Videographer Steve Jam and I headed back to the Azores in early September hoping to get a shot at another huge blue marlin. Last year the weather was terrible while we were here but I still caught a 950 pound Atlantic blue marlin. This year there were no hurricanes shadowing our travels but the fishing in the archipelago had not been very good. There had been only 15 blue marlin caught the entire season when we had arrived and one of the boats we were to fish had fished 31 days before catching their first blue. Fortunately they had caught 2 blue marlin the week before our arrival suggesting that maybe things were going to improve. We would be fishing on Captain Joe Franck's two boats out of the port of Horta on the island of Faial. Our first 4 days would be on the Shanghai, a 42-foot Hatteras, skippered by Captain James Roberts of French Look fame with Kiwi mate Andy Lyon. Then we would be fishing on the Double Header, a 42-foot Daytona, with Captain Joe Franck and his American mate Greg Keck our last two days. Joe and Greg had lost a 1200-pounder earlier in the year when the leader broke. That was the largest fish anyone had hooked there this year. They had also weighed a 994-pounder for another angler a week later.

Our first day on the water was beautiful with sunny skies, hardly a breath of wind, and water so flat one could almost water-ski. That was quite different from the 30-foot seas and 35 knot winds we had experienced our first day last year. With so few fish caught this season it was difficult to decide where to fish. James elected to start south of the island of Sao Pico because he had had one of his few strikes there several weeks before and no one had been over there to check it out for awhile. We fished that area all day without so much as a knock-down. There was very little bait in the water in the morning but we did see a Manta ray, some Loggerhead turtles, and a school of dolphin. Then late in the day as we were headed back to Horta we found a very large school of skipjack tuna with a flock of shearwaters, gulls, and terns working it along the west side of Sao Pico. We trolled this area for some time but could not raise a marlin.

Our second day we chose to switch from my home run baits to smaller lures and started fishing at Ribeirinha where some white marlin had been caught the previous day. We reasoned that we wanted to get some action for our video and after all blue marlin eat similar bait as do the whites and even are known to eat white marlin on occasion. We found a lot of bait in the water and there were birds working all around the area. It wasn't long before we had a strike and hooked an 80-pound white marlin that we quickly caught and released. Unfortunately for our video the fish was so overmatched by the heavy tackle we were using that it never jumped during the fight. It did swim away healthily though upon release due to the very short fight. We had another strike from a white about 20 minutes later but without a hook-up. Even though there was still a great deal of bait around we had no other bites in this area. We therefore eventually moved on and fished around the east and north sides of the island but had no more strikes. We finished the day at the Condor Bank where we trolled until 6:30 p.m. but with no further action.

Estalagem de Santa Cruz	Sao Pico
Horta Harbor	Church, tree, and Sao Pico

Day three was another sunny and calm day. We ran to the north side of the island of Sao George and started trolling in very deep water in the area where Double Header had lost their big fish earlier in the season. We had seen a number of birds and a school of bait working the west side of the island as we were traveling but it was fairly quiet where we finally stopped and put our lines in the water. We really didn't see much life or action until about 1 p.m. while we were beginning to eat our lunch. James called out that he saw a white behind the long corner bait. A few seconds later I saw the fish swim up behind the purple, black, and silver Black Bart Zulu Impe inhale it, and swim the other way. The drag screamed indicating we were hooked-up. I grabbed the 130-pound bent-butt outfit and took it to the chair. That proved to be a bit of a challenge as I had apparently inadvertently bumped the drag up to 45 pounds when I lifted the rod from the covering board. The fish pulled me to the transom but I was able to fight my way back to the chair and get buckled in. By now I knew this was no white marlin. She jumped shortly thereafter and I got a good look at what was now obviously a nice sized blue. I fought the fish for about 15 to 20 minutes and she put on a beautiful aerial display for the camera right next to the boat. Finally the blue marlin tired and Andy wired her up to the surface where she was released after a few snapshots next to the boat. The 600-pounder swam away heartily appearing none the worse for the wear. The remainder of the day was quiet without so much as another strike.

Captain James surprisingly chose not to go back to Sao George the next morning despite our good fortune there the previous day. Instead we ran out to the Condor Bank. He reasoned that our fish was simply a straggler and we were just as likely to find another fish anywhere in the area. And since no fish had been caught on the Condor Bank for awhile it was due to deliver. And once again like the previous day he would prove to be right.

We started the day by releasing two Loggerhead sea turtles that had been caught by local long liners and fitted with satellite transmitters by scientist Brian Riewald from the University of Miami. He was studying the migration pattern of this population of turtles that had been hatched on the beaches of south Florida according to DNA studies he had already completed. Now he was interested in determining if there was a type of hook that might be safer for the longline fishermen to use that would tend to spare the turtles without adversely affecting their ability to catch the swordfish they were targeting.

It remained quiet until about 2:30 p.m. when James and Andy spotted a nice sized blue marlin swimming leisurely not far from the boat. James skillfully turned the boat and presented her the lures. She disappeared for several minutes but then suddenly reappeared in the middle of our pattern. She lit up and attacked the Pakula lumo-colored sprocket in the short rigger position but missed it. She repeated this aggressive but inept behavior some 5 times before she was finally able to grab it. I set the hook and jumped into the chair. She ran off about 400 yards of line and had us into the dacron backing quickly. James turned the boat and ran on her twice in order to retrieve line. By working together we were able to gradually coerce her to the boat. When we got her to the leader we found she was foul-hooked in the back just behind the dorsal fin. The hook pulled as Andy wired her close to the boat. Once free she swam away strongly after the tough but fairly short 25-minute fight. James estimated her weight at 800 plus pounds, perhaps 850 and Andy agreed. She might have even been more. The rest of the day was without further action and we ran back to Horta at 6:30 p.m.
 

Estalagem de Santa Cruz	600-pound release

The last two days we fished on the Double Header with Captain Joe Franck and mate Greg Keck. Day five started out a bit breezy and got worse from there. The wind eventually picked up to greater than 35 knots and we had repeated rain squalls. We started fishing at Ribeirinha in the lee of the island. We gradually worked our way up the east side of the island a short distance, but it became too rough to fish as we progressed further. That left us working a fairly small area. There was a lot of bait and many birds in the area along with schools of yellowfin and dolphin but we could raise nothing with a bill on it. A small local boat caught a 100-pound yellowfin tuna in the morning but they were specifically fishing for them. We finally stopped trolling and ran back to the dock at 4:30 p.m.
 
 

Captain James Roberts	Mate Greg Keck	Captain Joe Franck	Joe's wife Greet Wouters

As our last day dawned we awoke to a drizzle with a light breeze blowing on our balcony. It wasn't long though before the sky cleared and it was quite pretty. Captain Joe elected to run out to the Azores Bank, located about 25 miles to the south-southwest of Horta. We saw a modest amount of bait, birds, and dolphin but no billfish and had no strikes. Didier the captain of Capri called us from Ribeirinha where he had already had 3 blue marlin strikes by 11:00 a.m. He had one hook-up but they had lost the fish to a broken line since they were fishing for a record on 6-pound test. We stuck it out at the Azores Bank until noon but then ran in to give Ribeirinha another try. Although we again found a great deal of life in the water we raised no marlin and got no strikes. We called it quits and ran back to Horta for the last time at 6:15 p.m.

As my second trip to the Azores ended I was quite pleased and felt very lucky. Even though I caught only two blue marlin they were both quality fish and I was the only angler fishing the Azores this season that caught more than one blue marlin. And I caught my fish on back-to-back days. God was smiling on me this time. I hope he continues to do so on my next trip to these lovely islands.
 
 

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