in this afternoon with their flags flying! One blue marlin release and 50, yes 50 white marlin releases! Haphazard had a good trip with 26 white marlin bites and 13 releases. Marlin Gull had 14 white marlin bites with just the captain and mate!! no anglers. Ken Henry and Son fishing aboard Obsession caught and released 24 white marlin and brought in 2 large gaffer dolphin. Hunter also had a great day with 12 white marlin releases. Hog Wild came in with 9 white marlin releases. What a great day! Congratulation to all anglers, Captains and Mates!
For information about fishing call Capt Kenny Midgett at 252 305-1394
Marine Anglers,
See Dolphin Report
Marine Anglers,
I would never have guessed that tagging would have been so strong this year with the economy being so weak. With 1,612 fish tagged this year, 2010 is just 68 fish short of becoming the second best year in the program’s history. The apparent abundance of small school fish throughout the South Atlantic Bight and especially off south Florida probably was a key factor in the increased tagging activity. Unfortunately, tag recovery reports for 2010 are well below the overall average reporting rate of 2.8 percent.
Looking at the bright side, the large number of small fish 16 to 22 inches in length observed along the U.S. East Coast could translate into a good dolphin season this winter for the Caribbean Islands.
This newsletter addresses a question that several anglers have raised regarding the tagging of larger fish. Because the larger fish, those 30 inches or longer in fork length, are usually exhausted by the time they are brought to the boat, fishermen have expressed concern about their survival. So this issue looks at the recovery numbers for larger fish during the period from 2002 through 2009. Hope you find it interesting.
Good fishing,
Don
Donald L. Hammond
Marine Fisheries Biologist
Cooperative Sciences Services, LLC
961 Anchor Rd.
Charleston, SC 29412-4902
(843) 795-7524
cssllc@bellsouth.net
www.dolphintagging.com
A Desperado On The Run...
I leave my 1988 Jeep Cherokee parked near San Francisco at SugarDock Marina, home of the beautiful schooner, “Eros”, lovingly restored by Bill and Grace Bodle. When Bill and Grace started on this project they took the yacht apart piece by piece until they had completely dismantled it and then they painstakingly refurbished and reassembled it. It can currently be seen sailing in San Francisco Bay and last year they took it as far as Acapulco. Future plans include a lot more sailing! SugarDock marina was the homeport for the “Deev” while I was in San Francisco and I still park my Jeep there. The 22 year old rig waits patiently while I'm gone. After 10 months of sitting idle it fired right up for me when I pulled into the Bay Area this time without complaint.
The only problem was that I had neglected to re-register the vehicle and of course the tabs had expired. OOPS! Well I wanted to get up to Northern Idaho for some camping and over to the San Juan Islands in Western Washington to visit my dog, Marley. So off I went, mostly on back roads, almost 2,000 miles and through four states, trying to not call attention to myself by the local constabulary. I must be living right and thinking pure thoughts because I made it all the way without being pulled over. I did get the car re-registered as soon as I reached San Juan County.
The fact of the matter was that I was not too much of a desperado but I was looking in my rear view mirror a lot. The last thing that I wanted to see back there was John Law getting a close look at my expired license plates!
Caribbean Bound...
The writing of this crew letter is taking place from the beautiful white sand beach in the British Virgin Islands in front of the world famous Foxy's bar and Restaurant where I am once again working on the Jost Van Dykes Preservation Society's Island Sloop Project. I arrived here today after stopping in the US Virgin Islands for a couple of days.
My interest in fishing, particularly Big Game Deep Sea Fishing, remains strong and the months of August and September here provide some of the best Blue Marlin fishing in the world. My arrival in St. Thomas corresponded with the end of the prestigious 38th annual ABMT “Boy Scout” Blue Marlin Tournament. It was another successful year for the organizers and the anglers with 41 boats catching and releasing 141 Blue Marlin over 4 days of fishing. This tournament is run on a total release format. No fish are boated and all were caught on 50 pound test. Here is an interesting aside... I learned that an old friend, Ray Walters, Captain of “Therapy”, was in the lead by 3 fish coming into the last day after releasing 5 fish on day 3. The only way they could lose would be if another boat caught 4 or more fish and “Therapy” caught none. Guess what??? “Therapy” was skunked and a boat that was fishing right next to them caught 4. I guess that's why they call it fishing and not catching!!! You can check out all the results and more on the website http://abmt.vi/. Check it out. That's USVI Open/Atlantic Blue Marlin Tournament.
That's it for now , Crew! We are currently watching the weather very closely here in the BVI as it seems that the hurricane season is here in full force with one, named “Earl”, bearing down on us as we speak. Why do I always come here this time of year??????
Cheers and Carry On!
Chuck Handy
Editor's Note: Chuck Handy is a sailor-fisherman-shipright friend who is on a voyage around the world. He departed from the San Juan Islands (Pacific NW coast) and is currently in the Marshall Islands. At one time Chuck lived in St. Thomas and crewed on many boats including with Capt. Ronnie Hamlin and with Capt. Rick Defeo on Tyson's Pride. He has many friends in the fishing industry and we'll post his reports for everyone to read.
LATEST NEWS
ITS TIME!!!!
We are heading north in a few days for what will be another amazing season on the best fishing grounds on earth for big black marlin. This area covers a magical 150nm of coral reefs that give us the backdrop to the fertile grounds of the Coral Sea.
Our season is already filled with wonderful friends who fish with us each year as well as many who are fishing on TRADITION for the first time this year. We wish them all a safe trip to join us for their 2010 season on the Great Barrier Reef.
I have only a couple of openings still available:
September - a 4 or 5 day trip fishing our way from Cairns to Cooktown starting in Cairns on 23 September.
Call or email me for a SPECIAL PRICE ON THIS TRIP
November – each year gives us access to the tuna aggregation and, weather permitting, we spend a week or so roaming around out wide with the tuna boats fishing for big eye and yellow fin tuna up to 150+ lbs, as well as the big black marlin that feed on the tuna. This has provided some of the most incredible fishing I have ever seen, jigging big eye tunas off the whale sharks that we also swim with!!
November is also the time of year with generally calm seas, warm weather and BIG fish. Last year, Linden Bank went off for weeks with granders being released almost every day. So whether we are fishing the edge or way out wide, November is a great time for nicer weather, warm water snorkelling, tuna and BIG BLACK MARLIN!!!
Please let me know if you are interested in any of these great opportunities to join us on TRADITION this season.
Capt Tim Richardson
email Tim
visit website
+61 (0)427758768
“A Stubborn Old Man...”
Yokwe and Greetings Crew!
It's been a while since I last sent out a crew letter. The last one was about my friend Bwiji's housewarming celebration in Majuro. Since then I have fought off a serious antibiotic resistant infection, had some minor skin cancer removal, been called a “stubborn old man”, I have traveled over 5,000 miles by air to a very big island and I have been a “desperado on the run” for nearly 2,000 miles with my automobile! I've also seen some amazingly beautiful scenery, camped out at some spectacular sites and met up with several old friends.
With my new computer now online (many thanks to the Past Commodore of the Orcas Island Yacht Club, Bob Brunius) I will fill you in on the details.
Part I: A Stubborn Old Man...
Before flying off to the very big island of America I decided to have a small skin lesion removed from my shoulder. The Doctor in the Majuro Hospital, a very good Filipino surgeon, looked at me and said yes he would do it and scheduled me for out patient surgery. “Oh, by the way Doctor, would you look at this small infection on my leg for me? I think I may need a dose of antibiotics to kill it”, I said.
The Doc looked at it, shook his head, and said, “I don't like the looks of that one. We've been seeing some very bad infections lately that are resistant to antibiotics. I'll start you with a series of oral antibiotics and we'll see what happens”.
To make a long story short, when I returned a couple of days later my calf was the size of a rugby ball, I could barely walk and I was delirious with fever.
“We better try something else”, the Doc said , and he put me on a 10 day run of intravenous third generation antibiotics that made me want to pass out or throw up depending on their whim. But they did the trick. For 10 days, at 6 in the morning and at 6 in the evening I got my fix and the horrible, ugly infection was exorcised.
After the infection was cleared up the Doc removed the offending skin lesion that I had originally stopped in to see him about. It was small, only about the size of a nickel. It was removed, biopsied, I was given more antibiotics and told to return in a week to have the stitches out.
The total medical bill for the surgery, the doctors visits, the antibiotics and the biopsy was $5.00. That's right, five bucks. While I was in the medical complex I also had a damaged filling replaced by the dentist. That cost another five bucks.
I have no insurance, no one in the Marshall Islands does. They do take a sizable chunk out of your paycheck for health care. Let me point out that there are no medical malpractice lawsuits either so doctors do not have to have millions of dollars in insurance. I don't think that I would want to have any brain surgery or highly specialized stuff done here but for the run of the mill medical treatment that makes up the bulk of doctors visits this place seems just fine.
Everything had gone so well that I decided to celebrate with a bowl of ice cream! While savoring a combination of mint chocolate chip and espresso almond fudge a friend of mine walked by...
“Hi!” I said.
“Oh, Hi Chuck” she replied. “What are you up to?”
“Well, my infection is gone. See.” I pointed to my leg. “And surgery is complete on my skin cancer so I thought that I would celebrate with ice cream.”
“Chuck, don't you realize that is one of the worst that you can be doing to your body right now? Sugar just feeds the all the bad things in your body and your immune system has been severely compromised by the antibiotics.”
“No”, I replied. “Ice cream is one of the best things I can do for my body right now. I can tell. It's making me feel very, very good!”
Her lips kind of squeezed together at my response, she shook her head a couple of times, looked my in the eye and stammered “You, you stubborn old man. You will never learn to eat properly!”
I might add that she is pretty much vegan and of course I will eat just about anything that walks, crawls, flies or swims. Such is life....
I feel very proud to finally have been called a stubborn old man. I have been aspiring to this all my life. I have also noticed that I have been referred to as “Sir” (as in “Excuse me, sir, would you like some help with that?”) more often of late. I have also been offered “senior discounts” more often at many venues. This is all good. I am hoping soon to become referred to as “that old codger”. It's about time!
That's enough for now, crew. Stand by for Part II of this series, “Desperado On The Run”....
Cheers and Carry On!
Chuck Handy
Editor's Note: Chuck Handy is a sailor-fisherman-shipright friend who is on a voyage around the world. He departed from the San Juan Islands (Pacific NW coast) and is currently in the Marshall Islands. At one time Chuck lived in St. Thomas and crewed on many boats including with Capt. Ronnie Hamlin and with Capt. Rick Defeo on Tyson's Pride. He has many friends in the fishing industry and we'll post his reports for everyone to read.
Hey Jimmy,
 Sorry I won't be joining you guys for this years Boy scouts but I have to run a boat for the IBT here in San Juan. Best of luck for your event, I will surely miss it. Here it's been a cat and mouse game with the rain and the water color but there was a pretty good bite on the downside of the moon. Last saturday, August 7th, we were 2/2 aboard the M & M. Enclosed a pic of one of the fish we caught.
Tight lines,
Capt. Juan Carlos Torruella.
Hi Jimmy, this might be something for your website by Capt Mud
The Ramblings of Capt. Muddy Edwards
Capt Tim Richardson
email Tim
visit website
Stewart Campbell, longtime member of the IGFA Board of Trustees, passed away on August 4, 2010 after a battle with cancer. Ranked as one of the world’s best anglers, Campbell fished the oceans for more than 40 years, set more than 15 world records, and was highly respected by the international angling community. “It is a sad day indeed for the sportfishing fraternity that we should lose such a person as Stewart,” expressed George Matthews, Chairman of the IGFA Board. “In my opinion he was a large part of the consciousness of the IGFA. I personally relied on his well thought-out interpretation of the rules and his kindly manner. Our prayers go out to Nikki and the Campbell family at this difficult time.”
See Marlin up Close!
LATEST NEWS
Another beautiful week of weather on the Gold Coast last week. Got some more little jobs done and pretty close to having the TRADITION ready to head north.
Tradition is heading north on Sept 2, for a 2 week trip up the coast.
Carl is joining me for the trip up, and Chris is meeting us in Cairns after his big year in the Atlantic, he is currently in Madiera. Carl is back again after joining us for November and December last year, and the boys are great mates and makes life really fun for all of us and our guests!!!
If you are interested in joining us for the trip up, we can do lots, or not much!!!
Fishing dates are filling up well, but I still have a few openings available. So if you have always wanted to spend some time on the Great Barrier Reef, on a really special boat, with wonderful friends and incredible fishing - let me know!!!
Sept 2-15 ish 2010 The destinations on this 10-day trip can include Wreck, Cato, Saumarez, Elusive and Bugatti Reef complexes. The plan is to get out to the Wreck or Cato and then jump from one to the next and spend a day or two at each one. Poppers and jigging for GT's, more Wahoo than you have ever seen are around at this time of year, as well as billfish.
Great anchorages are available, with incredible snorkeling and spearing - a great exploration trip to places only a few boats have ever been.
The trip is limited to 4 places for 10 days, leaving from Bundaberg and finishing in Hamilton Island or even Townsville.
September Hamilton Island / Townsville to Cairns – cruising the Whitsundays, or fishing the incredible outer reefs and atolls. Fishing our way to the north for mackerel, wahoo, GT’s, Dogtooth’s, and even marlin and sailfish on the way. A great time of year with lots of fishing options. TRADITION is one of the few boats equipped and licensed to fish the outer reefs of Flinders, Flora, Holmes Reef systems.
2010 HEAVY TACKLE GIANT BLACK MARLIN with options of liveaboard, mothershipping and Lizard Island accommodation.
Experience the wonder of the Great Barrier Reef and giant black marlin. All trips can cater for poppers and jigging for GTs, Dogtooth’s etc
Sept 23 – 27 (or part of) inclusive Cairns to Cooktown heavy tackle marlin fishing. 4-6 days fishing.
Oct 14 – 23 inclusive 2010 Lizard Island Black marlin Tournament 7 days of fishing.
Oct 24 -27 inclusive 4 days fishing from Lizard Island to Cooktown
Nov 3-9 7 days with PERFECT TIDES
Nov 23 – Dec 3 inclusive marlin fishing from Cairns or Port Douglas.
Dec 2010 Cairns to Gold Coast, or parts, of via rarely fished outer reefs same as top trip but in reverse, options all the way down the reef.
April - July 2011 New Caledonia and then Vanuatu
Capt Tim Richardson
email Tim
visit website
Parties That You Will Never Remember…
Ahoy Crew and Yokwe!
I’ve been a bit cyber-challenged lately, more so than usual, since my laptop decided to call it quits. I can’t complain too much because it has given me 5 good years of service. Hopefully I’ll have a new one up and running in the next couple of weeks. (With a little help from my friends, of course). Until then I apologize for my lack of correspondence.
I attended a Marshallese style “housewarming” or” house dedication party” for my friend Bwiji Aliven and his wife here in Majuro recently. It was a wonderful affair. Bwiji and his wife are moving into a very nice newly constructed dwelling and preparations for the celebration took friends and family several days to complete. Mountains of food were prepared for the guests and included a whole turtle cooked in the ground, two whole pigs, a whole Marlin served sashimi style, several Yellowfin Tuna prepared in several ways, lots of reef fish, boiled octopus in coconut milk, curried giant clams and huge quantities of BBQ chicken and ribs. This was all set out with barrels of rice, salad and breadfruit and accompanied by many cases of beer and soft drinks. A band played well into the early morning hours. Hundreds of guests participated and a fine time was had by all.
Earlier in the day, about 10 AM and prior to the festivities, a small group of friends and family gathered in the new house with the priest who blessed the house. He prayed and sprinkled Holy Water all around. He started at the front porch and sprinkled the water throughout the house. As he was wetting down the bedrooms the front door slammed shut. Everyone was very pleased because obviously a demon-spirit had been chased out of the house by the Holy Water and it had slammed the door shut behind itself! It was a huge success!!
This was a party that will be remembered by all. However there are two very important parties that are staged during the course of one’s Marshallese life that are never remembered by the guest of honor.
The very first party to be held for a Marshallese is the keeman (pronounced Kay-Min). This occurs when a child reaches one year old. The infant mortality rate used to be very high here and most children did not reach the milestone of one year old. Those that did had a pretty good chance of further survival and so a big party was staged for them. Another limiting factor to the life of an infant (in the old days) was infanticide. That’s right. After a woman had 3 children infanticide was practiced as a means of population control. The reason being that these islands are very small and can provide food for only so many people. Today, in modern times, infanticide is no longer practiced and families with less than 5 or 6 children are rare. I was sitting around “talking story” with a 3 elderly gentlemen the other day and one of them remarked “Chuck, between the 3 of us we have over 125 children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. It’s very sad that you have no children. You must make some so that they can take care of you when you become too old to take care of yourself!”
The keeman is still considered a very important milestone in the life of a Marshallese person and no expense is spared to throw the most lavish party possible. Parents will frequently go deeply into debt to provide for this event.
The other party held in the life of a Marshallese person that will never be remembered by the guest of honor is the funeral. Typically it is a 3 day event and again it is a most lavish affair that often puts the family deeply in debt.
Personally I do not get too excited by the keemans. Heck, I don’t even like kids! Horrible little monsters, most of them! And funerals have never been high on my list either. But this housewarming of Bwiji’s was really a spectacular and wonderful affair! Congratulations Bwiji!!
That’s all for now, Crew…
Cheers from the edge of the world!
Chuck
Editor's Note: Chuck Handy is a sailor-fisherman-shipright friend who is on a voyage around the world. He departed from the San Juan Islands (Pacific NW coast) and is currently in the Marshall Islands. At one time Chuck lived in St. Thomas and crewed on many boats including with Capt. Ronnie Hamlin and with Capt. Rick Defeo on Tyson's Pride. He has many friends in the fishing industry and we'll post his reports for everyone to read.
See Bermuda Report
NEWSLETTER 20TH JULY 2010
 BLUEFIN TUNA LANDED BY GRENADA BOAT !! This exciting and rare catch was brought in Sunday 18th July by a Grenadian long line boat - the bluefin tuna weighed 425 lb cleaned (est. 500lb gross). The fish was caught about 35 miles NW of the island and is apparently the first documented capture of this species in Grenada.
Why did this fish show up here at a time when the species has almost made it onto the endangered species list? A chance capture or is there a possible connection to the Gulf oil spill?
Something else to wonder about whilst trolling at the 42nd SIBT January 23-27 2011 !!
Gary Clifford
SIBT committee
See Triple Crown Report
July 2010 - Fish Report – Guatemalan Billfishing Adventures
We have come to the end of another exciting season, finishing it off with some exceptional blue marlin fishing. Our bookings were good throughout the season despite the recession and those that fished these productive Guatemalan waters all had wonderful trips enjoying the special service, fantastic facilities, wonderful cuisine and of course the unparalleled billfishing.
May started off slowly for our friends from East London, South Africa, Arthur Kidson, John and Andrew Keil. The 3rd of May saw them start their trip with 5 sailfish releases and a 550 pound blue that got tip wrapped and broke off after some crazy jumps in roughish water. As far and wide as we ran over the next days we just could not find any fish, although water looked good and at times there was showings of good bait. We did however all enjoyed our time in Antigua together and it was great sharing in some good home grown company.
Jim Ryaby and Dan Grande of New York saw it slow on the 7th but things picked up on the 8th to release 6 sails from 9 bites with a blue that would not play. The next day saw 9 sailfish releases and another blue that would not bite to see out a fun trip for the doctors.
Our neighbour and friend Dr. Scott Lund was with us the 11th and 12th of May to see him release a spectacular 325 pound blue on 20lb tippet fly gear. With an incredible bite and series of jumps, Scott had the fish boat-side after 30 minutes and we were able to retrieve the fly, prior to reviving and leasing the certain world record size blue, for one of the season highlights. Catching blues on fly is the pinnacle of team work, and a very special event for all, especially with fish over 300 pounds in size. Scott released another 6 sails on fly over the two days as well as enjoying a magical round of golf at the new Antigua Golf Resort to see out an unforgettable trip.
Joe O’Brien from Boston was with us the 22nd and 23rd and we were able to tease in a feisty blue to which Joe made a fine presentation of the fly then hooking and fighting the blue before pulling the hooks but still making for an exciting day. A few sails over the two days saw out the season on the long wand for one of most loyal anglers.
Guatemala saw some unusually early and heavy rains in June which shut things down for us for a while. Our friends Charlie and Diane Levine of Marlin Magazine were down with us for a week of good times in Antigua while we managed to get in a day of fishing on the 28th with Diane catching her first pacific sailfish in fine form as the couple released 6 sailfish between them.
Scott Lund and his wife Kristy were back with us the beginning of July for an exceptional trip. The 5th saw Scott starting off with 6 yellowfin tuna around some spinner dolphins, latter adding a 250 pound blue and a sailfish on fly for an exciting day. The next day we did what nobody in Guatemala has ever done before. After an hour of trolling the inky blue water on the drop-off we had an aggressive 200 pound blue marlin tease in and with a perfect cast, head and shoulders bite, and an amazing series of wild jumps during which we stayed attached, we got the release to retrieve the fly. An hour latter we had a second blue up which also teased in for another spectacular bite which Scott hooked and within 5 minutes after some down sea jumps and quick boat handling we had our second blue marlin release on the fly on the same day, a first for Guatemala. Only minutes latter a 300 pound blue was up on the long rigger and we had it teased right into the zone but it did not see the fly in the white water and faded away. Knowing we were in the right area and the bite was on, spirits were high. It was only a matter of time and not before too long we had another blue up on the bridge teaser. It teased in hot and climbed all over the fly. With a perfect hookup we had the fish jumping all over. After a short while we had the 175 pounder going down sea with us in hot pursuit. For some seconds the fish was within 15 feet of the rod tip and inches from the 12 foot leader for the release. With a final jumps right behind the boat as we powered after it, the marlin gained it´s freedom as it´s bill cut the light 20 pound tipped only 12 inches from the hooks. We just couldn´t believe the day we had been blessed with and ran for home, rum drinks flowing, high-fives all round and looking forward to when we start doing it all over again in October.
The succesful season we have just experienced would not be possible if it wasn’t for the loyal support of ALL our anglers, Decisive´s owner, and the wonderful companies like Alutecnos, Eagle Claw, Pelagic Offshore Gear, Legend Lures and Big-T lures that make this all possible and to whom we at Guatemalan Billfishing Adventures are most grateful….THANK YOU!!!
Until we start again in October, tight lines, circle hooks and healthy releases.
Brad Philipps
Decisive
Website
Email Cindy and Brad Philipps: email
* Sunday, June 6th, the Finest Kind and Pelagian, had a family and friends fishing day. The effects of the previous weeks’ rainy weather seem to be over and the blue water was in close and tight. In a short day of fishing the Finest Kind (Capt. Chris) raised 7 Sails and a Blue Marlin; the Pelagian (Capt. Nico) raised 8 sails and a Blue. Both boats bringing home loads of dorado. A nice mixed bag of fishing and fun was had by all.
Fishing continues to be slow, water is calm.
 * Anthony Gonzalez and his group of associates didn't let Mother Nature ruin his trip (07-11 June). He came down and got his fill of dorado with sailfish in the mix. Capt. Chico made sure the guy's arms were tired every night and Antonio made sure their catch was cooked fresh daily various ways! Sushi, Ceviche anyone? ....of course dorado and tuna only!!! They ended their trip with 10 sails raised, 8 bites and 5 released + about 80 dorados
* DeWayne Bernhardt and partner Marshall Cobb from Houston area made it down to fish the weekend with us (11-15 June). Capt. Nico on the "Release" got them into the marlin, on the first day, but the sails were slow and day two was very rough. Day three Nico figured out where they were. They had 3 stripeds raised and hooked, releasing 2 and 6 sails raised and hooked and releasing 3.
There's an article written by my old buddy John Brownlee in the current SaltWater Sportsman you need to read "Switch & Catch". John and his lovely bride Poppy along with Richard Gibson joined us in March.
Richard Gibson's photos accompanying the Brownlee article have been posted on SaltWater Sportsman's photo galleries Guatemala Offshore - Photo Gallery - Salt Water Sportsman
* The Father & Son Tournament (18 thru 20) was won by the Mabrey Team fishing on the Rum Line. John and his son McClean from Oklahoma made a clean sweep of things with 24 raises, 22 bites and 13 releases and caught/released a 250lb blue marlin. Waiting on the photos.
* The Robertson group from Texas (22 thru 24) followed the F&S Tournament and judging by the first day results on Rum Line & Pelagian they are starting off well. 12 raised, 9 bites and 8 releases. Second day they started finding fish 13 raised, 11 bites and 7 releases. Last day they found the fish – 47 raised, 40 bites and 21 releases. Total for three days – 72-60-36.
* Tyson party – a local one day charter on Rum Line: 13 raised, 10 bites and 7 released.
* Hurley party on Release & Rum Line (25 thru 26) really found the fish in two days raised 52, had 45 bites and released 34 sails and 2 blue marlin Looks like July will be interesting with the Gibbs and Smith parties.
US Office for Casa Vieja Lodge - Toll Free 800.882.4665 or 305.854.4665 or
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Phase One Is Open!
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LATEST NEWS
Has it really been 6 weeks since the last update? Wow time flys by when your busy!!.
TRADITION has been back in the water for a few weeks and I have been busy getting the riggers and hardware back on, the varnish on the toe rail going and sanding the new deck for the first time.
It really is incredible how a great paintjob can make a 10 year old boat look brand new.
I special thanks to all those great guys and companies that helped out, and of you need any work on your boat, let me know and I can help take care of your boat as well.
Marty Comer for help with the scupper box, deck, rubbish bin box, and some other jobs inside the boat. He is a great carpenter and craftsman.
Gold Coast City Marina for the great deal on the big refit shed, thanks Ryan!!
And of course Dean and George at SprayTime Marine, an awesome job as expected, and delivered on stime and on budget.
Heres some more pictures of the finished job, and dont hesitate to contact me if you are interested in any of the trips we have planned for this season. Check out the http://www.traditioncharters.com/contact.php page for dates and more information.
Capt Tim Richardson
email Tim
visit website
Ahoy!
The 28th Annual National Fisherman's Day Tournament was held by the Marshalls Billfish Club in Majuro last weekend and included 2 days of fishing, one day of beach bar-be-que and finished up on Monday night with the awards ceremony and the presentation of the annual awards. The tournament was a great success and included over 40 boats, 21 in the trolling division and 19 in the bottom fishing division.
16 Pacific Blue Marlin were caught and 4 were tagged and released. Although the tournament awards 250 points for a tag and release there were still 10 Marlin put on the dock under 250 pounds. (It seems that some of these guys just don't get it...)
Unfortunately the top prizes go to the biggest Marlin weighed in so the bigger fish are always landed. This year the tournament was won by Cap't Nicky DeBrum aboard "Miss Krista" with a 337 lb Marlin on the second day of fishing beating out Cap't Ronnie Reimers on "Kirtake" by 2 lbs as Ronnie and his crew landed a 335 pounder on the first day of fishing.
Awards and prizes were given out in the Trolling Division to the top three fish in the Billfish Class, the Tuna Class, the Wahoo Class, the Barracuda Class and for Total Qualifying Pounds (a category which unfortunately does not include tagged fish). Our friend Cap't Richie Kirst (Beaver) from St. Thomas and Florida was kind enough to contribute some nice lures to the winners. Thanks Richie!
All in all it was a good time and everyone considered it a great success.
As for me...
I sailed back from Likiep Atoll in order to participate in the tournament with Ronnie on "Kirtake" and we took second in Billfish Class, second and third in Wahoo Class, second in Barracuda Class, second in Total Qualifying points and we had two tag and releases.
The trip back from Likiep aboard my sailboat, "Deviant", was a trip from Hell. It was very rough and I ripped my staysail in a violent squall. That staysail was made by my friend Manfred Dittrich, a sailmaker from St. Thomas, 12 years ago. His sails are usually considered to be bullet proof but I guess that time and sun had taken its toll on that sail. It's time for a new one!
On another note, my computer packed it in the other day so my normally infrequent and sporadic emails will most likely become more infrequent and sporadic!
Cheers to one and all from the edge of the world!
Chuck Handy
Editor's Note: Chuck Handy is a sailor-fisherman-shipright friend who is on a voyage around the world. He departed from the San Juan Islands (Pacific NW coast) and is currently in the Marshall Islands. At one time Chuck lived in St. Thomas and crewed on many boats including with Capt. Ronnie Hamlin and with Capt. Rick Defeo on Tyson's Pride. He has many friends in the fishing industry and we'll post his reports for everyone to read.
See Bermuda Report
Greetings!
Our 60' Ritchie Howell left the dock at 9am July 4 and by 4pm they had 27 yellowfin in the 50-60 pound class to the boat and were on their way home.
The fishing is as good as it gets.
visit website
Yesterday, June 16th, the Byrd's Nest with Capt David Salazar from Miami fished north of the La Guaria bank and caught 6 blue marlin. They also caught 1 white marlin and 1 sailfish for the bonus GRAND SLAM! They had two other blue marlin bites!.................... Of the six blue marlins they caught, 4 were caught at one time!.................. A QUADRUPLE HEADER of blue marlins!
There have been only a few boats fishing daily and all here in Caraballeda is normal and business as usual. With the strong showing of blue marlins here this spring, I feel confident that the blue marlin bite will only get better as we get closer to this June full moon. I have postponed my summer plans for now to visit home and will be available to fish here should anyone be interested in coming down. I also have some good fishing dates still available for this upcoming fall fishing season.
I have been posting daily fishing reports from the Waterman on facebook (Jimmy Grant). Check it out.
Best regards,
Jimmy
58-414-324-4544
captjimmygrant@hotmail.com
WORLD FISHING NETWORK TO AIR 24-HOUR FUNDRAISER TO SUPPORT FISHING COMMUNITIES DEVASTATED BY THE GULF OIL SPILL. See Press Release
Yokwe Crew!
We’re heading off shortly for Likiep Atoll, that favorite out island of mine which lies 200 miles north of Majuro. My friend Joe DeBrum will be accompanying me as crew and the weather looks very good for the passage. I expect to be back by the first of July in order to participate in the Marshalls Billfish Clubs big July tournament on the 2nd and 3rd.
Traveling with Joe will be a pleasure. We will be “talking story” and fishing all the way.
That’s all for now, Crew, so…
Carry On!
Chuck
Hi Ron, Hi Jimmy!
The summer is starting to kick in around here and the two biggest tournaments sponsered by the Marshalls Billfish Club (billfishclub.com) are well into the planning stages.
The July Tournament will be a 2 day event held the first weekend in July and is the biggest locals tournament of the year with a lot of prizes for all species including bottomfish. It is a very popular tournament.
The All Micronesia International Tournament is, I believe, the first weekend in September and teams come from all over. The States, New Zealand, Guam, Samoa, Saipan, Japan just to mention a few.
We catch Blue Marlin in these waters year around but summertime usually brings in big fish. Most of the boats around here are not geared up for the big fish which is actually a good thing because they would be boated if caught. I'm working on the clubs first complete release tournament ever for next year but itis still only in the planning stages. I would like your help in enticing international sponsers to at least give us lip service if not real financial support. What do you think.
Sorry to hear about the flooding and storm damage in Guatemala. Is everybody ok over there?
All the best from the edge of the world.
Editor's Note: Chuck Handy is a sailor-fisherman-shipright friend who is on a voyage around the world. He departed from the San Juan Islands (Pacific NW coast) and is currently in the Marshall Islands. At one time Chuck lived in St. Thomas and crewed on many boats including with Capt. Ronnie Hamlin and with Capt. Rick Defeo on Tyson's Pride. He has many friends in the fishing industry and we'll post his reports for everyone to read.
Latest News
Well the big refit is going extremely well and we are right on Schedule to be done in a few weeks. Check out the progress with the pictures below. Was definately the right choice to use Glazurite paint, it comes out like nothing I have ever seen, no runs, sags or orange peel, just really tight and glossy right off the spray gun.
The season is getting closer and cant wait to get going in August for the trip up the coast, have some time available both for trips up the coast and during the season. Please let me know if any of the options might suit you for this year, or we can cater something just for you.
August 10 - 20 ish 2010 The destinations on this 10-day trip can include Wreck, Cato, Saumarez, Elusive and Bugatti Reef complexes. The plan is to get out to the Wreck or Cato and then jump from one to the next and spend a day or two at each one. Poppers and jigging for GT's, more Wahoo than you have ever seen are around at this time of year, as well as billfish. Great anchorages are available, with incredible snorkeling and spearing - a great exploration trip to places only a few boats have ever been.
The trip is limited to 4 places for 10 days, leaving from Bundaberg and finishing in Hamilton Island or even Townsville.
August 22 - Sept 10 Hamilton Island / Townsville to Cairns – cruising the Whitsundays, or fishing the incredible outer reefs and atolls. Fishing our way to the north for mackerel, wahoo, GT’s, Dogtooth’s, and even marlin and sailfish on the way. A great time of year with lots of fishing options. TRADITION is one of the few boats equipped and licensed to fish the outer reefs of Flinders, Flora, Holmes Reef systems.
2010 HEAVY TACKLE GIANT BLACK MARLIN with options of liveaboard, mothershipping and Lizard Island accommodation.
Experience the wonder of the Great Barrier Reef and giant black marlin. Last season saw 50 GRANDERS for the fleet released. All trips can cater for poppers and jigging for GTs, Dogtooth’s etc.
Sept 20 – 25 inclusive Cairns to Cooktown heavy tackle marlin fishing. 4-6 days fishing.
Oct 9 – 15 inclusive heavy tackle marlin fishing 7 days fishing.
Oct 16 - 23 inclusive 2010 Lizard Island Black marlin Tournament 7 days of fishing.
Oct 24 - 27 inclusive 4 days fishing from Lizard Island to Cooktown
Nov 3-9 with mothership Emerald Lady
Nov 24 – 28 inclusive 5 day’s marlin fishing.
Dec 2010 Cairns to Gold Coast, or parts, of via rarely fished outer reefs same as top trip but in reverse, options all the way down the reef.
April - July 2011 New Caledonia and then Vanuatu
Tim
email Tim
visit website
www.traditioncharters.com
tim@traditioncharters.com
Jungle Fishing Opportunity
Yokwe and Ahoy Crew!
Back From Likiep
Well I left for Likiep Atoll last month for a short stay on one of the most beautiful islands in the world but my intended 10 day stay turned into a full month! I had a nice sail up with my pal Tony D as crew. His wife hails from that atoll and he wanted to visit with her family there.Tony could only stay a couple of days but I was under no obligations so I just stayed and stayed. Asked by the Mayor how long I planned on staying  I told him that I may never leave! He said “Good, Chuck! We like having you around.”
Sailing back singlehanded the other day was without a doubt one of the most pleasant passages I have ever had in this part of the world. Anchor up to anchor down was about 40 hours, two nights and a day. True bliss…
My plans have changed somewhat since I last communicated with you. I’m going to stick around the Marshalls through the summer and not go to Fiji this year. There are a couple of fishing tournaments here this summer that I would like to participate in and summer is when the big Blue Marlin move through the area. I am also planning on another month or so in Likiep. I may leave for there again next week. Ahh Likiep! No phones, no TV, no internet… Just a little bit of heaven on the edge of the world!
I’m working towards setting up the Marshalls Billfish Club’s first totally tag and release tournament. We’ll call it the “No Kill Bill” Tournament.  The key is that I need a sponsor to donate cash for prizes and I think that I have found that sponsor and he is a good friend of mine. I will not mention any names now but if it pans out I expect that the club and the sponsor will get a lot of international attention. As I said it will be a first for the club. We routinely tag and release the smaller fish (less than 100 pounds) but we all know that the big fish are the females and we need those breeders to stay alive and to keep producing more Blue Marlin! Sheesh! It’s not rocket science to figure that out!
I hope to get back to the states for a visit in August or September so I hope to see many of you then.
I have included another “Tale from Likiep” in this email. I hope you enjoy it…
GHOSTS! DEMONS! SPIRITS!
Ghosts, demons and spirits are just part of normal everyday life here on the edge of the world. Perhaps those of you who have been to the Hawaiian Islands are familiar with their rich spiritual history. The Hawaiian traditional pantheon contains a plethora of Goddesses and Gods who inhabit the volcanoes, the sea, the land and they are involved in virtually all aspects of everyday life. The arrival of European culture brought with it the Christian belief system that was energetically spread by voyaging missionaries. The Hawaiians were impressed with the strength of the Christian god who provided the Europeans with very large voyaging canoes, cannons, guns, whiskey and ferrous metals. Obviously any god that strong deserved to be worshipped! Therefore they added this Christian god into their belief system. The important point to remember here is that they did not entirely give up their belief in the old gods. They simply added the Christian beliefs into their traditional belief system.
As a result of their geographical remoteness the Marshall Islands were invaded much later than other island groups in the pacific. Being very small atolls with few easily exploitable resources the Western commercial interests left them pretty much alone. Some of the earliest contacts were with the likes of the notorious “Bully Hayes” and others of his ilk that were looking for slaves to carry off. The Marshallese viewed Westerners with suspicion.
Eventually the missionaries arrived in the Marshalls to convert the heathens and to save their souls. Over the course of the past 150 years or so the people of the RMI have come totally under the sway of Christianity with a healthy mix of Roman Catholic, Methodist, Seventh Day Adventist, Mormon and a variety of Protestant, Baptist and storefront churches.
Along side of Christianity the belief in Ghosts, Demons, Spirits and Magic remains very strong among the people here. Walking with my pal Neal on one of the outer islands we came to a small group of native houses. It was only 3 or 4 small houses with a couple of cooking sites and some copra drying sheds. Nothing very urban to say the least. All around the perimeter of this little group of dwellings bottles hung from the branches of the trees and each bottle contained a page from the Bible. It was a “spiritual fence” set up around the houses to keep the ghosts and demons away! No shit!
I was sitting on the veranda of Joe DeBrum’s hotel the other night along  with his wife Yumiko and I was fortunate enough to be told quite a few “ghost stories”. Joe is a pretty worldly guy and he has little or no belief in ghosts or spirits. He lives by the credo that if he doesn’t bother the spirit world the spirit world won’t bother him. He claims he has never seen a ghost or demon. His wife, however, a former prayer leader at the church who attends services regularly has had many first hand encounters with ghosts and spirits. She does not like to be alone at night and the lights are never turned off!
Most ghosts seem to be women although there are a few instances of male spirits appearing, particularly soon after a male friend or relative has passed away. Joe was telling of one such story that is part of the folklore of Likiep Atoll…
The Ghost Rides For Free
Jemo is a little island that lies 15-20 miles NE of Likiep and occasionally the DeBrum family sends a couple of guys over there to make copra. They go over by canoe and set up camp for a few weeks while they make the copra. So one time these two guys go over. They decide to share food gathering and cooking duties. One day one guy cooks the rice, catches the fish and gets the drinking nuts while the other makes copra. The next day they reverse roles thereby sharing the duties.
After they’ve been there a while a tragic event occurs and one fellow falls out of a coconut tree and dies. The other fellow, who was making copra at the time, comes back to camp at dinner time and there is no dinner ready and his companion is missing. Walking around Jemo (a very small island) he finds his colleague dead on the ground under the coconut tree. This is very perplexing to him… his friend is dead and there is no dinner to eat…
 He digs a grave and buries the body on Jemo then proceeds to load up the copra on the canoe and heads back to Likiep. As he starts paddling he hears some sounds from the back of the canoe. Looking aft he sees his companion sitting on the back of the canoe! He continues paddling all night until he reaches the beach on Likiep and his companion, who rode in the back the whole way saying nothing, vanishes into thin air. “You son of a bitch!” he says. “You fall out of coconut tree and die and I must dig grave! You don’t make dinner! You don’t help load copra! You get free ride all the way back to Likiep and I have to paddle all the way by myself! You son of a bitch!”
Joe laughs when he tells this story. It is one of his favorites.
More stories from Joe DeBrum to follow so stand by…
Cheers from the edge of the world! 9 degrees 50 minutes North, 169 degrees 18 minutes East.
Carry On!
CGH
Editor's Note: Chuck Handy is a sailor-fisherman-shipright friend who is on a voyage around the world. He departed from the San Juan Islands (Pacific NW coast) and is currently in the Marshall Islands. At one time Chuck lived in St. Thomas and crewed on many boats including with Capt. Ronnie Hamlin and with Capt. Rick Defeo on Tyson's Pride. He has many friends in the fishing industry and we'll post his reports for everyone to read.
April is behind us and what a month of fishing excitement it proved to be. There were some great days on the sailfish with a period during when they were balling bait on the surface in stunning "Blue Planet" style.
'Decisive' also had some exceptional blue marlin days, with big dorado making a constant showing to keep everyone happy.
Bob Edmonds started the month off along with his daughter Claire releasing 9 from 16 sailfish bites on the 8th. The following day Bob released a 350lb blue
marlin along with a few sails for Claire and a tasty sushi yellowfin along with a slammer 50lb bull dorado. The blue marlin bite really turned on the next day
with 'Decisive' raising 5 blues, one of which was well over 500lbs, releasing 2 of them in the 300lb class on the 50lb Alutecnos tackle to add to the 6 sails
from 17 bites to end an amazing trip for the father and daughter duo.
The 11th through 14th saw Joe Zimmer and Richard Benn with us for 4 days of hot action. The first day saw us raise 4 blues with a bite from each of the 175lb
fish we saw, the big girl we raised would unfortunetly not play. Richard did a fine job releasing one of the feisty fish. The 12th saw us heading out west
finding the sail, releasing 14 from 31 bites as they proved a little finicky with all the bait around. On the 13th we mixed it up throwing the fly at those fish that would tease and leaving a bait in reserve for those that would not
play the fly game ending the day releasing 10 on bait and 1 on fly. Things started to click on the fly on the 14th with the two good fishing friends getting into the groove of the fly game, releasing 8 on fly and 6 sailfish on
bait to see out a grand trip.
Rick Lawrence, Rick Belmare and Dave Geddes fished with us on the fly from the 15th to the 17th. We raised more than 50 sailfish over the next 3 days with the
guys releasing 2 on fly and 3 on the spinning gear on day 1. Day 2 saw 4 fly and 5 spin releases. A feisty 200lb striped marlin proved the highlight of day three
which dave did a fine job getting to the boat for the release to add to the 3 sail releases.
The 20th saw us running east with our friend and neighbor Scott Lund to find hundreds of sailfish balling bait along with whales, dorado and porpoises in on
the unbelievable action. With so much bait the sailfish proved finicky with countless just havign a look or seen swimming right through the spread while
feeding on balled bait of different sorts. On a day like this catching fish really didn't seem to matter, it was all about just enjoying the onceans bounty.
Scott did however manage to releasing 4 on fly, 14 on spin and a handful of 40lb plus dorado on fly and bait. The action was mind-blowing and that evening Scott
just couldn't resist and invited our Antigua friends, Billy and Kate Burns and Charlie Nicholas to join us the following day to enjoy the amazing spectacle to
release 12 sails on bait and 2 on fly, and some very large dorado which really got the visitor all pumped up, prior to heading for the swimming pool around
midday to recount the days events and enjoy for some RnR.
Brian Rausch and Jessica Roberts saw some exceptional fishing on the 23rd and 24th with each releasing a blue marlin in the 500lb range along with 25 sailfish
and some slammer 40 plus dorado, to make for an incredible weekend.
The 24th saw us out for a short day to entertain Luis Samayoa and his guests Wayne Leighton, Thomas Hazlett and Adolfo Lau, releasing 6 sailfish and a few
eating dorado before calling it quits.
My old friend Len Kouba released a grander with me years back off Bom Bom, Africa and we reunited to share stories and enjoy Guatemala's fabulous
sailfishing to release 13 on the 26th. The 27th saw us raise 2 blues which would not eat the pitchbait and Len release 20 sailfish, with another 18 on his final
day for him total 51 sailfish for his three day trip and see out another great Guatemalan month.
It's always hard to predict what the fish will do but with all the bait, good water and great action we have seen it's hard to believe that we will not see
another few great months of fishing ahead of us.
Until the next report, tight lines, Eagle Claw circle hooks and healthy releases.
Capt. Brad Philipps
"Decisive"
Website
Email Cindy and Brad Philipps: email
 see news
NZ game fish challenge anglers
As the weather turns more wintry thoughts and actions start to move away from game fishing, which is a pity as the signs are there that some very big Striped Marlin and Broadbill remain to be caught.
The unusual feeding patterns of our Striped Marlin have continued. It seems the huge amount of deep water bait schools have diminished and the Marlin have returned to the more usual surface feeding habits.
These fish have still remained a challenge, however, being primarily and heavily focussed on tiny saury and difficult to distract away from their hard feeding intentions before their winter migration begins.
Huge numbers of Marlin have concentrated close to the coast off Tutukaka, but catch rates have been disproportionately low. The best was 20 fish from 40 boats but other days have seen as few as 5 fish from 80 boats, despite many boats seeing upwards of 20 fish per day! Lures are largely ignored (even small saury imitations) with livebaits more successful, though the readily available large kahawai have hardly matched the hatch!
When these big baits have been swallowed, however, some massive Stripeys have resulted.
There have been numerous fish over 300lbs, topped by a beauty of 384.5 lbs on 3kg line! The all tackle record also shuddered when a top “retired” captain boated a fish of 450lbs for his deckie!
This amazing captain, recently completed a trip after Broadbill and caught no less than 5 of these elusive brutes, taking his tally to over 100 in 6 seasons.
Another daytime Broadbill has been taken by deep drifting and this one thumped the scales down to an impressive 586lbs.
Few charters are taking place, unfortunately, and the potential has been mainly exploited by private boats.
There are large numbers of Yellowtail Kingfish around, with the big annual tournament due to take place in early June. Several of the livebaits will be hit, however, by the increasing number of Mako sharks. Mechanical jigging may be a better option.
Thoughts are now turning to the short season where giant Bluefin Tuna are caught each year in August & September from the west coast.
Tight Lines.
John Kimberley
website
www.fishingpro.co.nz
Marine Anglers,
See Dolphin Report
Saltwater anglers all over the world are watching the expanding disaster developing in the Gulf of Mexico. While fishermen in the Gulf will bear the largest burden from this disaster, anglers from Key West, Florida to Montauk, New York and even points unknown throughout the North Atlantic will also suffer from its effects. The crude oil and the chemical dispersant being used will kill the plankton and larval fish present in the affected waters and prevent fish from spawning in that water mass. This will leave a large gap in the production of juvenile oceanic pelagic game fish that serve to replace those fish removed by human harvest and natural predation. Recognize that the large schools of peanut dolphin that you fish today had their beginning 3 to 6 months prior in some distant part of the North Atlantic. We do not know what role the dolphin spawn in the Gulf plays in the U.S. Atlantic Coast fisheries. This massive reproduction failure will have its impact on the fisheries from the bottom reefs that could be covered by the settling tar balls to the marshlands that will be turned into an oily mess, sterile of life.
It would have been very beneficial in identifying the potential impact of this disaster, if we had information on dolphinfish movements and behavior in the Gulf of Mexico. But, again, we are too late in acquiring that information. This is why we tag dolphin today when there is no immediate threat known.
Good fishing,
Don
Donald L. Hammond
Marine Fisheries Biologist
Cooperative Sciences Services, LLC
961 Anchor Rd.
Charleston, SC 29412-4902
(843) 795-7524
cssllc@bellsouth.net
www.dolphintagging.com
Latest News
May 6 2010
Been back home from Palm Beach, Florida for about a week now, after a great 5 week trip to the US.
Spent a bunch of time traveling the country, from Texas to Savannah, to LA and Florida spending time with clients and friends alike. A special thanks to all my wonderful friends for spending time with me, and Jamie for letting me stay at his place !!
I think one of the great things about this years trip is how upbeat everyone is about the economy and how things are picking up and we are all looking forward to spending more time doing the things we love in special places.
I have most of this years Cairns season sold, but I do have a few spaces not yet committed to. The response to next years (2011) South Pacific tour, to New Caledonia in May and June, and then Vanuatu for July will put us in the best places for the marlin bite, particularly Vanuatu late June and July for the incredible blue marlin fishing. Lots of people are interested in a more relaxed trip exploring the South Pacific on the TRADITION, and we can always cater for the full on fishing trips we are known for!!!
The next couple of months will be busy, with the TRADITION now in one of the big refit sheds at our home at the Gold Coast City Marina, and Dean at Spraytime will be painting the boat for me in May. I cant wait to get the boat all perfect again for the future years of fishing and exploring this part of the world. Its been a very busy week since I came out of the water, and you can see a lot is going on!!!!
The new teak deck is all finished, just needing sanding after the paint is finished. Heading north in July/August so join us for any part of the trip up to Cairns. Check out the contact and available dates
page for more information.
August 2010 : An exciting exploration trip on the way to Cairns this year. The 10-12 day trip can include Wreck, Cato, Saumarez, Elusive and Bugatti Reef complexes. Poppers and jigging for GT's, dogtooths, more wahoo than you have ever seen are around at this time of year, as well as billfish. Great anchorages are available, with incredible snorkelling and spearing - a great exploration trip to places only a few boats have ever been.
Sept 2010 - Dec 2010 : Townsville Light Tackle Tournament is available, and then the trip to Cairns via outer reef trips, unexplored atolls and reefs.
HEAVY TACKLE GIANT BLACK MARLIN with options of liveaboard, mothershipping and Lizard Island accommodation. Experience the wonder of the Great Barrier Reef and giant black marlin. Last season saw 50 GRANDERS for the fleet released.
Corporate trips and even family days out are always welcome and lots of fun.
Tim
email Tim
visit website
See April Report
Cape Verde May 04
SMOKER released 39 Blue Marlin during the last 30 days of fishing. The bite was picking up the last couple of days. May and June are usually the peak month on Cape Verde.
More is coming soon.
TL
Capt. Matthias Henningsen
www.atlanticfishingcharter.com
skype: tcwalhalla
email: mh211066@gmail.com
Website
web: www.atlanticfishingcharter.com
WOW,
This is basically the Fishing community all around the world simply saying Thank You Tony for all the good things you did for us.
From the Red Sea, Thank you Tony for all your time trying to elevate and promote the game fishing industry in this area
Ahmed & Mohammed
Best Regards,
Capt. Ahmed F. Shaker
King Abdullah University Of Science & Technology
Hello all,
Thought you might like to scroll down and go to one of the links listed below to read about the honor that the Billfish Foundation has been so kind to recognize me with. Thanks to Ellen, Peter, Julia, Deborah, Elliott, and Carmen at TBF for all the hard work they do. Thank you all for your support and for allowing me to be a part of the big picture. Please support The Billfish Foundation with a donation. We need all the help we can get, especially with what we are facing with the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The fishermen in the Gulf states have been our most loyal and biggest supporters and we are going to have to help them in the coming weeks and months. Go to www.billfish.org and become a member or send a check. We need your support more then ever. Thank you and peace.
See Article
Anthony DiGiulian
Saltwater Professional Consulting
bluedigiul@aol.com
(954) 895-6635
Good Evening Jimmy,
Mocko Jumbie came into today with 13 Dolphin and had a excellent week last week with Charters catching Dolphin, Blue Marlin and Whitey. Island Girl came into today with 14 Dolphin, Catch 22 and Irie Feelin both came in with Dolphin but i didnt get a total on what they had several of the boats raised billfish some caught others saw. A few fish this week were in the 50#+ catagory thats all for now.
Mike
Waterman, yesterday raised 8 billfish. We had 6 blue marlin bites and saw one other in the spread that did not eat. We caught and released 5 blue marlin and missed a sailfish early in the morning. Seas were choppy.
Regards,
Jimmy
58-414-324-4544
captjimmygrant@hotmail.com
jimmy,
hope all is better in st thomas than here in the gulf. things are much worse than what is being reported. the spill is very large and will be hard ashore in the louisiana delta marsh late today or tonight. winds are out of the south east at 20-25 knts and with the spring tides will have a foot or 2 more tide. seas now 7-9 feet and building all of which will lead to potentiality severe damage to the marsh and financially shut down the shrimpers,commercial fishermen and the charter boaters. very sad.
slick is now 60 miles south of here and the current is bringing it to us slowly. fear now that the loop current which is historically close [ approx. 150 knt miles south of us ] in the spring will pick up the slick and carry it to the atlantic side. so say your prayers but this could be the real deal unless they can cap the well.
dave/doc
The Waterman yesterday had 14 billfish bites. Ten blue marlin bites and 4 sailfish bites. We caught 6 blue marlin and 2 sailfish. Our first blue marlin bite was when we were setting our baits out in the morning. Our sail bites were soon thereafter. The second blue marlin bite was not until 2pm. Between 2pm and 4pm, we had 8 blue marlin bites!........... We then had a 12V electrical issue (dead battery) that shut down my gen set and starboard motor and all electronics. We had to go home early on one motor...... and on the troll home, we had one more blue marlin bite.
The radio was silent all day and the only other vessel we saw was a commercial bottom fishing boat!
The bite is on here in Venezuela!
Regards,
Jimmy
58-414-324-4544
captjimmygrant@hotmail.com
Jimmy,
 good to hear from you. fished the last 3 days here in aruba. 0-0 0-1 1-3
got booked for the tournament in cap cana and got cancelled ! guess i'll just
head for st thomas the first if june. maybe someone else will book the cap cana.
hope all is good with you,
Butch
Jimmy good afternoon,
 The results for the first annual Galapagos International Invitational Billfish Tournament are as follows.  There were a total of four boats participating in the Tournament.Andale, Coyote II, Magic and Sami Sol. In the three days of fishing 38 Striped Marlin were released. Top Boat by time was Sami Sol with 13 Striped Marlin Releases, second place boat went to Andale with thirteen releases, and third place went to Coyote II with six releases.
 Top angler award went to Roberto Novey of Panama, with eight Striped Marlin releases on the Andale. Second place Angler was Dale Schroeder of the USA with five releases of Striped marlin on the Magic, and third place went to Carlos Pellas of Nicaragua with three releases on the Andale.
 Over all fishing was consistent with four boats raising 113 fish during the three day tournament, releasing 38 fish.
Special thanks goes out to the Galapagos National Park Authority, Galapagos Tourism Chamber of Commerce, and the Miconia Hotel.
In the picture right is the Team on Coyote II, Don Finkell, Lee Safrit and Carr Newton successfully fighting a triple header.
Good morning Jimmy,
57 flag Yellowtail snapper on the Oh Suzanna Thursday night, Mocko Jumbie caught 25 dolphin and 13 wahoo on Friday went 1 for 2 on Blue Marlin on saturday Dolla Gone went 0 for 1 on swordfish pulled the hook 50 feet behind the boat, Wild Cat raised 2 billfish on Sunday but couldnt stay connected. We are seeing a bunch of sargasso grass now its everywhere.
Thanks,
Mike
Hello all,
I am still safe and well in Saudi Arabia. I have had a change of plans however. My trip to Egypt has been put on hold till next time. Because of the Volcano, I could not get a confirmed flight home on April 30. There fore I will be in Jeddah for the next 3 days and will return home on Wednesday April 28 in the early evening. Not much else to report. No fishing the last few days but I am staying busy consulting with clients and setting up visits for clients here to come to Florida to look at boats and purchase tackle. I am fine and being treated very well. My waist line is growing and I need to get home soon. Looking forward to being back in the USA. For all of you upset with our government, relax and realize that we still live in the greatest country on earth. Sometimes we take what we have for granted. When you are far away from home you are reminded of just how good we have it. I love America.
Peace.
Anthony DiGiulian
Saltwater Professional Consulting
bluedigiul@aol.com
(954) 895-6635
Hello all,
I am still safe in Saudi. Not a whole lot to report fishing wise. It has been very slow this time. We have also had some issues with getting out of the port. It seems now that all foreigners need a special letter with permission to leave the port on a daily basis. Someone ran a boat up on a reef and destroyed part of the reef. They never reported it and took off to parts unknown, so now the coast guard wants to know who's out there at all times. Got that issue taken care of after 4 hours at the US embassy. One morning the port was closed because the kings son's yacht was traveling down the coast and they are very security driven in regards to the royals safety. The 300 foot yacht travels with four navy ships and a Black Hawk helicopter as its security force.
I have been treated very well again and my waist line grows with each fantastic meal. Many people invite me to their homes now, as I am getting to know quite a few people. The folks here are extremely generous and gracious. They treat me with great respect and make me feel as at home as possible.
I did some hand line fishing the other day and caught a bunch of Grouper and snapper. The reefs are alive with all kinds of fish. I have made several day drops for Sword fish. Had one on the other day but pulled the hook after a few jumps. It looked to be a small fish around 125 pounds. It is extremely easy to reach the bottom in 1800 feet as there is very little current. The biggest problem is that I can't keep a bait on the bottom for more then 10 minutes, without it getting eaten by thousands of small bottom feeders. There are allot of who know's what down that deep. I will keep trying to find a spot where I won't have this problem.
The best thing to happen so far is I met a young kid named Abdullah Gary, who has been following me via the Internet and in print. I apparently taught him allot about rigging and fishing over the last few years and he said it was a dream of his to one day meet me. He heard I was going to be here and he came and tracked me down. We took him fishing yesterday and I was impressed with his knot tying and rigging skills. He is quite the young fisherman and is just obsessed with fishing. He has caught all types of fish and even has taught himself how to use a fly rod better then I ever have. He asked me questions all day long and it was a pleasure to answer any I could. This kid would make a great mate back home and maybe I can get him over to the states one day. I am going to get him to join The Billfish Foundation and will write a junior angler profile about him.
I will be teaching a three day seminar starting Wednesday and then a day off for some shopping. Monday evening it's off to Egypt to scout out new locations for my clients Marine Supplies business. I will be back on 4/30/10. Hope you all are well and wish me safe travels. I will keep you updated on anything exciting.
Peace,
Anthony DiGiulian
Saltwater Professional Consulting
bluedigiul@aol.com
(954) 895-6635
Sea Adventures Ltd 2010 Newsletter
Greetings from Shimoni,
Another fishing season has passed by and as we reflect we cannot help but be reminded by how unpredictable fish are. And a good thing too, in my opinion for if we knew what to expect it wouldn’t be nearly so much fun. It’s a shame that the big yellowfin tuna migration yet again failed to appear in 2009 but the sailfishing in December was outstanding, and the marlin fishing in January-February was pretty good too. In fact any season where a skipper breaches the 50 marlin mark has to be a good season. Despite a period in February where it appeared that the NE-monsoon would end prematurely the marlin fishing season actually continued well in to March. The sad part is that the number of days spent out on the water was well down on previous years perhaps a direct consequence of the global recession.
2009 also marked the end of an era as our neighbours, Pemba Channel Fishing Club downsized their fleet by selling off their two 33-ft Bertrams, Jasiri and Shuwari so that now only White Otter remains. Pemba Channel FC was of course built by Pat and Maia from scratch in 1963 and ran very successfully for 27 years before selling out to Peter and Sandra Ruysenaars. The positive from all of this is that we are now working much closer together than has been the case in the past.
We did a few days in May and June with Louis Geyer from South Africa releasing a beautiful shortbill spearfish from Kamara II on 25th June 2009. In August there were already a number of striped marlin around with almost every trip resulting in at least one marlin strike and this continued throughout September. It is most unfortunate that the big yellowfin tuna have not been passing along our coast for some years now and although I am sure that they will return I hope that it is not too late for us. I am not convinced that their absence is as a result of excessive commercial fishing but much more likely has something to do with currents and water temperature. If it was because of over fishing then the commercial long line and purse seine fisheries would have collapsed long ago. But, if the tuna return, will we be out there? I hope so, but in 2009 our boats only did two days in September whereas back in the 1980’s and first part of the 1990’s it was easily as busy as February. May be in 2010 they will return and when the tuna are there so are the big marlin and mako sharks. The Pemba Channel had a reputation for large blue marlin that normally averaged between 4-500 lb particularly during September and October but even July and August produced a few.
We missed out on the Latham Island Tournament this year but the Kenya boats that went down cleaned up all the top spots. In October I took Kamara II to Malindi to meet up with Darren Baynton for a North Kenya safari. On the first day we ran out to the North Kenya Banks and although there were not many big yellowfin tuna out there we did pick up a striped marlin. The fishing off Kiwayu was rather disappointing this time around especially after the great fishing of previous years. There were lots of yellowfin tuna although not big ones and a few sailfish. We tried our luck at live baiting but without success. The water was rather dirty, which probably didn’t help but Kiwayu is still a stunning location to visit and when the fishing turns on it is incredible.
Dad and I fished the Herbie Paul Memorial Tournament, formerly known as the Malindi Festival. We acquitted ourselves pretty well I think managing to take 3rd spot only missing out on 2nd by a whisker. It was great fun though and a great party afterwards as well as great to catch up with so many old friends.
The fishing out of Shimoni remained quite good for marlin with stripies being hit almost every trip. Nico Rusch fished two days in the second week of October on Broadbill tagging a striped marlin on each day. October always has produced a mini run of striped marlin, particularly in the latter half.
At the start of November it was back to Lamu for Kamara II, this time to meet up with Linda and Chris Gardener from the UK. The crew and I took the boat up over night fishing slowly although being a full moon we knew the chances of success in the night would likely be small. We had quite a bit of small stuff all the way up, nothing in the night but then just outside Lamu in only 84m of water we had a triple header of striped marlin. That was very exciting especially when there are only three of you on a boat the size of Kamara II. We successfully tagged two of them, the third just came unhooked after a few minutes.
Linda and Chris flew in to Lamu, or Manda actually, on Air Kenya from Wilson Airport in Nairobi. The Korschen’s and their Peponi Hotel were wonderful in helping with the mooring and transfers. It is a wonderful location with great hospitality and yummy food. The best day of the safari was the second when we fished north from Lamu to Kiwayu. Apart from two sailfish Linda made a most unusual catch. She caught a manta ray on a rapala, and what’s more it was hooked in the mouth. It was quite a struggle on the rod and then even more so for the crew to release. There were few sails about but we had a good mixed bag of other game fishes and saw plenty of beautiful humpback whales really close up.
December was incredible for sailfish but unfortunately the boats spent too much time swinging on their moorings rather than fishing. I missed out on the best part of December because I had to be in Nairobi, which was very frustrating. I had experienced a tear in the retina in my only good eye mid month and had to fly up to Nairobi for emergency treatment. Thankfully Kenya is blessed with wonderful medical facilities and very good specialists. I am relieved to be able to type this and still go fishing but I don’t think that my sight will ever return to what it was before. The doctors just say that it is all part of getting old, grrrr!
But apparently there were sailfish in big numbers especially off Funzi and Msambweni beaches. The boats were frequently returning with 6 or 7 sailfish flags flying from the riggers. But, by the time I returned after the New Year the sails had moved on and we concentrated more on marlin. My first trip out was with Billy Lynch fly fishing in the hope of getting a marlin. Billy is an experienced fly fisherman and it was really exciting. We tagged two sailfish early on and then headed out in search of a marlin. Although we didn’t get one we did raise a couple of black marlin on to the teasers. Billy had already caught five striped marlin on fly but never a black marlin. The first one never followed the teaser but the second one came in beautifully and we worked him right up to the back of the boat. He was very aggressive and charged the fly, swam around it then came back to the transom and pushed off. It was all very exciting and I look forward to the next episode.
January was a very good marlin month especially in the second half but 2010 will be best remembered for the large numbers of juvenile striped marlin. Further north the packs of tiny stripies of 20-30 kg each started in the Boiling Pot together with sails and boats were recording anything up to eight marlin in a day. They didn’t appear here in quite the same numbers but there were still plenty. It is really interesting to see so many juveniles because they represent a very strong cohort, which will continue to grow and give us opportunity for good fishing in the future. This is why it is essential for us to tag and release all of our billfish.
When studying the catch statistics for Kenya it is important to keep in mind the number of boats that fish an area. As I mentioned earlier there are only three charter boats based in Shimoni fishing the Pemba Channel. Conversely on the rips off Watamu there may be anything up to 30 or more boats on any given day.
The best days in January include 15th when Alexey Kashchenko, Vladimir Kuznetzov, Ivan Baykov and Alexey Rumiantsev from Russia tagged a 90-kg black marlin caught by Alexey Kashchenko, 2 striped marlin and a sailfish. On 23rd Marc Ager and Colin Mostert from South Africa with a 90-kg black marlin caught by Marc on 30-lb line and 2 striped marlin. Colin was involved two days later with another great catch, this time with Leith Bray from Zimbabwe when they tagged 4 striped marlin. This was actually a quadruple hook-up and it is very uncommon to have a 100% success rate on a quadruple but they did and these were not the really small marlins but more normal size fish.
February continued with more of the same but with a few bigger fish, blues and blacks and some of the stripes were a bit larger too. Best days were 5th when Carlos Rivero from Holland tagged a nice 320-lb black marlin on 50-lb line, a striped marlin and a sailfish. On 10th John Carr-Hartley from Botswana, Doug Mckendrick from Scotland and Martin Poole from South Africa had 2 striped marlin and 2 sailfish. On 12th the same team had 3 striped marlin and 2 sails. Doug was lucky with the big stripies catching 2 estimated at 180-lb and one estimated at 165-lb. John also caught two nice striped marlin on 20-lb line, both 5:1’s and the biggest of 145-lb. On 22nd Goran Holm from Sweden had a very nice 350-lb blue marlin on 50-lb line with Fredrik Holm getting a striped marlin the same day.
In the last week of February the wind turned in to the south and it began to look as though the monsoon would come to a premature end. But, very late that month the wind swung back in to the north and the fishing remained good until 20th March. During the period when the wind was mostly in the south Broadbill chartered by Salim Manji from Nairobi travelled north to fish the Kilifi Classic Fishing Tournament. They caught plenty of sailfish but unfortunately no marlin and on their way home they found large numbers of sails off Funzi and Msambeni with one group Pat estimated to contain around 40 fish.
During early March Kamara II went north to meet up with Albertus van Brakel, Conrad Durand and Leonard Wood from South Africa. They had fished with us in the channel on a number of previous occasions but decided this time they would like to fish north, particularly the North Kenya Banks, which can be very productive for big marlin in March. Unfortunately we were to find that the NKB was not so hot this year and that the fishing was better further south off Watamu. Actually the fishing in the Pemba Channel was also very good throughout this period. So after a short discussion it was decided to abort the safari and go back to Malindi and fish from there. We had done one day fishing out off the outer ledge of the NKB but found the water not very blue, no flying fish and nothing much moving at all. On the way back to Malindi we made up for it with a striped marlin and 5 sailfish and thereafter had at least one striped marlin every day. We ended up with 8 striped marlin and 9 sailfish in 6 days, so not too shabby.
At the end of that trip my good friend Raymond Matiba joined me to fish the Friends of Kenya Tournament hosted by Hemingways Resort. This is basically an extended combo since you head out in the early morning of the first day and don’t return until 4pm on day 2. We had 2 striped marlin and a sailfish but it was not good enough to get us higher than 10th place. This was the first time that I have really fished the Watamu area so a big learning curve and next time we’ll have better knowledge of all the best spots.
One of the things that was really exciting this season was that big marlin were once again appearing in the Pemba Channel. Prior to this season and since bringing Kamara II up here in 2002 we have not even had the opportunity to lose a marlin over 400-lb. In mid March we lost two in three days, the first a black marlin of around 400-lb that unfortunately popped off when the angler back lashed the reel. Two days later we hit a much bigger fish that took a big lure on 80-lb line and in this case most bizarrely the 400-lb nylon leader bust on the opposite end to the lure on the first run. Then, in April Broadbill lost a very nice blue marlin of 6-700 lb on 50 that became tangled in a second line. The appearance of these big fish is very encouraging and hopefully marks a return to normality in the channel when big fish were a regular occurence.
Season statistics:
Total Total Total
BKM BLM MLS SWO SAI Marlin Billfish Days
Broadbill 0 1 26 0 44 27 71 66
Kamara II 3 1 52 0 60 56 117* 94
Jasiri 1 0 5 0 0 6 7* 20
Shuwari 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
White Otter 0 4 22 0 54 26 80 88
{BKM – black marlin; BLM – blue marlin; MLS – striped marlin; SWO – swordfish; SAI – sailfish}
* Kamara II and Jasiri also released a shortbill spearfish each
Prices:
We are pleased to advise that we don’t plan on making any changes to our fishing rates for the 2010-11 season. Hence fishing rates will remain as follows:
1st August – 30th November 1st December – 15th March
Full day fishing (9hr) $630 $700
6-hr fishing $450 $500
Night fishing (ave. 17hr) $1,200 $1,400
Combo (day + night) $1,500 $1,625
Extended combo (day-night-day) $1,975 $2,300
Please contact us for a quote regarding fishing away from Shimoni such as Latham, Malindi and for North Kenya safaris.
November 2010
We already have a booking for Kamara II in Malindi fishing Sunday 14th to 18th inclusive so if any of you may be interested in fishing with us either side of these dates please contact us as soon as possible. The dates leading up to Sunday 14th would be preferable from our prospective.
We hope to see as many of you as possible during the 2010/11 fishing season in Shimoni or on a North Kenya fishing safari. Bookings are already coming in particularly for the billfish season so if you are interested in making a booking please don’t leave it too late. We wish you all the best for the coming season whatever you do or wherever you go and please stay in touch.
Tight lines!
Best wishes,
Pat, Maia, Simon, Tina, Lyndsay, Chris and all our wonderful staff Sea Adventures Ltd,
website
Simon Hemphill email
Tel: +254 (0)722 796 198 (Simon) or (0)722 479 864 (Maia)
See Capt. Gene's Website
Hey Jimmy!
We had a good tournament yesterday. I'm happy to report that more billfish were tagged and released than killed. Things are looking up.
We had seven boats in the tournament. We had seven Billfish tagged and six brought to the dock. Several fish over 500 pounds were in the mix and fortunately got away for they would certainly have been killed for "total poundage" even though there is no real market for that much meat here. Bwiji Alivin, a friend of mine who usually does very well, went 1 for 7. Wally Milne had top honors with 3 Blue Marlin tagged and 2 Sailfish tagged.
A fair amount of Yellowfin Tuna,Wahoo and Mahi Mahi were caught as well.
The only drawback to the tournament was that it was really rough weather. But nobody died!
FYI we have a dropoff that we fish here. We have a 1,000 fathom shelf that goes out about 4 miles then it drops offto deep water rapidly. (I've never considered 1,000 fathoms as "shallow" before this!)
See Marshalls Billfish Club's Website
All the best from the edge of the world...
Chuck Handy
Claude Williamson with the monster shark he caught.
 Fisherman Claude Williamson caught the 5m monster off Evans Head, south of
Lismore, last month but has since sold it to renowned Queensland shark
hunter Vic Hislop, the Northern Star reported.
Mr Hislop runs a shark museum in Hervey Bay but would not say whether the
monster would be on display.
"I haven't decided yet what I'm going to do with it," he said.
"I'm going to keep it frozen for now."
With the size indicating the shark is around 40 years old, the beast ate a smaller shark hooked by the fishing boat, getting snared in the process.
Despite its massive size, Mr Hislop has claimed that he has seen hammerhead
sharks even bigger.
The species is endangered worldwide but it is not known how many there are
in Australia.
Aucion Items
Sailing Plans -and- A Story from Joe deBrum
Ahoy Crew!
Good news, matey’s! I’m getting the good ship “Deviant” geared up to go sailing again after laying at anchor in Majuro lagoon for nearly four months. It has been another fine hitch here in the Marshalls working on my pal Neal’s various wind, solar and water projects. There is always enough going on around his place to keep me on my toes. And, as always, it’s been a good time hanging with my friends at the Marshalls Billfish Club as well. In fact we’ve got another tournament coming up on Saturday which is always a good thing. I plan to leave for the northern atoll of Likiep, 200 miles from here, on Monday.
I wrote quite a bit about Likiep last year when I spent nearly a month there. As you may remember, I likened it to “Paradise Found”. I haven’t seen my good friend Joe deBrum since that time and I look forward to spending time with him again. Joe is one of the foremost raconteurs that I’ve ever met and I hope to collect a number of his stories in my notebook while I’m there. Hopefully his younger brother, 73 year old Orlando, will be there as well. I sent a solar power package to Orlando earlier this year, a 24 volt system to power a chest freezer, and I would like to check it out.
A couple of weeks in Likiep will not be enough but I’m looking forward to heading south to Fiji again so my time north of the equator may be getting short. If time and finances allow I may be able to make another trip back to the states this summer…
I’ll sign off by leaving you with one of Joe’s stories that I recorded last year…
Is This How Much You Love Me?
We were sitting on the veranda of Joe DeBrum’s hotel on the atoll of Likiep in the Marshall Islands drinking a cool beer and talking story. On the table in front of us was a small battery operated portable radio which was picking up a Marshallese language station from the far away capital of the Republic of the Marshall Islands , Majuro. It was another halcyon day on Likiep Atoll. We had been fishing earlier and had caught a good net full of the small fish, “Jo”, which are very good smoked, and an assortment of larger fish like groupers that we had caught on hook and line. Richard was getting ready to smoke the small fish and we were planning on cooking the larger fish on the grill.
 Joe’s wife, Yumiko, passed by and brought us another cool beer and said that she would make some rice and salad to go with the fish. Joe and Yumiko looked at each other and smiled that smile that a couple share who have been with each other a long time and understand and love each other. As Yumiko passed into the hotel kitchen Joe looked at me and pointed at the little radio…
“You see that little radio there, Chuck? I have told my wife that it is a symbol of my love for her and that is why I always keep it on this table on the veranda and why I always have it on.”
Not quite sure where this was going I nodded and said, “OK, Joe…”
Joe continued… “You see, a couple of years ago I was in Majuro and my wife begged me to buy her a radio so that she could listen to her favorite local radio station even when we were back home on Likiep. So I went to EZ Price Mart and saw these big boom boxes the size of a suitcase for hundreds and hundreds of dollars. They were beautiful with lots of glitter and dials and claimed to play tapes, CD’s, you name it, they did it all. They certainly did much more than I wanted them to do…
Well, right there on the very end, kind of lost in the corner, was this little radio that did nothing but pick up radio stations. It sounded pretty good and the signal was strong. It had no bells and whistles or glittering dials. A sign said “Special Deal!! Only $19.99!!” I told the clerk to wrap it up. Well Chuck, the clerk wrapped it but neglected to remove the sticker price tag. I brought it home to my wife and presented the package to her.
She smiled and unwrapped it. She looked at the radio, saw the price tag, “Special Deal!! Only $19.99!!” and looked at me sternly… She said “Is this how much you love me? We have been together all these years. I have cooked for you, cleaned for you, tended you when you were hurt and sick and THIS IS HOW MUCH YOU LOVE ME?” She turned and stalked off to the bedroom and slammed the door shut behind her.
Knowing how much trouble I was in I ran back down to the shop and purchased the biggest, fanciest boom box that EZ Price sold. It had detachable speakers, played tapes and CD’s and claimed to get FM, AM, and shortwave radio stations. I had the clerk wrap it up, leaving the price tag on, and rushed back home to my wife. I told her that I was so sorry to have offended her, that I was a cad, but that I loved her very, very much and here was another radio. She unwrapped the boom box and was really happy and kissed me and hugged me and proudly looked at the price tag.
 Well Chuck, it wasn’t a week later that we returned to Likiep and it turned out that the big, expensive stereo did not pick up the Majuro radio stations very well at all and it did not seem to get any shortwave stations, just a lot of static. This big stereo just sat on the table. After a few days the CD player stopped working and shortly after that it started eating tapes.
I came back from fishing one afternoon and one of the kids had taken it apart to try to fix it. There were pieces everywhere and I knew that it would never work again. It was completely ruined. I told my wife to sit down at the table with me and I turned on the little radio. The radio station from Majuro, her favorite local station, came in loud and clear.
I said to her… My love, you see that big, expensive radio that does not work at all and that little radio that gets your favorite station so clearly? Well, that little radio represents my love for you. All the money in the world means nothing if the love doesn’t work for you… That little radio works just fine and for years and years will continue to play your favorite radio station. That, my love, is how much I love you.”
That evening we watched the sun set as we ate fish and rice on the veranda and listened to the little radio play the station from Majuro.
Cheers Crew and Carry On!! All the best from the edge of the world…
CGH
PS: Enjoy the attached photos of Joe and Yumiko, Orlando and his family and Deev at anchor in Likiep Atoll.
Today we fished with a local group from Caracas. Despite our late departure and not having our first bite until after lunch, the afternoon showed us some of the best blue marlin action I've seen is quite a while.
Our first bite was on the shotgun pole when a 300lb plus blue marlin exploded on the bait. The hook pulled and the blue came back for more and inhaled the long rigger. Got 'em on!............ Released that fish shortly thereafter. We set the baits back out and before we got the whole spread out, here he comes on the left rigger. We hooked up and relased our second blue marlin for the day twenty minutes later. Our next bite was a half hour later and that fish beat us to the pole and terrorized our anglers with three san cocho's and the after that, thank God that fish went away................
The next action was a pair of very aggressive blue marlin on both teasers............. Everything was happening fast as you can imagine. We hooked one blue off the left teaser and then the second one on the long rigger.......... Hooked up DOUBLEHEADER!!!!!!!!! The hooks on the second blue pulled after a short while and then we settled in for what turned out to be one mean-ass blue marlin. It took our angler over an hour and half to finally get the release and then after all that time the fish went crazy around the boat once mate Christian grabbed the leader. It was INSANE!
A hour had passed before we had our next and final event for the day. Again, two more blue marlin showed up in the spread and they were as mad as hornets! They destroyed both teasers and the ate everything in sight. It seemed to me that they must not have eaten in quite a while. They were PISSED! Somehow we managed to hang onto one and then that fish started to work over another angler. After a tuff 45 minute fight, we got our release. By that time, I started to troll in the direction of the marina and we celebrated the day with an ice cold Polar beer. The ride home was beautiful and we were back at the Mango Marina by sundown. What an awesome day!
Today was an extra special day for me because it was the first time I was able to take my 5 year old son Christopher offshore fishing. I was always timid to take him in the past because of the usual choppy conditions here and I did not want to spook him in case he should get seasick. Well today was slick calm and he was fearless............ The look in his eyes after he saw that first marlin jump close to the boat was incredible. I'll never forget it.................
Not too shabby for a five year olds first day offshore on a boat and releasing 4 blue marlins........... How do you like 'em apples?
Peace,
Jimmy
58-414-324-4544
Hello all,
I have arrived safely in Saudi Arabia. Getting ready for the first of a three night seminar later today. Will be deep dropping for Sword fish tmrw, weather permitting. Tired but good and everyone hear seems very happy to see me again. I'll keep you updated as the trip progresses. Peace.
Anthony DiGiulian
Saltwater Professional Consulting
bluedigiul@aol.com
(954) 895-6635
Hi Jimmy:
Marlin, Marlin everywhere but………
Here in New Zealand, we are having the strangest game season.
Such promise of a very early start, diminished into a contradictory late start and results, so far, have been unpredictable to say the least.
Yellowfin Tuna, sadly an uncommon capture these days, treated us to a reminder of yesteryear when a large school of big fish arrived briefly at North Cape. Many fish over 110lbs were hooked and one boat battled a really big specimen for 3 ½ hours on 15kg line before losing the battle.
A few Big Eye have added to the mix, with the best reported as 212lbs.
Baitfish have been thick, but usually remaining deep and this has been offered as the problem facing anglers in tempting Marlin to surface baits. The unusually employed tactic of deep drifting & using live-baits on downriggers has been rewarded with some success but the Marlin give the impression of being pre-occupied with easy pickings from a plentiful supply.
When the Marlin do come up to feed, action has been fantastic, with short spells of hot bites cropping up almost anywhere.
The best action was experienced at the Three Kings where our top charter skipper (semi-retired) caught 27 billfish in 4 days, including a Blue of 787lbs.
The size of this fish being eclipsed only by a beauty of 806lbs from Waihau Bay.
As the season progresses, and last year it continued well into June, reports of Broadbill captures are beginning to arrive. A second daytime capture was made, this time from the Bay of Islands and the standard night-time trolling method resulted in a fish of 392lbs and, in another location, the amazing feat of a “small” 207lb sword on 6kg line. More will follow.
The “hard luck” story of the season so far, has to go to a real “old man and the sea” epic. An unfortunate angler hooked into a monster Black Marlin and the ensuing battle lasted no fewer than 23 ½ hours….only to be lost at the boat!
Tight lines (but not for that long!)
John Kimberley
website
www.fishingpro.co.nz
The One That Got Away… Or
I Feel So Unworthy…
Ahoy!
It has been a very active time here at the edge of the world of late. The fishing has been exceptional, the local yacht club held its final race of the season, the drought has abated and life is good!
A scheduled Marshalls Billfish Club Tournament was cancelled a week ago Saturday due to high winds and big seas. Our crew decided to go out anyway and found excellent mahi mahi and wahoo fishing. We were out for about three hours and caught 15 mahi mahi, 3 wahoo and 2 yellowfin tuna. The tournament was rescheduled for this past Saturday and it was a very productive tournament, one of the best ever according to members of the club.
 Our boat, “Kirtake”, was in the running with a cooler full of wahoo and mahi mahi and one tag and release Blue Marlin but we went 1 for 4 on billfish to lose out to the winners. We had one UFO right out of the gate after about two minutes of lines in the water that created a huge splash. No one saw the fish though so the species was questionable. Shortly after that we put a 30 pound wahoo in the boat. The morning was good for the little fish, mahi running between 15-25 pounds and wahoo 20-30 pounds. We raised one sailfish on a marlin lure that didn’t get hooked and jumped off a small Blue marlin of about 125 pounds.
 After an hour or so of no fish in the afternoon the tag line came down apparently because the rubber band wore out. (Those of you who know this style of fishing will understand more fully what I’m saying here but for the rest of you suffice it to say that the fishing lines needed some adjustment at this point…) There was no pressure on the rod and no sign of fish so I casually put on a new rubber band and hooked it into the tag line. Wouldn’t you know it but just as I put it into freespool to let the tag line fly a good sized Blue Marlin piled on and I watched a horrible backlash explode on the reel. The fish peeled off line and stuck her head and shoulders out of the water as if to laugh at the horrified expression on my face. The fish was a good one with very wide shoulders. Its bill looked like a windshield wiper as it thrashed it back and forth for a few seconds and then it took off again. The backlash, which had resembled a Condor’s nest at first, was almost gone before the line broke. I was sick. That could have been the Tournament winning fish. Coulda, woulda, shoulda…
 The guys on the boat tried to make me feel better by telling me that it could have happened to anyone and that it was just bad luck… But it happened to me! And I’m the one who brought the bunch of bananas along. (I’m not a superstitious person but bananas are traditionally considered bad luck on a sportfishing boat!) I feel so ashamed! I am unworthy!
For those of interested in the results of this tournament check out the Club's website.
Editor's Note: Chuck Handy is a sailor-fisherman-shipright friend who is on a voyage around the world. He departed from the San Juan Islands (Pacific NW coast) and is currently in the Marshall Islands. At one time Chuck lived in St. Thomas and crewed on many boats including with Capt. Ronnie Hamlin and with Capt. Rick Defeo on Tyson's Pride. He has many friends in the fishing industry and we'll post his reports for everyone to read.
Marine Anglers,
See Dolphin Report
The fishing season is finally arriving for the U.S. East Coast. There are reports of early runs of small school dolphin off south Florida. Philip Brownell, of Coconut Creek, Florida, reported tagging 10 fish on April 2, 2010 and could have tagged more but ran out of tags. I hope this is a sign of good things to come.
To answer the question that many of you have, no I do not know what kind of dolphin year we will see along the East Coast. Like you, I just sit back and watch what plays out. It will take more work with satellite tags to begin predicting the dolphin runs.
For those anglers who enjoy reading our fine recreational fishing magazines, you may wish to check out Chris Woodward’s article in the April 2010 issue of Sport Fishing magazine about dolphin fishing off North Carolina. Anglers who like to read about fishing in other parts of the world should check out the current issue (78) of BlueWater Boats and Spotsfishing magazine published in Sydney, Australia. This issue features an article about what the Dolphinfish Research Program has learned about the behavior, essential habitat, and movements of North Atlantic dolphin.
Good fishing
Don
Donald L. Hammond
Marine Fisheries Biologist
Cooperative Sciences Services, LLC
961 Anchor Rd.
Charleston, SC 29412-4902
(843) 795-7524
cssllc@bellsouth.net
www.dolphintagging.com
Sailing through the desert is a breathtakingly beautiful, awe-inspiring experience. I never loved the desert before--now I do. And the 'men of the desert' are very intriguing. They say almost nothing but there eyes are very, very wise. They survive. Death is... not their friend, but their constant companion. They are the macho-est of macho men I've ever met.
It isn't easy making progress. Wind and current are against almost 100% of the time.
At about 20N, the headwinds really pipe up from the north. We watch the GRIBS (WX forcastes) and when it shows uniform strong winds up and down the entire Red Sea, we don't leave the harbor... we make love all day instead. But most days show moderate 15 knots from the north, with less near the shore.
Thus, we get up at 5:15 and leave by 6:15, following our cookie crumbs (previous course on our electro charts) out of the harbor. The wind is usually WNW and so we motor sail for an hour or two on port tack. The wind clocks all morning. When it is NW and N, it is light and we power against it in relatively flat seas at four knots (to save fuel, we only run at 1750 RPM, which is five knots in flat water and no wind.) Once the wind is NNE or NE, we motor sail on starboard tack until it builds to over 17 knots apparent... and duck into the next stunning anchorage around 10 to noon, generally.
Great anchorages abound every few miles... some of the best in the world!
Most days we make more than 20 miles and less than fifty. If we're making good progress and the wind is down or we have a lee (often the case, as we're between shore and reefs) then we continue until tired... one day in daylight we made 60 miles but that's the exception.
While the 'areas' of reefs are marked on the chart, the individual reefs often are accurately plotted. Thus we have to keep a keen watch at all times... we never know when a stray coral head is going to jump into our path and rip the bottom out of Wild Card. (We have numerous friends that this has happened to.)
Many of the reef anchorages are great in a north wind only... and if the wind veer west or clocks east... we have to leave in the middle of the night. We don't like this--as being underweight and sightless in these waters is Russian roulette. (Our solution is to forget about setting a reasonable course to the north... just sail in a 'safe' offshore direction until we clear the many dangers of the coast... THEN head north once we're clear.
Vigilance is the key. You can't get lack here for even a moment. Too many dangers abound. But it ain't bad. The harbors are STUNNING! I never was enthralled by the desert... until now. Sudan takes our breath away... the people and the setting are Biblical and... otherworldly!
..a wonderful place, IF we survive it.
Fatty
Editor's Note: Capt. Fatty Goodlander is a St. John USVI friend. He and his wife Carolyn are sailing around the world for their second time. Fatty is a well known sailor who writes for many marine publications. Fatty's Amazon page and other books: See Fatty's Books
We're having a great time attempting to claw our way to windward up the Red Sea.
Right now we're in a lovely anchorage with great diving among lovely reefs.
We've been doing a lot of hiking in the desert. (Hint: bring twice the water you'll think you'll need.) Carolyn can now spot camel dung from 100 meters! She's getting to be an expert on Sudanese spore...
Our last anchorage was spooky: large animals who were dying of thirst would stumble upon the marsha (harbor) water... and drink deeply... and then fall over dead.
..lots of decaying carcasses.
It was gristly business going ashore... we were like CSI (doing running verbal post-mortems, like, "died right here. Was alive for awhile after he fell. Domesticated, once pulled a cart. Time of death, more than three days and less than a month... probably cause of death, intake of salt water in weakened state... "
We're getting lotsa great pics, and can't wait to sell 'em (and post the others on Facebook, eventually).
That's it from Wild Card!
Fatty
Just went for a walk in the Nubian Desert. Check it out on Google Earth.
N 20 deg 47.03' - E 037 deg 10.34'
Very beautiful contrast between the brown desert and the turquoise blue sea.
Love,
Carolyn and Fatty
Editor's Note: Capt. Fatty Goodlander is a St. John USVI friend, who, with his wife Carolyn, is sailing around the world for the second time. Fatty is a well known sailor who writes for many marine publications including 'All At Sea.' Fatty's Amazon page and other books: See Fatty's Books
Flats are heating up in South Florida. Casting for the Cause Tournament
An over all fishing report for Flamingo and Biscayne Bay
 The action is South Florida continues to heat up on the flats this week, we have been finding a lot of mudding and tailing Redfish moving up on the flats to feed on shrimp and crabs in Florida Bay.
 This last week we had the privilege to fish with some very nice people, and getting involved with a charity that helps people with Prader-Willi syndrome. This is a 2 day tournament helped out by some of my friends the Torbert Family of Redlands Fla... One day in Florida Bay and the next spent in Biscayne Bay. I fished with Roury Peaton and Gavin Ayers, both suffer with the syndrome but both are very good fisherman!
 We started our day fishing a cold morning in the creeks and landed some smaller Redfish and Black Drum and the fishing was kind of slow. So we decided to move to the flats to see what was happening. One flat was loaded with tailing and mudding Black Drum, we threw a live shrimp in front and watched him suck it up, and then Roury landed a 25 inch Drum on the flats! We probably could have had a lot more but we needed a “nice” Red in the boat. So we moved to another flat and found plenty of mudding fish, and Gavin got a 23 inch Red to eat a Berkley Gulp shrimp. Nice job guys! The next day was breezy and cold (again!) with low visibility, we got skunked with Bones Permit and Tarpon but did manage to catch some nice Snapper and saw some monster Snook in some of the creeks we fished. We had some friends catch some smaller Tarpon around 37 inches in the morning!
There are bones Oceanside but anyone who wants good action I am recommending Florida Bay until more Bonefish show up. Also the Permit of March will be here fining and tailing all over the flats here on the next calm warm days we have so if your in Miami and looking for a quick get away it is something to think about!
Good luck,
Capt. Jim Hale
website
786-255-1788
So the trade in bluefin tuna lives on, at least until the bluefin dies out.
Unless quotas are adhered to and policed, the future, as seen by the environmentalists, is bleak indeed.
It seems such are the vested interests, a ban will always be hard to implement.
 And it doesn’t help that the mechanics of the CITES decision-making process is laboured and open to all manner of tactical maneouvering.
Many might think preserving a species would come before diplomatic showboating but the Libyan delegation’s performance was apparently pure theatre.
A procedural ploy was brought into play amidst much shouting and accusations of poor science.
A vote took place straight away and the planned ban was overturned without so much as an examination of the scientific and economic issues at hand.
So what now for the bluefin? It’s feared by some that existing quotas are too generous to prevent stocks crashing still further.
You can be sure countries that rely on the fish as an industry, like Libya, and countries that eat bluefin, mainly Japan, will continue to take it from ocean to table as long as they can.
Meanwhile, the night before the tuna decision, a good many representatives of the 175 member nations of CITES were invited to a reception at the Japanese embassy here in Doha. Guess what was on the menu?
Yep, sushi, bluefin style.
Cape Verde 20 march
The season has started very early this year. One boat has fished 10 days in march and caught 17 Blues so far with 6 fish over 500 lb ! We will start beginning of april.
Tight Lines
Capt. Matthias Henningsen
www.atlanticfishingcharter.com
skype: tcwalhalla
email: mh211066@gmail.com
Website
web: www.atlanticfishingcharter.com
Guatemalan Billfishing Adventures - Fish Report - February 2010
It seemed unlikely for February to follow in the footsteps of the unbelievable excitement that January had to offer, but that it did. All our anglers enjoying fantastic trips with some big sailfish release days. One of the months highlights was that Capt. Brad Philipps was awarded The Billfish Foundations, Overall Release Captain of the Year Award and the Pacific Sailfish Release Award at their February awards ceremony in Miami, that's the 8th year in a row Brad has received these accolades.
 We started the month with our South African hunting friends Casper and Lizette Walker joining us for some red-hot sailfishing. On the 2nd of February the couple released 20 sailfish from 30 bites. The following day they releases 47 from 70 bites with some large dorado throw into the mix for a non-stop angling fest. The 4th saw 15 sailfish releases from 19 bites. With a short sightseeing break in beautiful Antigua, Casper was back at it aboard the 'Decisive' while Lizette fished the IWFA tournament. With the boat all to himself, Casper opted to throw the fly at fish that would tease and did a fine job over the next three days, going 4 from 4 on the fly and 7 from 9 on the spin rod on the 7th. Casper released 4 of fly and 9 on bait the next day, with 3 on fly and 10 on bait his last day and a large blue that gave a half hearted attempt at the pitch bait to see out a wonderful trip with some fantastic fishing.
 The 12th saw Jim Owens, with sons Jay and Ben, along with uncle John Owens visiting with us. The bite started out great with releasing 22 from 38. They followed that up with 9 from 9 on the 13th and 3 from 5 the next day.
Brad and Lori Watkins, and John Wendkos fished with us the 15th through the 18th. Fishing predominantly 6lb and 12lb test line they released 11 from 13, 14 from 16, 11 from 18 and 10 from 15 to finish off a trip filled with some great days.
Our Guatemalan neighbors Scott and Kristy Lund were with us to enjoy their home and release a couple fish on fly and bait on the 20th as well as a round of great golf at Antigua Golf Resort.
 Decisive's owner Steve Cothron's wife Diane brought down Steve's father Olen Cothron along with his wife Barbara to enjoy what we do in Guatemala. Everybody released a sailfish on a short days outing, while indulging in the pleasures of our Billfish Inn after which they spent the following day in the wonderful; town of Antigua.
Texans Robert Mills and friends Keith Halloran, James Lee, James Fryfogle were on the sailfish for the 26th and 27th releasing 22 from 27 and 12 from 16 for a very successful trip to these rich waters.
Texans Robert Mills and friends Keith Halloran, James Lee, James Fryfogle were on the sailfish for the 26th and 27th releasing 22 from 27 and 12 from 16 for a very successful trip to these rich waters.
It's proving to be another great year in Guatemala, we will be taking bookings right through June so come on down and enjoy the very best in billfishing.
Until the next report, tight lines, circle hooks and healthy releases.
Capt. Brad Philipps
"Decisive"
Website
Email Cindy and Brad Phillipps: email
I went fishing this morning but after a short time I ran out of worms.
Then I saw a cottonmouth with a frog in his mouth. Frogs are good bass
bait.
Knowing the snake couldn't bite me with the frog in his mouth I grabbed
him right behind the head, took the frog, and put it in my bait bucket.
Now the dilemma was how to release the snake without getting bit. So, I
grabbed my bottle of Jack Daniels and poured a little whiskey in its
mouth.
His eyes rolled back, he went limp. I released him into the lake without
incident and carried on fishing using the frog.
A little later, I felt a nudge on my foot. There was that same snake
with two frogs in his mouth...
Life is good in the South.
 This is Larry (Mousetrap),
I thought I'd share a fish story. I'm back after fishing for 2 weeks in Kona with my friend Kenny on his 23 ft Blackman charter boat, the Makana Lani. I decked for him for 12 trips, we caught blue marlin, spearfish, tuna, and dorado. The blues are biting, everyday a fish over 500 is caught.
 Capt. Rob Ellyn (a transplant from Cabo who is now in Kona running the Lightspeed - 45 Cabo) invited me out fishing on his boat one day. He said I'd be the angler, but I said that I'd caught blues before, and that Kenny, although having caught blues for his clients, had never caught a blue himself, so he got the chair.
We got bit around 10:30, just above Captain Cook (seas calm, water temp 76). Kenny was doing a great job, but 10 minutes into the fight, the fish turned and charged the boat - the next minute took about 2 blinks of an eye. I was behind Kenny, getting my camera ready,when I saw the fish charge (at about the 5th wake), Joe the deckhand, was already in front of Kenny. Here's the sequence -- 5th wake, charging the boat -- Rob firewalls  the boat - blink of an eye -- fish is in the second wake -- blink of an eye-impact. Rob was probably going 18-20 knots, the fish hit like we were standing still - the impact was like a car hitting a cement wall - the bill came thru the transom, stopped by his face (there was a second smaller hole made by his lower jaw). The bill stopped about 2 feet from where I stood.
Photo right: Capt. Rob and the 601 - look at the hole in the transom.
Since we were by now going about 20 knots, the fish slipped backward and continued to fight like nothing happened. 15 minutes later, with Kenny at sunset on the reel (60 # drag), we got the fish, it weighed 601#. I've seen lots of blues, stripers, and a few swordfish move fast, but nothing compared to this.
2nd pix is the blue at 2nd wake. These at way too good of photos to edit/cut so I left them as I received them. JD - remarkable images were taken by Rob's girlfriend Carol. Editor - Email forwarded to us by Dennis Coleman.
Taravana, Taha'a Tahiti
As the sheets of rain fell from the heavens the crew waited for even the slightest let up in the squalls so we could make a dash in the dinghy to the Bar/Restaurant of Richards. Steve was the first to make it and about an hour or so later he appeared at the dock whistling and waving for Lincoln to come and get him. No sooner than he was in the dinghy a torrent of rain poured from the sky and they looked as if they were under Niagara Falls.
 The nearly drowned Steve had a broad smile on his face as he said he was on a mission to pick up a handful of Dreamin' On – Tahiti T-shirts for everyone at the Bar. Steve turned down a dry shirt saying it will only get soaked again “What the Hell” The only people at Richard's Taravana were folks like us trying to get out of the storm.
By the end of the night Steve had made more trips to the boat on “T-Shirt” runs (rain or not) and before the night was over, everyone at Taravana was wearing a Dreamin' On shirt and toasting to our quest.
One must remember our motto is, “No Bar Too Far!”
Hey Jimmy,
In case you are looking for some industry news to post on the USVI web site, I have some. I recently created and entirely new web site and photo blog. My old site of 7 years had 300 images on line. The new site has 3100 as of today and I'm adding more each week. And I'm now maintaining a blog from my travels and to showcase some work that might not make it to print anywhere else.
Thanks,
Scott
Scott Kerrigan
Aqua Paparazzi, Inc.
P. O. Box 46538
Los Angeles, CA 90046
954.553.5445 Cellular PST
323.822.2968 Office PST
Web site: See Scott's Website
E-Mail: email
Blog:
Skype: "Fishooter"
Suakin, Sudan, is a wonderful place... like wandering through the Bible...
Ahoy Everybody...
I know I've sent you all a bunch of emails bitching and moaning about the miseries of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden... but this lovely place called Suakin, Sudan, makes up for all the hassle. We are having a wonderful time here... an absolutely amazing, wonderful time.
It is like being on a movie set... with the best 'set dresser' in the world.
I took 400 pictures of the place BEFORE I even got off the boat! (Thousands since.)
It is like traveling back 2,000 years. Camel and donkey carts everywhere. No electricity. Cars are rare. No refrigerators and very little ice.
The market place is a trip... and the butchery area... well, oh dear!
We have been here five days. Everyone knows us... from soldier to Imman to cop to camel jockey.
I just purchased huge Arabian sword... and almost got in a sword fight (I kid you not) within five minutes. It felt weird walking down the dusty street with a sword hung under my shoulder and the local men cheering. (They were really turned on and complimented by my sword purchase.) Very, very weird. This place is so very Biblical... it is just like living in the Bible. Ruins everywhere. No electricity, no running water... no sewage... no nutt'n!
..well, sewage everywhere... just no sewage pipes...
As you probably know, Sudan is the largest country in Africa and borders Uganda and Kenya and Ethiopia and Egypt and Eritrea and Chad and Libya and the Central Africa Republic... and, of course, the Congo. (Whew!)
..and that's not even mentioning Dafur!
It is currently at war with a number of places and it is embargoed & sanctioned by the US. (When a passing yacht couldn't get a diesel part FedEx'd in, I quipped, "...blame it on the meddling bastard named George Clooney!)
Despite all of the political bullshit, we love it here. Wonderful people.
We are the only white folk we've seen... except for the occasional day-trippers from Port Sudan. (Most yachts just refuel and split... horrified they're gonna be kidnapped and decapitated.)
Everyone in town quickly learned I wanted to buy a Sudanese-made sword and a knife... and so.. everywhere we'd go... groups of Arab and Sudanese men would rush up to us while unsheathing their weapons... rather disconcerting at first. But, eventually, we got used to it... and just a couple of hours ago with some Western yachting friends who just arrived from Aden... we walked into a coffee shop and everyone rushed up to us with swords and knives drawn... and they almost fainted dead away.
I found the most wonderful way to get pictures of the camera-shy Africans: we just go to a coffee shop (like a bar for Islamic men)... there's a million of 'em... and then teach a local street kid to use our camera. He (or she, our best was a young girl) then takes pictures of us... and everyone in sight... and shows them to everyone... which draws a crowd... more and more great photos... and as long as the kid doesn't split with the $1,600 camera and lens... we're cool.
We met a wonderful 20 year old gay graphic artist... one of the most likable chaps (I'm hanging around too many Brits) we've ever stumbled across. Had him out to the boat... gave him a book, etc.
In essence, the last few days have been magic. Worth all the pain and misery.
Fatty
Editor's Note: Capt. Fatty Goodlander is a St. John, USVI friend, who with his wife Carolyn, is sailing around the world for their second time. Fatty is a well known sailor who writes for many marine publications including 'All At Sea.' Fatty's Amazon page and other books: See Fatty's Books
The Mocko Jumbie released a sail around 60-70# and a Blue Marlin about 200# as well as 3 Dolphin from 32-38#. Island Girl caught 5 Wahoo, Irie Feelin caught 4 wahoo, Big Bills got spooled on a Blue Marlin, La Mensagara caught 6 Wahoo as well.
That's all for now.
Mike Fuller
Hello all,
Here is a link to my latest piece on rumbum.com. Enjoy and please help to keep our fishing rights in our hands.
See Tony's News
Peace.
Anthony DiGiulian
Saltwater Professional Consulting
bluedigiul@aol.com
(954) 895-6635
The Waterman arrived back to Caraballeda from Aruba last Thursday and started our spring fishing campaign on Saturday.
We fished Saturday west of the La Guaria bank and released 1 blue marlin and we were 1/4 on sailfish. On Sunday we ran northeast and and saw four blue marlin, five white marlin and one sailfish. We managed to catch 2 blue marlin and 2 white marlin. Sunday we went back to the same area and caught 1 blue marlin and we were 1/4 on white marlin.
I was marking lots of bait and the water is 81.5 degrees and very blue! The weather is beautiful with calm seas too.
Regards,
Jimmy
58-414-324-4544
email
captjimmygrant@hotmail.com
To the Angler Community,
Dear Angler,
As Representative of International Game Fish Association in Cuba and Member of The Billfish Foundation, it pleases me very much to greet you very kindly, as well as to invite you to participate in the 60th "Ernest Hemingway" International Billfish Fishing Tournament, Qualifying Tournament of IGFA Offshore World Championship, that will be held from May 24th to 29th, 2010.
 I would be very happy if you could join to the anglers of more than ten countries that every year participate in this sportfishing party.
I also invite you and all the Angler Community to join in the hommage we pay every year to Ernest Hemingway, the first Vice President of IGFA, to whom all Cubans consider him as a symbol of the friendship relations between the people of United States and Cuba.
I will be very pleased if I have the opportunity of welcome you in the Hemingway International Yacht Club of Cuba, where the Captain Meeting of the tournament will be held.
Good fishing,
Commodore Escrich email
IGFA Representative in Havana and Member of The Billfish Foundation
Returning to the Nest…
It’s been a quiet week here on the edge of the world but it is beginning to show signs of activity. The harbor has been mostly empty of commercial fishing vessels. The government ships that (sometimes) service the outer islands are peacefully taking up the space on the government dock, rafted up two deep in places, as none of them are capable of going to sea due to lack of funding for routine maintenance. As a result the inhabitants of the outer islands are crying for food and fuel and for a way to get their copra to market in Majuro.
I woke up late this Sunday morning, about 7 AM to find that the commercial purse seiners and their motherships have begun filling the harbor again. I counted 6 motherships and 10 purse seiners with more coming in.
The purse seiners, as pointed out by my South African/Kiwi pal ET, are very beautiful ships. With their clipper bows and long elegant sheer set off by a magnificent bridge and tall tuna tower they look very capable and seaworthy. They are very efficient fishing machines as well.
Frequently they set FAD’s (Fish Attracting Devices) in the waters frequented by the tuna which makes it easier to locate the schools of normally free ranging tuna. It stands to reason, doesn’t it? Instead of searching the seas for the schools of fish just set out the FAD’s and go there to collect them! (Oh, don’t get me wrong, the purse seiners also carry helicopters on board in case they need to search for the schools. This is a well financed operation!)
When they find the school they deploy the net. Fast and powerful speed boats take the ends of the giant net and rapidly encircle the entire school. Like a purse, the net has a “drawstring” on the bottom that the huge winches pull tight, sealing the bottom of the net from any chance of escape for the fish. The entire school of tuna and any other fish working in the school (i.e. Marlin, Sailfish) are drawn onto the purse seiner through a set of enormous blocks. No fish survives this treatment. All “by catch” is returned to the sea mutilated and dead.
The purse seiner fleet is catching thousands of tons of tuna and “by catch” in this manner. They are incredibly successful at what they were designed to do. With their holds full of fish they return to harbor to offload the catch into motherships and to refuel and resupply the vessels for immediate departure to bring in more. Like birds of prey they have returned to their fouled nest to regurgitate from their bloated bellies into the gaping maws of their obscenely giant children who are forever hungry and demanding more tuna.
Enjoy your tuna fish sandwiches!
Cheers from the edge of the world!
Carry On!
Chuck
Editor's Note: Chuck Handy is a sailor-fisherman-shipright friend who is on a voyage around the world. He departed from the San Juan Islands (Pacific NW coast) and is currently in the Marshall Islands. At one time Chuck lived in St. Thomas and crewed on many boats including with Capt. Ronnie Hamlin and with Capt. Rick Defeo on Tyson's Pride. He has many friends in the fishing industry and we'll post his reports for everyone to read.
Marine Anglers,
See Dolphin Report
Tagging activity this past December and January resulted in new information on the movements of dolphin in late fall off south Florida and the first short-distance movements of dolphin off the north shore of Puerto Rico. The valuable information gained from these recoveries clearly shows the benefit of tagging at non-traditional times or in new areas. We gained this important information because of the efforts of just a few anglers. This shows that with just a modest effort on the part of a few anglers, we could begin to answer the mysteries on the movements of dolphin in the Mid-Atlantic Bight and the Gulf of Mexico. More anglers serious about tagging dolphin in these areas are needed.
I am always excited about the start of a new year of research on dolphinfish. Every year has produced amazing pieces of information about these great game fish never before known to science. I am sure that 2010 will not disappoint. Helping to insure that new information will be gained, the program plans to deploy three of the high tech pop-off satellite archival tags this year. These will hopefully provide more insight into the essential habitat of this economically important species.
With your help we can have a fantastic year in the study of the movements and migration of dolphinfish.
Good fishing,
Don
Donald L. Hammond
Marine Fisheries Biologist
Cooperative Sciences Services, LLC
961 Anchor Rd.
Charleston, SC 29412-4902
(843) 795-7524
cssllc@bellsouth.net
www.dolphintagging.com
A group of 3 that fished with us in 2009 and just recently 2010. Awesome Black Marlin jump shots!
Yellow fin Tuna and etc.
See Action
Coiba Adventure Sportfishing
Jessica Durham
Manager and Daughter
US + 314 566 8555
website: http://coibadventure.com
Good morning Everyone!!
Here is a report from our guest, Rich, who fished with us for the 2nd time in February.~ Jessica
"Ok, so we’ve had the worst winter that I can remember since like 1847, and the boys are going stir crazy so we decide it’s time for a road trip back to Panama!  We each pack a carry- on bag and we head for the last remaining prison island in the world—“Coiba” and the charter operation of Capt. Tom Yust to fish Hannibal Bank, Montosa , and Jicaron.
After a day of travel and overniting in a Mexican hotel (go figure?) in Santiago, Panama we arrive in Coiba for a week of bliss. No phone, no TV, monkey’s running thru the camp, Tito the croc eating our fish racks, open bar, great food. What more could you ask for? Oh yeah—fish! Yes the fishing was good too ! Enjoy the photos, I’ve got to go shovel the snow out of the boat cockpit."
~ Rich
Latest News
March 9 2010
Well the big refit is well under way, with the cockpit undergoing a major transformation, new rubbish bin and storage box under the ladder, new transom scupper box, and a new teak deck going in this week. The pace has been slowed by the incredible amount of rain we have had in SE Queensland the last few weeks, but the old deck is out, the base all faired and ready to lay the new planking which is sitting in the salon!!!!. As well as this, a few other little jobs have been completed to make life easier for me. And after I get back from Florida TRADITION goes in the paint shed for a full new paint job!!!!
Spoke to the boys this week, and both are busy fishing in Florida, the Bahamas and Mexico in the upcoming months, and this season Chris and Carl will be on the deck. Both enjoyed some good fishing at the end of last season and we all get along well, so should be lots of fun this year again.
I am off to Florida on the 19th March for about 5 weeks, so let me know if you are around so we can catch up, and if you are interested in talking about one of our many trips coming up in the next couple of years, then lets get togther.
This Cairns season is looking pretty busy again, but due to a cancellation I have Nov 3- 9 inclusive open, great tides and motherships or liveaboard are available. Also Nov 15 onwards is still tentative, and after the great fishing from last season, should be jumped on quickly.
September time is always great, and I am doing some deals for this part of the season.
I am planning an exciting trip on the way to Cairns this year, sometime during August. The destinations on this 10-day trip can include Wreck, Cato, Saumarez, Elusive and Bugatti Reef complexes. The plan is to get out to the Wreck or Cato and then jump from one to the next and spend a day or two at each one. Poppers and jigging for GT's, more Wahoo than you have ever seen are around at this time of year, as well as billfish. Great anchorages are available, with incredible snorkelling and spearing - a great exploration trip.
The trip is limited to 4 places (based on you guys crewing for yourselves), AU$5,500 each for 10 days, leaving from Bundy and finishing in Hamilton Is or even Townsville, depending on what suits everyone. Contact Capt Tim for more info on 0427 758768 or www.TraditionCharters.com
I am also adding the latest newsletter from Captain Greg Edwards who is setting up a resort/ fishing lodge in the fish rich waters of Tonga. I am available to run the Tonga boat for you there and cater a trip to your needs. Click here <../../../../Vava%27u%20newsletter%20February%202010.pdf>
for the Vava'u newsletter February 2010.
The blue marlin are thick!!! With different times of year seeing varying size fish, so perfect for light tackle and fly fishing!!!!!
Last news for now is our trip to the South Pacific next year!!!
April to August 2011 sees TRADITION traveling and exploring the picturesque fishing, snorkelling, cruising and surfing of the South Pacific.
Trips include:
Brisbane to New Caledonia 4-5 days travelling there.
New Caledonia - 4-10 days trips exploring one of the the pearls of the South Pacific, Blue marlin, tunas, jigging, spearing, snorkeling and surfing some incredible places with no one else around. Great anchorages in all weather and the wonderful French influence of Noumea.
Up to Vanautu for Blues and more exploring, and the across to Cairns.
TRADITION is the perfect boat and team for this type of exploration and fun. 20 years for world travelling and a boat purpose built for long range multi day liveaboard charters.
Email Capt Tim for more info on any of these great trips, Look Forward ot hearing from you soon, and hope to see you all this year!!!
Tim
email Tim
visit website
Greetings,
Here's a big bugger from the west coast of Puerto Rico. The young lady, "Mary", fought this beast for 25 minutes on my 22' Panga, Shella. The fish weighed in at 90 lbs. On 50 lb. Sufix, I believe this is a women's record for Puerto Rico.
Cordially,
Capt. Tim Brennan
Cordially,
Capt. Tim Brennan
Tropic Cabanas
P.O. Box 481
Rincon P.R. 00677
787-823-2967
www.tropicabanas.com
Greetings,
There are still some good charter boats available for the first annual Galapagos International Invitational Billfish Tournament oficially scheduled for April 22nd thru 27th, 2010.
The all release event will consist of 3 days of competition with some very fine angler prizes and fun filled evening social functions. Fishing will be aboard the 10 charter boats which are currently fully licenced to practice "All Release Vivencial Fishing" in Galapagos and teams will be comprised of 3 anglers. Great parties, press coverage, and sponsor angler prizes for the winners are all in the works. Below is a the list of boats available for the tournament.
Naturally, if you are not interested in competing, you can book one of our fishing trips to Galapagos anytime during the upcoming January to June billfish season. For available dates visit our website www.artmarina.com and click on calendar to choose the month and days you would like to set aside. Then just contact us to arrange your trip.
We look forward to hearing from you about the tournament or just to enjoy a fishing trip with friends and family.
Thank you and good fishing,
Rick Alvarez
Off: 305 663 3553
Cel: (305) 213-5521
BOAT NAME /SIZE/MAKE / POWER/ RATE
BLUE DREAM 34’ Custom Twin Diesel $2,050
JHONAMAR 36’ Custom Twin OB $1,500
LEODAN 31’ Custom Twin OB $1,400
ANETTE 28’ Custom Twin OB $1,400
BLUE 28’ Custom Twin OB $1,400
Awsome striped marlin fishing in the Galapagos Island. A group of anglers from Puerto Rico's San Juan Club Nautico fished 3 days last week with Artmarina's boats out of San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos.
Here are the final numbers for the 4 boats 3 day totals:
JOHNAMAR - with Capt. Edwin Buenano
Seen 42 Raised 36 Bites 29 Releases 22
ANDALE - with Capt. Warren Sellers
Seen 63 Raised 52 Bites 43 Release 14
MAGIC - with Capt. Mike Gibbs
Seen 66 Raised 53 Bites 37 Releases 22
COYOTE - with Capt. Adam Hermsen
Seen 99 Raised 60 Bites 48 Release 25
Total for all Boats - Seen 221 Raised 201 Bites 157 Releases 83
GALAPAGOS FISHING INFORMATION:
email Rick Alvarez Website: visit site
Ahoy Crew and Yokwe from the Marshall Islands!
I send this out to you because I have recieved a lot of emails concerning the effects of the latest Tsunami Scare. All is well here in the Marshall Islands aboard the good ship "Deviant".
The massive earthquake in Chile the other day triggered Tsunami Warnings across the width of the Pacific Ocean. Fortunately the Tsunami proved to be less than anticipated, in fact here in the Marshalls it passed unnoticed.
The cruising and commercial boats on the docks and at moorings did take the precaution of heading to deeper water further out in the lagoon to ride it out safely in the event of a major occurance. The Tsunami, however, left us not even a ripple. WHEW!!!
As you can tell, I haven't had much to say of late. We have been in the throes of an El Nino inspired drought here and I've been scrambling to keep up with the demand on our water sales. You may remember that we set up a system last year bringing less expensive drinking water to the people of the Marshall Islands. Well the system has expanded from a few hundred gallons a day to couple of thousand gallons a day. We are getting ready to install a much larger Reverse Osmosis unit later this month.
Our solar power sales continue to climb as well and that, too, has got my attention.
The Tradewinds have been blowing steadily since December and those cruisers that wanted to head west to the Philippines or Thailand have already left in order to miss the Western Pacifics tropical storm season. Here in the Marshalls tropical storms are rare although they do occasionally wreak havoc. Those cruisers heading south to Fiji, Vanuatu, NZ, The Solomons or Oz won't be leaving for another month or two. As for me and the "Deev", I'm not sure of my plans yet...
The local fishing club has been active and it's been a very good year for Mahi-Mahi and Wahoo. Of course there are always a few Blue Marlin in the mix and I'm happy to say that more are being tagged and released than before. No one has reported any really big fish lately but they are always here.
The heads of state out here had their Tuna Fisheries meeting last week but I still don't see much hope for the future of this fishery. There is just too much commercial fishing pressure on the Tuna and they are being raped and pillaged. The latest meeting in Palau came up with a game plan to better regulate the fishery in 10-15 years time. By then I fear it will be too late to save the Tuna. Such is the life of man...
Sorry that I've been out of touch for so long. What's up with you?
Cheers and Carry On!!!
Chuck
Editor's Note: Chuck Handy is a sailor-fisherman-shipright friend who is on a voyage around the world. He departed from the San Juan Islands (Pacific NW coast) and is currently in the Marshall Islands. At one time Chuck lived in St. Thomas and crewed on many boats including with Capt. Ronnie Hamlin and with Capt. Rick Defeo on Tyson's Pride. He has many friends in the fishing industry and we'll post his reports for everyone to read.
Marlin Fishing Brasil
21-22 February 2010
Hello friends and fisherman
The Blue Marlin fishing has stayed good all month here on the Royal Charlotte Bank Brasil. The weather has been a bit erratic with wind from north to south and mostly calm seas. There was some rain but this passes very quickly. A good southerly current pushing onto the bank with that Deep Blue Water that has been 29 to 30 C, everyday. Bloody beautiful.
On the 20th February Charles Holloway was back and in for a great weekend; Saturday Charles didn`t have to wait long for a bite. A marlin around 300 lb attracted the long lure but did not come tight; the marlin came up on the 50 and attached it several time but would not stay hooked. Soon after that a nice marlin came up on the large lure and a perfect bite close to the boat, the fish went down and fort hard with the drag pushed up, Charles had a job getting the fish to the boat, 25 minutes later he released the marlin, a nice 500 lb. Before lunch another marlin attacked the long lure, it run 50 meters of line off and spat the lure, the fish was around 500 lb. At 1.30pm the long lure had another aggressive attack and Charles was hooked up again, the marlin made some great jumps and small runs, ! Charles had her released in 20 minutes, second biggest at 700 lb.
Sunday conditions looking good once again, we raised 3 marlin, they all made very aggressive attacks on different lures, but none would stay hooked, all the marlin were around 400 lb. That’s fishing: heroes to zeros in a day. We did see some large yellow fin tuna, chasing small bonitos on the surface, not a normal site for this time of the year, but a welcome one, big bait big fish. The few we saw were around 100 lb.
Once again the Royal Charlotte Bank is living up to its reputation as a hot Large Atlantic Blue Marlin Fishing Ground. Get some friends together, come enjoy our playground and fill your fishing fantasies.
Cheers,
Capt Shawn Wallace
email
Phone: Shawn cell: 55-73-9972-0006 - Léa cell: 55-73-9978-3259
Hello all,
Please scroll down to view the Billfish Foundations announcement on the recent controversy of purse seining in the Bahamas. Please take a minute to click on the link to send Mr. Cartwright an e-mail expressing your concerns about this proposal.  Most of us have spent many years fishing and spending money in the Bahamas and I think we would all like to continue doing that. If you are concerned about your lively hood, the future of sport fishing in the Bahamas, Scuba Diving or just the love of the oceans please take 3 minutes out of your day to voice your opinion to Mr. Cartwright. I can tell you first hand that speaking up makes a difference.
Remaining silent will do nothing and takes away your right to complain when things go against your beliefs.
Thank you and Peace.
Read: TBF - Bahamas Purse Seining
Anthony DiGiulian
Saltwater Professional Consulting
bluedigiul@aol.com
(954) 895-6635
Hi JImmy,
here som news about the fishing.
Ascension 19th Feb.
Harmattans crew and his 2 anglers from the UK Andy and Shaun are catching some nice Blues. They went 5 for 9 the last 5 days. Average size of the Blues are 650 lb!
Cape Verde Feb. 2010
The fishing is very good in the so said OFF Season. Just one boat for 4 days and went 6 for 13! Yesterday a sailboat put some lures out and brought in a 200 kg Blue after a short time of trolling. What a pitty that noone is fishing at the moment!
TL
Capt. Matthias Henningsen
website
Matthias Henningsen
skype: tcwalhalla
email: mh211066@gmail.com
web: www.atlanticfishingcharter.com
17.02.2010 We had an excellent day today !!! We caught 3 blues out of 4 bites ! The first one that we missed was a 200 pounder that knocked down the Grimmel by Bonze. After that a big fish eate the same Fox lure that we caught the first fish on on monday. I chaced that fish 3 miles forward until we finally got close to her.
Andy Little released his biggest Blue marlin so far with over 900 pounds. Shortly after that Shaun caught a 400 pounder on the Andromeda by legendlures. And around 5pm Andy caught another 250pounder on his own lure. We also caught some dorados.
16.02.2010 We missed two nice blue marlin today and raised a big one. At least they seem to be here now ! We caught some dorados and a nice wahoo !
15.02.2010 Andy and Shaun arrived today and we had a good start . Shaun caught a 600 pound blue on one of his Fox Lures wich he produces. We also caught some dorados and Amberjacks.
Cheers
Olaf
website
NZ progress report. February 2010
With our game season now fully underway, catch reports are coming in thick & fast.
Striped Marlin are around in good numbers all around the coast of the top half of the North Island, with the Bay of Islands currently offering as consistent fishing as anywhere.
The largest Stripey, so far, has been taken in the Bay of plenty and weighed 315lbs.
Also in the Bay of Plenty, Waihu Bay has been firing for Blues as well as Stripies and we can expect to soon hear reports of big Blues landed or breaking free as is the norm in this location at this time of year.
The best Blue, to date, came from the Coromandel and pulled the scales down to 584lbs.
Four Black Marlin have been tagged & released, with the largest estimated at 575lbs, a good fish but we know much larger fish prowl our reefs….if only more effort was made to find them!
Yellowfin Tuna have gone scarce after some early season promise, with just a very occasional fish taken & usually much smaller than the early run.
Spearfish continue to be taken in greater numbers than usual & there have been plenty of Albacore around. Mahimahi are hiding under any significant lump of flotsam in northern waters and the implementations of FADS would surely improve the fishery for these beautiful little battlers.
Most unusual capture occurred during an early season trip to the renowned Three Kings Islands. A mix of bottom & game fishing had already produced some good Kingfish (Yellowtail) and Hapuka (Wreckfish) to 145lbs.
Three nice Striped Marlin complimented the growing catch total and when a game reel’s ratchet sounded at midday, it seemed as if a fourth was on its way. To everyone’s amazement this billfish turned out to be a Broadbill!
Rarely seen during the hours of daylight and, if so, rarely feeding….. the chances of one powering in to take a lure, trolled at 8 knots, is very rare indeed.
A small fish by NZ standards, at approx 220lbs, it responded in the manner expected of its species to put up “one hell of a scrap”.
Tight lines.
John Kimberley
website
www.fishingpro.co.nz
Hello friends and fisherman,
Marlin Fishing Brasil
28 /1/10 to 14/2/10
Hello friends and fisherman
The 28th January Tim Thomasson joined us aboard the Camargue to try his luck again this year; his first day out was moderate seas and a good southerly current with the water temp around 29 C (84 F), everything looking good for fishing. Tim hooked a Sailfish first up and released it on the 50 lb reel. At 12.30 he had a double header of blue marlin, Tim got a bite from the larger one and the fight was on. The fish went crazy first up then settled down, Tim had it to the boat in 25 min and we released the marlin around 500 lb or 230 kg. We had 3 more bites from sailfish and released 1 on the 50 again.
On the 29th January Luca Fortino and friends Celso Akira e Marcio Rangel from S. Paulo where here. Luca was back to show his friend the great jigging we can have here but we were not lucky with the jigging, the full moon had put the bottom fish off the bite. We opted to troll 30 and 50 lb outfit to try our luck, the boys caught some nice wahoo around 55 lb, dorado and large Bonitos where plentiful as well, with sailfish and bait jumping along the edge to make it a good day.
The 30th the jigging was still not happening so we trolled light tackle again and the boys caught a couple of nice bull dorado 53 lb-24 kg each. We put two 130 reels out at 11.30 to try for a marlin; after an hour a blue raced in and attacked the lure, Luca was hooked up to a blue around 250 lb-120 kg and after a 15 min fight Luca released his marlin. Back to light tackle and a couple more wahoo, dorado and large bonito made another good days fishing.
The 1st Feb Tim was fishing again, the weather was looking good and we raised 2 marlins but could not get a bite from them; the wahoo were abundant and a few large dorado were around which was great on the BBQ that night.
We took the next day off, the Coyote with owner Bill Thomson on board fishing, the boys had a great day raising 3 blues, releasing one around 650 and the other 500 lb.
The 3rd Tim was back out there and once again everything was looking good; started fishing at 7.45, we had a double header up, got a bite from a marlin around 500 lb-230 kg but pulled the hook, at the same time the 50 lb reel went off with a 250 lb blue going crazy. After 15 min Tim released the marlin. Tim released another blue soon after around 200 lb. Not long after that he got a bite from a nice blue over 600 lb and he was hooked for 15 min after some great runs and jumps the fish dove and we pulled the hook. Tim raised 2 more blues and had a bite from one, both around 250 lb, caught a few wahoo and had bites from dorado. The end of the day we raised another doubled header of small blues, one wanted t! o eat the bird, the other behind wanted the lure but we could not get either of them.
The 4th we had a weather change come through rain and wind, the marlin slowed but we managed to release a blue around 250 lb, Tim caught a few big wahoo and bites from dorado.
All up we raised 14 blues, had 9 bites and released 5. We also raised 6 sailfish, had 4 bites and released 2.
The 10th February David Watkins was back in Canavieiras to enjoy the great fishing and Carnival which is a great National party here in Brasil. The first day was only a half day starting fishing at 12 and it was only 40 minutes before David was hooked up to a blue marlin. The marlin attacked the large lure and quickly run 400 meters of line out, stayed down and fought hard. We thought we had a big fish on, David pushed the drag up and got the marlin close to the boat, after a couple of more good runs he got the fish to the boat and it was 250 lb - 113 kg, the marlin was foul hooked in the side, great fight for a small fish. The Large Dorado where still here and he caught one 51 lb- 23 kg.
11th the conditions for fishing looking good, water temp was 29 C (84 F) a good southerly current and a moderate easterly seas breeze. With small yellowfin and bonitos jumping on the surface it was not long before we saw a 500 lb- 230 kg marlin feeding on the surface but we could not get her to eat. Not long after David was hooked up and the marlin was going crazy, as we cleared the other lines a 500 lb-230 kg marlin followed a lure to the boat, we pitched a Dorado belly to the marlin but no luck getting a bite so we went back to catching David’s marlin. After some great jumps we got the marlin to the boat and released this acrobatic fish; it was around 400 lb -180 kg. Later we got another bite from a marlin but no luck staying hooked, many bites from wahoo and dorado but only one 40 lb wahoo for the BBQ .
12th David`s good friend Nigel Williams from Wales arrived and was enjoying the warmth of Brasil. The wind was up and from the east /southeast but the waves were spread apart so it was not to uncomfortable. The bait was still here and it was not long before the long lure was attached and David’s luck the bite was on his rod, the marlin was very acrobatic once again and after a 20 minute fight David released the marlin around 450 lb-200 kg. We had very aggressive bites from a marlin around 300 lb-140 kg but did not come tight. We also had 8 bites from large dorado and wahoo but did not stay hooked to one.
Late afternoon we got another aggressive bite from a large marlin, it pulled 50 meters off line and the hook pulled, we left the lure out, spun around on the marlin and got another bite from the large marlin; it started to run fast jumping on the surface we could see it was a nice marlin, after the fish settled down David pushed the drag up and had her to the boat in 25 minutes. She was a nice marlin around 650 lb-300 kg and after all that she was lassoed around the bill with the hooks, lucky David once again.
13th February the wind had dropped and sun shining, Nigel was keen to catch a marlin, he did not have to wait too long for a bite and the marlin missed the lure totally the first try but got it the second. Nigel was hooked to a nice marlin; she ran some line out and jumped in the distance, then stopped and ran down sea to the boat. Nigel pushed the drag up, caught the marlin in 15 minutes and released it, around 550 lb-250 kg. Not long after a marlin around 200 lbs-90 kg attacked the long lure 7 times and did not get hooked, lucky fish.
The weather changed and we had rain on and off most of the afternoon. Catch of the day late the 50 lb reel went off with a yo zori lure and to our amazement David caught a turtle, the hooks got the shell and flipper the barb, it did not penetrate the skin, it is very tough, we took the lure off and sent it on its way. Nigel caught a 32 lb-14 kg dorado and a 36 lb-16 kg wahoo.
We have had some good fishing here and it should keep going through March and April, the marlins are here and lots of wahoo on the edge this year after an absence the last couple of years. Large dorado and amberjack are cruising the edge so whatever your fishing style email or
call lea or myself to come and enjoy paradise. We are getting bookings for next season already so get in soon so you don`t miss out on the great fishing here on the Royal Charlotte Bank.
Tight lines for all.
Cheers,
Capt Shawn Wallace
email
Phone: Shawn cell: 55-73-9972-0006 - Léa cell: 55-73-9978-3259
15.02.2010
Andy and Shaun arrived today and we had a good start . Shaun caught a 600 pound blue on one of his Fox Lures wich he produces. We also caught some dorados and Amberjacks.
13-14.02.2010 Maintanance
12.02.2010 We caught a couple of Dorados and had 3 bites of sailfish today.
11.02.2010 We finally had some marlin around again ! Andy caught a 250 pounder on the Bonze Grimmel and five minutes later we had a 500 pounder crashing the Blue Breakfast but it came off. In the evening I saw another marlin chasing skipjack tunas.
Cheers
Olaf
website
Check www.marlin-web.com
for pictures and history
Guatemalan Billfishing Adventures - Fish Report - January 2010
The fishing has been red-hot since our Christmas report, and for a variety of reasons January 2010 will be a month to remember for years to come. 'Decisive' had many 30 plus sailfish release days, won both the tournaments it fished and Capt. Brad Philipps released his 20,000th career billfish as a captain. So with 551 releases in the past 25 days on the water it's easy to see why anglers have been kept so happy sharing in the exceptional fishing Guatemala has to offer.
John and Heather Harvey of Richards Bay, South Africa, spent Christmas with us and started fishing on the 27th December, with 7 sailfish releases from 15 bites. Things started picking up the next day with 19 releases from 28 bites, and 19 from 26 the following day.
Fernando Paiz and family fished with us on the 30th and the bite was hot releasing 31 sailfish from 46 bites in a shortened but exciting day.
Steve and Diane Cothron, 'Decisive's' owners were with us at our 'Billfish Inn' to see in the New Year, along with their guests Dan and Stephanie Malin, all of Texas. With 38 releases from 52 bites it was a great way to see out the Old Year and we saw in the New with 15 from 29 bites.
The Harvey's were back on the water on the 2nd of January and were treated to one of their best days with 30 sailfish releases from 43 bites, then 22 from 28 and 18 from 31 bites on their final day to end a wonderful trip during which the couple released a total of 115 sailfish and quite a few large dorado.
On the 10th, Joe O'Brien started with us on the fly releasing 7 from 9 while raising 17 fish. Our close friend and neighbor Scott Lund joined Joe on the 11th to release 3 on the fly in a short day.
'Decisive' fished the Jake Jordan International Fly Fishing Challenge on the 12th through the 14th with Scott and Joe as it's anglers. The team released 5 sails on the first day to take a lead they never relinquished. On day two 'Decisive' ran back out west and found the fish snapping. Scott released the first fish of the day, the 20,000th career billfish release for Capt. Brad Philipps, a historic achievement that has only been accomplished by one other person, Capt. Ron Hamlin. The day ended with 15 releases from 22 bites for the duo on the fly to further increase their commanding lead. Day three saw the whole fleet around 'Decisive' but unable to raise the fish the winning team was seeing with 'Team Decisive' releasing another 8 sailfish from 9 bites. The team ended up winning the tournament by twice the number of releases of the second boat, Nick Smith's, 'Old Reliable', with Scott Lund taking a walk-away victory as the first placed angler and Joe O´Brien taking second placed angler, for the clean sweep.
Carlos Arias, Eddie Smith, Dean Vardeman, Larry Williams and Philip Klose, fished aboard the "Decisive' and Wilson Avalos, Wally Darneille, Steve Bauer, and David Pearson aboard the 'Circle hook' on the 15th to release 8 sailfish a piece.
The 21st saw our friends Bobby and Carol Richter of Port Aransas, TX, along with son Brian and girlfriend Rae joining us for 4 days of superb billfishing, to release 36 from 55 on their first day and 41 from 51 the next. Day three saw them on the fly releasing 15 on the bait and 4 on the fly with 2 of those for Bobby to give him his first on the long wand......nice going Bobby. The following day saw Bobby and Carol enjoying Antigua while Brian and Rae had the boat to themselves and both did a wonderful job releasing 4 on fly and 16 on bait. The following day we all played a wonderful round of golf at the spectacular Antigua Golf and Country Club to end a special trip for the Richters.
John and Patsy Hundley, along with their friends Roger and Denise Hatton all of Florida, were with us to experience the superb fishing we were seeing from the 26th through the 28th. Their first day saw 31 releases, 46 releases the next and 31 releases on their final day to total 108, releases in just 3 days of fishing, you just can't beat the consistency of these rich waters.
The 29th saw the start of Hill Dishman's very popular 'No Sanchocho' tournament. With a lot of money and pride on the table all the Guatemalan big guns were in town for the event, with 'Team Decisives' Steve Cothron, Scott Lund and Harvey Steinhagen back to defend their title. With good fishing, 'Decisive' was very steady throughout the three days, releasing 31 from 45 bites on day one to be only one fish off the lead. Day two saw the team fishing conventional 20lb tackle and ballyhoo in the morning and then switching to a combination of bait and fly fishing in the afternoon to release 22 sailfish on bait from 32 bites to get within half a fish of the overall lead. Day three saw 'Team Decisive' in an unstoppable top gear with Scott releasing 8 from 8 on the fly while Steve and Harvey contributed another 19 on the bait to take the day and win the overall tournament by the equivalent of 5 fish, and the invite to the IGFA tournament of champions in Cabo next year. Once again the event was an outstanding success with a lot of money raised for the local school, and a good time had by all. Thank you Hill.
With all the bait, blue water and endless sailfish both east, west and offshore of us it's looking like we are going to see the next few months with some bumper days, so take advantage of the few openings we have and come on down to experience what countless others have hailed as the ultimate in Billfishing Adventures.
Until next report, tight lines, circle hooks and healthy releases.
Capt. Brad Philipps
"Decisive"
Website
Email Cindy and Brad Philipps: email
Marine Anglers,
See Dolphin Report
A new year is underway that holds a lot of promise. There was 63 fish tagged in January, a new record. The growing number of fish being tagged in December and January adds a new dimension to the Dolphin Research. It is the first time that we have the opportunity to begin learning the movement patterns of fish around Puerto Rico. There is also the real possibility that one of these Puerto Rican tags could be recovered by an angler off the U.S. East Coast. Fall and winter tagging off Florida has resulted in recoveries that are beginning to show a different movement behavior from the summer fish found off the Sunshine state. Recoveries resulting form these Florida tags, could help settle the raging debate over whether there is a fall southerly migration off south Florida.
With a prayer that the economy continues to strengthen, I look forward to 2010 and the exciting information that the tagging and tag recoveries will bring.
Good fishing,
Don
Donald L. Hammond
Marine Fisheries Biologist
Cooperative Sciences Services, LLC
961 Anchor Rd.
Charleston, SC 29412-4902
(843) 795-7524
cssllc@bellsouth.net
www.dolphintagging.com
Feb 1 2010 - Just minutes from Miami, Mackerel on Fly and Great fishing Action in the Creeks at Flamingo.
In Biscayne Bay yesterday we have been doing something I think is fun as hell and that’s fishing for Spanish mackerel on fly. Normally it has to be kind of calm to fish for these guys in my boat because of the proximity to deeper water. These guys average 5 pounds but caught on a 8 weight fly rod will clear all line on the deck and take you into the reel for some drag screaming fun! I have been using white streamers, magnum cut rabbit zonkers 3 inches in length with a lot of gold blue and silver flash, fished with 3 inches of thin wire in front.
 Normally we bring them in on a chum slick and throw some pilchards in on them (when we can find them) to keep them going like the Energizer Bunny! You don’t have to be to most accomplished fly fisherman to have fun with these guys either a good 40 foot cast is about all you will need.
Some days of course are better than others but to catch 20 and have another 20 to 30 track fly is a blast. Strip fast ………..!The faster the strip the better and sometimes they fight for the fly! I personally like to use 2 handed strip!
Also in the bay chased plenty of bonefish but really could not get quality shots on them, they were moving fast on just about every flat we went to. So there Bones are around but they need to settle down a bit, possibly after the moon gets out of full. We could of try to chum them up but we were fishing with people who don’t like to do that! There are some Permit around as well.
There are some nice Redfish on the flats at Flamingo but the real action is in the creeks to the north and to the west.
Just about anywhere there is a good tide flow on the last part of the outgoing tide you will find fish around creek mouths and structure.
We are using jigs tipped with shrimp moved slowly on the bottom is getting the bite. Most of what is being caught is Black Drum up to 20 pounds Redfish and Sheep head. This is good fishing for all kinds of anglers. On the markers and the wrecks, the Cobia bite has been slow but should pick back up soon with the weather getting back to normal. Also Tarpon have NOT shown up yet meaning that is right around the corner…something has to get back to normal!
Good luck,
Capt. Jim Hale
website
786-255-1788
Hi All,
I hope that this finds everyone well. It seems that for the past few weeks that Friday is now the day off so I will try to recap the ongoings here. Firstly, Dickie is having the same trials and tribulations that I went through visa-wise. I do know that the paperwork has been submitted but haven't heard anything back as of yet. Hopefully we will know something in the next few days. If that is the case it won't be until the start of February before he arrives. The company is actually going through a phase where most of its employees aren't here as they are all getting their visas renewed. We are extremely shorthanded at present but still managing to get by even with new hiring's every week who still need visa approval.
We have all been busy doing paperwork mainly SOP's, reports to KAUST and shopping lists (tackle for the boats and store, marine and boat supplies and the mechanics workshop). As we will soon be taking over some of the facilities at KAUST, we need to get the supplies in, so we can get our operations up and running ASAP.
The Cabo 35 which was purchased at the end of the year, was a week late in shipping and should be here the first week of February. I can't wait for her to get here so that I can get out of the office and back on the water. I am sure as you all know, even as a new boat it will take about two weeks to get her cleaned and ready to go but it will be a welcome relief from the office politics and paperwork.
The biggest personal happening was yesterday when an ATM machine ate my debit card. I put the card in and thought I had selected English for my language, heard the machine beep and a few seconds later the screen read it has taken too long for you to select a service so we are keeping your card........Thanks to one of my sisters and her connections at the bank in Bermuda it has pretty much been resolved. I still have to go to the local bank here and appraise them of the situation.
Not much else to report from here. Enjoy the weekend and have fun!
James
Editor's Note: Capt. James Barnes of Bermuda will be exploring the fishing in the Red Sea and we will keep our readers updated as his reports come in. Should be interesting to hear from that part of the world.
Hello everyone,
A happy new year to you all, which we hope will be a greatly improved one all round. I am really sorry that I have not been sending out the fishing reports as emails but I was away from Shimoni for about 3 weeks over Christmas and new year, which I spent with my wife in Nairobi. Actually it was not all pleasure particularly as the sailfish fishing was really good here then but also because I had to be up there for medical reasons. A tear had developed in the retina of my right eye causing quite a bit of bleeding internally making it difficult for the specialist to see the tear. But fortunately I was able to get an appointment to see a retinal specialist in Nairobi just before he went on his annual festive season leave and he was able to successfully laser the damage and hence prevent the retina from tearing any further. I am now back running Kamara II but of course Hamisi did an excellent job whilst I was away. I still do not have full vision back in that eye but the docs feel that it should given time, which might be anything up to 3 months.
I have just written the latest report that I've posted on to our blog so if you would like to read it please check out the link below:
website
If you register on to the blog you can leave your comments, which will actually only show publicly once they have been approved. That is simply because none of us have the time to spend all of our time on line and we have to keep out the spammers. Virtually every day we are deleting loads of references to viagra and the like but I guess that is just how the internet is.
We still have a few days free at the end of this month and during the first and last weeks of February if you are interested.
Tight lines!
Simon
Pat, Maia, Simon, Tina, Lyndsay, Chris and all our wonderful staff Sea Adventures Ltd,
website
Simon Hemphill email
Tel: +254 (0)722 796 198 (Simon) or (0)722 479 864 (Maia)
hay guys how about checking out our web site visit website
thanks randy
As requested.
 
 
Cheers
Stuart
Stuart Gow
Matava
Fiji's Premier Eco Adventure Resort
PO Box 63
Vunisea
Kadavu
Fiji Islands
t: 679-333-6222
m: 679-997-5416
email
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Overfishing In the Western Pacific… A Rant
Or
Where Is A Good Investigative Reporter When You Really Need One?
Ahoy Crew!
As you know, I recently returned to the RMI (Republic of the Marshall Islands) after a 7 month absence which found me voyaging to and from Fiji aboard my sailboat, the “Deev”. While in Fiji I flew to the west coast of the US and down to the West Indies. It was a great trip. But now it is really nice to be back in the RMI and I am once again putting together some small solar power projects and water purification projects for my old friend Neal Skinner. He also has some 2000 square feet of building to add on to his existing physical plant. These projects should keep us busy and entertained for the foreseeable future!
I’m used to seeing fishing vessels in the Majuro lagoon as the Western Pacific holds the last underexploited stocks of Yellowfin and Bigeye Tuna. I’m afraid that the term “underexploited” is, perhaps, no longer applicable as the Bigeye have already been listed as endangered in this fishery. I was shocked to see the sheer numbers of commercial fishing vessels when I returned to the lagoon. There was and are 8-12 motherships here at all times. These motherships are large vessels that get loaded by huge purse seiners and carry away hundreds of tons of tuna on a daily basis to the markets in Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Honolulu among other places. The purse seining industry has been banned in much of the world because that type of fishing causes serious ecological damage to the oceans. Caught up in their nets are numerous other species such as Marlin, Sailfish and Porpoises along with their target species. Nothing survives the pulling of these massive nets.
The nations of the Western Pacific, including the RMI, Federated States of Micronesia and Kiribiti, get some remuneration for the exploitation of this resource but nothing compared to the market value of the fish. (One positive aside for me is that I can buy beautiful fresh Tuna Loin and Steaks for $2.00/lb in the local market and Sashimi Grade Yellowfin for under $5.00!) I have a feeling that someone, somewhere, may be getting a little something under the table but I have no proof of that. The numbers, in terms of money spent, money earned and the tonnage of the fish is staggering.  We are talking about billions of dollars here. I kid you not.
There are all kinds of scams going on here as well. The purse seiners are supposed to stay in certain areas where they are licensed to fish and none of that is near the islands themselves as there are millions of square miles of open ocean out here. Yesterday two purse seiners were seen setting their nets within a mile or two of the pass into Majuro Lagoon. I guess they just wanted to top off their fish holds before they offloaded to the mothership. Boats are regularly being fined for fishing in areas where they are not supposed to be and I’m sure that those that are caught are just the tip of the iceberg. Another scam is the “American Captain” scam. It seems that at one point there were so many foreign boats and crews here that the powers that be decided they needed a larger and more visible US presence. It was decided that American captains were required on a certain number of boats. The foreign owners hired American captains as figureheads and satisfied the ruling. The US captain has nothing to do whatever with the running of the ship or its fishing. That is all controlled by the fishing master. The American captain is simply there and does nothing. One of the captains told me that other than it being very boring it was the best job he ever had!  His only lament was that he had no one to talk to for a month or more at a time because no one else on the boat spoke English!
Friends of mine have remarked that they feel that the boats here now realize that the resource has almost been brought to the point that it is unsustainable in the near future and they are just trying to grab whatever they can now while they still can. Let’s hope that it isn’t so.
From the edge of the world,
Cheers!
Chuck
Editor's Note: Chuck Handy is a fisherman-sailor-shipright friend who is on a voyage around the world. He departed from the San Juan Islands (Pacific NW coast) and is currently in the Marshall Islands. At one time Chuck lived in St. Thomas and crewed on many boats including with Capt. Ronnie Hamlin and with Capt. Rick Defeo on Tyson's Pride. He has many friends in the fishing industry and we'll post his reports for everyone to read.
Marine Anglers: See Dolphin Report
Happy New Year!
With the close of 2009, the Dolphinfish Research Program completed its eighth year of operation and its fourth year as a private research endeavor. This scientific study has set records every year of it operation. With more than 11,000 dolphin tagged and 328 tags reported recovered during its operation, no other program has generated the comprehensive information on the movements and relationships of dolphin in the Western Central North Atlantic. This program has been successful because of the support of the offshore fishermen. Private anglers have not only conducted all of the field work, they have provided the funding to support the needed research. People are always complaining about what is wrong and what is needed but fishermen participating in the Dolphinfish Research Program are stepping up to take action to correct the problem. We certainly could use more of this positive action in the U.S. today.
This newsletter issue looks at the top taggers in the 2009 tagging program along with some interesting facts from the 2009 activity. It also revisits the fabled fall southerly migration of dolphin off south Florida looking at recent and past tag recoveries for insight into this question. Hope you find it interesting.
Good fishing,
Don
Donald L. Hammond
Marine Fisheries Biologist
Cooperative Sciences Services, LLC
961 Anchor Rd.
Charleston, SC 29412-4902
(843) 795-7524
cssllc@bellsouth.net
www.dolphintagging.com
Hello friends and fisherman,
It has been a while since I had a chance to send you all a report from the Royal Charlotte Bank. I have arrived back in Canavieiras with the Camargue
, a 39.5 ft Cabras Mars, and we are set up for fishing with a new operation called Majestic Marlin Brasil. This is a family business that will provide you with organized and private fishing trips, weather you are chasing the large majestic blue marlin or a day light tackle and jigging.
Lea and myself know what fisherman want and have provided you with a larger more comfortable boat that will make fishing here a memorable experience, accompanied with Casa La Ma
, our private accommodation, this will make it an unforgettable trip.
We had the Annual Marlin Fishing Tournament on the 19th and 20th of November, with 9 boats participating. Fishing aboard the Camargue was Catarina Zanaga, husband Eduardo Costa and son Tiago. We had great fishing but no luck catching.
The first day we raised 5 blues had 3 bites but jumped them all off, two where in the 500 and 650 lb range; we also saw a large blue marlin tailing down sea, the fish was around the 1000 lb mark, we got the baits to her but she would not bite after 5 mins of baiting her. Most of the boats raised 3 or 4 marlin and Roberto Costa & friends fishing on his boat Dodo IV were in the lead with one blue released and one weighing 453 lb or 206 kg.
The second day out Camargue raised 8 blues around 300 to 400 lb, we got bites from 3 and Eduardo released 1 around 300 lb. Most boats raised 2 or 3 marlin the second day, Rafaela caught one that weighed
498 lb or 226 kg and Dodo IV released two more blues to win the tournament. Pitleo came second and Rafaela third place.
Mauricio Pettoruto from Switzerland was here to try marlin fishing for the first time, we raised 3 blues, caught and released all 3; the largest was around 450 lb the other 2 were around 300 lb.
Dr Sergio Cordoni and friends from Foz do Iguacu where here to try marlin fishing for the first time. The first day out was slow for most of the day, at 3.30 a large marlin came up on the short lure and turned and attacked the other short lure, it massive head and shoulders came out of the water, this was a marlin around 1000 lb; it went down and turned north and stayed down after 1 ½ hours, we had the double out of the water, the fish was 40 ft away and there was a lot of colour under the boat, but this was as close as she was coming.
We fought her for another hour and then she made a run deep and died in 600 m of water, the southerly current pushed us back on the edge and cut the line on the bank. The next 2 days the weather was a little rough and the boys opted to take it easy and not fish.
Rogerio Andrade and family where here to try their luck marlin fishing, with 3 days fishing we only raised 4 marlin, had one bite and no luck catching it. They caught some Dorado and Wahoo.
Charles and Bev Holloway were here to fish on their new boat, fishing a couple of days Charles and Bev raised a few marlin and released one around 300 lb; Bev was kept busy catching Dorado and Wahoo for dinner and tuna for sashimi.
Bruno Vincintin was back in Canavieiras and the first day we went to the drill platform and had good fishing. Bruno got a bite early and we had a very acrobatic marlin on, unfortunately the fish got the leader around its tail, dove deep, the fish was now being pulled backwards which drowned the marlin; it weighed 375 lbs.
We raised another marlin soon after around 500 lb but no bite. We did some jigging close to the platform and caught lots of big eye tuna around 15 lbs. Later in the afternoon we raised a fish around 800 lb but once again no bite.
The second day the current slowed, the water temperature went up and the fishing slowed at the platform so we went jigging on the edge; caught Dorado, Wahoo and Amberjack. The last day we fished the Charlotte Bank, the current had stopped so this was not good for marlin, we did not raise a marlin but Bruno caught a bunch of Wahoo and Dorado.
Tim Thomasson was back to fish the Royal Charlotte Bank over the new year; the first day out he released 2 blues one around 400 lb and the other 300 lb, we had another bite from a fish around 500 lb but no luck staying hooked. The next day we fished the bank, raised 2 marlin and 2 sailfish but they were just slapping at the baits, not hungry.
The 3rd day we fished the platform again and raised 2 blues, one around 500 lb attacked the short lure but didn`t stay hooked. The last day was on the bank again and the first day of the New Year. We raised
3 blues and a sailfish, Tim released 2 blues, one with no Bill, around 120 lb and another around 250 lb; Tim got another bite from a fish around 500 lb but did not stay on. We raised a sailfish as well that day.
As you can see I started the season late this year and have not seen a run of marlin that we are use too, they might have come through in October but no one was marlin fishing here. I believe we will have good fishing over the next 3 months, raising up to 3 or 4 marlin a day and most of the fish are over 500 lb at this time off year.
The weather has been good most of the time here with calm to moderate seas. The bottom fishing and jigging has been good on the bank as well for those of you that like to jigg.
Please check out our website http://www.majesticmarlin.com.br and give Lea or myself a call to put a package together for you to come and enjoy our great fishing on a comfortable boat, the Camargue.
Relax for a while in tranquil Canavieiras
and let that stress just disappear.
Lea and I hope that everyone will have a prosperous new year.
Tight lines to all.
Capt Shawn Wallace
Shawn Wallace email
Phone: Shawn cell: 55-73-9972-0006 - Léa cell: 55-73-9978-3259
HELLO JIMMY,
I HAVE TREE WEEKS AVAIBLE IN JUNE , FROM THE 8 TO THE 1 JULY, IF YOU KNOW SAMEONE TO FISH THE CAPE LET ME KNOW.
TAKE CARE
ZAK
email Zak
Latest News - Jan 4 2010
2010 already ?!!! Didn’t we just do the millenium thing a few years ago? Time is marching on and luckily we all get to enjoy it together.
The 2009 season was a big one for me on Tradition, the boat was away for just under 6 months and we fished a ton of days with our clients from all parts of the world.
This season we started off fishing 8 days with a family from Sydney, catching the boys all sorts of fish around the inner reefs, snorkeling every day and even swimming with a pod of dolphins that came up to investigate these strange intruders into their world – an amazing experience for all of us. And capped it off with a little black marlin.
The boys from Melbourne joined us for a few days of fishing and drinking, catching some nice mackerel and yellowfin tunas and just enjoyed their trip immensely.
Our first heavy tackle trip was with the boys from my home club, and we managed to harass a few fish, but couldn’t get the tag in any, but the good news was the number of fish being raised each day.
Peter and Lydie returned from China for their 5th annual Great Barrier Reef trip on Tradition this year, and after winning champion lady angler at Lizard last year, this year set ourselves a new goal, the womens record on 50lb. We had some great bites, and managed to get the tag into a few fish, including one about 400, but didn’t get a shot at the one we were looking for. Another great trip for us culminating with their engagement at Pixie Pinnacle!!
Jason and Chrissy joined us from the US for a few days and we had a huge number of bites and managed a few good fish. A really fun charter for us all finishing up at Lizard Island.
We spent a week up on Jewel Reef fishing and spearing, and had a few incredible days, seeing up to 7 fish in a couple of hours, tagging 3,and let one go around 900 late one evening, that had 2 other good fish with her. A big dogtooth and a marlin on the pitch at the same time, incredible spearing and an awesome anchorage, will be up there some more next year!!!
Ken brought his fishing buddy Dan along this year for another 10 days mothershipping with the Bali Hai. Great friends, better food and topped it off with a nice 600 lber for Dan on his 60th birthday, a wonderful week for us all.
The boys from Moscow joined us again this year for a week and we had a huge number of bites and missed the biggest fish I have seen for nearly a decade, an absolute beast that crashed the big bait but didn’t come tight!!
Our biggest fish of the season came for Doc when he and John from Florida joined us for a week up at No:10, and was capped off by Docs fish that was right there at the grand mark, an awesome fish that we tagged in 10 minutes and was one of those special fish that keep us coming back to the Great Barrier Reef each year.
We shot down to Linden Bank for a few days with the boys from Melbourne and got each of them a fish, including a real nice 900 lber for Scott that gave Chris a good run on the leader with some big lunges and jumps.
Our last big trip of the season was with long term client Greg, who spent 10 relaxing days with us and was treated to some good fishing, capping it off with his hardest fight in all his years with us, a really tough 800 lb fish hooked in the corner.
The girls joined us again in early December for the Ribbons Ladies tournament, and while the weather was just awful, we had a great day catching some mackerals and dolphin fish and enjoyed what would be one of the best run tournaments in the world, the Ladies really put on an awesome show.
Our last trip from Cairns to Hamilton Island was a relaxing trip with our guests, fishing, swimming and spearing our way down the coast for a week before Chris and I got back to the Gold Coast on December 20!!!
Overall, I would say that the season for us was better than last year, with many more fish raised than in previous seasons and the number of BIG fish caught by the fleet over 1000 lbs was close to 50 fish at the end of the season, with all but 1 fish being released, so with those big breeding fish out there, the future looks awesome!!!
I have been enjoying a couple of weeks off and am back to the boat this week to start getting her ready for next season. Dates are already filling fast and am currently just juggling dates to fit everyone in, so if you are interested in joining me this season please let me know.
Also keep in mind our big trip over the top of Australia in 2011 to Broome and Exmouth for 7-10 day trips, leaving Cairns mid April and finishing in Cairns early September, ready for another heavy tackle season.
Have a wonderful 2010 and hope to hear form you soon and see you on Tradition.
Tim
email Tim
visit website
Kiwi quality
With Marlin & Tuna present, not so far offshore in September, we were hoping for a very early start to our New Zealand game fishing season.
A monster Yellowtail Kingfish of 110lbs, rattling the world record, was taken from the Ranfurly Banks (weighed 2 days later) and thoughts turned evermore to the “big ones”. Amazingly, the very same angler caught a fish of 102lbs last year from White Island….who says that lightning doesn’t strike twice!
Enthusiasm was further fuelled by the sighting of a huge Black Marlin feeding in shallow water amongst large schools of baitfish, not far from Whangarei.
The subsequent strong & cool offshore winds seemed to put pay to hopes & certainly deterred the hardier fishes from making the required effort.
As the weather became more benign in December, the first of the “prospectors” began to venture out wide & the reward of the first Striped Marlin for the season fell to an angler fishing from Hokianga early in this month.
With few charter bookings & “amateurs” awaiting the approaching holiday season, it was left to a local charter operator to venture out solo from the Bay of Islands to report the next tagged Stripey, just before Christmas.
Soon after, also from the Bay of Islands, another Stripey, a good fish approaching 300lbs, was weighed in by a junior angler. This is believed to be a pending junior/line class world record.
Numbers of Yellowfin Tuna were very low last season, but the recent success of long liners has raised hopes for better things this summer. The first reported fish was a beauty of 155lbs and is right at the top of the size we can expect here and we hope for many more in the more usual 50lb range to follow.
As New Year broke an early Blue Marlin of about 465lbs was caught from Whangaroa, suggesting it’s all about to happen!
Tight Lines,
John Kimberley.
John & Jessica Kimberley
Pacific Promotions NZ
20 Nelsons Road, RD2, Hikurangi
Northland 0182, New Zealand
Tel: +64 9 433 9981
Mobile: 021 430 717
email John
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07/29/10 - Capt. James Barnes - Bermuda Bonanza ReportTriple Crown Report
07/09/10 - Glen Mumford - Pez Vela Marina - Costa Rica
07/04/10 - Canyon Runner Report - Point Plesant, NJ
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04/09/10 - Casa Vieja - Guatemala Fishing Report
From the staff here at Pacific Fins Guatemala, we want to congratulate our great friend "Pappa" Powers from Dallas, TX on his 90th Birthday and thank him and the Powers Family for giving us the honor to celebrate such an important date while fishing with us...
On one day, "Pappa Powers" released 7 Sails by himself! The weather and sea conditions did not help much, but we expect to get better numbers on their next visit... 
01/17/10 - Stuart Gow - Kadavu, Vunisea Fiji Islands Report 
