Venezuela Report 10/17 - 10-21

[BE21842]

Sorry it has taken me so long to post this report, but I wanted to let everyone know how my trip to Venezuela was. First of all, thank you Squidnation Bill for setting me up with Butch Cox on the Prime Time. We could not have asked for a better host and captain. He is one of the best I have ever fished with. For those of you who have considered fishing Venezuela, you have to go and experience this amazing fishery. I traveled down there with three friends of mine that fish mostly out of Ocean City.(Capt. Jack on the Drillin & Billin, Curtis on the Reel Estate and Eric on Blackjack).

As far as the safety of this place, it was never an issue. We were picked up at the airport as soon as we cleared customs(which was a piece of cake) and taken to the Marina Portofino were we stayed. We went out to dinner in the town and there were never any issues. Then we flew out with out any problem what so ever.

Now for the fishing. It was a little slow for them the three days we were down there.(Oct 17th - 21st). Day 1 - an hour after lines in, we had a blue come up on the left teaser. I grab the flat line and the fish goes to the dredge and is pulling on it pretty hard. As I turn around to look at the doubled over dredge rod he decides to come back and eat my flat line. Need less to say, I was unprepared and "San Cocho!!". And on the way out, he eats the rigger bait and another San Cocho. At that point, Butch is thinking what have I gotten myself into. He lays down on the bridge and hangs his head over and says "boys, that was bad that was real bad". He then explained we need to be ready. For those who have never met Butch, he is one of the most calm and relaxed captains I have ever met. Times where I would YELL "THERE HE IS!" Butch would simply say "he's coming to your flat line" and "oh, theres another one look theres two" in the calmest voice. I guess that comes when you have seen more billfish in one year than I will see in ten. As the day went on, we caught two sails and missed another sail. We raised a few others that didn't bite.
Day2 - Was very slow for everyone. we ended the day 1/1 on sails and caught a few mahi's for dinner. Which they prepared at the marina and was delicious.
Day3 - At this point, Butch is feeling terrible for us. We have traveled down there to catch incredible numbers of billfish (Or at least get shots at them) and it was very unlike Venezuela. But we all know thats how fishing goes. The day starts 20 mins after lines in with a blue on the left teaser (again). this time someone else grabs the left flat and I grab the right flat. Well as luck would have it, he comes up and takes my bait, and I was ready this time. Released about a 180# blue on 30lb stand-up. Next fish come up on left rigger bait, Capt. Jack grabs it and hooks up with a nice size white. I would have loved to catch this fish the first week in August. I would be alot richer right now! It was between 90 and 100lbs. We get the release on this fish after a long fight. We then had a white come up on the right rigger bait which I pick up and set the hook on. We released this white after a little shorter battle, this was a smaller white around 55 - 60lbs. After a long lull in the middle of the day, I am hoping for a sail and a personal grand slam. Then there he was on the right teaser. I grab the right flat, Butch turns the boat into him, I am leaning over the gunnel with the rod and the fish just fades off. Oh Well.
As we are getting ready to head in for the evening, pulling the dredge in. Curtis spots one on the right teaser. This time it is another blue one, he grabs the right flat and the fish goes right to it. Curtis hooks him up and releases a nice size blue after some serious backing down. At one point, Poncho, the mate, was doing the breast stroke in the cockpit. We redeemed ourselves on the last day going 2/2 on blues and 2/2 on whites. Great day!

All the fishing was with TLD30's, 80lb. leader and Eagle Claw circle hooks.

This was an amazing trip. even thogh the fishing was slow, I cannot wait to get back. Next time will be in the spring for some more blue marlin fishing.

Also, riding along with us for our three days was free lance photographer Scott Kerrigan (www.scottkerrigan.com). He has some amazing pictures of our fishing. I will pass along the link when he gets them organized on his website. We also have video fo most of the fish that I will post when Curtis burns it to disk.

Sorry for the long winded post. I don't really post very much so I figured I would get my money's worth.

Bob

[Squidnation]

Sounds like you had a fun trip. Call me when you get a chance. I am in the office today. 410-873-3282

BTW - on day 3 we had the same over head speech from butch. We had 3 sails come up at once and somehow missed either all or most of em. At first we saw his fingers reaching over the overhang from the bridge. I looked at my buddy bill and said if we smash his fingers he may not look down here and give us the old "butch speech" then his head popped up and he calmly looked at me and said. What happened to all them sails. There sure was a pile of em behind the boat for a while I knew we should have smashed his fingers

[snowranger]

To add some color to your post Bob:

[mover II]

Bob,
I have made that trip a couple of times with Squidnation to fish with Butch. I have to say that Butch is top notch. He doesn't flip out like alot of Capt's., and will try and teach you something as well. On one such occasion after he had given us his "talk", we had suggested he come down to the cockpit and show us 1st hand his "technique". I think he hit every other step going up the ladder to the bridge, and was not to be seen or heard from the rest of the day. Great capt. and a great little fishin hole down there.

Bill

[Squidnation]

Butch was fun fishing on a neighbors boat with just the captain and the owner. It just about drove him nuts cause the owner, some british dude always liked to ride on the bridge since he always fished by himself. So that meant all four dink rods were fished from the bridge. Well the ole chap went something like 0-4 when butch started giving him pointers. The owner said lets make a little bet. you take these two rods and I'll take these two tods. Well butch went down to the bathroom and I think he said he never came back up. The britsh owner started clammering about how those damn captains ain't nothing but a bunch of armchair quarterbacks that can never do what they tell you to do. Butch told me when your up there trying to teach and get the offer to come down you should always decline it. It is a no win situation. Either you blow it and then you lose credibility or you succeed and emberass your customer. Can't win.

[steal4]

Have any of you seen the Coral C down there? It is a 65 Rybovich and heard it has been there for the last couple of months. Would like to see some pics of the boat....

[Squidnation]

Have any of you seen the Coral C down there? It is a 65 Rybovich and heard it has been there for the last couple of months. Would like to see some pics of the boat....

absolutely phenominal boat. It was docked right below the slam shack so we got to see quite a bit of her. beautiful boat.

[mover II]

10/4 on what Bill said. That is one nice ride.

[steal4]

I know the owner, I fished a tournament with him a few years ago, we are in the same business. He has invited me to fish with him on this boat but we have not been able to put it together. I know it took him a long time to take delivery of this boat but he says it was worth every minute.

[Squidnation]

their is a picture of it in either last months or the month before, Marlin Mag in the article written about the The Rybovitch Family. Its only a side view though. Standing at the stern and looking into that boat I felt like I was looking into a church. absolutely awesome.