After missing a chance to fish the Azores in 2001 we were excited about getting back to these mid Atlantic islands known for their giant blue marlin this year. We would be fishing with Captain Joe Franck and his new mate Donald Goodwin on the 43-foot Daytona "Double Header." They had had a slow season thus far similar to all of the other eastern Atlantic islands. They had caught a number of white marlin and a few nice tuna but only four blue marlin. One of them though was a 950-pounder that they released just five days before our arrival. That buoyed our level of excitement considerably. Captain Joe, a transplanted South African, and his lovely wife and partner Greet, a Belgian, have been in the Azores for over a decade and have run a very successful charter operation for the entire period. Joe has caught three grander blue marlin in a day and has also captured giant bluefin tuna of the four digit size.

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. Our mate Donald slipped and fell into the water as we left the slip and had to run home for some dry clothes. That proved however not to be a bad omen as we initially had feared. We ran southwest to the Azores Bank but decided to keep ongoing since the water was so calm and go all the way to the Princess Alice bank some 40 miles from the western edge of the island and 48 miles from our port of Horta. The fishing conditions were perfect with cobalt blue water and a water temperature of 73.8 degrees. The bank was loaded with bait (skipjack tuna and greenback and salami mackerals) and there was life everywhere. We saw birds, dolphin, loggerhead turtles, white marlin, sharks, wahoo, dorado, and a number of blue marlin.
 

Birds on the Princess Alice bank	Donald setting the lures
Donald getting instructions from Captein Joe	Rainbow at Ribeirinha

We began trolling the southeastern side of the bank where there are two pnnacles that rise to within 34 and 40 meters of the surface. Less than thirty minutes after placing the lures we had a white marlin knock down the left short bait twice and then the left long but it never found the hookset. An hour later another whitey performed the same maneuver on the right baits. Then at 2:00 p.m. a small blue knocked down the green and black Moldcraft hooker in the right short position but dropped the bait before I could set the hook. It hung behind the bait for awhile but I could not entice it to strike again dsepit my best teasing efforts. Fifteen minutes later a white knocked down the left long bait (a blue and black medium pear) but also missed steel. Then at 3:45 I hooked a 300-pound blue on the Joe Yee smokin' joe on the  long rigger. It dropped the bait just as I was getting into the chair and didn't come back. After another hour without any action we ran back to the Azores bank to check it out. The water was nearly 2 degrees cooler than on the Alice but was still clean and a deep blue in color. There was plenty of bait on the sounder but we never had a marlin strike. We did have a shot at a small mako though who scarred one of our leaders pretty badly befor spitting the bait.
 

West end of the inner harbor	Sailboats in the harbor
West end of the island of Faial	Church, tree, and Sao Pico

The next morning we arose to find a light rain with a moderate breeze blowing out of the northwest. We went out fishing but had to stay within the lee of the island. Because of the shifting wind that was limited to a small area in front of the airport. This proved to be a "dead zone" with no bait, birds, dolphin, or more importantly fish. After about five hours we were forced to come back in when the winds picked up to 35 knotts.

The following morning the conditions were even worse. It was pouring down rain and the wind was blowing 35 knotts with gusts to 55 knotts and more right in the harbor! We waited for the weather forcast but did not go out when the weather was predicted to get even worse throughout the day. We went over to Peter's Restaurant and had soup and sandwiches to warm up. Then we started drinking some wine and beer to drown our disappointment and before long the afternoon was over.

We arose early the next day hoping to at least get out of the harbor. It was raining and windy again but the wind was out of the west giving us the opportunity to get to Ribeirinha, an area that had been good to me in the past. We put our baits out about 9:00 a.m. and had a knockdown from what was probably a white marlin at 9:30. We didn't see the fish but felt it was a whitey by the way it struck. Ribeirinha also is known for holding whites. We had another sinmilar knockdown in the early afternoon but no more action the rest of the day. There were birds, bait, and a large number of dolphin around but we never saw any marlin probably because the water temperature was a bit cool at 68.8 to 70.4 degrees. We were forced to leave early and "run for the barn" when the wind picked up to 45 to 50 knotts and shifted to the northwest.
 
 

Inner harbor light	Island Sao Pico

Our last potential day of fishing once again was marred by bad weather. It was not raining as hard as it had the two previous days but the wind was blowing about 30 knotts and was shifting from the west to the northwest and at times even to the northeast. We went out but couldn't get to Ribeirinha, southwest toward the banks, or even south to the island of Pico being repeatedly turned back by 15-foot breakers with no distance between them. We were once again forced to come back in and call it a day and this time without ever putting a line in the water. One hates to get shut out the last day of fishing as there will be no more chances until the next trip.
 
 

Mate Donald Goodwin	Captain Joe Franck	Joe's wife Greet Wouters

After our first day's results at the Princess Alice bank we had great expectations. The water was full of life and we had five strikes with at least two shots at a blue. There was every reason to believe we would have a good trip once our bad luck at hooking a fish resolved. Then the weather changed and we never were able to get back out to where the fish seemed to be and two days we didn't gat to fish at all. But when fishing the Azores that goes with the territority. The very thing that makes these islands such a great location for catching huge blue marlin (their isolation in the middle of the Atlantic ocean) also predisposes them to suffering the ravages of the north Atlantic weather. Even though we struck out at the plate on this trip the potential for catching a giant blue marlin and possibly even a world record will bring us back to the Azores again.
 
 

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