Itty Bitty Spearfish!

[jwalker]

Check out this mini Spear caught in Madeira on the "Grander"

Check out the Blog on the Melton site for a great stretch of fishing going on there with nice pictures and stories by Jonboy Kelmer and Tracy Epstein

http://www.meltontackle.com/blog/

[Jer]

Very cool picture

[Patudo]

Madeira is a very odd place. Some of the biggest billfish in the Atlantic and some of the tiniest. I caught quite a few of those tiny spearfish and white marlin the seasons I was working there. Fish from a little smaller than the one in the photo to maybe 8 to 10 lbs, they are very elongated and skinny so one of that weight would be maybe 3 feet long including bill. The same little feather lure we used to run in the stinger bait also caught several tiny skipjack and once or twice, mahis that could not have been more than eight inches long. The baby billfish were quite a sight. So translucent they resemble beautiful blue marine butterflies. Most of them were caught in August and September, later in the season. I always wondered whether they had been spawned in the Gulf Stream and carried over to our side of the Atlantic by the drift of the currents.