BERMUDA BECKONS
By: Dean Travis Clarke
Bermud a can be the answer to many anglers' dreams: It's an exotic location that lies a short, convenient flight from our East Coast; the natives speak English; lodging, food and beverage please the most demanding epicure; and the fishing offers world-record opportunities on a regular basis, all within minutes of a beautiful cosmopolitan city.
Few marinas exist in Bermuda. Most boats hang on moorings or dock behind private homes. Consequently, charters arrange to pick you up at a central location, most often selecting Albuoy's Point in this island nation's sophisticated capital of Hamilton. I say sophisticated because Bermuda serves as the hub for a great number of international banking, finance and insurance companies, and its capital embodies an exotic, cosmopolitan lifestyle. With strict immigration laws, Bermuda maintains an uncrowded population of about 58,000.
Offshore Fishing
Like the atolls of the South Pacific, Bermuda arose from a volcano. Millennia of weather and ocean have worn away most of the island until only a coral reef with a low, dry island at its center remains. Watching the sounder as you sail away from Bermuda reveals a defined edge where the island plateau drops off into the deep ocean.
Most offshore fishing takes place off the western end of the island where two banks, Challenger and Argos, at 12 and 30 miles offshore, offer up world-class wahoo, tuna and marlin. The banks rise out of the deep to about 30 fathoms.
Though good fishing runs year-round, Bermudans consider the height of marlin season to be mid-June through September. During this same period, you'll find the hottest bite for big Allison tuna (150-plus pounds). The spring months of May and June bring fast and furious wahoo and white marlin action, though by the end of June, the whites have usually moved farther north. Winter fishing usually produces 10 to 20 large wahoo per day.
The boats we fished recently supplied 80- and 130-pound tackle when going for marlin -- a distinct signal of the size of blue marlin they battle.
All the harbors in Bermuda are terrifically well-protected, but that protection comes with a price: You need to spend time idling through serpentine channels to get in and out of mooring areas. Once in sight of open water, you still must run some ways to get to an adequate opening in the reef. So while the distance isn't far, the time it takes to get out to the offshore grounds is longer than you'd expect.
Day 1
Our first day's adventure found us aboard Capt. Cragin Curtis's lovely Ocean 48, Somethin' Hot, with his mate James Robinson and angler Claire Spearing.
A slender fellow, Robinson obviously has a metabolism that just won't slow down. He appears to work at four or five times the speed of most humans. Add the fact that he's also a perfectionist and Curtis has the equivalent of about four mates in the cockpit at all times -- but without taking up all the space.
We vowed to try for Spearing's first blue marlin. It became obvious that she had some serious misgivings when we set up the chair bucket, fitting a 130-pound rod and reel to her. Small but wiry, Spearing surely wondered what she was getting herself into with such stout tackle, but with several world-record blue marlin caught in Bermuda's waters, one must always be prepared for that kind of fish.
Our first trolling spot, Challenger Bank, produced one wahoo in short order. By lunch time, we'd had a dozen strikes from white marlin and wahoo, many of which ended with only the bait's head left on the hook. Then the radio crackled.
"We've got a big one on; looks for all the world like a grander," announced Allen DeSilva, owner and captain of one of Bermuda's most famous charter boats, Mako IV.
Just as lunch was put away, we got a knockdown. A large white marlin switched back and forth between three of the baits, then took the right long. Twenty minutes later, it pulled the hook.
Curtis decided to try Argos Bank, 18 miles farther out. We trolled around "The Tower," a sub-surface structure that the government demolished some years ago, feeling it might pose a menace to navigation. Menace or not, it sure attracts fish.
Suddenly the radio erupted with hooting and hollering. DeSilva reported that angler Zachary Baird from Idaho fought the fish to the boat, whereupon it ran deep. Baird's father Steve took over and slowly cranked the blue back up and aboard. It weighed in at 996 pounds. Like most Bermuda charters, we left the dock at 7:30 a.m. and returned by about 4:30. We had a great day on wahoo and yellowfin, but Spearing never got to pit herself against a big blue marlin.
Day 2
Capt. Russell Young aboard Sea Wolfe, his classic, single-engine Claude Torres day boat, picked us up in Somerset, a town closer to the fishing grounds. Young's father, too, was a charter captain. Between them, they've got over 50 years in the business of sport fishing in Bermuda.
Our plan for the day was to start out fishing for wahoo. Charts identify Argos bank as Plantagenet Shelf, named for the ruling family of England. It took on the name Argos, since that's what the submerged tower was called. So much for the monarchy.
Things were pretty quiet until we moved most of the way around the edge of Argos Bank and saw a huge yellowfin crash. We stopped and set up a drift. Several yellowfin rose to the chum slick, and the day provided more than enough dinner for both crew and anglers.
Day 3
Bermuda crews use a few techniques we've never seen anywhere else. For example, on Knock Down with Capt. Steve Rance, we used small squid daisy chains to catch small little tunny. They rigged the little tunny with two short pieces of wire, one longer than the other. The wires attached to 4/0 or 5/0 short shank hooks with haywire twists, one placed at the nose and one near the tail.
We pulled the livies at about 4 knots on two downriggers, one at 80 feet and the other 50 feet down, plus one from a rigger. From the other rigger we ran either a dead bait or the tuna-feather daisy chain.
Rance explained that because of the water's incredible clarity, he and other captains often revert to #4 wire on 4/0 hooks with very short wire traces to a swivel, then attach 50-pound mono leader to the snap swivel. Except for the expense, fluorocarbon leader would work even better in this instance.
Fly Fishing Bermuda
If fly fishing gets your heart beating, then Bermuda is one of those prime places. Capt. James Pearman is the only fly-fishing guide on the island, and he's very talented. But then, he must be to succeed with Bermuda's big bonefish. There are plenty of fish, but they're not easy. Most bones run between 6 and 12 pounds, with the majority about 8.
"First," says Pearman, poling from the platform of his custom Maverick flats skiff, "it's critical to fish the tides. Bermuda has some hefty flows that really affect flats fishing."
From an aesthetic point of view, fly fishing Bermuda can't be compared to anywhere else. Each new fishing spot is a mini-adventure. Around each bend is something more beautiful. The smell of honeysuckle and flowers on the breeze is intoxicating. It's quite unique to be casting for a bone early in the morning right under someone's patio or deck while they're having breakfast.
Another terrific benefit is that you can travel around the mangroves without swatting mosquitoes or "no-see-ums." Quite a treat. Though April through November qualifies as "the season," you can fly fish year-round. It's almost always 60 degrees or warmer. With 181 named islands (only about 20 inhabited) for bonefish to congregate around, you're sure to find fish to stalk.
An average morning offers 15 shots, while on a full day you can expect 30 to 40. There are even tarpon in Bermuda, though very scattered. I saw some in a deep gulley while coming back through the reef from offshore. However, no one has yet described a pattern to these fishes' movements.
Pearman has top-quality fly tackle aboard for any clients who choose to use his. Those who prefer their own should bring 9-weight gear with floating line. A pale crab pattern works better than those with brown coloration over Bermuda's light, almost pink, sands. Clouser patterns in pale pink and white work well, but tails should run a touch shorter than what East Coast Americans are used to. Use #2 or #4 hooks. Winds from the southwest in Bermuda don't afford many sheltered places to cast. However, with a southeast wind, loads of protected spots can be found. "Half moons through the new moon are most productive," says Pearman. "Full moons find Bermuda bones more finicky." Pearman charges $400 for a full day and $225 for a half-day. He supplies drinks while anglers bring their own lunches. However, I believe it's much more interesting to pull into a shore-side restaurant for lunch -- you get a rest from the boat for an hour while sampling some of Bermuda's delicious local fare.
I'm convinced that more Americans don't think about Bermuda as one of the best fishing places in the world because it's too close to home. There's a sense that you have to travel halfway around the world to find extraordinary fishing. Anglers who check out their own backyards may find their names beside the next world-record marlin.
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