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Random Quote: fishin' is lake a box of chocolate.. u never no what your gonna catch.. and sometimes you catch nothing!
Sharky 2000,
I was thinking of trying the Carnaries in Aug out of Tenerife and was wondering what your take was on the fishing there. I'm an American that has been in the UK for a few months and need an offshore fix bad.
I have read a lot of good things about the marlin fishing in the Azores, have you tried there ?
I would appreciate any info you could give me.
Take a look at Blue Marlin 111 in Gran Canaira lots of torists fish all the Islands costs about 50 euros [http://www.bluemarlin3.com/] they report dayley. Have not fished The Azors Fished Madeira [http://www.fishmadeira.com/]very profesinal still never got a marlin costs 175 to 200 euros for a split. I fish 6 trips in 2 weeks so Madeira runs away with the spends but i will go back. [http://www.madeiragamefish.com/]
I do not know the area and can only speak to techniques that I use to catch more billfish in the hope that this helps you.
Your Captain: I would try to get the person at the reservation desk to get you the hot young guy on the docks, telling them that you have been there a bunch of times, and only gotten two strikes, so that you are tired of promises, promises.
A fat tip promised to the captain on the way out for a billfish, usually will prompt him to spend the resorts money on more gas to go farther and try harder.
Most of these resorts pay their captains peanuts, and their tendency is to just drop the lines in the water and sight troll as this involves the least amount of work for them, but live bait dropped back to as teased billfish, or cast out to a finning fish will usually insure a hookup. So make sure your boat and captain is set up and willing to provide livebait (mackerel, skipjack, goggle eyes, etc) before you go..
If you see a finning fish that dives on you, hook the livebait in the tail, stop the boat, and the bait will automatically go deep too. Remember to give the fish free spool for about 5 seconds before striking hard to set the hook.
Lastley, arrange to be in the good areas 1/2 hour before the tide start to rise and arrange your trips on days of no moon or full moon to have more tidal current. Everyone normally leaves the docks at 7 am, but I will wait as late as midday to time the tide, and let the other captains search all over to locate the fish prior to leaving. They do not usually want to radio report where they are in the morning, but usually will brag where they found them on the way back in as you are going out, which tells you where to go to spend your time in prime areas, instead of searching for prime areas. And cruise fast looking for birds, bait and rips; in other words, for a strong visual reason to slow down and troll. Its a big ocean and you have to cover a lot of area in a limited time to find feeding fish.
I think you need to fly over here to the US and get on a boat out of Pirate's Cove, NC and catch a Marlin!!!!
__________________ ''It's alright to be a redneck
It's alright to drive around in a dirty ol' truck
Catch a bunch of fish and shoot a bunch of duck
It's alright to be a redneck
Chase around the girls on Friday night'' - Alan Jackson
If you decide to come over to Pirates Cove, NC sometime in the future, drop me an email to let me know and drop by an meet another Englishman in fishing heaven.
There is a guy on this forum that bought a Bluewater from lanzarote. Might want to get up with him. You might also be able to "Horse trade" You bring something from here he wants and can't get or is real costly there, you get something from him there that a tourist probably could never find etc...
The North East Atlantic islands (Canaries, Azores and Madeira) are famous for their large blue marlin. If you want a big one they are a very good place to go, but it must be admitted there are better places to go if you want to catch "A" blue marlin- any blue marlin regardless of size.
In Madeira the first blue marlin are normally caught in May but the fishing is most consistent traditionally in June and July. August and the first half of September can have some good fishing too. Big Eye Tuna are normally best from March to May and the two best months are normally April and May. The later in the season the bigger the tuna average but from May onwards they can be harder to catch because of warmer surface temperatures. Big Eye catches normally fall off from the end of May but those that are caught are normally very good fish often exceeding 150 pounds. White Marlin and Atlantic longbill spearfish usually start popping up not long after the bigeyes and stay until at least the middle of September. Large Wahoo start showing end of August and are best between September and October although if the weather allows, they can be caught in November and sometimes all the way into December.
I am not familiar with the Canary Islands but the seasons there seem to begin about one month earlier and end about one month later. A few more blues seem to be caught or hooked in the Canaries than Madeira but the average size seems to be smaller than the Madeira average of 6-700lbs. In the Azores everything seems to happen roughly one month to a month and a half later. In recent years the Azores has had few blue marlin catches but has had extremely good white marlin fishing. White Marlin and their spearfish cousins are also found in Madeira and the Canary Islands but normally in lesser numbers although they can be a worthwhile target if they are there. They are a difficult fish to hook up, especially on artificials, and need the right approach in terms of lure sizes, hook sizes and reel drag for maximum success.
Billfish and tuna fishing in the islands is normally lure fishing because boats must cover ground to find the fish. In terms of professionallism the Azorean and Madeiran boats by all accounts are much more professional when it comes to tackle and techniques than many of the Canary Islands operators which cater very much to the holiday tourist fisherman looking to go on the water for the lowest possible price. Successful tuna fishing depends a great deal on whether they are in range of your vessel and whether your skipper has reliable information on their whereabouts. If they are, you can get into some good fishing. Successful blue marlin fishing depends a great deal on your skipper's knowledge of the billfish hangouts. In Madeira definitely there are certain established grounds that are productive for big fish year after year, season after season. The best skippers have a game plan and a definite way in which they will work these grounds for the best chance of getting a strike. White Marlin and spearfish plus some of the smaller game fish like dorado, albacore and skipjack tuna can give you fairly quick action if they are around- in the Azores and Canary Islands some skippers may target these fish instead, but in Madeira most skippers prefer to target blues and may only run one light rod with a smaller lure to pick up smaller gamefish. Big blue marlin don't grow on trees. Even if blue marlin are around and the fleet is catching them consistently every day, you need to be patient and wait for your bite. The longer you can stay on the water the better. Every skipper has experienced some tourist fisherman taking out a half day charter and promptly hooking up to a huge fish, but the odds are very against you if you fish only one day, or worse a half day. Over the course of a season the best skippers do come out on top because they find more fish, raise more fish, hook more fish and end up catching more fish.
It must be mentioned that blue marlin in the Atlantic islands are big and very powerful fish. Should you be lucky enough to hook up, the quality of all the gear- how well-maintained and put together it is makes a tremendous difference in being able to land the fish. Skilful boat handling also makes an incredible difference to the success and failure of your marlin hookup. For all these reasons the better equipped and more experienced and skilled the operation you fish with, the better.
It is the practice to release all billfish on almost all the Azores and Madeira boats but a lot of billfish are still taken by some Canary Islands boats. If you are interested in releasing any billfish you catch it would be best to clarify this with your skipper before you make the booking.
To finish off this somewhat long winded post: Fishing the East Atlantic Islands for blue marlin can be a waiting game with long hours and even days spent waiting for that big blue marlin to strike. However, when the man in the blue suit does come along, they tend to be well worth the wait. Fish in the 1000 pound class are hooked, caught and fought in Madeiran waters every year and the average fish there is in the 6-700 pound class. To put things into perspective, even in blue marlin hot spots like Venezuela, Kona Hawaii and St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands where many more blues are caught, the biggest fish caught by a charter boat there each season may be no more than 6-700 pounds. It's definitely a question of quantity versus quality. Big blue marlin like these are the most spectacular and exciting fish on this planet, and some of the stunts they can pull during the fight are simply breathtaking to behold. Good skippers can never prevent the cheapest boat in the fleet hooking up with a big fish 100 yards away from you, but they can very often dramatically shorten your waiting time. Needless to say when that big fish finally jumps on, you want every advantage going for you, and that includes skilled skippers with well maintained high quality equipment.
OK enough. I've said my piece. Best of luck to anyone who will be fishing the Azores, Canary Islands or Madeira next year or for the remainder of this year.
Absolutely not, Patudo. That was an incredible post, full of excellent, go-to-the-bank information. Think I'll cut & copy that, if you don't mind.
Great stuff. Your knowledge of the subject knocks me out every time.
How was your Madeira season? Back home now? And no, sorry- no plans to head down there as yet, but if opportunity comes up you'll be the first to know.
Canary Islands 
