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The marlin fishing has been great - you can expect to get a couple shots and reports of 3-6 shots have been fairly common from those putting in a full day's effort. Furthermore, VERY BIG FISH (i.e., 600-1,000 plus pounds) are being encountered every day.
There is a lot of scattered weed out there, annoying the mates, but this has brought with it a reasonable supply of peanut dolphin. We usually get a lot of this in August, and needless to say any sizable floating object is worth investigating. Somebody will soon catch a boat load of dolphin and wahoo under a floating object (if it has not already happened). The wahoo bite has been slow, but anybody prepared to start early and make an effort is likely to catch at least a couple, and one friend of mine got eight off the SW Edge on Sunday.
Tuna fishing has been very slow. Hopefully, some noticeable big yellowfin will show up soon - this usually happens at some point in August.
Cup Match is just about here, and for many this means marlin fishing in the Sea Horse Anglers Club's Bermuda Billfish Tournament. This year is the 30th Annual such event. Last year, Treasure Isle edged out Sea Wolfe for the victory. So GOOD LUCK to all.
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Sunday July 27
Reel Tight lit it up again, going 4-5 on blues including a 600-pounder first thing in the morning. By my count that's 13 blues in four days for Reel Tight. WOW! L&H had a great day also, going 3-5 on blues. De Mako was 1-2 today, releasing a fat 650-pound blue in the afternoon (32), and Sea Scorpion boated a 500-pound-class blue that they had battled for two and a half hours. Challenger was 0-2, I think, and one of the misses was another suspected grander that they jumped-off down in the Sonesta area again (same fish as Wednesday perhaps).
Sea Wolfe caught a couple of wahoo, one was particularly large at 80-pound - that's a fatty! Down East, Pappy Todd and Straws were out on the maiden full day trip on Instigator. They mostly chummed up NorthEast, but it was not happening. They reported one yellowtail, and were 5-7 on peanut dolphin.
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Saturday July 26
De Mako, Challenger and Sea Wolfe were all doing great with blue marlin today. De Mako was 1-4 before they even got to the Eastern turn of Challenger, and ended up 2-6 on the day. Sea Wolfe chummed down on Argus, which was fairly uneventful - a couple of blackfin, a wahoo and load of robins, but on the way home on Argus they had a double-header of blues (400 and 200 pounds), and released them both - 2-2 on the day (14).
Not to be outdone, Challenger was looking at an 0-3 result, but late in the day, after 5:00 pm, persistence paid-off out between Peter Riley's and the Sonesta area, when they had a double-header. The small blue dropped off, but the other was porker in the 800-pound class, and it was released after over an hour of pulling. CONGRATULATIONS to Capt. Allan and Ian!
It seemed that just about everyone else had shots too. Reel Tight started the day with a triple-header of spearfish, released one, and then had several shots at blues, releasing a couple. Jamie C released a blue, and Jimbo, Rinear and crew on Warrior had a couple shots (0-2) on the way home. Earlier they caught a couple of wahoo, a dolphin and a tuna on Argus.
Just about the only boat looking that did not get a shot was the boat I was on - Calisto with Forster, Cragin and Carter. Our day was doomed at 6:35 am when I pulled out of my driveway having forgotten the precious bottle of rum. This disaster was not realized until 8:00 am and so too late, and the day went downhill from there. We fished from 8:30 to 5:15, trolling as far West as the Eastern side of Argus and as far East as Grape Bay, but nada, nien - nothing but heat and a 200-pound class oceanic white tip shark that we observed guarding a floating gas cylinder between the banks.
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Friday July 25
HOLY COW! Reel Tight was red hot, releasing five blue marlin today on Challenger and Argus banks. All the blues were small though, 130- to 150-pound class. L&H left the dock at 3:00 pm and still managed to release a small blue and miss one, both near the SE corner of Challenger.
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Thursday July 24
Reel Tight released two blues.
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Wednesday July 23
Challenger was 1-2, with a 200-pound release and missed a shot at a full size suspected to be a GRANDER.
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Tuesday July 22
De Mako was the HOT BOAT today, going 2-5, with releases of 400 and 300 pounds and a near miss on a 600+ pounder. Mike Day and crew on Tantrum released a blue also.
The marlin fishing on the waning side of the July moon is usually great here, and this past week has been no exception, especially when size is considered - this was certainly BIG FISH week. As far as other species goes - I am not sure - the SE side of Argus still has the most activity with large schools of skipjack tuna present, and I've heard the wahoo bite can be decent if you pick the right day, but the fish are mostly all 15-25 lb.
Back on the Edge there were some reports of big gray snapper catches at night up in the shallows, but that likely peaked with the full moon.
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Monday July 21
Overproof did a half day trip and released a 150-pound blue this morning right near the SE corner of Challenger and shortly after that missed a bite. Bounce had a double header of blues down off St. David's this morning and released one of them. Visiting boat L&H was 1-3, with a 450-pound releases.
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Sunday July 20
We finally had some breeze - 15-18 knots from the SW. A couple of boats took the opportunity to troll down South Shore. This paid off for Overproof. They had one shot and made it count, with a 250-pound blue marlin release out in the deep off Mid Ocean Point.
Outlaw was 2-2, the bigger fish being a nice one at 500 pounds and the other about 200. Bite Me released a blue of about 350 pounds, and De Mako released a blue. (I think that's 27 blues on the season now for Captain Allen - Bermuda's leader by a wide margin).
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Saturday July 19
The blues on the banks took the day-off from feeding, but elsewhere (down East) it seems there was some good action. Sloan Wakefield's Tenacious boated a blue that was estimated to be close to 400 pounds, and battled another blue (presumably much larger) for 90 minutes on 130 before the hook pulled. They also missed a third shot. Bermuda Banger lit it up with 600- and 500-pound releases - NICE GOING!
Todd Fonner and crew are so new to offshore fishing that their outboard boat has not been named, but they found a blue that attacked a balao rigged on a small casting 30 lb test outfit trolled out Northwest of Northrock, and battled it for 90 minutes and 5 miles before the line snapped. This blue gave them some pretty jumps and was accompanied by two other marlin that swam around the boat during the action.
Over on the banks, De Mako released two whites and caught a wahoo, while Sea Wolfe caught a white, a wahoo and a dolphin. Meanwhile, Cragin was enjoying a peaceful day on Overproof, returning to the vicinity of the SE corner on the way home from Argus, when Pete hollered out from the tower "GRANDER IN THE SPREAD." It was hard to see with the angle of the sun and Pete kept yelling "HUGE FISH, HUGE FISH!" There was no bite, but they turned and then they got a great look at the massive blue, swimming just off the port stern. All aboard declared it the biggest blue marlin that they ever saw. Pete boated a 906-pound blue last year, so I reckon this fish was a GRANDER, but as with many granders, no bite. Needless to say there was no shortage of boats working a small area after that report crackled out on the radio.
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Friday July 18
Today was another BIG FISH day on the marlin scene: Challenger was the RED HOT boat - they were 3-4 on blues. The first release was small, the second release was a fatty, estimated at 550 pounds. Late in the day they hooked a PORKER off Elbow beach. The gaffs were out as Capt. Allan thought that this fish had grander potential, but eventually they released the fish, which was estimated at about 750 pounds.
Sea Wolfe was HOT again. Capt. Russell started the day with an 80-pound white marlin catch, and then had a double-header. One was never hooked-up properly and the other, a 300-pounder, was released. Later they battled a big fish- estimated at 650+ - that put on an amazing display of acrobatics before it was eventually released. So 2-3 on blues and 1-1 on whitie. That's 12 blues for Sea Wolfe this season. In the past week they have boated a 757 pounder and had two releases in the 500-650 pound class.
Also on the big fish list was Hog Wild with a porker release estimated at 750 pounds. Outlaw scored a blue and a white release, and L&H released a 150-pound blue and raised another massive one. That's three blues in the 650-750 lb+ class today and another close to 600.
On the other game scene, Larry Martin had 6 wahoo on Ocean Mile.
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Thursday July 17
Two or three days past the full moon is when the marlin action is best (in my opinion) and today the BITE WAS ON. The hotspot was definitely around the SE side of Challenger bank. The HOT boat was Triple Play. Andrew Dias left the dock at lunch with just one friend on board and ended up going 4-6 on blues and caught a 120-pound yellowfin. The fish were in the 175 to 275-pound class, except one that looked to be about 350.
Down East, Bermuda Banger was reported to be 3-6. Cragin and Pete on Overproof had a full day marlin charter and the action was happening for them, too. They started with a double-header on the SE of Challenger. The fish on the short rigger was a MONSTER, estimated at 800 pounds plus, that grabbed the lure and proceeded to charge up near the side of the boat before the hook pulled. The other blue grabbed the long rigger, but that hook also pulled. They then went over to Argus where they had a shot at another biggie on the short rigger - again estimated to be 800 pounds or better. Again the hook did not stay in.
They were 0-3 and feeling a bit low, if not awed, and they went back to the SE side of Challenger where a few other boats were working. In the middle of it all they had another double-header. The bigger fish, estimated to be 500 pounds, threw the hook, but they successfully released the smaller one, which was 350. Then on the way home, they were attacked again, and the released a 425-pound blue marlin. WHAT A DAY - 2 for 6, with two good size releases and shots at three other fish of 500-800 pounds or more!
De Mako was 1-3 on blues and raised a fourth fish. That's four days in a row catching a blue for Captain Allen and Bigger James. Challenger was 1-3 on blues on a morning half. The visiting boats mostly piled-up a lot of misses: Hog Wild was 0-5; Oppositional was 0-3; and Tantrum, with our friend Mike Day aboard, was 0-2 with a white released. Southern Exposure, however, did release a blue.
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