A great day out, blessed with fine weather and reasonably calm seas. As soon as we cleared the marina (10 mins.) we were fishing. Costal trolling on the way our to the bottom fishing ground with four rods out but no strikes outward bound. At the rocky outcrop toward mid-voyage we switched to bottom rigs and immediately started hitting the fish. John Melo and his crew mate Milton’s local knowledge and their radar fish finder were instrumental in our success. We caught Grouper of good size, a King fish, a Tiger fish (big, a good rod bender), White Sea Bream (nice size too - ideal for the plate) and another variety that I can’t remember - eighteen in all. On the return trip we re-rigged for trolling back to the marina and under overcast skies and a slight swell we caught a good size Barracuda. A very tidy boat well crewed and good equipment made for an excellent trip - I only get the time to fish when on holiday so this trip was particularly special for me - many thanks to John and Milton. I’ll upload some photo’s when I can.

Tuna and marlin were further out than we had time to travel half day was pointless

What great day we had. Adriano was great and new the right place to fish.  In s short 2 hour trip we caught 11 porkfish, 1 grouper (which I think we would have caught more in the spot we were in but wife stated to get sick) and a couple other fish that I wasn’t sure that it was and a few more that we threw back in the ocean.  It was an amazing experience!

At the start of the day we set off in hope of a big game fish. Things were a bit slow, bit the company was good, and there was plenty of nice food laid on which I couldn’t stop pecking at all day long. We had beers, softdrinks and water, so overall I was really well catered for.

John is captain with vast experience and although his English is limited, the crew Milton did a great job of translating between me and the skipper.

In the morning as things didn’t go as I hoped (but hey that’s fishing) Milton asked me if I’d like to change tactics, I thought it’s best to land some fish than nothing at all (given I had taken the trip myself, I had to make it worthwhile)
A quick change of tackle to some lighter gear and we did some trawling a bit closer to shore for Barracuda. Thanks to the knowledge of skipper and crew I did not go home empty handed. I ended the day with 3 Barracuda and 1 lizard fish. All were new species for me so overall I was very happy with the day.

Milton (the crew) is very friendly and chatty and will happily answer any questions you may have. And anything he can’t answer he will find out from the skipper John.

I don’t know when exactly but I will be back to use these people again.

The big game fishing was planned as a highlight of the Azore family vacation- ended up as the biggest disappointment.
It started with a message from the boat’s captain: Hi, weather forecast is bad for the whole week. Would you be ready to go during a weather gap? It ended with a strong recommendation from the boat captain to go on Tuesday afternoon instead of the originally planned Thursday afternoon. Funny but all the weather apps predicted better weather from Thursday- but we trusted the captain.
So we we went on Tuesday afternoon with a warning of the Captain that chances of catching fish are low and the sea will be rough. Indeed the sea was rough and no fish bit. Also, the captain hardly gave any explanation during the trip - that could definitely have been done better.

It turned out to be the worst few weather hours during the whole week. Being wrong on the weather can happen, but it can be deadly in the Atlantic and other locals were wondering very much about our captain’s timing.

After we complained, he did offer a discounted trip for Friday but the family was not motivated any more, seeing this as a waste of time and money.

In short we would recommend to double check the weather yourself or choose another Captain.