Ascension Island

**PanamaJack** · 04-01-2006, 12:12

I guess even though it sits on the mid-Atlantic Ridge, some 500 miles south of the Equator, you'd link Ascension Island (that remote British Protectorate) with Africa, rather than South America. It's a close run thing though sitting as it does almost mid-way between Norther Brazil and Angola.

It is remote though and, realistically, the only way to get down there is by the - every 4 days - RAF flight.

It's fishing potential is phenomenal - huge Six Gill Sharks, Marlin to over 1000lbs and Tuna over 200 plus loads of other species. And they catch both Sharks and Tuna from the shore!

I couldn't though resist posting the story of this adventure - nearly 150 miles offshore. It come from Shy 3's web site - http://www.azoresmarlin.com and is written by its skipper Ian Carter.

Before Christmas fishing had not been very good - did catch 2 blues in 3 days though - and I was wondering what to do to keep Christian Stooss (the client) on his toes. I had a look on my computer charts and worked out that Grattan Seamount was 145 nm to the south east and there was an un-named bank another 40nm out.

Martin (crewman – Marty Bates) and Christian were very keen to go so I gave Dieter a call to ask permission to go, as it is not normal to ‘wizz off’ a few hundred kilometres into the middle of the Atlantic. The boss agreed, with a caution to be careful, l so we filled Shy up with food and fuel - also 200litres in a drum as a precaution - and left Ascension at 10:30 on Wednesday, 29th December.

There was about 10 knots of wind on the nose with a small chop which was just enough to make it rather uncomfortable but OK. Our speed was about 7knots and expected to arrive on the bank the following morning. We trolled normal marlin lures all day while under way with no bites and as it got dark we put out luminous lures in the hope of a broadbill. We did get a bite in the night but pulled the hooks and can't be sure what it was. We arrived at the bank at 07:30 and stopped to do an engine room check and have breakfast. We were pretty tired with almost no sleep due to the uncomfortable trip but the wind had dropped and the sea had calmed down. We started trolling just after 08:00.

08:25 - Pulled hooks on a Blue 500 to 600lbs
08:35 - caught small Yellowfin
08:50 - Raised a small billfish, but no bite
09:05 - Pulled hooks on a Blue 350lbs
09:45 - Bite small billfish
10:30 - Caught another Yellowfin but just too big to live bait
11:00 - Pulled hooks, maybe Tuna
12:45 - got ‘covered up’ in Wahoo - caught 1 but had 2 others bitten off at the swivel
13:00 - stopped to fix the wahoo damage to tackle and did a drop to the bottom. Caught Bullseye, Grouper and small Sharks.
14:00 - caught Yellowfin 170lbs
14:15 - caught Yellowfin 100lbs
14:30 - pulled hooks Tuna
14:45 - caught Blue marlin 300lbs
16:00 - mystery bite on stinger
16:45 - mystery bite on stinger

It was getting dark so stopped to do another engine room check and set up for drift. We did three drifts across different parts of the bank and even managed to catch a squid and rig it live. We caught an Oil fish, Black Jack and 2 small Sharks. At sunrise we started trolling again.

07:45 - caught Wahoo
08:30 - caught Blue marlin 400lbs
10:45 - caught a blue marlin well over 1000lbs.

Fight lasted about one hour and was close to the boat for most of the fight. Martin had it on the leader at least 6 times. We had the gaffs ready but didn't want any accidents - especially the fish sticking its bill into the hull. Without a gaff man I would have to leave the controls. We had the fish at the side of the boat twice and the second time I was on my way down when the fish did a nasty and the 900lb leader broke on the hull. Maybe just as well as it was still strong and wet all of us on the deck when it left.

We departed from the bank at 14:30 and had a bite from a Spearfish in the deep off the bank. The wind had dropped and was maybe 5knots with a calm sea. The troll home was calm and uneventful which was just as well as we were all very tired with maybe only two hours sleep in two days. We managed to rest on the way home and had two bites on marlin lures just after dark, but no idea what it was. We did not troll during the night as we were all rather knackered and arrived safely at 08:30 on 31st.

It was a great trip and we would love to fish there every day but it is too far and if there was any wind we would have had to abandon the trip. Even in the light winds you could see that the bank would be a nasty place to be if there was any wind or sea. You wouldn't want any problems out there as the next stop would be Brazil! It was a great adventure and I imagine it is the first time a sport boat has ever been there. We are now rested after the New Year bash and after engine service this morning we will back to fishing closer to home.

**cuda** · 13-01-2006, 17:31

How do I organise a trip? I want to be there - got the whole of April off and have a budget of £1500 to spend and am looking for some exotic fishing!

Cuda

**lobsterkid** · 13-01-2006, 18:19

Now that is what i would call an adventure.Thats like an astronaut going to mars
in the fishing equivalent.I belive if you want any info on the asension islands there is a web site you can visit. There is also the sartma web site which has links to other web sites.I also think you have to apply to the ascension government office to ask for permission to visit the island. I wonder if i could retire there.
Great weather,great fishing and even better still in great britain.

**martyboy** · 14-01-2006, 15:31

Hey lobsterkid, i'll be up for that in a couple of years time when i get some money together. You could even bring the wifes and abandon them for a while.......or a week.

**Ian Houlton** · 15-01-2006, 11:37

i have been there and the fishing is fantastic although i was not into angling at the time. loads of lads pull shark out from the shore and you can get drunk, throw up in the sea and the little black fishes will come crowding round to clean it up

.

we spent two weeks there and the RAF kindly placed a wooden shack on the beach full of beer and named it (and this proves it was the airforce) TARQUINS NIGHTSPOT.
On entering said shack i discovered to my horror that it was so cramped i could not get out. i shouted a short SOS to the lads outside informing them of my plight and my plattoon leader rendered instructions to "break out and supply the lads with refreshments". so i kicked the side of the shack in

This reinforced the RAF's opinion that paras are nasty men who do not wash or use brilcream.

back to the point that place has got to be one of the best places to fish in the world, it's teeming with em
just take your own beer

**PanamaJack** · 15-01-2006, 11:51

Hi Cuda
There're only the two game fishing boats that operate out of there - Harmattan and Shy 3 - and their season ends at the end of April/early May. I've fished with both and would thoroughly recommend them. You can get to their web sites through this link to our Club's site - http://www.scbi.org.uk/pages/News_Ar..._Ascension.asp. There're also links to some images of some of the Marlin, including a couple of 1000lb plus fish.

In April, although we've seen 'granders', the bulk of the fish are smaller males, sub 500lbs. But they're usually there in numbers we usually tease them up with hookless teasers and fish stand-up, Bait 'n' Switch, with the fish nailing the deadbaits 30' off the transom.

Given where they are rates aren't cheap at 1000 Euros a day. But a couple of the locals will also take you out in their smaller boats, just 1/2 to a mile offshore, for 'peanuts' for the Yellowfin Tuna. They've had them there to nearly 300lbs, and there're masses of them - most are 50 to 100 pounders. The local boats only provide 'crude' tackle - 10 to 14/0 Senators, and there's no chair so you'd really need to take your own tackle.

Later on in the year though, when the scad fry are there in unbelievable numbers, they occasionally catch them from the beach.

Inshore the water's alive with things called Black Jacks, up to 25 or so pounds. But literally any and everything can turn up - things like Dorado, Amberjack, Rainbow Runner. And whilst offshore they catch massive Six Gill Sharks (on the bottom), Makos, Threshers and occasional Tigers the water's full of Galapagos Sharks - one of our members holds the world record with a 310 pounder - and you can catch them from the shore.

Seriously though Cuda, even given the amount of money you're talking about, you'd need to either fish with friends to share the charters or try and get the skippers to organise a split charter. Apart from the charter rates the air fare, via the RAF, is just over £900 return.

Just contact me if you want further information though. I would have suggested the Cape Verde Islands as being a cheaper venue for Marlin but April's probably just a little early, our members tend not to start to fish there until mid May. How about somewhere like Venezuela? It's again relatively cheap and, as well as Blue Marlin, you'd encounter Whites and Sailfish as well as, occasionally, Yellowfin.
Dave

**PanamaJack** · 09-03-2006, 14:30

Although Shy 3's now stopped fishing for the season Matthias on Harmattan having great spot with Blue Marlin, mainly smaller fish, but all fishing Bait 'n' Switch. So you see the surface strike with the fish usually just 25 to 30' off the transom.

But the odd big fish is still showing. A couple of weeks ago they landed another 'grander' - a fish of 1038lbs. And apart from the Marlin, some of which are coming on 30lb test tackle, they're landing lots of Yellowfin Tuna, especially if the anglers want to anchor on the 'drop off' in the evening.

Sharkwise the 1000lb plus Six Gills are available to anyone wanting to crank one up from the bottom in 600' of water. Also they recently had a 700lb Tiger Shark.

If you're interested there're full reports on Matthias' web site - http://www.atlanticfishingcharter.com/html/news.html.

I recall that someone did ask about the possibility of a charter down there. When I last spoke to Matthias, at the beginning of February, there was just one place available on what was a week's 'mixed' charter - with two German doctors and an Australian guy. You could check if it's still available through the web site. Whilst Matthias is in Ascension his wife Emi in Gran Canaria arranges charters. She speaks excellent English.
Dave

**PanamaJack** · 23-03-2006, 14:36

Recently I got into a discussion on the Boat fishing forum about Stand-up rods and this went way of topic and got into Sporting Tackle. That just made me think about this report I'd read some time in the past about Roddy Hay's skippering a boat - Harmattan in Ascension Island for a 5 week period during the 2003 season.

As I said the report is very detailed, but well worth reading if nothing else for Roddy's observations and humour, and some excellent photographs. As well as the Marlin there's a good picture of one of the Six Gill Sharks - you'll see these deepwater sharks are pink in colour.

But the bit you must not miss reading is the report for Sunday, 30th March. On that day Roddy describes raising THREE 1000lb plus Blue Marlin - the best the largest he's ever seen! Anyway there is no direct url. Access Roddy's site through this link - http://www.legendlures.com then under Archives on the righthand side of his home page click on Ascension Diary 2003.

So back to the tenuous link and Sporting Tackle. Can a 30lb outfit be 'man enough' for an estimated 1400 pounder? I'll leave you to read the report.
Dave

**lobsterkid** · 31-03-2006, 21:13

What an absolutely fabulous link. Pure riveting stuff. The whole story from day one is brilliant. Reminds me of an old Ernest Hemmingway novel.
Makes my report on hellesoy look like quick comment

.

**PanamaJack** · 31-03-2006, 21:47

Hi Lobsterkid
Not at all! I found your trip report was great. It showed tremendous enthusiasm for what you were doing and included those little perceptive things and the humour. More of the same please! We really do need to demonstrate that we enjoy our fishing. And I bet memories of that trip will linger on for a long, long time.

Remember as well Roddy was, for a while, a professional journalist.

Any rate it was only a few days after that that I arrived on the island. Together with the crewman I had a few beers in the Volcano Club on the American base then we stuttered up the mountain in an old Land Rover. No power steering, and with 23 hairpins - full 180s - to contend with. It was usually the multi-point turns! Luckily there was nothing coming the other way - there not too many cars on Ascension.

But I got to hear the tale of the '30th' first hand. Were there some excited clients! But none more so that Olaf, the crewman. You can perhaps visualise this excitable German - the description interspered with expletives and tuetonic oaths!

Later in the trip we celebrated Olaf's 30th birthday. Loud music, loads of beer, a bar-b-que on the beach and all the times seeing the turtle hatchling, confused by the lights, 'gate crashing' our party. You picked them up by the handful and released them in the ocean. As well on quieter stretches of the beach you could spot the big Green Turtles - shells 6' long - heaving themselves up the beach to lay yet more eggs.

Re-playing the DVD of that trip really brings back the excitement of it all.
Dave