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.
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.
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.
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.
Welcome to the first fishing report of 2009 and the first fishing report from the bridge of the new MAKO.
I know this is a fishing report, but the process of bringing in a new boat, clearing it through customs, getting it inspected, getting it licenced, getting the tackle on, etc. involves a lot of non-fishing time. Anyway, that is my excuse for why it has taken so long to get this report out. It just so happens that the timing of this report coincides with news of MAKO’s first Blue Marlin release…pure coincidence, I assure you.
When I was helping to finish the boat in North Carolina in May, I kept hearing from people back home how dry a May Bermuda was having. At the time I remember thinking…uh oh…bad news for me in June. Well, I was right. It has been an unusually rainy and windy first half of June. If it keeps up, I am going to officially designate June 2009 as “El Mes de Culu Mojado”. That is Spanish for the month that I have been rained upon frequently.
The fishing overall has been pretty good. The yellowfin tuna found Bermuda again after a three or four year absence and they seem to be congregated around the NW of Argus. Interesting, because all the Shearwater (birds) are on the Northern side of Challenger. Everyone I have heard of that stopped and chummed there thinking that the birds do this for a living and must know what is going on, have not had much success. Anchoring over the past week has been generally difficult with the tide running into the wind. Drifting if the breeze is up is also challenging. When the conditions are right, the tuna are there.
Wahoo have started the slide to summer lizards. The last one we caught was about 20 pounds. Last week we had a couple of days where we able to catch a few. This is always the pattern, as summer comes on strong, the Wahoo get small. Still, nice pull and good to eat. Just don’t cut up those new Marlin lures, Mr. Wahoo.
Speaking of marlin, the Whites seem to be showing up. We have not caught any but have had some suspected bites. They are pretty sneaky sometimes and you are never sure what it was that took a swipe at that shotgun rod.
Up until the 18th we have had some hard luck on the Blues. They are being caught in increasing numbers, but all of our bites had come loose before we could catch them. On the 18th, we had pretty good luck with a bite on Louis Point around 9 in the morning. The fish was good sized – call her 400 – and she put on a show greyhounding the same direction as the boat after eating a Evil on the left rigger. Unfortunately, part of the show included the lure flying out of the fish and the water and tracing a 20 foot arc in the sky. A good memory, but no release.
That first fish was also unique in that it was the only fish Jeff Radke did not miss that day. For example, a little later, we had a marlin that was FIRED UP come up on the long left teaser. Pete did a perfect job teasing the fish in closer and the fish actually started after my bridge teaser for a while. When we got that out of the water the fish turned and did a perfect circle back to Radke’s pitch bait. With a pretty aggressive bite, I thought we were off to the races but no. The tension went out of the pitch rod and Radke had another San Cocho to brag about.
Luckily, the fish went after a Yap on the long rigger and ate. Brandon was in the chair watching Radke give the fish away and he was up to the task. The fish was foul hooked and Brandon and Pete did a great job getting the fish up and reviving her. When Pete turned her loose she had her color back and was swimming well. All of this was captured on MAKO’s new camera system. Check it out!
You might have to watch it a couple of times to see the fish up the side of the boat actually grab the squid chain teaser. Hopefully we will have lots of interesting footage by the end of the year.
Later on in the afternoon we had another fish come up on the teaser. Again, a great job by Pete. Again Jeff pitched and…..missed. At least this time he let the Marlin eat all of the bait but the head so I guess he is getting better. In the course of the day, we picked up a small tuna and a small wahoo. So we managed to catch and release the first Blue Marlin, feed ourselves with the Tuna and Wahoo and practice our pitch baiting. All in all a very successful day.
We have been hard at work in Wachese, NC getting all of the last minute items finished on the MAKO and it looks like we will be finished and have reasonable weather for a crossing this week.
The sea trial went well and the CAT guys were happy with how the two C18′s performed. She handles like a dream and is faster than any of the other Makos. We won’t waste any time getting to the fishing grounds on this boat. The underwater exhausts make her quiet and produce enough lift at cruise that you need little, if any, trim tab adjustment.
The electronics have all checked out and been callibrated, we have some last minute adjustments to do on the radar, but she is ready to fish.
We put a camera system on the boat and we are really excited about the footage that we hope to capture. It will be nice to send our friends home with a little movie of their exciting catch on the MAKO.
In the meantime, we put together a collection of many of the articles published which focus on Mako Charters or have our techniques included. You might be interested in some or all of them. You can read the articles here: http://fishbermuda.com/in-the-news/ We will be adding a similar page to the Black & Blue site shortly.
Mate Peter Lewis is here in North Carolina so we are just about ready to bring her to Bermuda and fish. There have been a few Blues caught already and the wahoo fishing has been good on some days, quiet on the really nice days. MAKO is ready to go catch her share.
Seems like Thursday is the most likely departure. We will see you all in Bermuda!
As promised, the first trip report from De Mako and the first from Panama!
After our trip from Florida around to the Canal, our first set of members came down to try out the fishing. While the water quality certainly wasn’t great, we all had a great time and managed to catch a Black Marlin and five Sailfish.
After the members landed, they made the 30 minute trip to the boat using a driver that I have known for years. Before long, De Mako was out of the slip and headed to overnight in the Las Perlas islands, about 60 miles from the Marina in Panama City. The weather was ok, calm seas but cloudy. We had a great dinner on the boat anchored in the lee of those beautiful islands. We went to sleep anxious for what the day would bring.
I was concerned about the fishing as I had heard that an unusual amount of green water had pushed into the fishing grounds. The first day of fishing we certainly found this green, green (maybe coffee would be a better description) water. We looked for the blue water but did not find it that first day. As we moored in Pinas Bay, we were all hoping tomorrow would be better. After a good night’s rest we set out in rainy conditions.
The water did seem a little better today and it wasn’t long until a Black Marlin came up on the short left teaser. Jason was on the rod and decided to pitch the 30 because the fish did not look all that big to him. Well, on the bite, we all changed our mind. That Black looked like a rolling Tarpon as it took the pitch going away from the boat. After about 30 minutes, Chowie released the fish – about 300 pounds. Take a look at the photos the members took of the fish. Pretty work on the rod and behind the camera, I would say.
The day continued with what I would describe as pretty slow action. We ended up catching 5 of 10 Sailfish bites. The fish were their normal selves, putting on a show on the light 30 pound tackle.
That night, the members had a cocktail and dinner at the Tropic Star Lodge. They said that the food and atmosphere was great. It sure is a beautiful place. Quiet and still, with jungle all around.
The next day we steamed back to Panama City to catch the return flight. All in all, a great start despite difficult condiitons.
We are going again soon, so stay tuned and book your flights down!
Mike, Allen and the guys made it to Panama this weekend. We will add more detail when they get back, but they said the trip was long, and a little rougher than one would like but there were no mechanical problems and they made pretty good time. I tried to figure out how to make a map of their trip. View De Mako's Trip to Panama in a larger map
We ran the first trip as Black and Blue Fishing Club this last week. We fished out of Los Suenos in Costa Rica.
We faced oddly challenging conditions for this time of the year due to green water (think of the Chicago River on St.
Patrick’s Day – it was that bad). We worked at it pretty hard and I am happy to report that…We put the BLACK in Black and Blue. Our fish was about 300 – 350 pounds and ate the right rigger. We fed her the bait on one of the 30 outfits and when we came tight and saw the first jump we all wished we had a 50.
I brought the boat back to the fish as quickly as I could and the fish cooperated by staying on top and putting on a show for all of us. I would guess that we were able to release the fish after a 30 minute fight. That light tackle sure lets these fish show off.
So, for the record Captain Allen…as of today, April 12, we have been waiting on you for four days to get the Bermuda Blue Marlin to finish off “Black and Blue”.
As I said, the water conditions were pretty tough and we managed only one other fish – a sailfish that provided the normal aerial display. I love these fish!
This will be the last report for a while as we are taking De Mako from Florida to Panama over the next week or so. While the trip is long, you do get to see a lot of pretty cool spots. So, wish us luck and I will be sure to post a trip report when I am back to a computer.
I hope the first Panama Fishing Report will follow soon after. Have a good Easter.
Bermuda
Costa Rica
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Fishing Reports
