6th. January 2009

Costa Rica - Dave Hoenes and Terry Smith

At the end of February Dave Hoenes and Terry Smith returned for what was their third trip to Golfito Sailfish Lodge in Costa Rica, on a week organised by Stu Apte. Stu, one of the doyens of the saltwater fly-fishing scene, is a mine of information and with him they were primarily targeting Sailfish.

From all accounts January had been an excellent month. But, whilst they were there, they encountered lots of green water with, on most days, the boats having to run 40 or so miles before lines in. This was literally taking up to 3 ½ hours out of each fishing day.

Fish numbers were down as well. They did however encounter some very large Sailfish, fish way in excess of 100lbs, and also raised three Blue Marlin – fish estimated at 125, 150 and 250lbs. And, to some extent, a measure of this both broke rods as well as several tippets. All in all though they released 8 Sailfish – seven on the fly – up to 100lbs in weight. Specific details are included within the Notable Fish – 2004 section. A good trip overall and Terry commented that the food and service at the Lodge was, as always, first class.

Tropic Star Lodge - Neil Cunningham

Neil Cunningham and his brother John fished the justifiably famous Tropic Star Lodge on Panama's Pacific coast from 7th to 13th February aboard Miss Puerto Rico, one of the lodge's fleet of 31' Bertrams. (The Lodge's web site is well worth a look - www.tropicstar.com.) The boat was skippered by Fernando with Gilberto as the mate. Whilst they didn’t have the best week's fishing, nor for that matter did they have the worst! But they did have a great time, and both caught their first Black Marlin! This is Neil's report.

We caught numerous fish, but I've only listed only the best fish for each of the days we fished.

8^th Feb John caught and released a 100lb plus Sailfish. He also caught a 55lb Dorado and raised a Black Marlin on live bait.

9^th Feb I (NC) caught my first Black Marlin - estimated weight 450lb on 30lb test tackle, on a strip bait meant for Sailfish.This represents more than 10 to 1 weight to line strenght - so can join the 10 to 1 club! Fight lasted for 1 hour and fifteen minutes and the fish was released. John caught 2 Sailfish 65-100 pounds

10^th Feb John caught his first Black Marlin,on 50lb tackle and on live bait - estimated weight 350lb ,tagged and released. NC caught one Sailfish of 70lbs and Dorado’s etc.

11^th Feb. Quiet Day - too much bait in the water. NC caught a 60lb Mako Shark which is now quite rare in these waters plus Dorados. John caught and released a nice Rainbow Runner about 8lbs.

12^th Feb. Live-baiting in the morning NC caught a nice Yellowfin Tuna about 105 pounds on the downrigger. We both caught a Sailfish each in the Afternoon.

13^th Feb. Went popper fishing near the rocks but no strikes. Also quiet offshore raising only a Stripped Marlin but caught none.

Ascension Island - John Brehm / Gordon Richards

Apart from an issue with the flight down John and Gordon had an eventful 5 day charter, fishing with Zak and Marty on SHY 3. With, for John, an opportunity at this prolific fishery to break his 'Duck' on Marlin.

The first day out was somewhat quiet - they raised just the one fish. But on day 2, fishing stand-up style with lures, John opened his account with a released 250 pounder on 50lb class tackle. (So in with a good chance for the Pete Higgins Memorial Cup competed for by those anglers catching their first Marlin in a particular year.) They also lost an estimated 500 pounder on livebait that jumped and landed on the line, breaking it. And Gordon had two Atlantic Sailfish in the 65 to 75lb range, again on 50s. He's now up to 8 out of the 10 Billfish species, only needing a Pacific Blue Marlin and Short Billed Spearfish for a 'Full House'.

On day 3 they had three fish - a 300 pounder to John, with fish of 150 and an estimated 800 pounder to Gordon - a 10 - 1, and his largest Marlin to-date. All were taken on lures fishing 80s stand-up. Day 4 was uneventful apart from raising two Blues and several Sailfish. And on their final day, after losing a Sailfish fishing Bait 'n' Switch in the morning, they focused on getting a big fish for John livebaiting off the airport. The shot finally came and after an acrobatic battle, with a series of superb jumps boatside, they released a 700 pounder on 80lb. What a way to end your first serious Marlin trip!

So in total they released 5 Marlin out of the 11 raised. The top lure was identified as a Moldcraft Wide Ranger softhead, skirted mauve over green.

Ascension Island - South Atlantic

I guess there’s no such thing as a typical week when it comes to Marlin fishing. These huge oceanic predators track the pelagic shoals of bait in essentially the same way that lions follow migrating herds of Zebra and Wildebeest. One day they’re there in numbers and on the very next day nothing – nada! Or currents subtly change. You’re fishing where fish have been encountered in previous seasons but this year it’s a virtual ‘desert’. All the action is happening 10 or 20 miles away. It can be that much of a lottery, but that’s game fishing.

So how does this four day charter aboard Shy 3 stack up against your experiences? It was undertaken by a young Russian angler – Andrei Grigoriev (a friend of Dave West's) – fishing with two friends. They were video-ing for a Russian television program.

So Day 1. They released three Blue Marlin, the largest estimated at 600 – 650lbs on 80lb class tackle. The fight with the big fish lasted 40 minutes. On Day 2 they had just the one fish estimated at 350lbs. See the photograph below of it jumping on the leader.

Then on Day 3 no Marlin, no strikes. Nada! Andrei did however catch a 40lb Yellowfin Tuna that evening fishing with freshwater spinning tackle. And also anchored on the edge of the 100 fathom (200 metre) dropoff they released a Six Gill Shark estimated at in excess of 1000lbs.

On Day 4, the last day of their charter, they had two Blue Marlin fishing 80lb test. Unfortunately the second which appeared to be in the 7 to 800lb range, after a spectacular display of jumps on the leader, pulled away and made a final long and deep run. The fish died and given the time constraints - their flight was scheduled to leave in 3 hours - they were unable to plan it up.


	Although the copyright remains with Andrei, he kindly gave us permission to use these photographs on our web site. Click on each thumbnail image in turn to display a full screen shot of the fish. Given the file size though, and dependent on your Internet connection speed, it may take 5 seconds or so to paint the image. Close the window after viewing to return to our site.

20th Annual World Cup - Blue Marlin Championship

Unlike other tournaments this tournament is competed for annually, on 4th July - American Independence Day - across all time zones and from a range of different venues. So excitement builds as results from the Atlantic are compared against fish taken from the Indian Ocean, and ultimately those from Pacific venues.

In 1995 former Club member Jess Miller, fishing from Madeira, won this tournament with a Blue of 953lbs. And the rest is history. Jess bought a boat he named Freed'em with his winnings.

This year four of our members will be competing in this prestigious tournament. Peter Gurd & Clive Taylor will be fishing from Faial, in the Azores - Denis Froud from Ascension Island - and Peter Thomson from the Cape Verde Islands.

There's a 2000$US entrance fee. Should you similarly be interested in competing further details can be obtained by contacting the organiser Jim Hardie in Florida - telephone +305 - 551 - 0320, fax - 305 -559 - 8485, or e-mail scribemia@aol.com.

Fishing Tackle Auction

Mullock & Madeley of Church Stretton, Shropshire have announced the date of their next major auction of fishing tackle to be held at Ludlow Racecourse on Friday 12th and Saturday 13th March. There are some 200 lots being auctioned on the Friday, and 650 on the Saturday.

Whereas a significant proportion of the lots will be antique and collectable tackle there is a reasonable amount of quality tackle available. I've bought quality fly reels and rods from them in the past.

As well as bidding on the day postal or faxed bids are also accepted.

Details of the lots in this auction may be viewed through their web site www.mullockmadeley.co.uk.

13 February - Ascension Island

Well the BIG Blue Marlin are still off Ascension. But it was Friday, 13th! I've just heard, via Dieter Haselhorst, from Zak - the skipper of SHY 3. Today their charter party, uncomfortable fishing the 130s, deployed 80s - fishing Moldcraft lures on single hooks. And up came a huge fish and ate! Two hours 50 minutes later they had it at the transom. Marty, the crewman, took the leader and tried to turn its head AND the hook pulled!

Over the past two seasons the crews have become accustomed to seeing big fish and they were convinced this was well over 1400lbs.

Sooner or later they will have to break that All-Tackle record.

IGFA Yearbook

My edition of the IGFA’s 2004 Yearbook has just popped through the letterbox, all 356 pages of it! As you can imagine, as custodians of World Fresh and Saltwater records, much is devoted to listings of current records. However it also includes a range of excellent articles including:

The evolution of Billfish Flies describing the success, specifically in Guatemala, of much smaller flies – half a Cam Sigler or a 5” synthetic tube fly, with a giant eyeball, called “The Fish”.
In pursuit of Pirarcu (probably better known as Arapaima) from the Delta of the River Amazon – freshwater fish that can grow up to 400lbs in weight. And, just like the White Sturgeon, they jump!
Fishing for Giant Bluefin Tuna in the Bahamas. This is a bit of a ‘Trip down Memory Lane’, back to the sixties, by one of the exponents, the legendary Peter B. Wright. Here, given the challenges of these giant fish, was where much of modern tackle and boat development took place.
Fly Fishing for Tiger Sharks of Key West. This article is eloquently penned by Teddy Lund. A larger - in more ways than one - than life character who once guided Charles Reaves and myself out to the Marquesas. We were after a World Record sized Hammerhead, one of which we ‘hooked’ on 4lb test. Not surprisingly that encounter didn’t last long! Charles did however get a near 80lb Lemon Shark on the fly, fishing in water just 4 feet deep. Teddy though is describing fish to over 200lbs, and encounters with 1000lb plus monsters in the shallows! A challenge from an 18’ flats skiff!
Record Tarpon from Guinea-Bissau. The fish in question was 286lb 9oz – a new All-Tackle record - but the average size from this former French colony is in the 160 to 200lb range. Big fish! And as well as the Tarpon, and mega-sized Jacks and Leerfish from the shore, they also encounter Sharks. Big Sharks! The author describes Hammerheads to over 900lbs, Bull Sharks in excess of 700 and the largest Tiger a fish of 1397lbs. These are taken stand-up style, fishing from 18’ centre console boats. Exciting stuff and actually reasonably priced. Further details appear in our ‘Members Only’ section.

If you’re interested in joining as an individual member – the Club has been affiliated since its inception in 1979 – full details appear on the IGFA’s web site – www.igfa.org. Annual subscriptions are 35$US. As well as its Record keeping role the IGFA is actively involved in international conservation.