We have had such incredible success fishing at the Bom Bom Island Resort on the north side of Principe that we cannot fish an entire season without going back. We reasoned that the best fishing there was during the full moon in August based on our last two years experience. We therefore organized the Second Annual Bom Bom Island Invitational Blue Marlin Tournament to coincide with that lunar phase. Due to limitation of boats and some last minute cancellations we had only six anglers who made the trip. We rotated between the three 32-foot Blackfin boats. The anglers this year included Chris Allen, Ken Leisher, Mark Sanders, and John Paul from Newport Beach, California, Larry Walker from Dallas, Texas, and myself from Valdosta, Georgia. My partner and videographer LBU (Little Bobby Unvert) accompanied us and committed the action to tape for posterity. Hennie Marais was once again the captain of the Blue Marlin, Argentino Costa skippered the Dorado, and newcomer Mark Gauden was at the helm of the Blackfin.

Our trip was much easier this year as we arranged a different route of travel. All of us flew direct to Paris from our U.S. Cities. Then after a brief layover we took an Air France flight to Libreville, Gabon. The resort's charter aircraft picked us up there and took us right to the resort, a forty minute flight. Thus we only had a 36 hour trip to endure rather than the usual 48 hour one. We were much fresher upon arrival and were able to get a good night's sleep before beginning fishing the next morning.

Day one dawned overcast and gray with light rain. On the Blue Marlin Larry Walker and I had a quiet morning with not so much as a knockdown. Then at about midday we had four fish between 250 and 400 pounds attack all five of our baits without catching steel. After that brief flurry we saw nothing else the rest of the day. Chris Allen who was aboard the Blackfin with John Paul caught his first blue marlin in the late morning, a 250-pounder that taught him the difference between a blue and its striped cousin. Then an hour later they had two rods go off. John's fish broke line early, leaving Chris to fight his second blue unhindered. Three hours later he finally pulled up the dead tail-wrapped giant which was sporting both his lure and John Paul's. The fish had actually eaten both lures before running off s50 yards of line and dying down deep. Unfortunately the fish had to be disqualified from the tournament because IGFA rules preclude two anglers pulling on the same fish, even for a short period. That didn't damper Chris' spirits too much though as his marlin weighed in at 806 pounds, clearly the largest fish he had ever caught. Ken Leisher and Mark Sanders aboard the Dorado had only a knockdown early but Mark tagged a 450-pound blue shortly after noon.

Chris' 806# Blue Marlin	212# Yellowfin Tuna	Terry Tri and Larry Walker

The second day was much more productive, particularly for me. Ken and Mark on the Dorado had a knockdown and saw another fish estimated at 500 pounds. Larry Walker fishing with Chris Allen aboard the Blackfin tagged an 800-pounder, the largest blue marlin of his career. On Blue Marlin I got a strike just 8 minutes after "lines in." That proved to be a beautiful 750-pound fish that fortunately I was able to pull in and tag in 15 minutes despite the fact she was tail-wrapped. She would likely have died with a longer fight. An hour later I caught a 650-pounder that we sent swimming away sporting a new Billfish Foundation tag in just eight minutes. She came to the wire very green and while beautifully lit up put on a spectacular acrobatic display next to the boat. An hour later John Paul and I had a double-header. The two fish went in opposite directions. My fish had eaten first so I got in the chair. JP's fish ran up the side of the boat and took him into the dacron backing on the reel early. I was able to finesse mine to the leader after about twenty minutes. We got a tag in the 850-pounder and then went after the other fish. JP tagged his fish shortly thereafter. It was a small male weighing about 200 pounds. We were fortunate not to have had two large fish on since they had bolted in opposite directions of the compass. The rest of the day was quiet. I couldn't complain though as I had caught a cumulative estimated 2250 pounds of blue marlin in under four hours! And the three tags vaulted me into first place for the tournament.

Chris Allen fished with me on the third day. After an early knockdown he hooked a nice 650-pounder that he brought to the boat and tagged in 25 minutes. Mark and JP were right next to us on the Blackfin and they caught three fish in less than an hour after arriving on the grounds. Five minutes after the lines were in Mark released a 200-pounder. Then JP hooked up a huge fish before they could even deploy their entire spread. This fish was estimated at 1100 pounds as it lay beside the boat on the leader. After tagging the fish they prepared to measure it for possible gaffing when the hook pulled and the fish swam away. John had brought her to leader in about 30 minutes on 80-pound test line. Then they saw a tailer and managed to hook it up before all the lines were back in the water. Mark tagged this 300 pounder for his third tag and moved into second place. Ken Leisher and Larry Walker on the Dorado had three strikes without a solid hook-up. One was a nice fish estimated at 900 plus pounds.

Day four was rainy and heavily overcast all day. Since all of the action had been early we started fishing a half-hour earlier. The Dorado with Kenny and Chris Allen had another quiet day with only a knockdown to show for 9 hours of trolling. Mark fished with me and tagged his fourth fish early in the morning. This was another small male. These small males along with the appearance of some huge females made me wonder whether there wasn't a spawning area somewhere nearby, particularly since we had seen some pairing up of the fish earlier in the week. Mark had two more fish on that morning but they pulled hook. They were both in the 450 to 500 pound range. Then at 1:30 in the afternoon I hooked up on the Skipjack colored Black Bart Abaco Prowler, the lure that had been so productive all week. After a fifteen minute tough aggressive fight I had the fish coming my way. I was confused by the apparent tailbeat until a 212-pound yellowfin tuna appeared at the transom and was gaffed. Larry Walker aboard the Blackfin also caught a nice yellowfin which weighed 177 pounds. That was the largest tuna he had ever caught. And according to Hennie these two tuna were the largest they had taken during his seven years at Bom Bom. Larry and John Paul had two marlin on during the day but were not successful at landing either. One was a 500-pound fish that they hooked-up at 3:30 in the afternoon. That was the first marlin action we had experienced after 2 p.m. all week.

We started at 7:30 again on day five. Mark Sanders was fishing with Larry Walker aboard Blackfin and shortly after their spread was set he tagged his fifth marlin solidifying his grasp on first place. This was another small male. Then at 9:30 Ken Leisher hooked up his first marlin of the tournament. It was a huge fish and well worth the wait. She jumped aggressively away from the boat and then turned and charged the boat all the while greyhounding! Ken coerced the fish to leader within 25 minutes. But when they prepared to gaff her she pulled away and the second mate grabbed the doubleline when his hand slipped over the swivel and broke the line. In the afternoon JP caught a 59-pound yellowfin and Kenny and Chris Allen caught a double-header of 40-pound tuna. There was no more action for the entire fleet the remainder of the day. It had started out rainy but by the afternoon had cleared up and was warm and sunny.

Our last day we started even earlier, leaving the dock at 6 a.m. Our past experiences at Bom Bom had led us to believe the bite was usually late, staring about 9 a.m. and finishing after 5 p.m. This year all of the activity had been early with no marlin action after 3:30 p.m. It was wet and rainy with the weather coming in from the southwest. That is where the fish had been the previous few days though so that is where we headed. Larry Walker was fishing with me and he had a knockdown on the long corner at 7:40. The fish had a very large head, bill and dorsal fin and was at least 900 pounds in weight. After missing the red and black Marlin Magic super giant ruckus he circled back and took a shot at the Steve Elkins dorado-colored bonzoid but missed. Try as we might to entice her back, she sank out and swam away. Then 30 minutes later I hooked up on the stinger. The huge fish grabbed the Pakula lumo-colored Smokin' Joe and ran off 300 yards of line before the cockpit was cleared. I settled in the chair and we began to back down when she jumped way off in the distance and threw the hook on the second jump. This fish was the one I had come for and was clearly in excess of a grand! Oh well! The rest of our day was quiet. Dorado with Ken Leisher and JP had a double and tagged one of the fish, a 400-pounder. Blackfin only had a knockdown for the entire day.

All in all we had a great trip. Nearly every angler achieved a personal best and our newcomer Mark Sanders won the tournament and took home the beautiful locally hand-carved trophy and the $3000 prize money. Larry Walker caught his largest blue marlin (800 pounds) and largest tuna (177 pounds). John Paul caught his largest marlin and first grander, although he didn't get to weigh it. The same was true for Ken Leisher, but we got some great video footage of his fish since we were right next to him during the fight. Chris Allen caught his first marlin and an 806-pounder which he weighed. And I caught over 2000 pounds of marlin in under 4 hours. The sixteen fish caught averaged 520 pounds. And we had seen six fish in the 900 to 1000 pound range in six days of fishing. Considering the fact that there were only three boats on the water, that is incredible!

Chris Allen on a fish	Ken Leisher on his grander

Bom Bom Island Resort	Mark Sanders receives his trophy

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