Update from Madeira

[d.f._]

Just a very quick update of current events off Madeira island, Portugal. I'm not a charter operator so did not post this in the reports section.

This year the first blue marlin showed up in early April. Traditionally this is a tuna rather than blue marlin month but there was a lot of bait and water colour was good and the fleet scored some fish to around 800 lbs. In the first half of May the tuna fishing was quiet compared to last year, but in the last fortnight of May the blue marlin bite began again and has continued up till the present time. From June 1st about a half dozen fish have been caught all in the 600 to 800 class and two or three more lost. Bait has been abundant for the last few months and skippers are now seeing a lot of skipjack tuna and baby dorado. This fishery has improved every year from about 2002 onwards and prospects look very good for the season ahead.

The Madeiran charter fleet is tiny with maybe only half a dozen boats regularly fishing, but clients are also rather scarce at the moment and bookings should not be difficult to find. Conditions are normally very calm and most fish are hooked up quite close to shore (several fish every year normally hooked up right in front of Funchal harbour) so 99% of your charter day is normally spent fishing. Blue marlin here average in the 6/700 lb class and fish close to or exceeding the magic 1000 lb mark are still hooked and caught here every year. Fish like these don't bite every day, and both good fortune and a considerable degree of expertise is needed to land one. Contact any of the following professional charter vessels who will all be pleased to help give you your best shot at hooking up to a big Madeiran blue.

OUR MARY (Capt. Ron Cowling) www.madeiragamefish.com
KATHERINE B (Capt. Peter Bristow)
www.fishmadeira.com
XIPHIAS (Capt. Elio Neves) xiphias_charters@ yahoo.com or (351) 91 92 88970
BALANCAL (Capt. Anibal Fernandes)
www.madeira-marlin.com
FREED'EM (Capt. Mark Lee)
www.biggamecharters.com
LARA JADE and MARGARITA (Capts. Joao and Januario Santos)
www.nautisantosfishing.com

cheers - d.f.

[Anonymous]

15/06/05: A long time ago I read a quote by Captain Dale Leverone from Kona, in which he observed that blue marlin don't come through an area in a steady stream - they come through in waves with lulls and upswings in the bite. Today saw one of these upswings. Only a small fleet of three or four boats fished but the fortunate few saw the best single day blue marlin bite the island has seen for some time. Captain Virgilho on the TORPEDO III lost one fish of unknown size and two other boats scored two hookups apiece. The KATHERINE B skippered by Peter Bristow successfully caught and released a matched pair of 650 lb class fish and the FREED'EM skippered by Mark Lee kicked things off by hooking up to a big fish that made life difficult by raising to the left rigger first and giving two shots and then as Mark covered the ground again, coming up to the right rigger and knocking it down before grabbing the lure and putting them through a tough 1h 45min fight before chewing through 650 lb mono before it was going to be wired. Goodbye to a nice fish and goodbye to another df, for some reason, they don't seem to last very long in these waters! Mark's comment: "Make me something that fits 900." Mark capped the day off by pulling a crash bite to a short line and released a really good fish he estimated at around 900, that's a great catch, congratulations to the successful team!
It's becoming clear that some of the really big fish Madeira is famous for are now showing up - Captain Ron Cowling releasing an 850 Sunday, the two fish encountered by the FREED'EM today (Mark estimated the fish he lost at slighly smaller). Yesterday the KATHERINE B team raised and got a bite out of a fish that according to Peter "made the two I caught today look like sailfish. They looked very small compared to that fish."

Reports I'm getting from the Canaries are that a lot of the Canarian tuna fleet is heading north beyond the Salvagen islands to Madeira, that's VERY interesting as the arrival of bigeye tuna would put the icing on the cake to what is already a good season.

cheers - dustin

[Anonymous]

23/06/05: Blue marlin in the 550 to much bigger class have continued a steady bite since the last report.

Today the MARGARITA, once skippered by legendary blue marlin skipper Roddy Hays, scored with a 6/700 lb class fish. Well done to Captain Januario Santos and his team.

Captain Elio Neves, wireman Pedro Nuno and their Floridian angler fishing on the XIPHIAS continued their hot streak (1 for 1 - 650 on the 21st, 1 for 4 - 550 on the 22nd) by catching and releasing two great fish today. The first fish was estimated at around 800 lbs and was sucessfully caught and released in 35 minutes. Good work by the team.

Elio then hooked up to another fish on a short line and this fight lasted two hours! The team worked really hard to revive her for nearly one hour as she would not stay upright but finally let her go not quite steady on her feet, but swimming strongly with good colour in the near darkness. They were wondering a little whether she would make it, but I remember watching a fish let go swimming belly-up work downward and once she got down to about 30 feet the water pressure must have compressed her air bladders enough so that she flipped over and swam away upright. As for the size? Elio was looking at the photos as he spoke to me (they had a lot of time to get photos during the revival) and said, "I look like a fly compared to that fish. That has to be a grander for sure." Congratulations to the XIPHIAS team for a great capture and for taking the time to ensure a good release. That's the first grander class fish let go this year although a couple in the 900 class have already been caught - one was caught and released on Monday 20th by the KATHERINE B (Capt. Peter Bristow, wireman George Allen, local mate Noberto and angler Terry Neill). May there be many more!

cheers - dustin

[Anonymous]

27/06/05: Today the TORPEDO III with Capt. Virgilho released a fish reported to be a good size. Flat calm conditions and blue water. Just the one release but the fish must have been resting after the flurry of action that started on Friday and lasted over the weekend! Friday Capt Elio Neves and the XIPHIAS continued their blue marlin roll by catching and releasing a 650 that raised to the df on the rigger, muffed the shot and ate the XXXX (I'll be keelhauled if I tell!). Nice fish and extra points for finding one on a half-day charter too! The old warhorse BRISO DO MAR and the MARGARITA both released blues and the scuttlebutt was that the ESPADIM AZUL skippered by hardcore private boat fishermen Roberto and Antonio Ribeiro caught a blue but I just spoke to Roberto who as best as could understand it, confirmed it was only a hookup. Saturday two fish were caught by Mark Lee on the FREED'EM (500) whilst the MARGARITA struck blue again and on Sunday the fishing bust wide open with Madeira veteran Capt. Ron Cowling releasing yet another 800'er (the 5th this size or bigger that's come up this week), the visiting Spanish boat with a Basque name I can't pronounce but skippered by blue marlin legend Charlie Perry released a 950'er and the BRISO DO MAR pulling off four strikes but coming home with nothing for their pains, sorry guys! Captain Anibal on the BALANCAL is another Madeira veteran but even his immense experience was tested to the limit when he hooked up two fish one estimated at 700 the other at or near the grander class, unfortunatly both parts of this spectacular doubleheader got away! My heartfelt commiserations to team BALANCAL - one big fish is fantastic but two at once is too much of a good thing!
cheers - dustin

ps. the big fish released by the XIPHIAS on Thursday was found dead the next day and brought to the dock where she taped out at over 450kgs, it's a shame that she did not make it, but the crew tried their very best. Anyone questioning the weight calls for released Madeiran fish should also note the good call on the weight.

[Anonymous]

3/07/05: The whole fleet is now looking forward to the July 4th World Cup. For them this is the busiest and most important day in the year. Fingers are being crossed and fish are still coming through. A very big fish was released by the MARGARITA on Tuesday, this fish was estimated to be in the four figure class. Congratulations to Captain Januario Santos and the successful team on this terrific catch. On the same day the XIPHIAS crew released a tiddler of "Only" 650. This team were 2 for 3 over the weekend, releasing another 650 on Thursday and pulling hook on another blue on Saturday.

Several more fish were hooked up over the weekend although not all made it to the boat. A lot of action happened on the grounds in front of Campanario on Saturday with something like seven fish being hooked in this small area. Highlight of the weekend was a super fish estimated at 950+ caught and released by the OUR MARY team of Captain Ron Cowling and wireman Jose Serrao. Congratulations to the successful team on this terrific result. Capt. Januario Santos and the MARGARITA went 2 for 3 over the weekend and hardcore privateers the Ribeiro brothers on ESPADIM AZUL were 0 for 3, at least one of which pulled the hook close to the boat. Sorry guys and hope you hang on to one next time.

Bait balls are still present on the sounder and larger baitfish in the form of skipjack and pompano dorado continue to make a good show. Looking pretty good for the month ahead. I'll take this opportunity to wish all Madeiran teams fishing the 4th July World Cup the very best of luck - hope a nice fat one comes to gaff for you.

cheers - dustin

[Torpedo_III]

Fish with the best. Marlin, Wahoo, Tuna, www.torpedo3.com

[Anonymous]

13/09/05: Just a very quick update to bring anyone interested up to speed. Blue marlin fishing continued good in July. Although the second half of July was not as red-hot as in June and the first half of July the fleet boats did continue to raise and catch fish during this period. One highlight was the release of a fish in the grander class by Capt. Virgilho who skippers the TORPEDO III.

August the last few years has seen slower fishing than June and July but this August, in keeping with the overall upward trend, more fish were caught than in previous years. Two were estimated at the grander mark, one caught and released by a lady angler fishing with Capt. Peter Bristow on the KATHERINE B and one that died during the fight and was brought into Calheta ************************ by the XIPHIAS skippered by Capt. Elio Neves. In the absence of a scale a formula weight was taken giving an estimated weight of 1000 lb+.

Toward the end of August some fish started to show up and reports right now are that ocean conditions continue to be good with nice blue water, lots of life - dolphins, whales and birds. Many boats switch over to wahoo fishing at around this time, but some big fish can be caught this month - last year Capt. Anibal Fernandes on the BALANCAL released a fish in the 1100 lb+ class in mid-September.

[Richard_Hargreaves_Jr]

While reports of the fishing here on this are informative and helpful it seems that there are certain points missing. I run a big game fishing group in my local area and group of us went to madeira to try our luck with thoses fantastic fish of yours in the summer, after browsing round kiosks and talking to the sales staff in the ************************, we decided to go onboard torpedo III, fishing with Virgilio Gavina. Virgilio is a fantastic guy and was courtious and friendly. However it was definitly over sold by his son, while the trip was fab, the boat is somewhat in desperate need of attention and there are some safety issues onboard for sure.The crew was fantastic but obviously not competent crew, it was strange having to explain to someone ya paying how to use the outriggers.... all in madeira is a great place to fish but be sure to research boats and crew properly.

[DF]

Dear Richard,

I'm very glad that you found my updates informative and helpful. Please understand that my intention in putting up these reports is to keep anyone who is interested up to date on what has been happening off Madeira. It is most definitely NOT my intention to criticise of any of the boats, skippers or crew who are part of the Madeiran fleet.

I would wholeheartedly agree with your comment that anyone intending to fish Madeira should research boats and crew thoroughly. I should also add that in blue marlin fishing, as with most other things in life, you tend to get what you pay for and the boat that offers the cheapest deal may not offer the best real value when everything is taken into account. This includes the capabilities and condition of the vessel and equipment, and the expertise of its captain and crew. Charter fares may be a fat piece of change, but it's very worth remembering that when you finally do hook up with a big blue marlin, the reassurance of knowing that you are fighting what in Madeiran waters has a higher than usual chance of being the blue marlin of a lifetime on tackle that will not fail and backed up by a skilled skipper and deckhand is simply priceless!

Having said all that I wish to add that over the many years that he has fished Madeiran waters, Captain Virgilho and the TORPEDO III have caught a lot of big fish. It would be unfair to omit mention of the fish that he has caught and hooked up this year, and I will not do that. I am delighted to report the successes of all skippers of whom I have information, to recount the more exciting details of their marlin encounters when they see fit to tell me, but it is not my place and it is certainly not the intention of my updates to criticise any aspect of Virgilho's or any other operation. Those who have fished on the TORPEDO III are best placed to comment.

In conclusion I wish to thank you for having fished the waters of Madeira island. I genuinely hope your group will return next year and wish you the very best of luck in finding the big fish you are looking for, no matter who you decide to fish with. "Boa sorte".

Regards,

Dustin Foo
zirazikir@[nospam]hotmail.com
(remove [nospam] if you wish to contact me)

[chris]

hi people ron cowling is my uncle from chris hutchings in exeter

[Paul_Watson]

Hi Dustin, not sure if you will remember me but I used to run the tourist newspaper years ago on Madeira and spent a lot of time onboard Margarita crewing and fishing with Dickie Howell. Would like to make contact with you again. Paul