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| You are Here: | Home >> Regions >> Tropics >> Fishing Reports | | |
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Fishing Reports
From the FS Fishing Forum Members
LOS SUENOS BILLFISH Capt. Glen headed out to the same area we had done so well last year at this time. We realized within an hour or so that the sailfish bite was not going off like it had been last year. Glen and crew explained how this season has had very good days and very bad days. We did not see anything like the 100+ tailers and freejumpers and only saw one sail with his sail raised out of the eater over the two days. We managed to release a few sails the first day. About an hour or so before we began heading back to the marina, Capt. Glen got a call that his buddy on another boat had gone out 60 miles to the Furuno Bank and had went 1 for 5 on Marlin. Glen was excited about this news and said he would like for us to head out to the Bank for day 2. BUT before we had pulled in the lines, a fish comes up and takes one of the trolled baits. Todd B was up on the rod and a Black Marlin began going ballistic. Todd had Min put the harness on him and he continued to fight the fish. Todd got the release and then the fish sounded. Just how we remembered from our last trip, Capt. Glen is all about the release and then getting back to fishing in order to continue being the top producing boat out of Suenos. He decided to bump the boat forward and get a different angle on the fish. A couple minutes later, the fish broke the hook and Todd B had his first Marlin release. We headed in with a respectable number of Pacific Sailfish releases and 1 for 1 on Marlin. None of us had heard of the Furuno Bank that Capt. Glen had planned to fish and we had no idea what tomorrow would be like other than an earlier wake up call and a long boat ride to the fishing grounds. We left the house at 5:10 am and headed to the marina. Glen, Min, and Russ were all ready for some Marlin action. They brought out the 30 and 50 wide Alutecnos with big lures, teasers, and baits. The gear on the Bethina is all meticulously maintained and there is PLENTY of it. From the LP teaser reels to the Alutecnos conventionals to the Shimano Thunnus spinners. We were the first boat out to the Furuno Bank . The depth goes from 2000-3000 feet straight up to 400 for about 5 miles and also comes up to 120 and 200 feet in many areas. The bottom fishing is supposedly out of hand for those who try it. I know we saw some nice signs of fish on the bottom machine as we trolled the Bank. We were joined later on by about 8 other boats from Suenos and Quepos. By the time any of the other boats had arrived, we had already released one or two sails. It was Steven's turn on the rod. He had Russ had just been talking about how all of our bites had been on the long baits which were all lures. There had not been a single hit on the teasers or the short baits. Just a couple seconds later, steven happened to be looking over the gunnel when he saw a big fish out of the corner of his eye as it came screaming down the side of the boat and nailed the short bait no more than 20' off the corner of the transom. The fish went crazy and showed itself as it began running back and forth switching directions and getting acrobatic. A while later, steven had released his first Blue Marlin at boat side. The fish was revived and sent on it's way. Steven made short work of it and proved that he knows how to use something bigger and stronger than his BUGGY WHIP to do the job. It was my turn up again and Todd B, Steven and James had all decided that I was going to be up until I had my first Marlin release. Within a few minutes, I released another sailfish and I realized that everyone was actually disappointed that it was only a sail. I had just reeled in the entire spool of line as fast as I could possibly reel as the Bethina was backing down hard and these guys seemed let down in some way. I was still just as happy as I had been for my first Pacific Sail caught lat year. The next bite turned into a plastic bag and the bag proved to be a sign for what the rest of my day would be like. Another Marlin came up and whacked back and forth at one of the lures for a good 30 seconds before shying away from the baits and disappearing into the deep blue sea. A little while later, a nice Blue Marlin is on one of the rods and Min is on the rod while we cleared lines. Just before handing the rod to me, the fish made a run up the side of the boat and freed itself of the hook. I was starting to get discouraged and it was beginning to look like I would not be catching my marlin on this trip. I then heard Capt. Glen talking on the radio with his friend and saying he planned to stay out at the Bank until 3 or 3:30pm before heading in. I thought that there might just be one more chance at a marlin, but when the next reel began screaming and I tried one more time to convince James to take it, the potential marlin became another sailfish which was hooked on the third dropback and I got to reel in the entire spool of line once again a everyone on the boat reminded me that it was just another sailfish. I began sulking in the corner and was quite discouraged when another bite came on one of the lures. This time it was something absolutely massive. The amount of water being displaced by the fish at the surface was insane and then we saw it. A Black Marlin approx. 500-600lbs began coming out of the water. Min fed it before handing the rod off to me. I though I was going to have the fish of the trip and possibly the largest fish I would ever catch in my entire life on the line when the line went slack. I can't put into words how discouraged I was to have lost it. Captain Glen turned the boat towards the marina and we headed back in. Again, the Bethina was the top boat for the day and we ended up going 1 for 4 on Marlin and a few more sailfish. The fact that Capt. Glen was willing to make the run out to the Furuno Bank was unusual for any boat out of Suenos and all he asked us to do was to be a at the boat an hour earlier and to bring our own food for the trip. This was something he did not have to do. It would have been perfectly acceptable to have gone right back where we had been the day before, but that simply wasn't good enough for him and his crew. After doing a search on the Furuno Bank, I have learned that we were fishing one of the best areas in the world and I greatly appreciate having the opportunity to have fished it. If any of you are planning a trip down to Costa Rica, we all highly recommend that you book with Captain Josh Foster and get yourself on the Bethina. More action! Make sure you click on HD on the bottom right! www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0_qt_ZW6So Watch carefully as you will see one of the Blue Marlin spit the lure in the air!www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSyerxhGpEc
ST. THOMAS SEPTEMBER MOON Sometimes in life you end up getting lucky. This is one of those stories. I've been fishing for 40 years. I've brought Blue Marlin to my boat as "Captain", I've caught White Marlin and Black Marlin as an angler, but in all that time I had never achieved my dream of catching the Man In The Blue suit......until last week. The lucky part of this story is that I've made friends with Captain Dave and he is friends with guys with VERY nice boats that REALLY know what they're doing So, when he and Keysbound needed a 4th for a trip to St. Thomas, I got the call. We fished on the Freebie which is spending the season on the A Dock at American Yacht Harbor. To say the boat, Captain and crew where Top Notch doesn't begin to do them justice. Suffice it to say it was an experience of a lifetime. We fished "Bait & Switch" for 3 days on the North Drop surrounded by some of the most experience boats in the Atlantic. Here's the drill: The fish come in on the teasers, the Captain and crew get the fish enraged by pulling the teaser away while the angler slips a lure behind the fish. When the teaser is pulled from the water the Marlin is looking to kill the first thing it sees and more often than not it's the lure on the pitch bait. The resulting strike is ferocious and something you'll never forget. On Day 2 Tim released his 1st Blue and now it was my turn to set a personal milestone. What we found was that when the bite goes off on the North Drop it's pretty intense so it didn't take long after Tim's fish for the next fish to come up on the teaser. Everything worked like clockwork as we got a perfect "going away" strike on the pitch lure and got hooked up. Unfortunately, while setting the rod in the chair, the fish started making greyhounding jumps right at the boat and spit the hooks Thankfully the bite was still ON and I don't believe it was more than another 30 minutes before the next fish showed up. Again, everything went according to plan and this time we had a sold hook up. As the fish peeled line of the 50 I couldn't help but wonder if it was going to stop before the guys got the other lines cleared. After a few minutes Captain George Beck got on the throttles and I started winding for all I was worth. After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably less than 10 minutes, the fish was close and Captain George had the big Viking spinning to close the final gap. It was just a few seconds later when Vince had the fish on the leader and I had my first official Marlin. As Chris prepared to sink the tag he sacrificed his glasses. If you look just over the side of the gunnel you can see the glasses disappearing into the great blue yonder. That was it for Day 2. Just as quickly as the bite turned on, it turned off. As the Freebie made it's way back to the Marina, it became clear that Tim and I where going to go for a swim whether we liked it or not. There may be other shots of Vince shoving us off the boat but here is the end result. Day 3 found us in stormy conditions and with low pressure in the area the bite was off. The greatest Captains and Crews managed all of 1 fish prior to 2:00 in the afternoon when things started to clear. Captain Dave was anxiously waiting for our 3rd angler to get his fish so he'd be "up". Fortunately it happened and George released his fish around 3:00 PM. Now it was Dave's turn and he stood in the ready. With the clock ticking I think we all were worried that it might not happen. Finally around 4:30 another Marlin shows up on the left teaser and it's a BIG one. The Captain and Crew sprung into action and Dave dropped the pitch bait back. The fish followed the teaser just the way it was supposed to and disappeared when it was pulled out of the water. We all KNEW the fish would crash Dave's lure the way we'd seen 6 or so other fish do it but......nothing happened. We all stood there trying to will the fish to strike but it just didn't happen. At around 6:00 PM Dave declared it a "good trip" and said we should head in....and so ended our trip. I got to fish on the nicest boat I've ever seen, in one of the best Marlin hot spots in the world and catch my first Blue Marlin.....but that's not why I consider this a lucky story. I'm lucky because Captain Dave displayed one of the greatest gifts of generosity I've ever witnessed. He knew Tim and I had never caught a Blue and he purposely set up the rotation so that we would have every opportunity to realize that dream. Selfless acts like this are far too rare today and I will be forever grateful to Dave for putting his interests last. He's a class act and gentleman of the first order and I owe him more than I'll ever be able to repay. Oh....and his wife is super cool too. >>Forum Thread & More Photos 
GRAND CAY The plan was to leave early sunday morning,we stocked up on supplies the day before,the ride over was smooth made in under 4 hours,cleared customs at Walkers and then checked in at Rosies at Grand Cay that night had some conch and lobster dinner,well next morning we decided to fish for tuna had no luck so we stayed on the bottom and did well we caught a bunch of strawberry groupers and all the yellow eye snappers that we wanted,a few mystics one large aj.and a ton of flags on the reef all in all it was a great trip left wednesday morning the seas were rough we could only run at 22 mph so the ride home took under 6 hours.120 miles each way and fuel at Rosies was $6.65 a gallon had to fill once there,142 gallons at $6.65.Ouch here are the pictures enjoy. >>Forum Thread & More Photos
USVI JULY OPEN Day 1 was slow with only five blue marlin taken. Day 2 yielded nine, and the final day 3 produced about 15 I believe. All fish taken were blue marlin. All were released. Some of the world's top billfish teams attend these tournaments. Prize money is moderate but the calcutta winnings can exceed six figures. Anglers were serious and played hard to win. Many thanks to my roommate and professional photographer and outdoor writer Pat Ford for sharing some of his pics with me for this report. Pat has had nine outdoor magazine cover shots since the first of the year. The current Florida Sportsman July issue with Rick Murphy's wife holding the redfish is a top photo. Big marlin require big teasers. Most boats fished four or more big teasers and ran only two hooked lures. Marlin were usually taken on the "bait & switch" technique where they would send a pitch bait, (rigged mackerel or split tail mullet) back for the hookup. Rods were mostly bent butt and fighting was from the chair. The first day out on the water was very sporty as we call it sometimes. After 10 hours of this, I just wanted to get off the boat. Couldn't eat my lunch that day. It was so rough that our boat, a 74' Viking, broke its outrigger and we hack sawed it off so we could continue fishing. The boat was swaying side to side so hard the the riggers were just touching the water before it exploded. The most exciting event of the tournament was a blue marlin that jumped into the cockpit of the sportfisher "The Big Oh". Mates jumped up on bait stations and the observer used the fighting chair to shield himself from the marlin. Luckily no one was hurt, but it was quite exciting. Once inside the fish started thrashing about. The crew was able to open the tuna door and the fish saw the opening and actually went for it. The tournament was held by the local St. Thomas Big Game Club. Famous marine artist Carey Chen painted the club's lounge with a beautiful marlin mural. Team Reel Tight, an 80' custom Merrit, was the big winner of the tourney. You may recognize the tan fellow to the left of the Hooter Girls as Robert "Fly" Navarro who writes "Dock Talk" in Marlin magazine. |
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