BIG GAME FISHING: WHERE IS TERRY? Venezuela April 1998

Venezuela April 1998

In late March and early April of this year boats on the famous La Guaira bank north of Caracas, Venezuela were experiencing double digit strikes of blue marlin nearly every day. After a record year in 1997, the fishing in 1998 started out nearly as hot. Hearing about this spectacular angling opportunity attorney David Wolfson, his office manager Cheryl Owens, and myself traveled from Valdosta, Georgia to Carraballeda, Venezuela in mid-April. David had arranged the trip through Doug Schlink at Angler Adventures so everything was well organized and went quite smoothly. We fished the Magic fleet on Magic I, an older 42í Hatteras, with Captain Carlos Garcia and his mate Johann. Carlos who is affectionately known as Papu Papa (Mr. Potato Head) has more than 20 years experience captaining in these waters.

It was mostly sunny with a light breeze pushing up three to four foot seas as we headed out on the 45 minute run to the bank our first morning. There were only four boats on the water despite the near perfect conditions. Traditionally this has been a dead bait fishery and our crew obviously ascribed to this theory as well. We drug three skirted ballyhoo on the two riggers and long flat line with a split tail mullet punctuating our spread in the short flat position. The long rigger bait was the first to go off. The small Atlantic sail was successful at picking my pocket before I could set the hook. This scenario was repeated twice more in the next few hours when another sail and a white proved more facile than the undersigned. I was beginning to truly feel snake-bit when the next strike proved to be a wahoo whose sharp incisors sliced through the leader in a flash.

Finally in the middle of the afternoon we got our first blue marlin bite. I was familiar with and prepared for the more aggressive behavior of this species and set the hook hard after a short drop-back. This was a small male of about 150 pounds who put on an exciting early aerial display. Unfortunately it became tail-wrapped during its antics and came up dead after a brief fifteen-minute fight.

Day two was overcast and cool but there was little wind and the water was nearly flat. We missed a sail shortly after arriving at the bank. Then a nice blue grabbed the mullet on the short flat but dropped the bait before David could hook it. Fortunately the fish picked up the bait again but somehow avoided the hook a second time. We lost sight of the marlin after several minutes and David thought it was gone. He reeled the mullet in to be checked. And just as I was telling him the fish might still be around there was a sudden explosion of white water immediately off the transom as the blue inhaled the bait. David set the hook and parked himself in the chair pumping the fish to the boat with the 80-pound bent-butt outfit. The 250-pounder put up a nice battle spending almost as much time in the air as in the water. After the most exciting 25 minutes of his life David had tagged and released his first blue marlin.

Cheryl was up next and it wasnít long before another blue showed himself in our pattern. This time the fish ate the skirted ballyhoo on the long flat line. Since she had never set the hook on a fish I had the pleasure of accomplishing that feat and handed Cheryl the rod as she sat eagerly waiting in the chair. The largest fish she had previously experienced was a wahoo so this was truly a new experience for her. She handled it very well and in just over 30 minutes brought the 260-pounder to the transom where it was tagged released.

Later that afternoon we had first a white and then a blue come window-shopping without a strike. The blue came up on the teaser but disappeared before we could bring the flat line bait up to where it had been. We finished the day with another blue marlin strike that we missed on the set-up. As we headed for the marina we were all quite satisfied. We had raised six fish, had four blue marlin shots, and hooked and caught two.

Our third and last day on the water was like the first, warm and a bit breezy with four to six foot seas. We had an early strike from an unknown species. There was not a mark on the bait but the leader was shredded. About an hour later David missed a sailfish. Then all was quiet until vary late in the day. About 4:15 in the afternoon we got a short strike from a blue marlin that never came back even though we worked the area hard for almost an hour. There were twelve boats on the bank that day and only a few fish were caught although one boat released a marlin in the 550-pound class.

We toured Caracas on Saturday with our on-land guide Napoleon Roa. He showed us all of the interesting areas of the city from the very rich to the very poor. After a spectacular lunch in the suburbs we visited a local village in the mountains on the East side of the city where we purchased a few items to take home. That night we took Napoleon out to dinner in Macuto near where he lived. The next morning we packed our gear and caught the flight back to Miami. It had been a great trip. Both David and Cheryl had caught their first blue marlin ever and I had taken my first for the year. Although the fishing was not as hot as it had been a few weeks earlier, it was certainly still damned good.


Terry with small blue.	David on his first marlin.	David's blue at boatside.

Cheryl fighting her first Cheryl's fish after release.