Ian McTurk, John Paul, cameraman Mike Anderson, and I headed for the Azores in mid-September on the week of the full moon hoping to get a shot at a huge blue marlin. After Madeira had been such a bust for me the last few years I elected to replace it on my itinerary for huge fish in the Atlantic with the Azores. These volcanic islands belonging to Portugal are situated 800 miles off of the mainland in the north Atlantic astride the mid-Atlantic ridge. They have long been known for producing huge blue marlin, giant bluefin tuna, white marlin, spearfish, and very large bigeye tuna. Last year two of the four largest blue marlin taken in the Atlantic came from this destination. We therefore were excited about the opportunity to fish such productive waters. We had made arrangements to fish on Captain Joe Franckâs two boats out of the port of Horta on the island of Faial. Joe captained the Double Header, a 42-foot Daytona, with mate Greg Keck. The Shanghai, a 42-foot Hatteras specially outfitted by Franck to handle the local rough water well, was being run by Captain Roddy Hayes with his mate Jeff Thomas from Florida. Both boats had previously caught grander blue marlin and grander giant bluefin tuna. And Shanghai lost a fish on the leader they estimated at 1200 plus pounds just three weeks earlier while Double Header had lost a potential new world record Atlantic blue on the wire only a week prior to that which they had called 1600 pounds.

Our trip started out inauspiciously when we missed our Azores connection due to hurricane Floyd and were forced to spend two days in Boston before we could get another flight out. John Paul made the connection so he had an extra day of fishing before the rest of us arrived. He had a good day, catching a blue of about 400 pounds, losing another, and having four blue marlin attack the baits at one time with none getting stuck. Although the weather had been predicted to be bad they were able to get out to the Condor Bank and clearly had a productive day. When we finally arrived late Monday morning we went right out fishing. The wind had now come up out of the west at 25 knots and the swells were 15 to 20 feet and peaked forcing us to fish the Ribeirinha area on the east side of the island in the lee. Although fish have been caught in this area it was known to be nowhere near as productive as the banks to the west of Faial. We had a couple of strikes from small white marlin but no hook-ups despite fishing until after 7 p.m.

The weatherman was even more unkind to us on our second day. The wind had shifted to the north-northeast and increased to 40 to 50 knots. The offshore swells had risen to forty feet and there were actually ship warnings issued. Most of the local tuna fleet had come into port for protection. Most of the fleet was able to get out but our fishing was limited to the area just off of the airport where the only lee resided. No one even saw a fish except for the 46-foot Bertram Andromeda. They caught a spear and a small white, both of which were released.

Pico	Shanghai with Roddy and Jeff	Pico in the Sun

Day three was rainy and windy once again. The wind had shifted to the northwest at 25-30 knots. The water was slightly flatter but we still could only fish the area of the airport and over toward the large rock on the southwest corner of the island called Ponta de Castelo Bronco. Late in the afternoon the wind subsided somewhat so we fished back toward Horta and to the southwest in the deep channel between Faial and the large volcano adorned island of Pico, but saw nothing all day. Only a few other boats were out and they experienced similar results. The exception was again Andromeda which caught a 750-pound blue in front of Pico late in the afternoon.

As day four began I was becoming worried. We were now at the halfway point of our trip without having seen a blue marlin and again it was rainy and windy. We tried to get out toward the Condor bank but were forced back by breaking 15-20-foot waves. We fished all day without even a strike. The other five boats on the water did no better. That night there was no wind and a full moon shone brightly. It looked like we might have a chance to get out to the banks the next day. Most of the action all season had been at one of the three nearby banks. The Condor Bank is located 12 miles northwest of Faial, the Azores Bank is approximately 20 miles to the west-southwest of the island, and the Alice Bank is situated 38 miles to the west-southwest.

With only two days of fishing left we started out toward the Condor Bank with nervous anticipation. The swells were still 15-20 feet but with the wind having lain down they were no longer peaked allowing us to make the trip fairly comfortably and safely. We got our lines in the water about 10:45 a.m. After trolling for several hours we suddenly had a strike on the long rigger bait, a softhead Pakula lumo longshot. Jeff and Roddy both saw the fish on the strike and called it 700 plus. I set the hook and quickly jumped into the chair. As I slowly pushed up the drag lever to about 28 pounds the marlin took off at full speed peeling 200 yards of line off the reel in less than a minute, the top-shot disappearing almost before I could blink. Roddy turned and chased her with Jeff clearing the lines that now trailed the boat. After about three minutes she suddenly turned and came back toward the boat. I had to reel like crazy and Roddy veered the boat away from the fish until we could get rid of the suddenly acquired unwanted slack. I called up to the bridge that I once again had weight and Roddy began backing down. The huge marlin had jumped showing us where she was and we simply followed the belly of line in the water back to her. By inching up the drag and rising in the chair I was able to plane her up to the surface gradually and had her to leader after only nine minutes. There was this huge neon blue spot of deep color below the boat which was clearly visible. Now the ball was in Jeffâs court. Since we were using 30-foot wind-on leaders he really had his hands full with such a green fish. As he slowly lifted her upward she abruptly came to life and jerked the leader free from his hands lurching away from the boat. She shot to the surface and jumped freeing the tail-wrap that had been hindering her performance. Then she really came to life ripping about a hundred yards of line off the reel. I worked her back to the surface and Jeff once again grabbed the leader only to have it torn from his hands again when he tried to lift her. Again she jumped next to the boat, this time several times. By now we could see she was a bit bigger than our first estimates. After the first attempt at leadering we felt she was probably 800 plus. Now we could see all of her as she attempted to clear the water but was unable to get her belly all the way out. She was definitely over nine hundred! I brought her back to leader four more times but Jeff could not hold her. On one occasion she drug him all the way across the transom of the boat as if he were on water-skis, not being willing to be under anyone elseâs control. She was tiring though and I was able to get her back to leader on this occasion just twelve feet from the transom. This time Jeff finally was able to get a wrap and lift her closer. She rolled up on her back and then suddenly rolled over and darted under the boat. Jeff chose to hang on with all he was worth since we were going to release her and she broke the leader just a foot above the hook-set. She still was brightly lit up and obviously strong and uninjured. After all she had just broken 800-pound leader. I called her 925 pounds but Roddy felt she would go 950 if not slightly more. She was not the grander I had come for though so we were delighted to see her swim away healthily. The total duration of the fight had been only 18 minutes.

The rest of the day was quiet until about four in the afternoon when we were able to net a small sea turtle that we took aboard as part of a satellite-tagging program being conducted by the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research at the University of Florida. We left the bank about 6:15 and got back to the dock at 7:20 p.m. It had been a great day! Wouldnât it have been great if we had had good weather and been able to get out to the banks every day!
 
 
 

Double Header	250-pounder by the boat	Close-up of 250 pounder on the wire

As our last day dawned we awoke to a persistent rain with a light breeze blowing on our balcony. It was so foggy that we could not see Pico on the other side of the channel. We were not able to get back to the banks as we had hoped as there was a 30- knot westerly wind predicted for the afternoon with associated 25-foot swells. No one wanted to get stranded out there under those conditions. We started fishing at Ribeirinha on the east side of the island and gradually worked our way north. About 11:00 a.m. I got a strike and pulled in a 200-pounder that we quickly tagged and released. We barely had the lines back in the water when the long rigger went off. This was a small white marlin that unfortunately came unbuttoned before Ian could get fully situated in the chair. We had three more white or spearfish strikes but with our large lures were unable to hook any of them. It was a much better day overall for the fleet. One boat had caught a double-header of blue marlin in the 400-pound class and there had been about 15 blue marlin and a similar number of white marlin strikes.

As our first trip to the Azores ended it was clear to us that it would not be our last. Although it had not been as successful as we had hoped the primary reason for that was the weather. The wind and rough water had kept us from getting to the most productive fishing grounds. The one day we got to the banks we were rewarded with a near grander. And almost every year of the last decade there has been a potential world record blue marlin fought and lost there. Oh yes, we will be back!
 

Horta	Port of Horta

Castelo Branco	Sea Turtle

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