The Sea Horse Anglers Club Billfish Tournament starts on Thursday. This is the Third Leg of the Inaugural Bermuda Triple Crown. It looks as if weak Tropical Storm Franklin will be gone by then (we hope). “Southern Exposure” has a commanding lead, and it seems that only “Treasure Isle” has a hope of catching them, but this tournament has been won by “Treasure Isle” twice in the past five years – so it could get exciting. One thing is for sure – we’ll need an improvement in the marlin bite, which has been disappointing over the last 3-4 days.
Another tale of danger on the high seas – on July 18, the visiting sportfishing boat “Safari” ran over a 110 foot long and very thick ship rope about 60 miles out of Bermuda on their attempted departure from the island. Unfortunately, the struts were pulled and she started taking on water fast through a couple of holes. The good news is that the crew maintained their composure and were able to pump out two feet of water in the hull and plug the holes. A local rescue tug was able to tow them back to Bermuda.
It seems that the marlin are still around but not hitting lures as much. “De Mako” released a 400 lb blue today (18) – taken on a livebait.
Sunday 24
The fishing was reported to be very slow today. “Playmate” released a blue marlin taken on a live-bait (8). “Reel Addiction” did some slow trolling and caught two yellowfin, a blackfin and a 40 lb bonita (almaco jack).
Saturday July 23
“Playmate” and “Knockdown” both released blues (I think both on live robins), and “Captivator” released two blues and had at least three other shots. Capt. Cragin was a visitor on “Que Mas” as they did some chumming for yellowfin near the SE corner – they caught some small ones, but the two big ones they hooked both escaped – one after more than an hour of battle and the other after 30 minutes – they’ll be buying some circle hooks before the next effort !!
Friday July 22
“Gringo” had their chum-slick invaded by blue marlin on three occasions – they were successful in catching and releasing one of the blue marlin. “Reel Addiction” caught 5 yellowfin (20-30 lb class) chumming near the SE corner of Challenger.
“Sea Toy” released two blues and missed another. “Smooth Operator” also released two blues (again). “Que Mas” was 1-2 on blues on an afternoon trip – both bites in the deep between the Edge and the bank. “Sea Scorpion” released a blue and a white.
Thursday July 21
“Jester” was the RED HOT boat today, going 3-7 on blue marlin !!!! This visiting boat has been doing really well – I do not know how many blues they have caught in their relatively short period here, but it is not less than 11 – VERY GOOD GOING !!
“Sea Wolfe” released a blue (9), “De Mako” released a blue.
Wednesday July 20
Decent bite today – “Smooth Operator” was 2-5 on blue marlin and “Rum Bum” was 1-4. “Fortuna” boated a 550 lb class blue marlin that had sounded and died on the line (11). “Sea Toy” released a white.
Tuesday July 19
“Rum Bum” and De Mako” were the RED HOT pair today. “Rum Bum” released an estimated 800 lb PORKER blue marlin and released two smaller blues and a
white marlin – AWESOME CATCH !!!!! “De Mako” was 3-4 on blue marlin,
including one of about 450 lb – PRETTY WORK !!! “Playmate” also released a
blue (6). “Gringo” had a bumper haul of yellowfin in the chum – the biggest tipped the scales at 106 lb and they took three others in the 70-90 lb class, three more in the 50-60 lb class and four in the 30 lb class – NICE GOING !!!
Monday July 18
Most boats marlin fishing today had 3-4 shots = very good.
“Jester” and “Rum Bum” each released a blue marlin – I think those were out West (banks etc.). The East-end continues to produce – “Fortuna” went down there and released a 700 pounder and “Waste Knot” lost a nice one after half an hour of battle.
Cragin and Peter Lewis on “Reel Addiction” did an overnight trip on the Eastern turn of Argus. They caught a bunch of yellowfin (20 or so) but most were dinks (a couple were in the 40 lb class). The also caught a wahoo, and at night Pete wanted to tangle with a big shark – at about 11:00 pm he hooked into a MONSTER tiger shark, which he fought for a couple of hours. When they got it up to the boat it gave Cragin a good tussle on the leader before they released it – it was big one estimated 700 lb or so.
Sunday July 17
An interesting catch today – “Mo Jo” trolling on Sally Tucker’s released a nice looking sailfish in the 50 lb class.
