The overall headline for March is that the "men in the blue suits" are here- after a somewhat slow start to the month the blue marlin fishing has been excellent since the full moon on the 23rd.
- Unfortunately, Capt. Bill Miller's group fished the beginning of the month, and while they had a bunch of bites they were not too successful with the releases.
- Rich Morton's group fared a little better at mid-month, releasing 3 blue marlin (out of 10 seen) on their first day of fishing, but their other two days were fairly unproductive.
- The Dunlap party released a total of 6 blue marlin and a spearfish during their 2 days aboard Courtesan and one day with the Pilar crew.
- Michael Stewart picked an excellent set of dates just after the full moon, releasing a total of 20 blue marlin, 1 white marlin and 1 sailfish in their 5 days with us. On the 25th, Mike, Leah, Skip and Linda went 7 for 14 on the blue marlin, with a total of 18 blues in the baits. Now this is more like it!
- Mike Wilder's crew released a spearfish aboard Pilar on the 28th, and were 2 for 4 on blue marlin and 1 for 3 on sailfish aboard Courtesan on the 29th. Our old friends John Bowen and Jim Murray got into the act with Mike on the 30th, releasing 6 (of 10 eaters) blue marlin, a sailfish and a spearfish for our first "spearfish slam" of the year, and Capt. Dave's 4th spearfish release of 1997.
- Last in this month's report, but definitely not least, our friends Tabby and Grady Thurman have rejoined us for 8 weeks of pretty solid fishing, as Tabby pursues her goal of being the first woman to release 100 blue marlin in a single calendar year. She's at 13 blue marlin releases after 10 days of fishing in March.
February Flash (updated 2/26/97)
- Joe Neuber, new son-in-law Jack Majewski and Mike Keating fished 5 days, and saw improving weather and better fishing than we enjoyed at mid month. Although the best bite was well offshore (38-42 miles) early in their stay, the whales and bait moved inshore throughout, and end up just offshore of the La Guaira bank early this week. Monday was "Yellowfin Tuna Day", with 5 fish caught averaging 200 lbs apiece; with Tuesday's two tuna added, the boys brought 1,400 lbs of tuna two the dock in just two days! Their billfish score was pretty good too: a "spearfish slam" on their last day, and a total of 2 blue marlin, 3 white marlin and 2 sailfish (plus the spearfish, our second for the year) releases.
- Wayne Anderson and his Dad, Jerry, have traveled all over chasing billfish (and other gamefish) but they encountered the dreaded "cuarema" here in Venezeula in mid February. As Capts. Hector and Juancho put it, the cuarema is "dirty water, cold water, high winds, and very few fish" (actually, what they said in Spanish is not suitable for this family publication). The truth of the matter is that the fishing was very slow. Their first day they caught a blue marlin and two sailfish; their second day they caught a sailfish; their third and fourth days they didn't see a billfish (but had some tuna and dorado action); and their last day they saw a white and a sail but only caught a couple of dorado. We wish we could put a better face on this, but- the fishing was slow, it was rough out there, and we hope they'll come back and give us another chance. They said they had a good time, so we hope to see them again next year (without the cuarema, por favor)...
- Roger Smith, son Miguel and his wife Carla took two days off from their crewboat/tug business in Maricaibo, and braved the high winds to release three white marlin in mid month.
- Mike Hebert brought son Troy, Dr. Craig Walker and his son Craig ("Bubba") Jr. and friend George Olivier for some billfishing as a respite from Mardi Gras (they're from Houma, La, and Dr. Craig is S.E. Ellender's first cousin!). Bubba caught his first ever billfish on the 13th, and it was a spearfish, of all things. It was pretty (hellaciously, says Capt. Dave) rough, but their final score was one blue marlin, 1 white marlin, and the spearfish for the two days.
- Mike Wilder brought his friends Pete MacKenzie and Dan Ray for a Saturday of fishing on the 8th, and Pete released his first blue marlin and his first white marlin. We couldn't quite put him on the sailfish (despite lots of tries), but Mike released a sail and a blue so "Team Dale Clavo" produced our first Grand Slam of the year. Nice work!
Dan fished again Sunday with our friends Rick Carolus and Timmie LeRoux, and released his first blue and 3 sailfish. Rick released 3 sails and a white, as well, so we slammed out again. Dan also had a 200 lb. yellowfin at the boat several times, but Timmie just missed with the harpoon shot and the fish was, as they say, history....
- Jim and Barbara Blackford fished 4 days at the beginning of February, and released 4 blue marlin, 1 white marlin and 7 sailfish. Their last day was cut short when Jim baited a feisty 150 lb. blue marlin off the bridge teaser, and the stupid fish jumped directly into the boat! Cesar received a nasty puncture wound (from the lower jaw of the fish, fortunately, and not the bill) under his left arm (24 stitches!), and is generally pretty banged up, but is otherwise OK, thank God.
January Flash (updated 1/23/97)
- John Bowen has been here off and on for a month, rebuilding first one and then both of the M.A.N. diesels in the Pilar (Courtesan Tambien). When the work was finally finished, Capt. Hector took him fun fishing on the 22nd, and went 3 for 7 on the blue marlin on the La Guaira Bank before targeting the big yellowfins down to the west. John caught his first big tuna (a 200 lb. specimen), and then Juancho got to catch it again when the "weighmaster" dropped it in the Caraballeda lagoon after the weigh-in! Nice going, John, and thanks for all of the hard work!
- Corky and Brett Newcomb also played "hookey" from their Fascination cruise on the 8th, and Corky released his first blue marlin and Brett his second sailfish. They also connected with some good sized dorado. Brett promised to throw Dad in the pool one they got back aboard ship, so we hope he followed through....
- Chris Burt & Don Conner shared a trip to try to catch their first blue marlin on January 2, but were shut out, unfortunately. Don was invited along the following day with the Anna Lee III boys, and achieved his goal. Congratulations!
- Tim, Mary and Taylor Hamilton took a day off of their holiday cruise aboard the "Fascination" to try to catch our first billfish of the year. About thirty minutes after lines in this morning, Tim released his (and our) first blue marlin of 1997. Happy New Year! The rest of the day was pretty slow, but who can argue with a nice blue on the first of the new year. A good omen, we hope....
Tag Returns (updated 1/23/97)
We received a small stack of tag returns in the after-Christmas mail, including two white marlin released by Shelly Luckenbach and Frank Johnson in September, 1995 and recovered in Venezuelan waters in three months and 1 month, respectively, and a blue marlin tagged by Wayne Huizenga in April, 1995 and recovered 17 months later in the Gulf of Mexico. Norman Wu's blue marlin was at large for 8 months, and Lisa Tucker's blue for only one month. Unfortunately all five fish were recaptured by longliners, but at least there's some data coming in!
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