The Wahoo continue to please. Early in the week we were having good luck on Challenger Bank trolling with dead bait for Wahoo as well as chumming on the NW side of the Bank. In the chum, there were a fair number of little Yellowfin Tuna, huge numbers of Skipjack Tuna as well as the odd Rainbow Runner and Tiger Sharks. All in all, made for a few interesting days.

We fish for Wahoo in the chum using spinning gear with a short trace of wire just above the hook. The particular fellow I am holding above hit my bait (yes, I was convinved to try a drift or two with the rod in my hand) like something very small. As I was reeling the fish in easily, someone hooked a Yellowfin just above my fish. Well, that sure woke up the Wahoo and he went around the bow in a flash. After 10 or 15 minutes fighting him from the bow deck, I figured that I must have a Wahoo that was converted in to a Tiger Shark. I put the max drag on and start to work the fish to the boat thinking I will either catch it or break it off and finish this one way or the other. Well, he was a nice surprise when he came to the gaff.

Later in the week the bite on Argus was good. I think we ended up with 15 Wahoo on Saturday. Ricky Lines and his guests did their usual great job and we had two great days out.

September-October fishing in Bermuda….nice weather, lots of action, lots of fish to eat!

I am going to be in Costa Rica this week checking on Capt. Mike and Chowie, the other half of Black & Blue Fishing. As a result, the next fishing report will be from the Pacific.

Talk to you then.

- Capt. Allen DeSilva

Whoa! Too much for one report so we are going to do two this week. Had a pretty good week this week. The Blue Marlin bite is hanging in there and you tend to get a shot or two a day. Friday Colin Barnes got four shots and caught two.

Depending on your personal preference, what might be more exciting is to talk about those big Yellowfin Tunas that I mentioned last week. They are here. While the numbers of fish in the schools are not as big as one might hope, with a little luck and a lot of concentration and patience you can get one or two. The way fishing for these bigger tunas works is you drag baits – beg enough ones to entice Blue Marlin close to the boat and smaller ones further back on the riggers. Way back. Spectra helps a bunch when your baits are so far back there.

You put the boat in 100 – 500 fathoms off the Bank and wait for the school to come up and crash baits. Sunday they were eating these little things we call “redfish”, Saturday they were eating flying squid. Whatever the bait of the day is, when the Tuna drive it to the surface and they are feeding you have to have your baits in the school quickly because they tend not to stay on the surface for long. These Tuna are big for Bermuda – all over 100 pounds. When you get a bite (we got a triple on Thursday) it is a case of hang on and hope for the best! These fish pull hard and fight for a long time. A really rewarding catch for the angler. Gets me all fired up just talking about it.

Our AON trip were the big winners this week catching two of the three big Tuna hooked (one was lost right at the boat – hard luck!). The fish were 120 pounds and 180 pounds. That is a lot of cassarole or sushi or tuna steaks.

Earlier in the week we caught a frisky Blue with Bruce Dilke. What he lacked in size, he compensated for by the jumps. Danny Forchic came fishing for a couple of days with two friends and they both got a Blue Marlin. Congratulations guys! Just as an aside, Danny might have missed his calling. He loves to fish and ski but check out his form with that tag stick…I think the javelin might have been his real calling.

Check out the footage below.

So, for the week a few Blue Marlin, two big Tunas a smattering of Wahoo and Skipjack Tunas. It is August…the seas are flat and full of life. Makes it fun to go out every day wondering what we are going to see today. As I dated this fishing report, I realized that September fast approaches. September is a very interesting month in Bermuda. It is a little cooler, the seas tend to stay flat but the water temperature changes just enough to make it the only month where you can catch every species Bermuda has to offer. Sittting here thinking about what is available in September I come up with the following list:

1. Blue Marlin
2. Wahoo on dead bait
3. the occasional Dolphin
4. Yellowfin Tuna
5. HUGE Tiger Sharks
6. Wahoo on live bait
7. Barracuda
8. Amberjack
9. Little Tunny
10. Skipjack Tuna
11. Blackfin Tuna…you get the idea.

I hate being ashore during September with all that stuff out there to catch. Call and book a trip!

- Capt. Allen DeSilva

All the photos from this week: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blackandbluefishing/sets/72157622056702652/

The weed has retreated.

Go Laura! Nice Wahoo

The weed has gone back to wherever it came from, letting the fleet have a reasonable chance at trolling for Marlin again. The bite is pretty good and seems to be improving slowly. MAKO was able to convince seven of those Blues to eat this week. We released three of them.

Woody's Marlin

We had Guy Harvey and his son and daughter (and a film crew) on board for a couple of days this week. Guy wanted to catch a Tiger Shark and Blue Marlin. I have to say I was getting a little nervous on the Marlin front, but we were able to pull it out at the end and Master Harvey caught a 200 pound Blue. This release was a little unusual as it involved Guy and his daughter jumping in to film the fish! I am sure we will all get to see that footage when Guy’s project is completed.

If you think that is interesting, young Master Harvey also hooked, fought and landed an 800 pound Tiger Shark. Again, at the release, the Harveys were overboard filming. I know he is the expert, but the Marlin filming didn’t make me as nervous and the Tiger Shark filming did.

In other news, AON ran a trip on Thursday and we caught a couple of Wahoo. We went 1 for 3 yesterday and 1 for 2 on Friday.

The tuna are much harder to find this week. They took the Robins (speedos) with them wherever they went. It is a more typical August now…Marlin and Tiger Shark fishing are the main activities, at least until the guys find the next hot spot for chumming the Tuna. I thought things were going to get real interesting when there were a couple of sightings of bigger Tuna, part of the near-annual run of larger Yellowfin Tuna (over 100 pounds) that Bermuda enjoys. They are also hiding now. I sure hope they show up this year.

Until next Sunday…

- Capt. Allen DeSilva

I was checking the footage on the hand held video camera and we got a great clip of Karen Sealock catching her Blue Marlin back in the Blast tournament. I also found the slow motion feature on the video processing software so you are all going to have to put up with my overuse of the feature until the novelty wears off.

I spoke about the weed situation last week. It is no better. It is making trolling very difficult. We have been spending most of our time on the Tuna instead. We have had some really great days. The medium size Tuna are being very cooperative this year. One day last week, in an attempt to combat the weed we put marlin lures on the downriggers to try and keep them below the worst of the weed. We got a little dolphin, but it didn’t work on Mr. Marlin that day.

The weather sure seems to have settled into normal August weather – hot and calm. These calm days are great for kids. We had a trip last week where a couple of kids kept themselves busy all day with the Ocean Robins (Speedos), tuna, barracuda and Mackerel (Little Tunny). It is a nice change to see someone get so excited about catching half a Speedo because she couldn’t reel faster than the barracuda could swim.

We will be out quite a bit this week with no holidays to interrupt us. Let’s hope I have lots of fish stories for Sunday.

- Capt. Allen DeSilva

It never fails. The tournaments over, Colin Barnes went out on the Indigo Blue and it took him 20 minutes to get a bite from a fish he figured would have made the minimum 500 pound weight had it been a day earlier. MAKO took Sunday off but we were out on Monday and had similar action. We went 1 for 4 for the day. That included a doubleheader of blues each over 500. They both came loose, but it sure was fun for a while.

I gave Mate Peter Lewis kudos a few weeks back for pitching a Blue on a big lure so it is only fair that I relate a story from this week that went the other way. We had a fish come up in the spread that was hot. It went after my bridge teaser very aggressively and I felt confident we would get a bite out of her. Peter had the pitch bait rod ready and dropped back to just before the second wave so that when the teaser disappeared and the fish turned, she would see the pitch. All went well except the fish did not seem at all sure about that pitch lure. In fact, after following the pitch for what seemed like a minute, she cut over and ate the short right lure – which was covered, covered, covered in weed. So much for that pitch attempt. At least we got a bite!

The weed is really, really bad on both banks. So bad that trolling is awfully difficult. Normally, the weed starts coming in in September and gets really bad by December. Who knows why this year is so much earlier – but we all wish it would go away. If you are trolling 5 or 6 lines, it feels like half of them are covered in weed at any one time. Later this week the Sea Toy and Challenger went down North of the island and found some relief from the weed. As I recall, they both got a fish up there; Challenger might have caught two.

While the weed is the bad news, the Yellowfin Tuna remain the good news. On the outside edge of Argus you can see them on the surface in pretty good numbers. A good class of fish too, 50 to 100 pounders. Live Robins fished deep seems to be the best way to get a bite. It sure is fun fishing and those Tuna can PULL!

Most of our firends on the visiting boats have made their trip home or will do so this week, we wish them all safe trips. It was great to have you here. It’s going to feel empty out there for a while.

I got an email from my friend and Black and Blue member Mike Sandusky that said the bite is on off Hatteras. They had great weather this week so I look forward to hearing all the stories out of the Outer Banks.

The pictures were kind of sparse this week. We will do better next week. Talk to you next Sunday.

- Capt. Allen DeSilva

So ends the tournament season in Bermuda. MAKO managed a 9th place finish. Not great, but not terrible. Congratulations to Bree, the big winner!

Our Sea Horse tournament was a challenge. The first day we went 0 for 4 on whites. The second day, “everyone’s favorite redneck”, Todd Holleman put on a one man show catching a White and then a Blue. We managed to catch a lot of the activity on the boat cameras. Look up by the time and date to see that Blue put on a show on top. The third day was quiet again, I think we missed two bites, on a white and one a suspected Blue. We had a big fish come up on the shotgun – at first, I thought the shadow was a Manta Ray – that is how big it was. As is so often the case, this big fish PILED on the shotgun with water splashing everywhere and a huge hole in the water and…..missed the darn lure completely. Ah well, next time.

Just before the tournament the tide (current) switched and is now running into the East. As the bait and fish adjust to this new tide it will take a little scouting to find out where they are living now. It will be interesting to see if the Tuna, which have been great this year, set up again in such good numbers. They tend to get scarce around mid-July, but every year is different.

Until next Sunday…

- Capt. Allen DeSilva

Sunday. The rest day after the Bermuda Big Game Classic. Dan Jacobs and his team pulled off another great one – thanks to all of you.

I am pretty sure that Bree won the tournament. We will know for sure tonight at the awards banquet.

MAKO had a tough tournament, releasing a Blue in three days of fishing. We missed two bites on the first day and one sneaky White Marlin attack on the third day. Things were quiet for us, but we could have done better. That is what suckers you into going out and doing it next year!

There is one more tournament in Bermuda next week…the Sea Horse Anglers Club. We are looking forward to that.

Finally, the wind has died down. The last day of the Classic was nice and it is really nice today. Let’s hope it holds.

Tuna fishing remains hot on the North side of both banks. I am not aware of anyone who tried tuna fishing on the North side of the Island, but that might pay off too. MAKO’s calendar for the rest of the summer is looking pretty good, so with the right weather we ought to be able to provide some pretty regular advice as to conditions.

Talk to you next Sunday.

- Capt. Allen DeSilva

As I was getting the cameras, etc. ready for the Bermuda Billfish Blast and the World Cup, I happened upon these clips from last year.

From 2008 Blast

A day late and a dollar short….

I hope you enjoy watching them. The first fish on the video was caught a day late…after the World Cup.

I will let you know what we see during the tournaments.

- Capt. Allen DeSilva

Good lord! This wind.

Last week was had a few good days weather-wise but tournament day was howling when we woke up. Sacha and her team of Nicole and Karen (of Sam and Omie’s fame) got on the boat with their hair streaming behind them and a grim, determined look on their faces. Oh, and a blender.

Well, the day went pretty well. We got shoken up on the way to the north side of Challenger Bank where much of the action has been lately with the tide running to the Southwest. Things started pretty quickly for us with a bite on the shotgun. Karen was quick to the rod, despite the rotation previously agreed with her teammates. The fish jumped and it was clear it was a Blue Marlin. The cooperative fish stayed on top and we were able to back down pretty quickly, despite the rough weather. Karen did a great job keeping up with the boats and before too long a very wet angler and mate had the fish to the leader. Pete did his usual great job and we got the pictures required in the tournaments. The fish was about 200 pounds and 500 points. MAKO was on the board!

We high-fived each other, got the spread back out and continued trolling. The long right rigger came down within 10 minutes with a fish that ran off enough line to make us wonder what kind of marlin we had. Sacha did a great job getting the girt 130 outfit into the chair all on her own and she made short work of the White after that first run. We had good luck, the fish stayed hooked and we didn’t make any mistakes. One White Marlin relaease for 700 points. MAKO in the lead!

Well, I would love to tell you kept up at that pace, but it did not. We had another bite or two that came unstuck and did not get an angler in the chair again.

About 2 pm the blender came out and the Beast Wackers started to flow. Boy, was that ice machine a good idea on the new boat. We ended the day in second place but we entered Level One and Level Two, while the high point boat chose not to do so. What a break and a nice way to start the July tournaments.

Sunday was quiet for us and the fleet. We did not catch anything the second day and ended up in Fourth Place, or so. The weather improved and the blender still worked so it was not a total loss.

Three comments worth making:
1) A huge congratulations to James on the Wound Up. He won the Blast and the World Cup with a nice big fish on Saturday. As James said, “Beware the Lobster Boat”!
2) If you are in the Outer Banks, swing by Sam and Omie’s for breakfast. If Karen is there, she can tell you all about her Blue Marlin. Get the Country Ham. It was great fishing with you, Karen.
3) The yellowfin Tuna fishing is as good as it has been in several years. With fish in the 50 to 60 pound class, it is really great fishing. Northern side of the Banks, plenty of bait and tuna around. Go give it a shot or come with us to catch some.

And girls, see you next year, I hope.

- Capt. Allen DeSilva

Wind and plenty of it.

Look at all that breeze on the map above!  Not a normal June, that is for sure.  The weather kept us tied to the dock more than I would have liked this week.  But we did manage to get out a few days. 

Amy and Steve Fass toughed it out with us for two days.  The first day was quite rough, rainy and quiet.  They were rewarded the next day when the sun came out and the wind laid down for us.  Amy caught a Yellowfin around 60 pounds and Steve caught a nice Wahoo.  Both were taken on live Robins.  Steve got his on a mono leader – that does not happen very often.

We were two for three on Blues for the week.  On Friday we caught a small Blue on the shotgun rod and also had a nice fish – 450 pounds or so – come up on the teaser.  You have got to love those teaser bites!  Mate Peter pitched the fish a Blue Breakfast with two 11/0 hooks to her and she ate.  Everything stayed tight during the fight and we were able to release her as well. 

 Saturday and Sunday was the new release tournament in Bermuda.  We had a trip with Colin Barnes on Sunday.  It was slow for us and the fleet.  We released a White and I think the total catch for the fleet on Sunday was 1 Blue and 2 Whites.  Congratulations to Waste Knot with 3 Blue releases in the tournament.

With some days off, I was able to take care of a few little gremlins in the new boat – loose connections, unbalanced Ethernet networks (whatever that is) and a few bolts needed tightening.  I was also able to take some pictures of the inside of the new boat – we are STILL waiting for a nice day to take some running shots of her.

Each week we are taking the photos of that week and putting them on our Flickr site.  You can get to them by clicking on the photo gallery on this site.  We are trying to use only a few pics in the actual fishing report, there are a lot more in the gallery – go check them out.

Dan Jacobs and his team from Marlin magazine who organize the Bermuda tournaments are installed in the Hamilton Princess for the month of July.  The visiting boats are in and PW’s is starting to look like Pirate’s Cove Marina.  We have tournaments for each of the next three weeks and will keep you advised of how things go. 

The tide continues to run hard into the SW.  That is keeping fish on the North side of both banks.  I can’t wait to see what Bull on the Sea Toy does with this tide – will he give up his spot on the South East corner of Challenger Bank??????  We will see.

Wish us luck!  Talk to you next week.

- Capt. Allen DeSilva