Over the years, we have been lucky enough to make some great friends among the media outlets that concentrate on our sport. We have also been happy to help with scientific research to help us understand our fisheries better.
We put a page together of the more recent articles. We will fill them in as we find the older ones:
http://fishbermuda.com/in-the-news/
Since it is about 57 degrees, raining and blowing a gale…I thought we could all do with some reading to make us think about May!
- Capt. Allen DeSilva
The 2009 Video is here! I hope you enjoy watching it. It sure was fun fishing it.
Make sure you call or email to talk about our ability to package lodging with your fishing trip this summer. We are really excited about the ability to save our customers some serious money and stay in a nice house instead of a hotel.
- Capt. Allen DeSilva
Well, not really fishing.
Mako made the trip to North Carolina and back. We did some work to fix all those little things that were not quite right when we left in June. She is ready to go now and it looks like our timing is good - the Yellowfin Tuna are pretty thick out there!
I am looking forward to having a boat in Bermuda this winter to take advantage of those days where the weather and fish cooperate. Hopefully I will be able to post a real fishing report in the coming days.
To all of our friends, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope we get a chance to fish with you in 2010.
- Capt. Allen DeSilva
We were out a fair amount this week. We lost Thursday to weather but that was it. Wednesday we were out with George Dragonetti and friends and was it ever rough. About as much as you would want to deal with, that is for sure. They were troopers and we managed to catch a reasonable number of Wahoo. Well done guys, way to hang in there.
Note how trim the shirtless one looks!
By Friday the wind had quit and all we were left with was the swell. Much more comfortable, but still bumpy. We had Argo out and we were able to catch enough Wahoo and Yellowfin Tuna to keep the day interesting. The Wahoo we are catching trolling dead bait are in the 20 - 40 pound class. We have not been catching many Wahoo bigger than that over the past couple of weeks.
Want to feel like your boat is bigger? Put these two in the cockpit.
With the tide running to the West, the action in on the Eastern side of Challenger. Argus has produced a number of good days for other boats, but we focused on Challenger this week as the bait moved from the Southeast corner to the Eastern turn and even to the Northeast corner. By Sunday the bulk of the bait had moved north from the Southeast corner and we were doing better with the Wahoo and Tuna up that way.
Nice one Rhyn!
What we did find on the Southeast corner were Robins, and lots of them. We had Rhyn and Makenna Bearden out and they put a hurting on the Robin population, filling up the livewell and then the chumming box. Later in the day we were able to cash those live Robins in for some much nicer Wahoos. i think we ended up with two fish in the 60 pound range and one in the 50s. Fishing with live bait is great fun as long as you don’t focus on how many fish you lose, but instead enjoy the larger size of the ones you do catch.
The tuna catchers.
We are going to be out of commission for a little while pretty soon as we bring MAKO back to Carolina for some odds and ends to be done. We will be back to Bermuda in time for January which, last year at least, produced really great fishing for Yellowfin Tuna and Wahoo.
We will be able to sneak in another week of fishing before we depart. If your freezer is empty, call and book a trip. The Wahoo fishing remains consistent.
- Capt. Allen DeSilva
As the weather moves towards Bermuda’s fall pattern, so are the fish.
In late September and early October a typical year would see a migration of “Ticker Mackerel” (that is what we call them in Bermuda, they are actually small Little Tunny or, thanks to the Florida Museum of Natural History, Euthynnus alletteratus) moving from the Harbour out to the Edge and the Banks. Don’t ask me why they move from inshore, where they are the top of the food-chain to offshore, where they are everybody’s favorite snack, but they do. These baits are small enough that they are bite sized for Yellowfin Tuna and especially Wahoo. 2009 seems like it will shape up to a year with a poor live bait season. Those Ticker Mackerel are not to be found offshore - at least yet. The only spot we have found them reliably is one small section of Bermuda’s Edge.
The lack of Ticker Mackerel, together with a strong West tide, is making live bait fishing an unproductive use of time. There is a bonus to all of this, however. The lack of bait has made the Wahoo ready to bite and bite well on the troll. Similarly, the Yellowfin Tuna that are around are ready to eat. This has added up to a number of pretty respectable catches this week. It seems like the Eastern Turn to the SE Corner of Challenger is holding the most fish lately.
Friday - Monday we had the Radke boys fishing with us and we produced a pile of Wahoo and a pretty good haul of Yellowfin Tuna. I love fishing in October as the Wahoo strikes often come in doubles or triples (we had two quadruples this weekend). Calling Wahoo fishing exciting for the guys in the cockpit is an understatement. There is plenty of work for the Mate, the customers and the Captain.
We will try to get out a fair amount this week - weather permitting. I hope to have more of the same to report next week.
- Capt. Allen DeSilva
Between our trip to Costa Rica and some challenging weather, we did not fish enough this week to have much to say. Wahoo are biting well and there are some Yellowfin Tuna out there. Smooth Operator released a couple of Blue Marlin that did not hear that they were supposed to be in St. Thomas.
- Capt. Allen DeSilva
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
The Wahoo continue to cooperate, as does the weather. We have had flat seas and beautiful sunny weather this week. Despite the calm seas, the Wahoo were out in force, ready to gobble up chum, dead trolled bait or live bait. Our last trip we caught 10 Wahoos and 5 Yellowfin Tunas inthe chum. The largest was a 62 pounder caught by birthday boy James Cornes.
The live bait continues its migration to the Banks; we should see them out there in numbers we can work with in the next week or so. For now, the show is in the chum with lots of small Tunas and medium Wahoo making things very interesting on spinning gear.
It is pretty much decided that MAKO is going to North Carolina to have a little work done this Fall. We expect to leave sometime after October 20. Book your trips now to get in on this fishing!
- Capt. Allen DeSilva
Fishing Reports
