The island of Madeira is a lush subtropical isle that has long been a popular vacation resort for Europeans. Situated 400 miles west of Morocco off the northwest coast of Africa its rugged green volcanic backbone gives the appearance of an emerald jutting up into the cobalt blue Atlantic Ocean as one approaches from the air. In angling circles Madeira has in recent years become well known for its production of giant Atlantic blue marlin with the average weight of fish caught being in excess of 600 pounds. And last year one out of every twelve marlin captured there was a “grander.”

Our recent excursion to Madeira in mid-August however was somewhat disappointing from the billfishing standpoint. We spent eight full days on the water and only hooked three blue marlin. Two, weighing approximately 300 and 600 pounds respectively, were tagged and released and the other pulled the hook despite the relatively low drag settings which are the habit there. The otherwise disappointing trip was resurrected though by the appearance of many large schools of huge bigeye tuna. Acres of these pelagics were crashing the surface throwing water some six feet in the air. And there were thousands of seagulls diving on the fingerling green-back mackerels upon which the tuna were feeding as they showered from the water trying to escape the hungry mouths below.

Even though we were targeting marlin it was impossible to resist going after the bigeyes at least part of the day. We eventually landed 14 of the tuna between 150 and over 300 pounds. The largest was a 316 pound behemoth which required 34 minutes to subdue even with 130 pound chair-based tackle. Probably our most significant accomplishment however was a 258 pound fish landed in 26 minutes with 80 pound stand-up gear.

In addition to the bigeye we saw occasional schools of giant Bluefin tuna in the 500 to 800 pound class. We were never successful at hooking one of these on the Pesca Grossa but the Margarita (Roddy Haye’s old boat) hooked and landed a pair of 500 pounders our last day on the island. That feat required over four hours to accomplish!