bob@reefcatfishing

This is getting to be quite an exciting prospect, several times this year we had 6 or more white marlin in the trolling pattern, with the odd double hookup. On more than one occassion as we were bringing in the other rigs to clear the deck a marlin would follow the lure to within 3-4 metres of the boat. We could see 6 fins in the pattern, but there may have been more that we couldn't see. It seems that when they are hunting in packs they are much more competitive and aggressive. If we can hit a few more packs next year I'm sure that we could tease fish up to within a few metres of the boat. We just whip the teaser away from under his nose and drop a fly in front of him. Sounds easy..........................

We've been getting plenty of white marlin around the boat this season, and thought that we should have a go at catching them on fly. As Stan mentioned, the IGFA rules state that the boat must be out of gear so we are going to tease the fish right to the back of the boat. When the fish is close enough we take the boat out of gear, and then the tricky bit, we whip the teaser out of the water as the angler drops the fly on his nose, hopefully he will be so cross that the teaser has gone he'll strike at anything else that moves. 6/0s sound pretty small for marlin, but the whites have quite a small mouth, its been described as trying to hook a pair of chopsticks doing 40 knots. Given our experience this year I would have to agree. Thanks for the info on poppers, I've only seen it done on tv, and they never really show the lures. Hopefully it will only be in the water a few seconds before it gets hit.

Hi Snatcher - sardine and joey mackerel seem to make up the main food source, so I would guess that for the sardine, anything white, silver and flashy would do. I'm not too sure what weight they should be, don't have to cast too far as we will tease them to the back of the boat, its just to give a bit of penetration in the wind. Coincidentally, darker lures seem to work well most of the time, I assume its because they're silhouetted against the sky. Can't wait to see them

Don't have it with me, but if I remember rightly, my fish id book says that they have a tendency to attack male genitals. I kid you not.......

At long last and over a year late the mould for our new hull is ready, and the first hull came out of the mould yesterday, that means that our hull will be laid up in the next week, and should come out of the mould in about a fortnight. The deck, cabin and flybridge moulds are also ready, so pretty soon we'll have a giant lego set to play with. This hull is having water jets so the transom is a little different to our conventional shaft drive. After so many delays and the australian builder sending the wrong boat it's such a relief to see the whole project moving forward at last.

Still looking for a good supplier of lure skirts/big muppets. Got some Grauvells on order so I'll have some black and reds for the tuna. Snatcher - if you want a custom lure with your name cast inside the resin, let me know and I'll try and get creative. You can have any colour as long as its clear, blue, red, green, or a mixture. Just had a creative thought, how about encapsulating one of your flies in a solid block of clear resin, might look really pretty?

All of these home made in the last few days, some I've created the shape myself by casting a cylinder and then using a pillar drill as a lathe. Others are copies of commercially made lures, I make silicone mould then create head inserts with eyes etc, and then pour casting resin. Still learning techniques, but made a few I'm proud of, just hope they can catch the fish.

Stan - if Snatchers flies do the biz maybe you can get the first white marlin on fly from the new boat. Now there's an exciting prospect. I've been busy makng trolling lures so here's a taster, small ones for tuna dorado and white marlin, bigger ones for blue marlin. Just got to work out how to get casting resin off the keyboard

Nice looking flies snatcher, been meaning to give you a call. You still up for trying to make a few white marlin flies. Need to be on 5/0 or 6/0 O'shaughnessys, maybe 6 inches or so long in total, loads of flash and a little bit of weight, what do you think? Call you soon.

Will try and post a few pics of the better ones in a day or tow.

The new boat hull is being laid up as I write this, and I'm in the UK for a while to make some lures. Commercial trolling lures are loads of money, while we have a pile of them on the boat, I wanted to have a go at making them myself. Essentially they consist of shaped bits of polyester resin with flashy stuff inside to form the lure head, this is then attached to vinyl or latex "skirts" very similar to overgrown muppets. I'm having great fun making moulds from silicone rubber and latex, based on proven lure heads. Then making up the head inserts from lead and holographic tape, I also add a few dolls "joggle" eyes to make the whole thing look vaguely fish like. Then pour in some clear or tinted casting resin, let it all go hard and then polish to get a flashy lure head. Having problems getting hold of skirts in the UK, all the muppets over here only go to about 6 inches max. I'm making lures from about 5 inches, for small tuna and dorado, up to about 16 inches for blue marlin.

You been catching bass Dave? You know that other than the estuaries I've never seen a bass caught at sea on this coast, only ever seem to see them in the rivers.

What an entertaining thread with some widely different points of view. Here in Portugal there is very little protection of fish stocks, the commercial longlining fleet has decimated the swordfish, marlin (blue and white) and blue shark populations. The culture amongst recreational and commercial fishermen alike is that everything gets killed and eaten. The Portuguese fisheries minister has stated that fish stocks are declining because of recreational fishing pressure, what complete rubbish. There is a very small sportfishing fleet on the algarve coast, and with very few exceptions all the billfish will be killed. Needless to say we tag and release all billfish and shark. I have never fished for swords, its on the "to do" list for next year. We have some very deep water 1000 plus metres, so I reckon a few night trips to the canyons, drifting with deadbaits may be worth a go. In my experience UK anglers are prety much the only europeans who have a conservation attitude to their fishing. I get a few US magazines and have been very impressed with their conservation measures, there are always a few articles and editorials on how to preserve fish stocks for recreational anglers. I wish that the rest of europe would recognize the value of recreational fishing, and take a leaf from the US book on fisheries protection.

Hey Roy -did you do a freezing cold trip out of Hayling a couple of years ago? Think the skipper was Sid, if you're the same Roy - hi from Bob.

Stan - really sorry I missed you, I'm in the UK at the moment with a winter project of making some trolling lures. So I'm up to my eyes in casting resin and holographic tape! Don't the skipjack go well on 12-20 gear? There seems to be quite a good run of tuna this year, and until about 10 days ago there were still some blue marlin in the deepwater canyons (about 50 miles offshore). So its been a pretty good year on the algarve. I'll be back with Tony sometime in late november to see our new hull glued to the foredeck etc, and back again in january to start fitting it out. Maybe we can have a go at the white marlin on fly next year? Snatcher or MJB - do you fancy a fly making challenge? Anyone else tried Tuna Balti - mmmm lovely!!!

What a fantastic shark, I had a 72" blue last saturday night, makes it look like a baby.

Got your messages ST, I'll give you a call

I think we will probably be concentrating on the build of the new boat fom mid october onwards. So effectively we will be shutting down until march of next year when the new boat should be ready. Raised 6 whites yesterday, hooked up and lost 2, very frustrating. Going again tomorrow, and we'll have a cameraman onboard, so hopefully we'll get some pics.

Thats the room Norm :cool:

Norm and Chris - The bed only pension is charging €35.00 a night for a twin room and €25.00 a night for a single. The hotel Guadiana is doing B & B for €60.00 twin and €50.00 single. Both are very close to the marina. PM me with your phone numbers and I can give you a call with more details if you like.

Just back from a trip - half a day trolling, and half a day on the reef. Raised 6 white marlin, hooked up one and lost it after a few minutes. Oil changes on the engines tomorrow, so I'll be checking out the accommodation prices.

Just got in from a days trolling, phew, raised 10 white marlin, double hookup one of which got off, one tagged and released. Another fish tagged and released about an hour later, saw more marlin today than I've ever seen... fantastic. Chris - I'll make some enquiries about accommodation costs, for fishermen we tend to use a cheap "pension" nice clean rooms, no breakfast, but there's plenty of bars and restaurants. If not the local hotel does cheap rooms but I'll have to check the rates. Norm - I said I'd let you know if they were here in numbers, well judging from today, they have definitely arrived. Never know how long they're going to stay, but its looking very good at the moment.