MPT Bay offshore - What's up

[John F]

Very slow out there on the sharp face front.

 

The conditions are still not quite right for them. I'd say in 3-4 weeks we'll have the season in full swing...

[John F]

Thanks Sheldon! Needed to hear some reel music and get some action after such a long period of inactivity!

[Prego]

Nice one Marcos a great outing indeed 

[L Hooker]

Thanks Sheldon! Needed to hear some reel music and get some action after such a long period of inactivity!

100% 

[peterblace]

I've planned to spend the day at the beach...but with some clouds showing up at wake up time missus decided to stay home...
...because it's been too long since I launched otoro I decided that the hull needed a good shake...so by 8:45 I launched for a spin in the bay...
with petrol enough to go for a longer run in the bay I decided to take 2 rods along...and some rappies...just in case we decided to put some lines out (which was my initial intention)
we some drifts at perto perto...then at bx ribeiri...and then at cockburn...
at cockburn was the only place where we were able to see some nice showings on the sonar...and not long after we had our first strike...we were able to see a long silver shadow...maybe a cuta or a cuda that didn't commit properly and run away
on the next drift and exactly at the same spot we had our second (and last) strike...and we were able to land a cuda...
by 13:00 we got to the club after 48nm...fantastic sea...some light rain early in the morning but sky ended up clearing and now we have a big sunburn
crazy thing is how water temp went up in 1 week...nearly 2º up from last Sunday

[L Hooker]

Lekker Pedro, wish I could pop out and go catch a couta

[John F]

Had a late launch yesterday due to some festivities the day before.

08.00 myself and Manuel Junior went on our way to Baixo Jeremias armed with 5 rods: 2x 80 Lbs and 3x 50W Lbs. Plan was simple: get a bill!

The water was very clean and temp went from 25.4 to 25.7o C. Sea flat... all day! Fantastic day indeed!

We trolled Jeremias with 3 rappies for about 30 min. No takers so decided to go deep. Changed to a nice spread of konas and illander express.

Heard on the radio the other boats complaining about the lack of activity on the deep-deep (400 m) so we stayed a bit closer 250-300 m. One of the criss cross we did on the 220 m more or less, a black marlin of about 80 kg came about 15 m from the port side and attacked a small pulsator chugger with a strip bait as Manuel Jr was still holding the spool with his finger. Took some line and jumped a couple of times... what a show!  Unfortunately the hooks didn't stick!!!

That was it! No more action during the day apart from a pod of pilot whales... great sight. We tried for sailies inshore but nothing. Very calm and almost no birds. In fact too calm. My old bones are grateful though...

In total we did 86.6 nm and used about 93 L of fuel with an average consumption of 1.07 L/nm... not bad zukes... not bad at all!

[peterblace]

just arrived from Santa Maria after a short holiday since the 25th December
here is the small report
on the 25th I've crossed the bay with a +20knt South pumping and big swell in our face...boat was loaded so it took us 2h10 for a mere 21nm...and about 65lt of petrol
all unloaded to our first accommodation at Island Dreamer thanks to rcoliveira84...thanks for that mister!!!

wind pumped every day and on the 29th we finally had a chance to go out
29Dec
by this time Prego already had arrived in SM so we launched at 4:30 just before first lights...we could nearly have trolled trough Hells Gate...it was flat flat seas
we first headed to Bx Santa Maria but it was dead and no showing on the bottom...our plan was to go for some some drifts there while spinning at the surface but because all was dead we decided to move further North to Jeremias area

getting to Jeremias we spotted the most crazy action we have ever seen...cuta free jumping all over the area...but not taking anyhing...so we kept going North and getting to Jeremias we had our first and only fish of the day...a nice 6/7kg dorie that went on the fathom lure (JohnF xmas presie)...that lure work so well!!!

we kept working that area for a while and got another strike...this time on the shotgun on a small island express type lure with a bird...another nice size dorie that came off at about 20mt from the boat

at about 8:30 we decided to start our way back home...and we spotted some splash and some crazy flying fish action...
...and if my crew member haven't touched the ratchet we would have heard the strike on the long rigger position...we only heard the shotgun on a short strike and noticed that the long rigger was way too far
when looking at the lures when lines were out we noticed both (new lures) had bill rash all over

by 10:30 we were back at home filleting the one dorie we caught
at least we did not blanked like all other boats in SM

31Dec
we launched fourplay at 5:30 for end of year session...gamefish in the early hours and marlin fishing for the noon hours
we went straight to Jeremias area and not long after we set lines we had our first strike...a nice yft on the 7/8kg
we then had another strike and we landed a dorie...great action on the the dories jumping into the spread...crazy stuff...and they went on the rappies
we had another dorie just after and soon all the action went quiet...so we decided to head deep for the marlin marks
all very quiet in that area apart from a massive 14/16kg dorie that went on the bigger lure we had on the spread...and gave prego a hard time
on the way back and again on Jeremias area we had another dorie coming into the spread...and little Jamie with only 8y old nearly landed it helped by prego...nearly landed it's the word cause after 2 gaffing attempts fish got away...and I caused Jamie's worst day of the holidays
I owe him a lollypop bag for my mistake

that was it....no more outings...very little fish from the boats at SM...not the usual for this time of the year
Chakra got 1 marlin on the 28th
Sensation got 2 marlin on the 2nd
Kambaku got 2 marlin on the 2nd

[peterblace]

last full moon of the year
deck with a view
hells gate

[peterblace]

sunset
dorie on ōtoro

[peterblace]

sunset
prego's dorie
catch of the day

[John F]

Launched yesterday with my dad and Manuel Jr. First outing of the year for the Pereira clan...

We went north looking for bottoms. Flat seas, water temps between 25.4-26.4o C.

Tough fishing though. Peak of the neap tide, no current. Managed a few good bottoms and a nice 7ish kg couta.

Great day out with the old man... plenty of turtles as well! 

[John F]

Prepping the old gladiator for a fishing comp tomorrow... will target billies only... rigging HBs and getting hooks properly sharp!

[John F]

Congrats peterblace on releasing your first marlin broder!!!!

[REEFMAN]

Congrats peterblace on releasing your first marlin broder!!!!

Pics!! 

[FishStyx]

Congrats peterblace on releasing your first marlin broder!!!!

Awesome Pedro... now where's the report? 

[John F]

Some pics I received on whatsapp... I'm sure a report is on the way...

[John F]

some more...

[peterblace]

yesterday took place the 5th leg of the Maritimo comp...in terms of 1st place all sorted out for Aquamarine after they released 5 marlins on the previous leg and they have 8 marlin accumulated...but there are a few boats fighting for 2nd place
we launched at 6:00 and by 7:00 we had lines out after we decided to take Hells Gate route...with flat seas it tooks us 45min to be out in the blue (not so blue in that side of the coast)
after trolling for a few hours in the area we decided to move further north in search for cleaner water
not activity in the morning for us (only heard of 2 releases before 12:00)...and just after the tide change (at about 13:30) we got our first strike...
a small blue went on the short corner and gave me a 8min fight to get him released...perfect type of fish for a comp
after setting the spread again and in the same area we got another strike but fish didn't commit...and not long after we got another strike and that was a problem
for 1:30 Toze fought the fish that never showed off...and got loose
he was knackered...on the fighting chair with a short butt rod fighting a dead weight on the deep...on the only ti50 we had on the spread
then it was a run towards the club to get there before 17:00

between 13:30 and 15:00 we heard a lot of activity on the radio with a total tally of 7 marlin released all day
2 nakisai
1 mon ami
1 yolanda
1 4play
1 hakuna matata
1 sholay

I've been telling the rest of the crew that since I joined the team the marlin juju on that boat came down...it's the 3 marlin only (and 2 saily) we were able to release with me aboard...out of comps and without me they been able to catch and release plenty more...8 last year and 4 this year
so I've been planning to let go the team and let them fish (at least they won't be 4th or 5th in the comp)
but yesterday after a long period of little activity we had nearly 3h of high levels of adrenalin
billfishing it's not my kindof fishing...but when the bug is there the adrenalin pumps!!!!

water temps were crazy going from 26.3 up to 29.6

JohnF...thanks for posting the pics

[REEFMAN]

Great pic!!

Well done Peterblace!