April 10th through 15th it was great to see our friends Eric Wright and Steve Massenhove make the long haul over the Atlantic from the UK once again for 6 days of fishing for billfish on the fly aboard ALLURE. Expectations were high after raising 3 blues the previous day and we ran about 20NM to the east, setting out the teasers near where we had finished the day before. It wasn’t long before we raised a blue on the bridge teaser, the fish acted finiky blasting from the bridge teaser to the flat line teaser though did not commit so we pitched the mackerel bait without getting the bite. The next blue we raised on the long teaser and teased the fish all the way to the back of the boat, Eric made the cast, though we could not get the marlin to eat the fly. For the rest of the day we worked the area hard trying to get another marlin into the spread without luck. The boats fishing baits did better today with live bonitos and rigger baits, several marlins released today though plenty acting funky, coming up on teasers though not committing to pitch baits. The sailfish played the fly game better for us, from the 17 sails raised we got 6 to bite the fly and released 3. A good start for the guys, taking up from where they’d left off last year.
11th….where did they go? The fleet ran back to the east with very little going on for anyone, a couple of blues raised and the sail action was slow too. On ALLURE Eric wasn’t doing so well with a bug from the UK so we called it quits early, not before Steve released a sail on the fly from his second bite to ensure no skunk.
Steve Massenhove
12th….time to try something different and a run to the ledge out to the west paid off with a very steady morning bite. Not long before putting lines in Eric released the 1st sail of the day and from there on in, right on the drop off, we marked bait and had sails in the spread consistently raising 13 before lunch and getting 9 of those to bite. A combination of poor bites and a bit of bad luck had 3 sails released from the 9 bites. The afternoon shut down with 4 more sails in the teasers and just the one biting the fly.
13th….back to the west, lots of bait being marked on the sounder and lots of sails coming up on the teasers though teasing in half way before fading, the ones that did come in either swiped at the fly with their bills or bit poorly. Very tough and frustrating to be fly fishing with the fish like this. A very high water temp wasn’t helping either with the SST around 88’ in the AM and in the early 90’s in the PM. We did manage to get 5 to bite the fly from 21 raised, just the one released with several jumping off or throwing the hooks after poor bites. We raised a blue today too though couldn’t get to the back of the boat in casting range.
14th…..hard to leave 21 raises, to the same spot we worked hard once again. More of the same today with lethargic fish coming into the spread, some teasing in hot though not at all interested in the fly. From the 13 raised we released 2 from 5 bites and were very happy for it with a lot of the boats having a hard time. A combination of huge wads of bait and hot water made things tough for everyone.
Eric Wright
15th…..we went further down the ledge today looking for better fish for the guys last day on the water and found more of the same. Huge balls of bait, sailfish cutting bait on the surface, bonito schools busting bait everywhere, the ocean was alive though to get the fish to play the fly game was a big ask. Of the 13 sailfish raised today just 2 of the fish bit the fly, Eric and Steve nailed both of them to go home with 100% releasing both sails after some great angling, a nice way to finish the trip after some frustration of seeing poor bites, fish pulling hooks or jumping off in the past few days. Still a great trip had by the guys, challenging fishing, though that is part of trying to catch billfish on a fly-rod.
Steve left us a few images of last year’s blue on the fly that he caught, thanks and looking forward to getting one with you next year…....
A lot of fish out there right now with the guys on baits having the best of it, still some marlin around too and things are looking good for the coming weeks with all that bait out there. Some of the fleet went east today getting into sails and a few marlin seen as well meaning good fishing over a large area. We are looking forward to the coming weeks and expect the marlin and sailfish bite to get better, throw in mahi’s and tunas for the all round trip. Don’t forget that this is a year round fishery and the marlin fishing especially gets better through the summer months.
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