This area first came to the attention of the angling community in the early 1990's when Paulo Amorim caught his 1402-pound world record Atlantic blue marlin in Vitoria. Shortly thereafter two mothership operations, Tyson's Pride and the French Look, spent two seasons exploring the area. Starting in Vitoria they gradually worked the several hundred miles north to the region of the Charlotte Bank, which seemed like the most logical place to fish.

The bank is nearly 60 miles long and 25 miles wide and in many locations finds itself virtually perpendicular to the current. As one might imagine this results in its holding incredible quantities of bait. And wherever one finds large numbers of baitfish in the Atlantic one finds large schools of yellowfin, blackfin, and skipjack tuna. These three species are like candy to a marlin. That is why so many huge blue marlin have been seen here. And having an opportunity to catch a grander is precisely why we made the trip.

After 20 hours of travelling we arrived in Canavieiras early Wednesday morning on a charter flight from Salvadore. Our captain Jeff Anderson picked us up at the tiny airport and drove us into town. We dropped off our gear at the hotel and went straight to the boat. We were fishing on the Coyote, a 30-foot Brazilian-made Mares powered by a pair of Mercedes-Benz diesels, with Captain Anderson and his Brazilian mates Jilton and Carlos. The weather had been cool and gray with a fair amount of rain. These conditions were unusual for this time of year and historically had not been associated with good fishing. Despite that the Coyote had been averaging one fish per day prior to our arrival and had been absolutely red hot raising 7-8 and catching 3-4 fish per day before the weather change.

We left the dock at about 11:30 am and headed down river to the ocean which was just 2 miles to the east. After negotiating the bar, we ran for 1 1/2 hours to an area on the bank that had recently been productive. There were huge schools of bonita, skipjack, and small yellowfin tuna almost everywhere. We actually caught a 5-pound yellowfin on a marlin lure after about an hour's trolling. Thirty minutes later we saw a 400-pound blue chasing some flyers but could not convince her to eat. Then it was quiet until 4:10 pm, just 20 minutes before we were to head home when we hooked up a nice fish on a blind strike. She ran out 300 yards of line in a flash, hauling her large body out of the water repeatedly and throwing white water some twenty feet in the air. By this time I had set the hook and planted myself in the chair. The fish then settled down giving me a long hard 45 minute fight before begrudgeingly coming to the surface where we tagged and released a very fat but somewhat short 650 to 700-pound blue. We had her to the wire some four times before she finally tired enough to allow us to tag her.

The next morning it took us 2 1/2 hours to get out to the spot where we had seen action the first day because of rough water. Getting across the bar was much more entertaining this morning than it had been the day before. We started trolling 29.5 miles offshore and in less than 15 minutes JP was hooked to a 400-pounder which he brought to the boat in 30 minutes. Unfortunately she pulled hook on the leader before we could place a tag in her. Just like the first day we saw huge schools of small tuna virtually everywhere. Despite that we could not entice another marlin strike the rest of the day. Perhaps there was too much bait.

Coyote at the dock	Terry hooked-up

650-pounder at the boat	JP and Tommy

Day three was another rough day crossing the bar but the waves laid down once we hit deep water. We didn't even see a billfish all day but we did catch a 40-pound wahoo and a 25-pound dorado which made for excellent dinner fare. The weather gradually improved as the day progressed and by day's-end it was sunny and beautiful with only 2-3-foot seas and 5 knotts of wind. The water was a deep blue in color with a temperature of 83-84 degrees causing us to expect better results than we experienced.

Our fourth day was beautiful and sunny all day long. We didn't catch a billfish although we saw both a blue and a white during the day but could not coax a strike from either of them. We did catch another 40-pound wahoo and 25-pound dorado though.

Our last day dawned even prettier than the previous one, providing us with the best fishing conditions of the week. Despite that we didn't catch a marlin that day. We had an early knockdown from a small fish that came back on the stinger bait but didn't eat. This was probably a white marlin. Then later we saw a 250-pound blue marlin behind the short rigger bait but it seemed to have lock-jaw and disappeared without a strike. Early in the afternoon we caught a 30-pound dorado and shortly after that boated a 60-pound wahoo. It was quiet the rest of the afternoon. We had to cap it up early and call it quits at 4 pm in order to catch the charter flight back to Salvadore.

Although the fishing was not spectacular and we did not get our grander we still had a great time during our short stay in Brazil. The weather was beautiful and the people of Canavieiras were incredibly warm and friendly showing us a level of hospitality rivaling that we've experienced anywhere in the world. We raised 6 marlin during 4 1/2 days on the water, enjoyed 3 strikes, hooked 2 fish, and caught both. And one of these was a 650-700-pounder that gave us a very tough fight. Artmarina's operation in this lovely village is definitely still a work in progress. But they will soon have their new 37-foot boat on site and have just completed a new clubhouse that will provide quality accommodations for visiting anglers. Couple this with the excellent fishing potential that the Charlotte Bank provides and I think they have a real winner here!

Local artisenal fishing boat	JP on his fish

JP's marlin at the boat	Canavieiras from the water