It takes a full two days to travel to Principe from the United States and we were all therefore quite tired as we got off the 12 passenger charter flight from Sao Tome Wednesday morning. After getting checked in and unpacked we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast and then went about putting our gear together. Boat assignments were then made, our anglers were all introduced to their captains and crew, and we embarked on a practice day of fishing. Somewhat disappointingly no marlin were captured that day although there were two strikes reported and two additional apparently anorectic fish were seen.

Thursday was our tournamentís first official day of fishing. I was paired with Southern Californian John Paul on the Blue Marlin with Captain Hennie Marais. We experienced a knockdown about mid-day but had no solid hook-ups. Our other American anglers suffered a similar fate. Londoners Richard Vainer and Anna Powell on the Blackfin with Captain Allan Myburgh though each caught a fish. Richardís blue was estimated at 850 pounds and Annaís marlin at 600 pounds.

Early on day two Kim Russell aboard the Ballyhoo, co-captained by Captain Richard Scott and visiting Captain Peter B. Wright, tagged a 500 pounder after a tough fight. That broke a long personal drought she had been experiencing. Her teammate Floridian Tim Choate tagged the fish. That afternoon my partner John Paul caught our first fish which weighed 450 to 500 pounds. It swam healthily away sporting a new Billfish Foundation tag in its left shoulder after a 15-minute battle. John was "stoked" since this was the largest blue he had ever caught. The other boats had several strikes but no more marlin were caught.

Our third tournament day was relatively quiet. None of our boats caught a marlin. Richard Richardson aboard the Sailfish with Captain Argentino Costa though saw a huge fish they estimated at over 1200 pounds but could not entice it to eat. Late that afternoon we saw our first action of the day when I caught a 70-pound yellowfin tuna. Although it didnít count for the tournament it did make a great sashimi appetizer for dinner.

The next morning was a beautiful sunny day, quite in contrast to the overcast cooler climate more typical for Principe this time of year. Our morning was quiet after an early short strike from a blue of about 400 pounds. Then at two oíclock in the afternoon I got a blind strike on the short rigger bait, a pink and white Joe Yee 505. This was a nice fish that we later estimated at 750 pounds. She quickly ran off three hundred yards of line in the short period of time that it took to clear the other lines. Hennie backed aggressively on her and I was able to get her to leader just 15 minutes into the fray. She was still a bit green though and our mate Correa had to dump the leader. Five minutes later he was able to grab the wire again and this time he hung on. She was tagged and resuscitated quickly with the entire fight lasting just twenty minutes.

Shortly after I had subdued my fish Ken Leisher aboard the Dorado caught a blue in the 600-pound class. He and his partner Mike Murray, both Southern Californians, were fishing with Captain Brad Phillips. They had quite a day! Several hours earlier they had experienced a brief double hook-up. The 400-pound marlin on the short rigger quickly came unbuttoned but the much larger blue on the right flat jumped a number of times before finally shedding steel. All aboard got a good look at her and gauged her at definitely over a thousand pounds. Their disappointment was quickly forgotten when they got a quad hook-up. Three lines fired off at the same time and the fourth came alive as they were slowing to clear their lines. The first three fish were yellowfin tuna and the last was Kenís 600 pound blue. They eventually caught one of the yellowfin in addition to the marlin while the other two tuna got away.

The fifth and last tournament fishing day started out with some excitement on the Blue Marlin. A blue of over 900 pounds did her best to let me catch her but somehow consistently missed the hooks. She started by aggressively knocking down the Dorado colored Steve Elkins long rigger bait. She then grabbed the lumo-colored Pakula longshot in the stinger position and ran off 50 yards of line only to drop it. We circled and I teased her back to the bait some three times. On each occasion she would charge the lure and attack it with a vengeance, but never managed to grab steel. Eventually she just sunk out. We had two other knockdowns through the remainder of the day, but never got a solid connection.

Richard Vainer on the Blackfin hooked a marlin they estimated at over 1100 pounds but broke it off after two and one-half hours. He had gotten bored and put out a small tuna lure with only six feet of 200 pound leader in the stinger position as there were some yellowfin around. This was connected to a 50ñpound stand-up outfit. Naturally that is what the behemoth decided to eat. Elephants do indeed occasionally eat peanuts!

John Paul and I ended out winning the tournament with two marlin tagged and released. The Blackfin also had two fish but lost on points since they did not get a tag in one of their blues. The prize money was not huge due to the small size of the tournament but it did help defray some of the cost of the trip.

Our trip to Bom Bom Island was not quite as productive as last year with respect to numbers of fish but was still very successful. Nearly everyone who came caught a marlin and they were all quality fish. The average weight of the marlin caught was over 600 pounds and if one adds the fish raised and lost that average increases to nearly 750 pounds. Only Madeira could rival such numbers.

Anna Powell's marlin.	John Paul on his fish.	Terry reeling in his blue.

Terry's fish gone airborne.	750 pounder at the boat.	Resuscitation of 750# blue.