Billfish in europe..

[bob@reefcatfishing]

The algarve in Portugal has always produced a few billfish from time to time. The last two seasons have been very good, and it looks like it will soon be rivalling Madeira for both white and blue marlin.

I've only been there a couple of years, and I have seen a number of new charter operations start up, I wish them every success. It's a relatively unknown venue, where with a bit of luck you can hook into a monster.

There's also swordfish and bluefin tuna about, although I don't know of any recreational anglers who fish for them, going to give it a go this year.

Would be interested to hear from anyone who fished it in the 90's when good numbers of marlin were caught.

[garyagreen]

there was sword fish caught in the med just off mallorca the north end

[PanamaJack]

Hi Bob
It’s an interesting point you raise.

Right back to the mid-sixties I can recall anglers in Gibraltar talking about White Marlin that were encountered, further west, in the Gulf of Cadiz during the Autumn months. But, and this is really testing my memory, it was only in September ’92 that John Gill – one of our Club members - caught the first Blue, sportfishing, from Vilamoura. Ted Legg – another Club member – was the skipper and it was taken on Aquasition C.

As it was a first John took the fish in. It weighed 495lbs. And, if I’ve got it right, the fish was caught some 40 odd miles south-east of the marina – that seemed to be the area where you started to get reasonable bottom structure and ‘bluewater’.

Now, and I guess this is to my mind the enigma, although they catch Whites on a fairly regular basis they, like Blues, have a ‘comfort zone’ – 22 to 31 degrees Celsius (72 to 88F) - and, unless things have dramatically changed, I suspect you’d struggle to find 22 in most seasons. I know Ted talked about, even in August/September, temperatures around the mid-sixties Fahrenheit with just isolated pockets of Blue water with temperatures up to 75F. And Blues particularly were never prolific.

But perhaps things have changed, or the skippers are working different areas?

It was in the late sixties that I fished the Algarve and there were, at that time, no game boats to explore its potential. Light tackle trolling we used to catch Bass, Bluefish and Little Tunny around the Cape St Vincente area, and Blue Sharks offshore. However about 20 miles off the Cape there was a complex of banks that they used to catch big Blues and Makos – roughly one in five were Makos. Many of the Blues were 200lbs plus fish, although I did see a picture of one, cut into three pieces to weigh, that was much, much bigger.

The locals at Sagres also used to catch the occasional Mako on their bottom fished longlines and the very occasional Broadbill used to show up. Bluefin used to migrate past the Cape in November.

You mentioned Madeira in your posting. It’s certainly had one of its best seasons for many years as had Faial, in the Azores. And, particularly, Gomera in the Canaries. So certainly something ‘different’ has happened this year in that part of the North East Atlantic.
Dave
Honorary Chairman
Sportfishing Club of the British Isles
http://www.scbi.org.uk

[Dave Godwin]

The sea temps this summer has been on average21-22c although i have found odd patches as high as 24c.
This is the area due south of Albufeira where i operate from, with a range of approx ten from shore which is where i have been taking blue and mako shark.
I started trolling lures as soon as the temp reached 20c and had a strike from a white marlin within ten minutes, i have also had strikes from whites as shallow as 25 metres this summer.

[kiwifisho]

Sorry guys, not used to this farenhiet(?) stuff, but will have to dissagree with PanamaJack on the longline catches of Mako. they are pelagic and don't leave the surface for too long. The sharks caught where probablt their cousins the Poor beagle shark. They are very similar apart from the fact that the Poor Beagle has spots.

[PanamaJack]

Hi Dave
Although the averages you quoted are right at the bottom end of their perceived tolerance range, things have patently changed. The waters off the Algarve are definitely getting warmer.

I was surprised though that you’d encountered Whites in such shallow water. That said though I’ve only caught (and had abortive strikes from) them in 100 plus fathom depths, off volcanic islands – the Azores, Canaries, Madeira and Ascension – whilst targeting Blue Marlin. And the lures, hook sizes and drag setting usually mean no hook-ups!

I don’t know what numbers you encounter them in? But, a couple of years ago out from Faial in the Azores, when they were getting strikes from 20 or 30 fish a day, including lots of multiple strikes, they started trolling hookless teasers. They’d bring the fish in towards the transom, Sailfish-style, then cast either a small livebait on light spin gear at them or use heavy fly tackle. That said they really didn’t turn up in those sorts of numbers this year, although there were definitely more Blues around including some really big fish.

How about Blue Marlin in the Algarve though, how’s that progressing? I know that John Gill, whom I mentioned in my earlier posting, fished several months back in ’92 for just seven strikes and that one fish. That said it was the initial exploratory fishing in the area. And, interestingly, I guess especially from your area of operation, whilst the fish came from the south-east of Vilamoura most of the strikes were around the canyons to the south-west. A lot better structure and presumably closer to Albufeira?
Dave

Hi Kiwifisho
Whilst I know that Porbeagles do, on our side of the Atlantic, range down as far as North Africa and into the Mediterranean these were Makos. The teeth are the obvious give-away. Both of the fish caught on the bottom long-line that I saw had been jaw hooked, although I suspect they were probably targeting fish – some of which were Conger Eels – already hooked. And one had ‘successfully’ wrapped itself in the main line, so there was no escape. Now obviously they could have either been hooked whilst the line was on the bottom – in around 100 metres of water - or being retrieved. I’ve no way of knowing.

Perhaps Dave could identify whether he's ever encountered Porbeagles off the Algarve?

But whilst I’ve only ever personally caught Makos on the surface on Marlin lures in 600 plus metres of water I know that they will often range down through the water column.

We had one BigEye Tuna in the Azores that, in typical tuna fashion, initially power-dived down only to zoom back to the surface pursued by two smallish Makos. They had made quite a mess of that area just up from the tail.

And that’s a fairly typical mode of attack. I’ve also seen several Broadbill (Swordfish) – reputedly their favoured prey – that had obviously been initially disabled through bites through the backbone close to the tail. Whilst some are undoubtedly taken on the surface – you occasionally seeing them resting, upper tail lobe and dorsal, clear of the surface – many I suspect are taken deep and the carcasses subsequently float to the surface.

I know as well that boats fishing out from the Three Kings off the north of New Zealand’s North Island, targeting the really big Broadbill similarly have lots of problems with Mako attacks.
Dave

[bob@reefcatfishing]

Sorry for the delay in replying, been having some pc probs.

Only been fishing the algarve full time for 2 years, inshore water temperature has exceeded 25 degrees from mid august until late september. This year we hit some packs of white marlin in about 80-200metres and had multiple hook ups. Keeping them on the hook was another matter....

We are on the far eastern algarve, next to the border with spain and seem to have generally higher water temp than the western part. That said, you need to discriminate between the inshore and offshore marks.

The inshore water in the east has been producing plenty of white marlin for about a six week season, the offshore waters have had blue marlin from june through to mid october. Bear in mind that there are very few boats capable of fishing the offshore grounds, so I suspect the fishing potential is very good. I believe 14 blues were landed last year, at least 20 were landed this year, a few fish reputed to be granders were lost after long battles.

The "picos" is a fantastic sea mount feature about 48 miles due south of us, rising from 1000metres to about 200 metres. The last couple of years has seen a very small number of boats capable of making the trip out there, and they have had some success. When I first looked at the algarve i thought that i would be content with inshore fishing, but having seen the potential of the offshore grounds, i now think that with the right boats we could outfish any other european destination.

So we took a decision to become a serious big game operation, we are building a new 12metre catamaran, and after a few false starts, we will be operating the new boat next year.

There is so much potential here, with no other operators able to get out to the offshore grounds with any consistency. We are equipping for big game of course, but also electric downriggers, deep drop outfits and kite fishing, I'm sure that we will find swords, tuna, black bass and the bigger shark.


So, I'm in the uk at the moment, casting trolling lures for next year, off to portugal in a few weeks to see our hull come out of the new mould, can't wait...

[PanamaJack]

Hi Bob
That sea mount will obviously act as a magnet to several pelagic species, plus bottom feeders. So it will be very interesting to see what results you start to get, and the ‘cat’ will presumably be somewhat more fuel efficient than conventional hulls. I certainly wish you every success and, I’m sure like others who read this thread, will be interested to learn about your catches.

Structure, as well as attracting fish pelagics, will also hold them. One of our members tagged a Blue Marlin off Faial, in the Azores, and then, almost a month later, re-captured it less then ten miles away.

Just a couple of specifics.

Are the Black Bass you talk about what the locals call Meagre, or Cherna – the Stone Bass? And how big do they grow?

White Marlin, as you’ve found out, are often encountered in packs and they’re aggressive, but can be very difficult to hook. There’s an article on our Club’s web site that you might find of use - http://www.scbi.org.uk/pages/News_Wh...kleFront_4.asp. I believe the technique initially came from Southern California where they target smallish Striped Marlin, but possibly from the Hawaiian Shortbill Spearfish fishery. However if you start to find them in real numbers then fishing hookless teasers coupled with small baits on spin gear, or even fly gear, can be effective.

Over several years now our members have been catching Yellowfin Tuna, up to 100lbs in weight, deep jigging whilst drifting over structure off Ascension Island (South Atlantic). We also catch them by anchoring in 6/700’ – to a fixed buoy – over drop-offs into deep water and chunking with freelined baits. Those techniques might possibly also work around that sea mount?

Wishing you every success.
Dave

[bob@reefcatfishing]

Hi Dave - fingers covered in resin and frezing cold from casting some more lures in the garage.

The meagre is known as corvina locally, we are considered the local experts having cleaned up last year, fishing an artificial reef with live baits. Our biggest corvina was just 22kgs, but I have seen locally caught fish exceeeding 40kgs. The Cherna inhabit much deeper water, we haven't tried fishing for them yet, but will be able to in the new boat.

Thanks for the white marlin link, Dustin was on the boat this year, and we picked his brains on white marlin rigs. Unfortunately , he was just too late for the white marlin, but was aboard another boat during his trip and had a few blue marlin hookups. We have been lent a saltwater fly rod, and are in the process of having some flies made up, so fingers crossed we'll have a go next year.

We have a whole season of experimentation ahead of us, whilst there are a few boats that fish the mount, I don't think that they are using any real innovative techniques. We intend to change all that and really step up to the mark.... time will tell.

Just found your tel number in an SCBI mag, may give you a call for a chin wag..

Cheers - Bob