bob@reefcatfishing

June is a bit early for marlin on the Algarve coast. White marlin tend to come in around mid august and stay into mid/end september. The blues might be on the offshore marks in june, but I would say that september is prime time. Day licenses for boat fishing in Portugal should be available on all legal boats for 3 euros a day. Off to the airport in a min, to enjoy xmas in the cold and wet UK....back in the sun in early january. Happy christmas to all Bob

Hi Guys - looks like we lost Stans report due to the hacker attack - shame... We've been fishing again today, very blustery conditions and difficult to maintain a good spread of lures. The water temp has dropped a bit, but despite that we raised 4 white marlin, hooked one, but it threw the hook after about 30 seconds. By which time it had taken 100 or so metres of line and was leaping and jumping like a ballerina. Earlier start tomorrow morning, still going for whites, they are still here despite a 1.5 degree drop in temperature. Still loads of juvenile dorado around, throwing themselves onto blue marln lures, you have to admire their optimism... Got a pile of pics, the best are on the website. Off for a pint or two now, early start tomorrow...

Stan has now left for cooler climes, and should be winging his way back to the far north as I write this. I'm sure that he will write a full report on his return. We did try a very long ditance trip yesterday looking for another blue marln. We tagged and released a white that took a huge blue marlin lure, unfortunately we were running 80lb class, so it wasn't able to give of its best. I haven't got a final tally, I think Stan has been keeping a diary so I hope he will write his epic trip report. I have only been over here 3 years, and some of you will know of the trials and tribulations we have had with getting our new boat built. Well it seems to me that the Algarve is fishing it's socks off at the moment, crawling with whites and quite a number of blues. The tuna have now arrived, and if the water temps stay good, the fishing should stay like this for a few more weeks at least. It has been an exhausting week, we have worked our nuts off, but what a result, some stunning fish, and we have proved that a catamaran can raise billfish in good numbers. I expect the billfish to last a few more weeks, then the tuna will hang around to november if we're lucky. Phew - then we have to try for the sixgill shark, grouper and the corvina.... Its a hard life

Couldn't resist it, here's a shot of Stans 800lb ish blue marlin. Wish there was some perspective so you could see the awesome size. Breathtaking....

Another quick report, Stan will be able to write an epic when he gets back. White marlin crashing very big blue marlin lures and getting hooked up. several more tagged in the last 2 days. We're on a mission for another blue tomorrow, so an early start and off to the Picos, a sea mount about 52 miles offshore. I still haven't had time to do the piccies yet, but will try and post some in the next couple of days. Unfortunately didn't get any pics of a monster hammerhead that we trolled past, but we'll try and catch one one day soon. Hi Dave, as far as I know sailfish are almost unheard of here, I know of one caught in the offshore tuna traps. Sure it was a sailfish? the long billed spearfish can look a bit similar. Hi Singy, looking forward to seeing you, I'm also hoping they all hang around for a bit longer yet, the water temp was 25degrees today, so it looks good for the moment. Right - off to bed.......

Another quick report - too tired for anything else, some piccies will follow when we get around to procesing them. Trolled for 2 days, 3 white marlin brought to the boat and tagged. Yesterday we had gone deep looking for blues with 80lb gear, caught a very optimistic white marlin of about 65lbs on 80lb tackle. So, we thought we'd change back to 30lb class for whites. Oooooops - yep you guessed, a body the size of a Renaul Clio crashed into one of the white marln lures. It was Stans turn on the rod, it was about 15:30, and we got some good pics of the fish. Stans mate, who has caught a few blues, estimated the fish at 800lbs. Four hours later, yes four hours, we got the double line within a few feet of the boat, it was getting dusk and we were 25 miles offshore, so didn't have much choice and gave the fish everything (which isn't a lot on 30lb gear). Well something had to give and the line went snap, so we can't claim a capture, and we didn't get close enough to tag. What an amazing week so far, Reefcat has definitely lost her virginity, loads of whites, and a seriously big blue marlin. I think Stan will have a few stories to tell when he gets back, still have two more days to go, so watch this space.

Just a very quick report, cos we're knackered. Left the dock at about 9.00am, cruised out to about 90 metres of water, and then set out the trolling pattern. Two white marlin raised, and one briefly hooked up in the first half an hour. Whoopppeee we thought, another day like friday, so off we went full of optimism. To cut a long story short, we trolled all day, inshore, offshore, deep and shallow, caught 8 small dorado on marlin lures, and only saw two more marlin, no more hookups. Thats fishing I guess, they'll still be there tomorrow. Weather pemitting we plan to head way offshore tomorrow and look for blue marlin, we still have 24 degrees celsius, so we are optimistic. However, blues are a different animal entirely, wish us luck.... Bob

Well, what a day we had yesterday, talk about screaming reels and smoking drags. No doubt Stan will post his report when he gets back from the trip. His charter doesn't start until Sunday, but after a beer or two on thursday we decided to go out yesterday to do some prospecting, we had raised white marlin in the previous days and were feeling optimistic. About a 9 o'clock start and a 45 minute cruise into 100 metres or so of water, the plan was to head west and troll the continental shelf dropoff, down to about 700metres or so. Water temp was 24 degrees and slowly rising as we got further offshore. Within 20 minutes the lures were hit, white marlin are often finicky playig with the lures, but not today, crashing strikes, bent rods, and blistered thumbs if you got them anywhere near the spool. Lost a fish when the line broke in the aftco roller troller, others threw the hook when they went airborne. Steady action for the rest of the morning, small dorado attackng the marlin lures, trolled past an enormous hammerhead, but we were on a mission. Then the first of two double hook ups, two marlin airborne at the same time - fantastic - hope you can see them in the small pics. Stan brought his in on 16lb line, and one of his own rod/reel combos, takes some doing with a fish that takes 400 metres of line in a flash. Another double hook up in the afternoon, two more airborne marlin, awesome, our photographer was very seasick, but managed to get a few shots before going back to sleep. Every half hour or so we had crashing takes, boated 2 fish for the photos, and they swam away strongly after being revived. Another was tagged and released at the boatside, smallest fish estimated at 60 lbs, the largest was about 85lbs. I think Stan is looking happy. Snatcher, it was too windy for the fly rods, hope that we'll get a chance for a go in the next few days. Singy - keep your fngers crossed that they'll stay here for the next month or so. We are very privileged to see the marlin fishing like this. When there are this many, it's as good as it gets anywhere in the world.

This is a very quick reply - what an amazing day!!!!! Raised 14 marlin, good hookups on 6 and tagged and released 3, fantastic. Stan is a very happy bunny and we're off to celebrate, so I'll get him that pint. Will post piccies and a report on a new thread tomorrow

Phew - after some high tech wizardry, managed to get the image to load.

Well I've just left Stan at the bar, enjoying a beer or two. Here's a pic of the view from the back of the boat yesterday, an aerial display of a hooked up white marlin. Raised just 2 yesterday, but also had one blue marlin through the lures, and another free jumping a few hundred metres away. The sea is crawling with small dorado, so it's looking really good at the moment. We are out again tomorrow so fingers crossed for some more aerobatics. More updatres soon. Bob aargh - the image is only 500kb but I can't seem to post it. Willtry again on another reply

HI Muttley - try Advanta angling, a web search should find them. They stock Walker electric downriggers, a bit pricey, but if you are doing a lot, they are the dogs wotsits. We use them for trolling deadbaits and some rubber lures for reef dwelling carnivores, they take a bit of getting used to. I'm sure they would work well for bass in the right area. Best of luck - Bob www.reefcatfishing.com

Was just having a look around after checking tomorrows forecast. First day of the marlin season tomorrow, season is a bit of a misnomer, but traditionally the marlin appear on or about the full moon in august. So first marlin fishing trip in the new boat fo us, we are on the Algarve coast of Portugal. And yes, in a good year there are plenty of marlin in the north east altlantic. Four big blues have ben caught already way offshore, we are hoping for white marlin tomorrow. I've never tried to eat one though, we are strictly tag & release.

Thanks for the wishes guys - put the fighting chair pedestal on today, and would you believe, got the dvd player working through the Raymarine plotter, what fun... We needed a FM radio, and searching on ebay, found a car radio that does the lot, dvd, divx, mp3 etc, all for about £80.00, so we thought why not. Now we can watch Jaws while we're waiting for the big one.. When I'm wealthy I want an underwater camera so I can see whats going on down there. A couple of blue marlin have been boated already, so getting a bith itchy now, just want to go fishing..

Hi Snatcher - I've still got your flies, and looking forward to having a go with them. Stan is out in early september, fingers crossed Sparky will be pleased.

She's got twin Yanmar 315s, now with a total of 2 hours running time. Can't wait to get them run in, and go and have a proper play.

Here's the reason no posts from me for a long time, been up to our eyes in boat buliding. At last she is on the water, and we are starting sea trials, just a few more hurdles to jump and we'll be off. It will be nice to think of fishing for a change, and not about plumbing in an electric toilet etc.

Singy - I got your mail - will speak to you soon. Haven't posted on here for a long time, been working 7 days a week and all hours to get the new boat ready. I'll start a new thread with a pic or two of the new Reefcat on the water at last. In the meantime I will try and answer your question about big game. The Algarve is at the northernmost tip of the blue and white marlin distribution, there can be years of plenty and years of drought. The mid to late 90's saw many fish being caught, but this tailed off in 2000. I started fishing here in 2004, and so far it has been getting better every year. This year looks very promising, 2 substantial blue marln already caught and a few whites, which is remarkably early in the season. There are very few serious angling boats over here, so I am sure that with a better equipped fleet of charter boats the numbers could be impressive, at least in a good year. I reckon that the white marln usually arrive inshore in mid august, the first that we saw last year was on the 17th August, and for 3-4 weeks they were here in good numbers, packs of 10 plus fish around the boat, very exciting stuff. Multiple hookups were common, although keeping them on the hook is an entirely different matter. The blues are less common, but I am sure that they are well offshore from June - October if the water temperature is right. It's why we have invested in a purpose built game boat, so we can get to the offshore grounds (about 50 miles). The blues that do get here are big, many local reports of 400kg plus fish, getting away, although a few do get tagged and released. We are betting that with the right boats and equipment, there is a sustainable big game fishery over here waiting to be discovered. If we're wrong and they don't come back next year, there's still some excellent fishing to be had, sharking and deep bottom fishing has hardly been touched yet. Hope that helps a bit, we're doing sea trials at the moment, and the deck gets painted tomorrow, with any luck, mid august or so will see us pulling some lures. Bob

This is the reason I haven't posted for a long time, pic taken on monday this week. Still a way to go, but she floats. Will start a new thread when i get time to take some more pics.

Would have to be white marlin, on light tackle, their speed and aerobatics are breathtaking.

I think that they will have too much drag for that sort of tide at 70foot. For higher speeds and deep water we use some weights I have only ever seen in Spain. I'll try and describe them: imagine a discus made out of lead with a rectangular aluminium or stainless steel plate extending through the middle of it front and rear. A hole front and rear for attaching the cable and a release clip. They are very low profile, and the plate seems to keep it tracking straight, have used them at 5-6knots in 30 plus metres of water, at slower speed I'm sure they would go much deeper. Only got the downriggers towards the end of last season, and still waiting for our new boat to be finished, but I expect to give them a hammering this year.

We use about a 6-8 inch length of scaffold bar, filled with lead, front edge cut at about a 60 degree angle. An eyebolt attached on the top front and rear. Its a little bit draggy, but works fine up to about 4-5 knots. You have to play a bit with the eyebolt positions so it tracks right, an awful lot cheaper than the cannon balls etc.

Still pushig hard Norm - looks like April at the moment, put the rear deck down today, but still a long way to go.

Did it look something like this? A small meagre, known locally in Portugal as a corvina, very nice to eat, its also where we get the otoliths from to make jewellery.

We looked at chartering in the UK before making the decision to do something new here in Portugal. Been at it a couple of years now, and despite huge administrative problems, and a years delay in gettting a new boat built, we have no regrets. We have had to learn completely new fishing techniques, but what a buzz, we have had 50lb tackle completely spooled by an unseen fish, probably a bluefin tuna. Even the white marlin will take 300 metres of line in a few seconds, and they only weigh 60 - 90 lbs. We have yet to hookup a blue marlin, but this year we will have the boat capable of finding them, can't wait. We lose very few days to weather, and you have the chance of finding some very serious fish. I don't think that I could go back to the south coast of the UK and charter from there. Too cold, and not enough good fishing anymore. If you go ahead and do it, best of luck, if you have the inclination, look at doing it somewhere other than the UK