Venezuela - October Report

[Marlinhunter2]

Fantastic report from our client Scott Scovira (DSS) aboard the T-zzer, a 44ft Garlington with Capt. Alberto Perez:

"09 Oct: DSS released 2 whites; 40#, 60# -1st IGFA white for DSS. Fished the bank all day and had our highest number of shots for the week. First time "dredge" fishing for DSS and took some lessons from the crew - missed 4 whites and 3 sails. Weather; bright sun and lite ripple.

10Oct: Dredge fished on Bank in morn -weather clear and hot - hooked up double-header white - DSS released 50# white, Roger (mate) dropped fish just feet from leader. Hooked up 250# blue that jumped along side boat before jumping on bait like he was missing the party - explosive fish that jumped off just shy of the boat...Bait fished bonito off the Drop-Off in the afternoon - active thunder and lightning storms in vicinity - Alberto and crew at their finest here - in my zone from years in Hawaii. Had a 6 bait spread going - DSS hooked up and released 70# white. Late day bite by 325# blue on 30# gear - strong fish that did not know the meaning of sunset, including the one on the drag - total fight time 4 hours - bois stowed tag stick earlier and broke out the gaffs - we took this fish and arrived back at dock at 2200hrs. 1st IGFA Atlantic Blue for DSS. Boys cleaned fish and shared around dock - next day enjoyed a great fish lunch prepared by Alberto's wife and had a fine dinner prepared by Tim on the "Betsy" the following night.

11 Oct: Bait fished on the Bank - weather sunny and hot. Hooked up another 325# blue on 30# gear mid morn - after initial jumps fish stayed deep and fish died (1st time this happens to DSS)- total fight time 2 hours and 40 minutes; includes 30 minutes to plane up fish - more groceries. Late afternoon sees an abundance of free jumping billfish around - we hook-up and release a double header of 70# sailfish to close out the day. Everyone tired - early night...

12 Oct: Scott Kerrigan, photographer for Marlin joins us. Another hot and sunny day on the Bank. Fished baits - hook up and quickly drop a white and blue...do get a 8# dorado. Midday spot and move in on huge porpoise and bird school - setup for yellowfin and get the strike - back down on the fish - and start to wonder why we have a porpoise chasing our fish - we realize we foul hooked Flipper, and chase him down for the release. Another late day bite by a 350# blue on 30# gear - fish stays down - looks pretty bad for pictures for a while - get fish near the boat pretty quick and it just goes off on the leader - we dump the fish as it bounces off the T-zzer and dives under the hull - some great mate manship by Ivan and boat handling by Alberto prevent a cut-off by the running gear - we recover our angle, DSS buries his hand in the spool for maximum heat, and we leader and release the fish a few minutes later (total fight time about a hour). 3 back-to-back 10:1 catches - must say fishing is pretty good in Venezuela. Scott K gets some great actions - black marlin like...

13 Oct: We had a lot of wahoo and cuda chop-offs while fishing bait the day before. Val put in an order for some fresh who. Weather overcast with 4 to
6 foot swell. Trolled dead and live baits with wire and miss a sailfish bite - change back to mono in afternoon and miss a white and sail bite....slow day all around - tropical depression to the north (?).

14 Oct: Day of the Blue Desert - overcast all day - calm seas make for good conditions for deep drop for swordfish - make 4 sets that takes us into midday...miss one sailfish bite off dredge baits in late afternoon - Carlos advises there is a hurricane to the north...

T-zzer and crew all hard working and full on. Alberto's wife made some great hot lunches. Alberto loves live baiting and he is the most animated capt I have fished with."

[livetofishnj]

Fifteen bills, a dodo and flipper in five days. Sounds like a fun time...

So do you steak porpoise or fillet them out?

[Ozimo2]

Well, not so bad as our group - we got bumped off the boat we were supposed to have been on. I wish we had the T-zzer or MR BII

[Marlinhunter2]

Fifteen bills, a dodo and flipper in five days.

He was fishing on that boat alone and it was his first time going for whites and blues, so I think he did an admireable job.

I'm sure Scott Kerrigan got a lot of photos for Marlin out of the day.

Well, not so bad as our group - we got bumped off the boat we were supposed to have been on. I wish we had the T-zzer or MR BII

Sorry to hear about your situation down there. A few boats have been double booked on account of breakdowns. We had that problem in September. You mentioned MR BII - we book that boat as well as the T-zzer, Waterman and Guarimba II. Word has it a few of these boats are planning to stay a year or more, which is great!