The Andaman and Nicobar Islands comprise a union territory of India and are comprised of about 572 rocks and mountain peaks jutting up from the floor of the Indian Ocean which functionally separate the Andaman Sea to the east from the Bay of Bengal to the west. Five hundred and fifty islands belong to the Andaman chain and only 26 are permanently inhabited, and a number of these are inhabited solely by indigenous tribes of aboriginals that continue to avoid exposure to modern society and some even apparently continue to practice cannibalism. Although the Andamans were once a protected nature reserve, in recent years sport fishing has been allowed by the Indian government in certain areas during specific periods of the year. Stories of the capture of big black and blue marlin, large yellowfin and dogtooth tuna, huge giant trevally, plus large numbers of wahoo, sailfish, tanguigui, and dorado began filtering out to the rest of the world shortly thereafter. Having heard these rumors I developed an interest in checking out the place. I was able to arrange a trip fairly easily since the captain I fished with in Thailand had been making several regular fishing trips to the Andamans annually. This required bringing his 40-foot Pace “Gecko” across 450 miles of open ocean from Phuket.

After a four-flight and 30-hour trek from the U.S. my wife Teresa and I arrived at Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman Islands, at about 8 in the morning. Although exhausted by the extensive travel we were filled with excitement since we had booked 11 days of fishing with Capt Jonas Nyqvest in the productive waters of these islands. We were met at the small airport by Jonas’ agent who took us to the boat which was anchored in the harbor. One of the three Thai mates picked us up in the tender and took us out to the boat. We changed clothes and were ready to go fishing. Due to a holiday the day before Jonas was unable to clear customs with the port authority so we waited as he accomplished it that morning. Finally at 11:00 we were cleared to leave. Captain Jonas steered the boat east and due to the deep water surrounding the islands we were able to start trolling just out of the harbor. It was only about 2 miles to the drop-off where we encountered huge schools of porpoise and scattered large schools of smaller yellowfin tuna. From the bridge Jonas also saw some larger 200-250 pound yellowfin jumping while chasing abundant flying fish. None of these open ocean predators however took an interest in our lures. We trolled northeast toward an area where Sir Hugh Rose, Havelock, and Neill Islands along with the bottom structure and current made a natural fish bowl for bait. There was also a nice sea mound nearby where the bottom rose from 1700 meters to 48 meters and was noted for wahoo, king mackerel or tanguigui, and tuna. Despite all of the life in the water we trolled until about 5 pm without a strike. It was quite hot and very humid with no clouds in the sky and little to no breeze. As dusk fell we anchored at a beautiful site along the west side of Havelock Island at what had been recognized by several travel magazines as the prettiest beach in all of Asia. After dinner and a shower we were more than ready for bed.

India and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands	Andaman and Nicobar Islands

The next morning we were up at 5:30 and after a quick breakfast and pulling anchor we were fishing by six. We started trolling just out of the anchorage with rapalas, marauders, Yo-Zuri Bonitos, and tuna feathers. At 7:00 am we had a short strike probably from a king mackerel. Then as we left the edge we hooked and caught a 30-pound wahoo. We switched to heavier tackle after crossing into deeper water. It was quiet for awhile but at about ten we had a blind strike from a nice black marlin on one of the 80-pound chair outfits. The fish ate an Aloha Lures Large Beauty wrapped with skipjack colors. I set up on the marlin and got into the chair. The ornery black never jumped and simply went down and out. After a 30 minute tug-of-war I was able to work the 400-pound fish to the transom where we had a spontaneous release as the marlin pulled hook on the leader. We got to the under-water pinnacle about 2 hours later and there were small yellowfin tuna busting everywhere. They covered up our spread and we ended out catching two of them both 25-30 pounds. Immediately thereafter we caught and released a small wahoo of about 30 pounds. Then after a nice Thai lunch we had another blind strike at about 1300 hours on one of the 130-pound Shimano Tiagra chair outfits. It was next to impossible to get the rod out of the covering board due to the deck clutter created by several ice chests on the deck, a necessity though for a live-aboard adventure in this small of a boat. Finally I had success and five minutes later we released a nice 100-pound sailfish. This fish inhaled the dorado-colored Black Bart Abaco Prowler in the short corner position.  The remainder of the day was absolutely quiet and after trolling until 4:30 in the afternoon we meandered back to our moorage inside of Havelock. After a shower we had a lovely dinner including fresh yellowfin tuna and wahoo sashimi and tuna steaks.

In the deep water we were fishing six lines. There were two 130-pound Shimano Tiagras on bent butt chair rods, two 80-pound Shimano Tiagras also mounted on bent butt chair sticks, a 50-pound Tiagra on a stand-up rod, and my Ian Miller 80-pound stand-up outfit sporting an 80-pound Shimano Tiagra reel. We had 5 large marlin lures out and a Yo-Zuri Bonito on the short 50-pound stand-up stick in the center of the transom. The lures were positioned in a “W” pattern which was Jonas’ preferred spread.

Port Blair, Andaman Islands, India	Havelock Island
400-pound Black Marlin Release	Sailfish Release

The next morning we were again up at 5:30 and fishing by six. Just fifteen minutes into the day we had a short strike from a sail in the shallower water between the islands on one of the Yo-Zuri Bonito lures but he didn’t stick. Then about an hour later in deep water we hooked another black marlin on the same Aloha Large Beauty lure that had nailed the black the previous day. I fought the fish for about 20 minutes in the chair before we had another spontaneous release as it also pulled hook on the leader. This black was a bit smaller than the first one as we estimated it at about 350 pounds but it put up a tough fight particularly during the end game near the boat. I was able to get the wind-on leader onto the reel about four times before the fish finally pulled the hook. The rest of the entire day was dead quiet except for three small barracuda that we caught on the whiskey line positioned way back on the ninth wave down the center. This was a fifty-pound stand-up outfit fished from one of the rod holders on the bridge and attached to a Marlin Magic Ahi Pussy. We were going to anchor just around the southwest corner of Havalock Island so we could get to the marlin and tuna grounds earlier the next morning but the wind had changed directions forcing us to go back to the more distant anchorage at the “special beach.”

Our fourth day was once again initiated with an early start as we were trolling by six a.m. It was fairly quiet in the shallow water as we trolled out. Then at 8 am we caught a nice 7# Skipjack on the whiskey line with the Marlin Magic AP.  As we hit the 1000 meter drop-off we had a double knock-down with sailfish. The one on the right rigger was a fairly large fish and the other on the AP was smaller. Neither found the hook though and despite my teasing the large fish repeatedly by dropping back the lure and winding it in quickly they both simply dropped out and disappeared. It was quiet again until we got to the underwater pinnacle where we were covered up by wahoo. We even put out a Yo-Zuri Bonito on the downrigger. Over the next hour and 15 minutes we caught 8 “hoo.” There was one small fish at about 30 pounds but the others were nice fish in the 40-50 pound class. Most of the wahoo were taken on the downrigger purple and black Yo-Zuri Bonito bait until the last fish bit the lure in half. The others were caught on the whiskey AP and a few on the residual marlin lures we had out. The skirts of the AP and several of the marlin lures paid the price. We moved on and put out our usual marlin and tuna spread following the 1200 meter curve south and then again north but had absolutely no action. The only marlin we saw this day was a small black that followed in the first wahoo I caught as I reeled it to the boat. It dropped back and had a sniff of a few of our lures but at only 3 knots (the speed we dropped to as we reeled in the wahoo) it lost interest quickly. Finally about 4 p.m. we started trolling back toward the islands and shallow water where we put out Yo-Zuri’s and tuna lures and some smaller marlin baits. At 4:30 I caught about a 15 pound Giant Trevally on the troll. After that we motored to our new anchorage just inside Havalock’s southwest corner and behind Neill Island for the night. The trevally made for a good supper.

Nice Wahoo	Wahoo Work
Terry on Stand-up Gear	Terry with Giant Trevally

The next morning we started trolling a bit earlier at about 5:45 a.m. At 6:15 as we went out of the shallows into the deep we hooked a small Tanguigui (narrow-barred Spanish mackerel) which they call a king mackerel. They are good to eat both as sashimi as well as cooked which we later discovered at lunch and supper. We then trolled the drop-off south and west all the way down to Middle Andaman Island without so much as a strike. It was very hot and humid and this was made worse by the absence of action. We had planned to go further south to the Sisters but Jonas thought we would probably have better luck going north to Barren Island where there had been excellent yellowfin and dogtooth tuna fishing just a few weeks earlier and there was a great drop-off good for marlin fishing just a mile offshore. They also had caught larger marlin there in the past. We needed fuel and provisions so at about 1 p.m. we headed west back into Port Blair harbor. Teresa and I went into town and she did some shopping while Jonas and the mates took care of business. It took all afternoon to get the fuel, provisions, and additional port clearance so we ended out having dinner there in the bay at anchor. Refueling and re-provisioning took so long because it all had to be ferried back and forth from the boat to the port with the skiff since there is no fuel dock or marina at Port Blair. As it got dark Jonas steered “Gecko” northeast for the three and a half hour trip back to the Havelock anchorage where we spent the night. It would be a 35 mile run from the pinnacle there to Barren Island the next morning.

We started day six about an hour later since both the captain and the boys were up late motoring in the dark up to Havelock. We trolled north and east toward Barren Island following the drop-off. About 8 a.m. we had a large sailfish attack the right rigger bait, the Aloha Lures Large Beauty, but he didn’t catch steel. The sail came back and took three more shots at the bait but never did find the hook. Fifteen minutes later another sail hit the medium AP bullet on the whiskey line but again no hook-up. He came back twice but still didn’t hook up. As we trolled northeast we saw a pod of whales headed south and numerous large schools of jumping dolphin. It was encouraging to see all of this life in the water. About 11 a.m. I caught a small skipjack on the whiskey line which would make for good bait later. Then as we approached Barren Island another sailfish knocked down the AP but like the others didn’t hook-up. As we started to troll around the island we quickly caught two yellowfin tuna about 30-35 pounds. We put out the downrigger and some Yo-Zuri Bonito lures and over the next hour caught 8 wahoo mostly 30-45 pounds. We had one quad hit and Teresa even got in on the action catching a small ‘hoo. My lures paid a serious price though for the wahoo as one cut off the medium AP and three of the marlin baits, including the here-to-for very productive Aloha Large Beauty, had irreparable skirt damage. The wahoo sure tasted good but I didn’t really like them destroying my expensive marlin lures. And we released all but one of the ‘hoo, keeping the one to eat and to use the scraps for dogtooth tuna bait. During the afternoon we saw several small schools of large 200 plus pound yellowfin chasing bait on the surface but by the time we trolled through the spot they had gone down and we were covered up with more of the destructive wahoo. That night we anchored up on the lee side of the island and after dinner began bait fishing off the stern for dogtooth. The only bites we got were from small barracuda that ate the bait but their mouths were much too small for the size hooks we were using for dogtooth. Finally about 10 we went to bed.

Barren Island is an Active Volcano	Small Yellowfin Tuna
Teresa on Her First Wahoo	Teresa's First Wahoo

I was awakened at 4:30 the next morning by the sound of the engines being started and increased rocking of the boat. The wind had shifted 90 degrees and blown us away from the island as the anchor drug despite Jonas’ having a double anchor system deployed. We started trolling for dogtooth at about 4:45 am. We didn’t hook a dogtooth but again caught a number of small wahoo between 5:15 and 6:15. As we continued our quest for dogtooth a small black marlin struck the downrigger Yo-Zuri wobbler and made a nice jump before spitting the lure. The large treble hooks on the Bonito lure were no match for the 200-250-pound black. We switched to marlin lures and trolled around the island for another 3 hours before we had another strike. At about ten the center Yo-Zuri bait went off again briefly and then the fish jumped on the right rigger bait knocking it down without pulling drag. The small black followed the lure for awhile but I couldn’t entice him to strike again despite teasing the hell out of the bait. It remained dead until about noon so we anchored up for a few hours to enjoy lunch and to cool down a bit with the air conditioning. The weather remained quite hot and very humid so that the cockpit heat periodically became almost unbearable until the captain would turn the boat and we would pick up a slight cooling breeze. We started trolling again about 2 p.m. and trolled the deep water around the island without so much as a hit. We didn’t even see any of the yellowfin we had noticed the previous day. Then about 4 p.m. when we ventured too close to the edge we were covered up again with wahoo. Three of my marlin lures were damaged. One of the lures we had just re-skirted during lunch. But I did catch a nice ‘hoo for dinner. It was on the 130-pound outfit and I damned near went overboard trying to get it to the chair due to the ice chests in the way. There were three ice chests on the deck, one against the bait station and one in front of each side of the covering boards. This was a necessary evil as Jonas needs a bigger boat for these types of excursions, and he plans to get a 50-footer before next season. At five we went in to our anchorage and hooked up to the ball. We would try for dogtooth tuna again after dinner when it got dark. We encountered no dogtooth but I did catch an 80–pound white-tipped reef shark which we released.

We started Tuesday morning a bit later later at about 7 after fishing with bait late into the night. We went directly to the marlin lures and fished away from the island following the 1000 meter “marlin highway” out to about 20 miles with absolutely no action. It was once again very hot with no breeze. Then as we trolled back to the island for a lunch break we saw large yellowfin chasing long-toms or garfish on the surface. As we trolled over the spot suddenly the whiskey line armed with a purple and black AP baby pusher went off. I grabbed the rod and set the hook as the mates helped me put on my stand-up harness and butt plate. This was a 50-pound outfit with about 12.5 pounds of drag at the strike setting.  Jonas slowed the boat and the mates cleared the other lines as the reel kept screaming. The fish kept taking line until we were down to about only 1/3 of a spool left. We slowly backed down to recover line and then I started the usual pump and grind to bring the fish to the boat. About half-way through the fight I recognized the typical slow tuna tail-beat of a large yellowfin. After about a thirty minute fight terminated by some short stroke action, the tuna appeared at the transom. At the boat it weighed 156 pounds. Nice fish and a great deal of fun on stand-up gear! We took a two hour break for lunch on the ball and then started trolling again. This time we put out a Bonito jig on the downrigger, another on the left flat, and 2 marlin lures on the outriggers, along with the AP way out on the whiskey line. About 3:15 we caught a nice sized wahoo off the downrigger bait and 30 minutes later the left flat went off. The fish initially took a lot of line but after 15 minutes I had worked it close behind the boat when suddenly it pulled hook (trebles on the bonito jig). That may have been the decent sized dogtooth tuna I had been waiting for. Over the next hour and a half we caught a handful of nice wahoo, some barracuda, and a giant trevally on the troll. Then it went quiet again so we slipped into the anchorage for dinner and some late night bait fishing. I had been hoping for some shots at a dogtooth on the downrigger but there just didn’t seem to be many around. Early in the evening I caught a rare black trevally of about 8-10 pounds that we released. In 22 years of fishing the area that was only the third black trevally Jonas had ever seen caught. The rest of the night was dead quiet other than pulling anchor twice and I went to bed about 10:30.

Terry in the Chair	A Tanguigui or Narrow-Barred Spanish Mackerel
160-pound Yellowfin	Rare Black Trevally

We were up at 6:00 the next morning and trolling by 6:30. Jonas headed “Gecko” south after briefly trolling around the island. At 8:10 as we were leaving the area we had a knockdown of the Polu Kai Fatboy on the left rigger by a sailfish but he neither pulled drag nor hooked-up. There was no other action until 3:30 in the afternoon when way south by Havelock Island we had another sailfish knock down the same Polu Kai bait on the left rigger but again didn’t hook up. Other than two short strikes by wahoo the remainder of the day was absolutely quiet. The water temperature was high at 30.8 degrees centigrade which Jonas believed was the reason we were not experiencing as much marlin action as usual. Typically during the week prior to the full moon in April the boat had experienced on average at least one marlin strike a day. We anchored up at the same beach as before on Havelock Island. Jonas, Teresa, and I went into the beach to look around and ate supper at the small Italian restaurant there.

On our tenth and next to the last day on the water the weather was bad with thunder, lightening, and periodic heavy rain. Knowing that I was hoping to catch a nice dogtooth, Jonas started toward what he referred to as the “Rottweiler reef” due to the consistent presence of large dogtooth tuna but we got turned around by the heavy lightening and growing waves. Although I was initially disappointed my spirits were lifted when I caught a nice coral trout on the downrigger line over one of the reefs on the lee side of the island. We worked our way through the rainy weather with nothing more than a few short wahoo strikes and then anchored for lunch to let the storms pass. Just as we were about to head back to the dogtooth reef the wind shifted and one storm after another came at us from that new direction. Captain Jonas was concerned about a safe anchorage for the night and elected to fish the bay between Havelock and Neil Islands. We trolled gradually northwest and eventually reached the north end of Havelock where there was excellent protection from virtually all sides provided by the natural contour of Havelock and Pierce Islands. I caught a large wahoo of about 50 pounds on the way which we released after a few pictures. We quit fishing and went into anchor near Havelock village at 4 pm. We planned on starting fishing early the next morning at “Rottweiller Reef” for dogtooth tuna. That would be my last chance at a dogtooth this trip. We hoped the slight drop in water temperature created by the rain might also improve what had been somewhat dismal marlin action as well. The best news was we were going to have coral trout for dinner. I had eaten coral trout many times while on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and I already knew how good it was.

Another Wahoo	Coral Trout for Dinner Please
Captain Jonas After a Long Day on the Water	Three Thai Mates: Toi, Tio, and Au

Unfortunately the next morning we left the anchorage facing a series of heavy showers, rough seas, and modest wind. It took about an hour and a half to get to the “doggy reef” and we were soaked by very heavy rains twice. Just as we arrived there was a short strike on the downrigger bait but alas no hook-up. Jonas worked the reef hard for an hour with nary another bite and there was not much bait to be seen on the bottom machine. So after another half-hour we gave up on the dogtooth and started trolling south along the drop-off hoping for some marlin action. We missed a few wahoo but no billfish seemed to be around. The weather worsened with waves of heavy showers as the wind and seas grew. Jonas felt we needed to head back to Port Blair. The trip was not boring due to the weather but without angling activity until just outside the harbor entrance when we had a knock-down of the right rigger bait by a sail. He came back twice but didn’t manage to connect with the hook. Then he dropped back to the whiskey line and followed it for awhile before he simply sank out. About 2:00 we were in the harbor at Port Blair and our fishing trip was over. We had a nice Thai spaghetti lunch and began packing for our plane early the next morning. I had to break down my stand-up rod and reel and break down my lures, the ones that still had skirts, and repack all the clothing and gear back into the suitcases.
 
Teresa and I agreed it had been a good trip! She had caught her first wahoo and I caught two decent-sized black marlins, a sailfish, some giant trevally, a rare black trevally, a white tipped reef shark, a few tanguigui, some small yellowfin tuna, one large yellowfin, some skipjack tuna, several barracuda, a coral trout, and too many wahoo to count. I had come with the hope of catching more and larger blue and black marlins, perhaps a 200-pound yellowfin, and a 100-pound plus dogtooth tuna based on my reading but those proved to be unrealistic expectations. The water temperature and weather had compromised our ability to reach those goals. I can sure say it wasn’t for lack of trying by Captain Jonas Nyqvest and his three Thai mates.

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