PanamaJack

Um....12000 odd miles may be a long way to paddle, but they do occasionally catch them from the rocks in Oz - one and two. But as several other members have noted Broadbill Swordfish can be quite widespread throughout the world's temperate through to tropical seas - normally though encountered in deeper water. Certainly the Cornish Tuna boats, trolling for Albacore in the Bay of Biscay, are catching reasonable numbers on surface lures. Anything more exotic though? Well perhaps the odd straggler that rides up in a tongue of warm water. But realistically southern Biscay, places like Biarritz and St Jean de Luz are currently around the northerly limit, on the European mainland, for White and occasional Blue Marlin.

My apologies. Some sites do allow unregistered guests to view but not post....patently not that one! It was an incredible fish, but the angler mentioned that when they're there in the winter months they're caught in relatively shallow waters and spear fisherman had taken them to nearly 160lbs. This was his reply: I did try searching on a Spanish forum which I believe has 'guest viewing rights' but couldn't find the pictures. There were some though of the big Dentex Bream that they catch jigging - here and here. Also, amidst some 'chatter' about Rodriques (near Mauritius) Jason Pipe who runs a game boat from La Gomera was talking about catching big Amberjack. I guess internationally with the advent of the super-braids and Shimano Stellas more and more anglers are targeting deepwater jigging opportunities with those 'butterfly' jigs. Dave PS My Spanish isn't quite up to it - what a wonderful crutch Babelfish on altavista is - but there're some threads on that site relating to the Mediterranean coast of Spain that may be of interest with your forthcoming trip.

Reading the threads about the Canaries most members are looking for information regarding shore fishing. The islands are volcanic though and from some of the marinas they run bottom fishing trips - deep water - for things like Congers, Stingray and assorted bottom fish. And more recently some have targeted the big bottom feeding Six Gilled Sharks. Then of course there's the specialised Big Game trolling essentially for Marlin and Tuna. But a few anglers are starting to experiment with jigging over the deepwater reefs. Here's one of their catches - a near 135lb Amberjack. A BIG fish! A different challenge for your summer holidays? At the moment I'm trying to find out which of the islands it was taken from. I think though from a personal point of view I'd prefer to fish from a slightly larger boat that Jose's 'Queen Mary'! Dave

I don’t know whether any of you read - this report - about a young man surfing out from a northern Californian beach, close to a spot frequented by juvenile Harbour Seals and Great Whites. It’s evidentially the 3rd time that he’s had close encounters with Great Whites! One nudged him as he surfed and, in 2002, he helped administer first aid to a fellow surfer who was bitten to the bone by a Great White. In this latest incident the shark, holding him by the leg, dragged him 5 metres underwater before, realising its ‘mistake’, released him. According to a local shark ‘expert’ That’s presumably alright then and we have nothing to fear? It was only a mistake on the shark's part. Unfortunately though South African (and Australian) sharks don’t appear to read the research material, or have more catholic tastes that include humans! This is a video clip from YouTube. But just to ‘prove’ that ‘modern’ ‘Stateside sharks – excluding of course the mechanical monster – don’t eat humans here’s some links of images (and video footage) of people surprisingly close to them - ouside a cage off Hawaii and in a Cape Cod salt pond. Um....I think I'll stay in the swimming pool.

Have you perhaps thought about contacting Jean-Francois HELIAS through his web site? I know for example several of our Club members have targeted Barramundi with him on the fly from one of the stocked private lakes about 30 kilometres from Bangkok. The lake is featured in this article.

Um…. I suspect, as someone else has already suggested, yet another clever way for ‘bookies’ to generate income from the gullible. But there is an underlying question in the thread. Do they visit our waters? Although possibly not the best of presented documentaries there was that program on BBC that examined some of the potential sightings and, of course, mis-sightings. Some, certainly to my mind, appeared credible. And I also recall recounting, to one of the program’s researchers, a conversation I’d had with one of the legendary Cornish shark skippers, Robin Vinnicombe of the Falmouth-based Huntress, about an ‘incident’ back in the 60s. It was in response to a question ‘And what’s the biggest shark you’ve seen?’ Robin described what, initially, was an uneventful day off the Manacles with a group of holiday-makers. They’d hooked up a fish that came relatively easily to the side of the boat and, in Robin’s words, ‘it was longer than my dingy (14’) and had an eye like a compass binnacle’. He took the trace and the fish just tracked along the side ‘just like a big dog on a lead’. But it hadn’t fought. Robin picked up the flying gaff and decided, rather than gaffing it, to poke it with the back bend of the gaff head in the eye. The fish powered away and, 3 ½ hours later, bit through the heavy cable trace. ‘What was it?’ Perhaps too canny a Cornishman and perhaps also frightened of ridicule Robin just shrugged his shoulders, he didn’t know. (BTW Robin had caught both Makos and Porbeagles in UK waters.) Whether the researcher managed to contact Robin, or whether he is in fact still alive, I’ve no idea. Food for thought? Well obviously it’s not going to convince the sceptics. But is it just another piece in a complex jigsaw? I don’t know, but am firmly of the opinion ‘never say never’. How can we prove it though? Well I’ve reproduced below is something I penned for our Club magazine that describes recent research using intelligent satellite tags. Would they offer proof - either tagging fish from the Mediterranean or those off the East coast of the ‘States? Dave

I guess it’s a timely reminder for people buying tackle for those new to our sport. However like Ferg I similarly have set up a Direct Debit. But why do they charge a premium for buying on line? Somewhat perverse logic? (Alright I don’t want to enter into a debate on the preservation of local Post Offices.) Surely it costs the EA more in terms of commission, and administration, for anglers to buy their licence through Post Offices than the cost of a pre-paid envelope? Then Terry's point Perhaps they, the EA, ‘catch’ more miscreants ‘way down in the Deep South’? I’ve had my licence check twice in consecutive years. Once admittedly was at Dever Springs, a ‘day ticket’ trout fishery our Club had taken over on a Sunday. Perhaps trout fishing attracts more ‘occasional, one-off’ anglers who ‘chance their arm’? The second time, a month ago, was on a popular club water though. Interestingly though, and I guess in part it’s the bureaucratic obsession with targets and part to stop the bailiffs – like traffic wardens – just revisiting the same venue time and time again, they record your licence number and initial your licence. Talking to the bailiff they don’t get ‘brownie points’, presumably part of their bonus structure, if someone’s initialled the licence beforehand.

Thank you all for taking the trouble to respond. We spent many a happy day fishing at Britford (LAA) last winter mainly wobbling deadbaits for the Pike. And my friend even had what our American 'cousins' would describe as a 'Grand Slam' one day on a Rapala - Pike, wild Brownie and a 3 1/2lb male Salmon. Great fun! Didn't have the patience for those BIG 3lb plus Roach in the carrier but, right at the end of the season, saw a 7lb Bream and 5lb Tench come out. Different? Reminiscing about East Mills though last time I was there, fishing for the Chub late one afternoon, a rather tall, gaunt gentleman wearing a trilby arrived on the river bank, set up his chair about 50 yards downstream and just sat there. Not fishing! Curiousity took over. I wandered down and started talking to ........Chris Yates. An aimable individual who'd by that time lost interest in Carp fishing - too high tech - more than willing to talk about Barbel fishing though, his passion at the time. He'd got his close whipped built cane rod, centrepin and, using salmon roe for bait, was intending to fish in 'my' swim once I'd left for Barbel. Quite a character. He'd had 12 pounders from the swim but I realise now I'm talking about events from a long, long time ago. Best wishes Dave

Hi Peter Many Thanks for your prompt reply. Thanks Dave

More years ago that I care to remember I used to fish a day ticket water at East Mills, just above Fordingbridge on the Hampshire Avon. Friends have suggested that with a change of ownership the water is now strictly private, but on this web site there’s reference to day tickets still being available. Is the latter information out of date though? Does anyone know for certain? Or are there perhaps any other day ticket waters on the Avon in the immediate vicinity? I’ve found an isolated reference to Fordingbridge Rec. Dave

Just picked this up from one of the regular Kingfisher newsletters - desperately disappointing for all concerned. Something we can 'thank' our EU political 'masters' for?

I guess views, borne out by posts to this thread, on the topic of C & R are essentially entrenched and are likely always to be. But what is also obvious, a point to my mind of coming together, is that all of us as sportspersons essentially agree ethically on the principle of C &R. What we're disagreeing about appears to be the degree. Or is it the principle of taking fish purely for trophies – have your picture taken and discard it – or for record purposes? Overlaying this debate though, and we must never forget this, there are the extremists – those that support organisations like PETA – that believe all sportsfishing is morally wrong. They’re utterly obsessed with attributing mammalian attributes and characteristics to fish. And we must always bear in mind when debating this topic that these threads are often examined by, on the one hand, the animal rights extremists and on the other journalists seeking controversy. (The report that Bobj brought our attention to is unfortunately a classic case in point.) Remarks can easily be taken out of context. Please remember that. But firstly the obvious bone of contention point – records. And a general question. How many of you have actually caught a world record fish? I’m not suggesting that not having caught one in any way invalidates your opinion but just actually being faced with the situation can and will bring a whole range of differing emotions into play. In a long game fishing career I’ve only been in that situation twice – once with a Bluefish and once with a BigEye Tuna. The BigEye escaped when, after a close to 2 hour battle with the fish beaten, the 30lb line popped with it 15’ from the boat. But, importantly given the chance, I would have taken that fish in. It appeared to be around 70lbs over the existing record. The Bluefish would have had broken a long established light tackle but a significant delay in officially weighing it meant it lost vital ounces. Disappointment. Whilst it would have easily broken the European record I’d lost interest totally and didn’t bother to even photograph it. I gave it to the locals to eat. Would I do it again if the opportunity ever arose? I have to say probably yes. And yes it is all to do with kudos. To Alex's – the captor of the Black Marlin - fish though. First thoughts, like those of many others, were congratulations of what was probably a once in a life time achievement. Um…..now I’m not quite so certain. Yes, the Marlin, at nearly 1100lbs was a superb fish. But Alex is no stranger to 'Junior' and 'Smallfry' world records. He already held the Black Marlin records in both categories and records for Ladyfish, Hammerhead Shark, Bigeye and Bluefin Trevally. All of those I have to say were for relatively modest specimens. And if you look through those IGFA Junior and Smallfry records you’ll find the same names cropping up again and again. The same occurs if you similarly look through the 'joke' ultra light line records. As an example Enrico Capozzi, an IGFA representative, established the 2, 4 and 6lb world records for Black Marlin in just a 10 day period in 2000. The largest in terms of fish weight to line strength ratio came out at 122 to 1. So angling achievements? I think not. A desire for kudos coupled with a subliminal demonstration that you, or your dad, have got more money than others? Yes, probably. Certainly I know that for many of those 'record breakers' the question of fish welfare, should their capture not be a record, is far from their mind. For ultra light tackle record attempts baits on 'J' hooks are drifted back and the fish allowed to gorge it. When, through resistance from the trace – not the line – the fish realises it’s hooked it with surface and try to through the hook. This is often the time when using a specially designed hull the boat backs at speed, the crew take the leader and gaff a very green fish. If it’s patently not a record or the fish runs conventionally then the line is deliberately broken. So, after all of that, I’m in favour of the maintenance of world records but would like to see them severely restricted in terms of categories. Now to the trophy aspect. And just let me illustrate this by an example of my first trip to Ascension Island (South Atlantic). A friend I was fishing with who'd previously caught just 5 Marlin (all of which had been released) hooked a fish that the crew were convinced might make the magical ‘grander’ (1000lb plus) status. Potential kudos for the crew. And certainly the 'deckie', a Kiwi, wanted to as he graphically described it, 'stroke' it. But my friend, whose biggest Marlin prior to that was an estimated 300 pounder, was insistent it was released. Then two days later a vastly experienced American angler, fishing another boat, landed an 1100lb Blue. He’d caught several hundred Marlin before this and released them all. But this was his biggest fish by far and he wanted to weigh it. So two anglers, with two differing views as to their particular 'fish of a lifetime'. Who was right with their course of action? In my view, both. I for one respected their personal choices and celebrated their achievements with them both. Just to conclude that ovaries of that big fish were used for scientific research. She was 20 years old and the ovaries contained cancerous growth. Dave PS A final point. Leon - I think George Bransford's 'deckie' who caught that monster at Cairns - the first 1000lb plus gamefish on 80lb class tackle - was actually Richard Obach.

Hi Steve Tremendous account, and some wonderful photographs. I can see you enjoyed yourself! But it seems those Indian Ocean 'Permit' can be as elusive and frustrating as their Atlantic cousins. What …….. a surprize? Back to those YFT though. They are something else! But those Stellas are superb reels. A German friend of mine successfully uses the bigger models on short jigging rods in Ascension for the Yellowfin. I guess in terms of effective length, and the 'law of levers' they’re going to have an advantage over your popping rod in terms of fighting them. There some images of some real extreme fishing for Yellowfin on this web page from our Club’s site – with fly rods! Something to try next time? We chum them up with chunks and then just 'dead drift' a fly in the trail. You can see the strain starting to show on the angler’s face in that last shot – 2 hours into the battle! With the fish circling just 5' down the crewman tried a speculative gaff shot in the tail. It pricked the fish and it powered down again at which point Andy decided it was time to point the rod and pop the 20lb tippet. The thought of potentially another 2 hours wasn’t something he was prepared to contemplate. Best wishes Dave

Hi Norrie As several others that have responded Yellowfin, and all tunas for that matter, are incredible strong and certainly on that first explosive run very fast and unstoppable. They shut their mouth and gill covers down making them particularly 'aqua'dynamic (?). But, in that they're not breathing they run out of oxygen….eventually. Bearing that in mind, that's the time, after that first run finishes, that you can really pressurise them – providing you’re using appropriate tackle. As a technique push the drag up to strike, or even slightly above, and pump. You’ll have their head facing towards you and it’s important that you keep them moving before they fully recover. I prefer using short pumps, never moving the tip more than 18"s - but keep moving them. During this phase, as they start to recover, you'll find them constantly 'bumping' to try to get their head round for another power dive. (I've found them fairly predictable. Unlike Marlin or say Makos they're not going to accelerate towards you and then turn.) So, providing the tackle is adequate and the fish not too big, you can get them to the boat reasonably quickly. Big ones though - 200lb plus fish - are something different. Using 130lb class tackle, bent butts and lots of drag you’ll very quickly discover what the chair's arm rests are there for - self preservation and to prevent the early bath! If, when the fish surfaces, the crewman grabs the leader quickly just wind the swivel up to the tip ring and ease back the drag. Should it be slightly out of reach though keep the pressure on and the fish, if it doesn't dive, is likely to circle. Of course, as it comes round the 'inner' part of its circle, that’s the time to recover line. Dave Hi ol man o the sea The commercials, particularly the French and Spanish seine netters, are continuing to rape the extensive populations of Yellowfin and BigEye throughout the Gulf of Guinea unabated. One particularly effective technique they're now using are unanchored FADs (Fish Aggregation Devices) that shoals of juveniles - those that haven't breed - collect around. (Even though the shoals will range fairly long distances from the FAD they seem to return. And the FADs are tracked by satellite.) Whilst most of the BIG Yellowfin all see to come from the eastern Pacific, the Gulf of Guinea still contains some monsters - 300lb plus fish. Dave

I've certainly had great fun fly fishing for Sharks - Blacktips and Lemons - off the Marquesas, 29 miles out from Key West (Florida). It's 'skinny water' sight fishing but you do need to a butterfly-ed Barracuda over the side to attract them in. And the Blacktips often jump. But for sheer excitement have a look at the video footage of Spinner Sharks off West Palm Beach, Florida. Lessons? Make sure you've got a smooooth drag and lots of backing. And don't fish with poppers! (Unfortunately they're BIG files so during busy periods will, even with a broadband connection, take some minutes to load. Worth the wait though.) Now to Newt's Mako. Um.....I think I'd certainly be very reticent 'upsetting' a fish of that size particularly with a fly rod! They're probably the most awesome, unpredictable creatures in the sea. I've seen them jump 20' plus out of the water when hooked - much higher and totally unlike a Marlin or a Tarpon. They're rigid - they look just like a animated torpedo performing summersaults! That's of course apart from the teeth that are highly visible and 'gnashing' - angry SOBs. Dave

Hi Budgie Short term memory's not what it used to be! Just come back from a trip to the 'States where we fished for......well, Redfish amongst other things. There's some pictures, 3rd post in on this thread. Especially from a coarse angling perspective is fascinating to see the type of conditions we were fishing in. There're a great challenge, your friend will certainly enjoy fishing for them. Dave

Hi Budgie If your friend's looking for information here are some urls that he might find of use - there're details on venues and techniques on these, together with useful forums. Personally I've found those subscribers on the Reel-Time (fly fishing) forums most useful, especially when they realise you're from 'our side of the Pond'. They'll even forgive indiscretions about not using the 'long rod' providing you're not too obvious. (And what you can catch on the fly you can catch on spin gear.) So there's Shallow Water Angler, look for destinations, Reel-Time, look for 'Features' (top left on home page) and Sportfishing Magazine. Dave

Just to add a little more to Norm's observations on Ascension. All accommodation is controlled by the Obsidian Group - a double room works out to £70 a night. And Apex flights, booked more than 28 days in advance, are £870 return. They leave every 4 days, re-fuel in Ascension and then continue down to the Falklands. (Whilst they normally use Tristars military requirements take priority so you can find yourself on a hired plane configured for charter use.) Don't expect too much in the way of night life - there're just 5 bars on the island and two of those are on the respective military bases. The Volcano Club on the US base can be quite lively but, even though you can pay in UK or Ascension £s all change is rendered in US Dollars. But, if you plan to go between say February and April you can view the Great Green Turtles coming ashore at night to lay eggs and, later in that period, hatchlings making their way back to sea. (If I can get it to work there's a picture of one on this Photobucket link.) There're also some pictures of the Yellowfin Tuna here. They range from a 74 pounder up to a fish of 225lbs. A couple of the shots show bent rods. Don't be tempted to fish too light - 16lb test - as I did! We were catching 'schoolies' in the 30 to 50lb range so for a bit of sport I put over the light gear. An hour and a half later we'd actually started to make an impression on what was patently a 100lb plus fish - you can even see the crewman's got the gaff out - when the line popped. Just a tad too much pressure! With those, on light tackle, you forget all about pre-sets push the drag up until the line 'sings' then ease it back just a tad. Obviously as it comes closer, with little stretch in the line, you need to ease the drag back a fraction - more than I did! Any rate Davy if you're planning to go I'd suggest you don't leave it too long. A recent decision by our Foreign Office over-ruled the island Council's decision to allow people (St Helenans on contract and outsiders) to buy, rather than rent property. I suspect, given its strategic importance, particularly to the Americans, it's likely to go the way of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean soon - restricted to military personnel ONLY. Dave

That's Roddy. He originally hails from Alderney and, apart from Madeira where he gained his reputation, he also spent time on Midway (Central Pacific), Faial in the Azores and somewhere in the Caribbean - can't for the life of me remember where though.

Hi Toerag Roddy, who last year moved to New Zealand, has just re-vamped his web site and, unfortunately, the detailed report of the 5 week period he spend skippering Harmattan during the 2003 season has 'disappeared'. It was a great read! As well as Roddy's observations and humour, theer were some excellent photographs - particularly of the Marlin. But there was also a good picture of one of the deepwater Six Gill Sharks - pink in colour. To me though most exciting, and I got it chapter and verse from him, his crewman Olaf and the anglers over dinner, were the events of Sunday, 30th March. On that day Roddy raises THREE 1000lb plus Blue Marlin - the best the largest he's ever seen! Somewhere I'm sure I've got a copy of that part of his report - I'll need to hunt around on my laptop. Any rate there still are some others bits and pieces under SCRIBBLINGS on that site. They're worth reading. And yes, Hawaii. I've caught them there and I guess, on balance, it's probably slightly cheaper than fishing Ascension....JUST. Dave Hi Davy Another place that Dave (Vagabond) mentioned was Baja (Mexico). I've fished for Yellowfin along parts of Pacific coast of Central America but you'll probably be able to put together a cheaper holiday there, from somewhere like Cabo san Lucas or East Cape, than any of those other venues. They may not be the biggest from there but all YFT fight! If you're interested it might be worth reading George Laudrum's posts on the Trip Reporter section of the Marlinnut forum. Dave

Hi Davy Here're a few of the urls I mentionned I'd post. Please bear in mind though most show a bit of an obsession with Marlin. Most of the time the crews do unfortunately view Yellowfin as a distraction. Any rate here they are. And firstly some pictures of Cape Verde taken by a young Danish lady, Ingrid, who, whilst she's a university tends to spend summer holidays crewing on boats in the Atlantic. If you follow the link back to her home page there'll also be fishing photo essays of Ascension, the Azores and Los Roques, Venezuela. The latter cover fly fishing for Bonefish. Now to Ascension. Here're links to news diaries to one of the crewman, Olaf, I've fished with in Cape Verde and Ascension, and Matthias. Also here's a link from our Club's web site on Ascension and a link to a report on one of our members' trips that includes pictures of Yellowfin on the fly. Dave

Hi Davy To start with one that's already been mentioned - Ascension Island. It's a place you can't fail to catch a Yellowfin - they're everywhere! And during the summer months they even catch them drifting out livebaits via kites or balloons from the beach. From memory I think someone's had one of just over 280lbs that way. But I've found you get more fun anchoring on the edge of the drop offs, in approximately 5 to 600' of water and chunking (freelining) for them. We've even caught them dead drifting flies that way. And friends have caught them jigging. Also offshore I've seen, on occasions, acres and acres of them on the surface pre-occupied on tiny red Grouper fry or Scad (aka Google Eyes). That's the good news. Bad news - the two game boats based there charge 1100 euros a day. But you can get one of the locals to take you out on their small boats for under £100 a day. They'll catch just as many, it's just not as comfortable and their tackle is somewhat crude. The biggest downside cost-wise, unless you can access 'military' fares is the cost - around £900 return on an ageing Tristar. I've got some pictures somewhere, I'll include the urls on a separate post. Then, like someone else has already mentioned Kenya during the late summer months can be really good. The plus side is that charter rates are very reasonable and you can find cheap charter flights/packages. One not mentionned yet and one I really rate for Yellowfin are the Cape Verde Islands, about 1000 miles south of the Canaries. Charter rates are somewhat more expensive that Kenya in the 650 to 750 euro range. If it has a problem there're too many Marlin! Seriously when I fished there last year we were getting up to 8 strikes a day, releasing 3. But it can get better. Back in the mid 90s an American angler - Stewart Campbell - released over 20 fishing the channel off Sao Vicente. Anything else? There light tackle challenges - Amberjacks and Crevalle Jacks - and, if the fishing slows off Sao Vicente, the boats run the 40 miles to Sao Nicolau and fish the extensive lee for Marlin and Tiger Sharks. Forgot to mention the other plus side with Cape Verde is that this year they've started running charter flights direct from UK airports. Before you were forced to transit in places like Amsterdam or Lisbon. Dave

Fighting King Salmon. The fish.

Pictures from Morehead City, fishing for the Red Drum. Trust you can spot the tail in the second shot.

Here some more pictures of the fish at Montauk. The first is a Bluefish - a fish with TEETH and attitude to match, hence the rather nervous pose!