Mike is a long standing and regular client aboard "Gavito" and yesterday we left the marina at 10.00 a.m. for an 8 hour Big Game Fishing trip. At about 12.00 we saw a Blue Marlin approach the spread and started to knock the Port side Outrigger lure. This lasted for about 10 - 15 seconds and it then took off. Unfortunately the line broke and the fish got away. We believe the fish was about 300/400 lbs so not very big by Madeira standards. We carried on trolling and was on our way back to the marina at about 5.00 p.m. when somebody said that we had caught a length of rope with the shotgun lure I started to wind this in from the fly bridge and thought it was odd that I could only make line if I backed down and also that the "ROPE" was moving rapidly to the starboard side. Lo and Behold the "ROPE" turned out to be the 30 lbs Bull Mahi Mahi pictured above. This had been on Mike's "Bucket List" for overf 10 years, so he was highly delighted.

Yesterday saw "Gavito" sailing towards Funchal and at about 1120 we hooked up to a Blue Marlin of about 4/500 lbs. Unfortunately for us it decided to take the shotgun lure which had been rigged for the odd Mahi Mahi. Therefore it was on 60 lbs line with a 100 lbs leader and small moldcraft Chugger in purple and silver. Although everybody did their best to retain the fish on the line, it really was a hopeless task and after about 3 minutes the fish made a sudden turn and shot off at a rate of knots. The line broke and, the fish departed with lure, leader and line attached. Hoping that Sunday will continue in the same vain of at least 1 hit every trip.

“Gavito” grabs a Grander. Yesterday the 22nd July “Gavito” set out from Calheta Marina for a full days Big Game Fishing with 3 clients. We headed East towards Funchal with a full spread of 5 lures behind. We ran a 9” Moldcraft purple and black on the shotgun, Moldcaft Wide Range lures in purple and silver, blue and white on each of the outriggers and Moldcraft Wide Range Magnum on the short corners. After about 3 hours of steaming around at 7/7.5 knots just off Capo Girao we hasd a hit on the starboard outrigger and the reel screamed as the fish ran off line. We hit strike to set the hook and then backed the drag off a bit to allow the fish to run, but under some pressure whilst we retrieved the remaining lines and cleared the deck for action. The client, Spencer King, got into the chair and we set him up with the rod in the gimble and connected the harness to the reel lugs. He then started work. We had seen the strike and knew that we had a big fish on the line, but did not at that stage know just how big. The fight took about 1.75 hours and we measured the fish at about 13.5 feet in length and about 50” half girth. This meant that the fish was about 1000 – 1300 lbs. The fish was boated, de-hooked and recovered for release. The best thing about this is that “Gavito” has now had 4 strikes out of 5 trips. The first was 800 lbs. The second was a little smaller at about 600 lbs. the third was of unknown weight as the client of the day locked the reel drag and we lost the fish and now this a great way to continue the season. Spencer still has 4 more days to fish with us and we hope that we can maintain the trend. Yesterday was his first ever Blue Marlin and what a beauty.

Yesterday we received a request from a couple who were in Calheta Marina trying to get a trip with 4 hours trolling and 4 hours bottom fishing, but no skipper was willing to entertain them. They then made contact with me to see if we could oblige. As this is a standard trip with us it was only a matter of finding out a date that we could all make and then the time to leave in order that the bottom fishing was on the rising tide. It turned out that today was the only day available and that high tide was at about 8.20 p.m. So it was agreed that the trip would leave the marina at noon and return at 8.00 p.m. with the first half trolling for Marlin and/or Tuna. This was not successful and we had no takes or knock downs. We then proceeded to one of our favourite spots at the end of the island and, as you can see, they caught a good number of trigger fish and in addition Red Snapper and Barred Hog Fish (all of which were released). In all the clients were extremely happy with the trip and hope to return one day in the future.

Our 4 English clients booked a day Big Game Fishing via Fishingbooker.com and the day before decided to change to a full day of mixed fishing. So we left the marina at Calheta, Madeira at 1000 hrs and trolled for a couple of hours towards Ponta do Pargo on the West end of the Island. The sea state was slightly choppy with a Westerley Wind on a Westerly swell giving a short sharp chop to the sea. Having had no takes we decided to go into the bay and bottom fish until about 1500 hrs. They caught Trigger Fish, Red Snapper, Bream, Grouper and barred hog fish. At 1500 hrs we left the bay and started to troll again and at about 1600 hrs we had a take on the starboard side outrigger line and saw that a good sized Blue Marlin had taken the lure. We immediately retrieved the remaining lines and started t concentrate on boating the fish. The 4 lads took turns in the chair and changed over as they became too tired to continue. The fish ran out about 350 meters of line on its first run and, as we let pressure off to change over it kept at about this distance for some time. This was the first Blue Marling for 1st mate Heiko, and also for the new owner of the boat Anders Ekstrand, so it proved to be a great start to the continuation of the business under the control of Anders with the help of the Captain Graham Venters who wired the fish, removed the lure and hook and recovered the fish to a condition suitable for release. The fish was estimated to be between 800 and 900 lbs a great start and great satisfaction for the clients. Should this report wet your appetite you can book through www.fishingbooker.com and we still have a few dates in August available. Our price of 950.00 Euro’s for the full 8 hour day is highly competitive and we include a packed lunch and free drinks on board.

We had a party of 4, mother, daughter, son and father with us yesterday the 2nd January 2019 and we left Calheta Marina at 0800 hrs for a ful day of mixed fishing. We travelled down to the West End of the Island and could not believe our eyes when we saw that there was virtually no swell and the corner of Ponte do Pargo was easily passable. So we went to a spot that I knew of and that was seldom fished due to the sea state and we immediately started to catch. The first fish was a Red Snapper of around 5 lbs caught by the daughter (her first ever fish) and this was rapidly followed by Trigger fish, Grouper, Barred Hog Fish, Thick lip Bream, striped bream and spotted bream. In all we caught over 60 fish in 4 hours after which the tide turned and the bottom fishing went off the boil, so we started to troll for Tuna, running 5 lines with blue/white and purple/white on the main lines and a small rainbow lure on the shotgun. regrettably we had not takes and this could be partly due to the fact that the sea state deteriorated somewhat forcing us to travel at no more than 4 knots. We had wave 3 - 4 meters every 5 to 5 seconds, so clearly it was a matter of safety first. The only sign we saw was about 3 small shoals of juvenile flying fish leaping out as though the were being chased. We went over to take a look but nothing showed on the scope or visually. We returned to the marina at 1600 hours and enjoyed a glass of beer with the clients The reason for no photo's is that the client insisted on immediate release of all fish, so not enough time to take pictures.