100 Meters Under the Sea

April 6, 2011

Madagascar - Day 7

The orb spiders here in Madagascar are about as big and impressive as any spider. We have a few outside our room. In the morning when you are the first to walk down any path or walkway, you better have your eyes open. If not, you’re likely to be wearing one of these frightening yet harmless spiders across your face!

We took off with George and his mate at 7 AM. The seas were calm so we went to where we wanted to go yesterday, a reef 25 miles out. The reef is 30 meters deep but surrounded by waters over 300 meters. George felt it would be a good place to sight cast to sailfish and marlin as well as dredge for a dogtooth tuna.

On the drive out, we stopped several times so I could strip my little tuna fly through schools of bait. I expected to catch more skipjack tuna but instead I caught several leatherbacks. Leatherbacks are closely related to queenfish and even have the distinct black diamonds down their sides. Both can be found both inshore and out in the blue water. George wasn’t too high on these leatherbacks so we proceeded onward.

After about an hour, we reached Georges spot and in about the first minute we saw a sailfish. The sail was cruising with the outer ridge of his sail just breaking the surface. On this particular fish we didn’t have much of a chance to get a cast because we didn’t see him soon enough before he saw us. It was exciting though and I leaped up front with my Ross 12-weight and my line stripped out and was ready as we cruised along to look for more.

We must have slowly zigzagged George’s reef area from the 30 meters of depth to the 300 meter drop off hoping for another big fish to cast too for an hour but never saw one. George’s next move was to anchor up on the 30 meter hump so I could sink my fly very deep while he, his mate and Granny bottom fished with bait. I was anxious to see what they would pull up from the depths so I was thrilled with the idea.

While I dredged away aimlessly with flies, George and Granny were tearing up all kinds of unique fish from down deep. They must have caught eight or so cool species. The best was a green jobfish that Granny landed. I’ve always wanted to catch one of these elongated snapper like fish. I nearly did in Christmas Island once but the fish turned away from my fly at the last minute. Then, last November I saw a giant jobfish at the Zanzibar fish market. Granny’s however was the first one I could really observe alive and up close.

It was unbearably hot. I mean like 100°! Here we were 25 miles out to sea and there wasn’t even a breeze to help cool us. The water was so clear that I could see the flashes of my fly coming up through the water column at least 40 feet down. It could have easily been more. That fact that I could see so well into the water and not see a single fish did not give me much confidence in blind casting. Finally, I reeled in to rest.

Granny reeled in so many fish that she was ready for a break. Just reeling a heavy weight and a small fish up in such heat is exhausting. I took her rod and soon I caught my share of cool deep water fish consisting of snappers, emperor fish, baby grouper and even a couple different sharks. Then I thought I hooked bottom. George firmly told me to be careful and here I was stuck already. I simply fed my bait to bottom and attempted to reel up but I couldn’t. I braced myself to get some leverage to try to free my snag and then something felt weird. I was able to lift the weight slightly off the bottom. But it still felt like bottom because it wasn’t fighting yet it was definitely coming up. I know, that barely makes sense. Finally George saw me playing and asked me what the heck was going on.

“I don’t know George?” was about all I could say. “I’m stuck on something but it’s coming up like a carpet.” George watched closely. Then whatever I had started to give in. I cranked on this fish up and down for three minutes. Then, just as George screamed big grouper, the clutch in his ancient-worn reel let loose and the fish retreated to bottom leaving me with a backlash. I swore a few times as I fumbled too untangle the mess. George too helped dig away and by complete miracle we freed the line. I was certain the grouper would be lodged 100 meters below in his home. But I started pumping him back up. Things were looking good. Then, like before, the grouper came in sight. He was a huge leopard grouper appearing near 50lb! I couldn’t believe how spectacular this fish was! The colors! The size! It was unexplainable! Then like before, tragedy struck only this time the fish slowly retreated from sight swishing a massive tail and we were no longer connected. The hook broke! Are you kidding!!!!

At first, I was extremely disappointed. George and his mate were shocked as they glared at the snapped hook. But as crazy as this sounds, after only a few minutes, I was glad. My joy may sound stupid but I guarantee that gorgeous giant was seconds from seeing Georges gaff. No one releases a big grouper in Madagascar. You would be looking at a photo of me struggling to raise a bloody grouper, but instead I can tell you he got away. As I speak and hopefully for years to come, my monster grouper is alive and well and contributing to the health of his species.

Although the fly fishing has been slow the last two days and doggie dreams of last night have escaped me, the adventures with George continue to be entertaining. Being the fish species fanatic that I am, just seeing today’s bottom dwellers from deep under the sea was a kick. Now it’s time for some rest. Tomorrow is our last day with George.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing Website

Sand, Crabs and Cool Surf Fish

November 5, 2009

Sam Vigneri and I are still in Baja. Our attempt to catch a marlin ended yesterday and today we rested up by sleeping in until about 7am. Once awake, we headed to Todos Santos to have breakfast with Grant Hartman and his wife Giselle. After the superb Mexican meal, they spent the day relaxing while Sammy and I opted to chuck flies in the Pacific surf.

Grant gave us excellent instructions as to where we may find a few fish. At our first stop we wandered out on to the beach and sized up the fishing challenges. It was simple, the breaking surf was huge and the tide was just beginning to drop. Fly fishing the surf is one of the most difficult forms of fly fishing there is. You almost always have a strong wind blowing directly in your face making it difficult to cast. Crashing waves make it even more difficult by not only taxing your ability to physically stand without being swept out to sea, but also play havoc with your fly line. It’s simple, as you strip line down on the beach while retrieving your fly; waves roll up the beach and wash the line away. As you go to make the next cast, it’s hard to shoot the line because it is getting sucked out to sea by waves. Toss in the fact that your line is gritted up with sand and you can hardly get the fly out there!

A couple tricks that work for me are first off, use a stripping basket. Stripping baskets strap around your waist and rather than stripping line on to the beach, you strip it into the basket. By doing so you don’t have to fight the waves when you go to shoot a cast and you will get a lot less sand on the fly line allowing it to slide through the guides much easier. In addition to the basket, I like to use a 9½ foot long rod. The extra 6-inches helps elevate my backcast over the top of a steep beach. Most of the beaches along the Pacific Ocean are steep and today was no exception.

Four hours into our fishing we were absolutely getting our butts kicked. Neither of us had a strike. We where exhausted, soaking wet and had plenty of sand in our hair and everywhere else you can think of. Worst of all, we completely lost our confidence. Sometimes the surf appears so inhospitable that you just can’t imagine fish live in it!

We kicked back and had some fun catching a few crabs. While doing so I noticed some rocks becoming exposed from the dropping tide. Sam and I both agreed the rocks looked worthy of a few casts so we put on the old Clouser Minnows and placed some casts around the rocks. I picked up a croaker on my first cast then next cast another. I think they were yellowfin croakers, but any verification would be appreciated. I called Sammy over and as I took pics of my second croaker he hooked into something different. It actually put up a heck of a fight. I think it’s some sort of surf perch. I plan to research it this week but if you know please tell me.

Sammy and I had a great week despite challenging fishing. It’s always good to spend time with old friends and that we did. Sammy and I fished until sunset and tomorrow he will head back to Wyoming. I have one last day and will solo the beaches of the East Cape.

Global Fly Fishing Web Site

No Naps, There's a Marlin Out Here

November 4, 2009

Today was Sammy’s and my last attempt at a marlin on the fly with Grant Hartman. As planned we left Cabo Harbor early and traveled up the Pacific side of Baja for over an hour. Then we pointed our bow out to sea and started dragging our hookless teasers. We expected a weather change of wind and clouds today, but instead it was exactly like the previous two days, calm rolling seas with hardly a cloud in sight. Figuring a change in weather was needed to get the marlin feeding meant to me that we would not find our prize.

Unfortunately I was correct and in fact, even the dorado didn’t show up. It was simply a brutal day and at 3pm the hum of the motors and lack of action had us all borderline insane. What such a day does to me is make me eat excessively and take numerous naps. Thank God we didn’t have a case of beer or I’d of probably drank it all!

In order not to go crazy Grant, Sammy and I were swapping stories. I was well into my “tiger story” when while gazing out to sea over Grants shoulder I saw just the tip of a marlin tail 50ft away. As I jumped up to confirm my sighting a wave rolled just right that I could see the whole magnificent fish beneath the surface, it was indeed a marlin. It took the boys a few more waves to get the view I had, but when everyone confirmed we had a marlin in range they jumped into action. Let me make this clear, this was not an active marlin in our teasers, but rather a sleeping marlin on the surface. While Grant began to circle the great fish with the boat hoping he would charge a teaser, our mate Arturo launched a live bridled hookless skipjack the marlins direction attached to a large spin rod. He let it sink, but the marlin ignored the treat. After several attempts the marlin sank from sight. Sure enough within seconds a tug of war was on as the marlin tried to take the live skipjack from Arturo.

This marlin was by no means the aggressive one we needed. Arturo easily pulled the skipjack away several times before at last he was behind the boat. I was fully ready and launched the 8” tandom-hooked 6/0 popper at the marlin. By now he was fully identified as a striped marlin of about 130 pounds, a perfect candidate to test my new Ross Momentum LT #8 reel. By now Arturo had yanked the skipjack out of the water and we hoped the marlin would think my fly was it. Unfortunately, this billfish was smart and expressed little interest. He false charged my fly twice before disappearing to the deep.

My heart was pounding as Arturo tossed the skipjack back out several times with no response. Then suddenly the marlin appeared on the surface again. We motored his direction and Arturo cast the skipjack right at him. The problem was it was over the marlin and the line crossed his back. This evidently scared the living crap out of that marlin and he took off gray-hounding as if he was hooked. That was it. That big boy was a mile deep after that. We dragged the teasers through the area for two more hours but nothing. No marlin this trip.

Global Fly Fishing Web Site

All Dorado and No Bills

November 3, 2009

Sammy enjoyed catching dorado yesterday, but he loves catching marlin on the fly. Last year Sammy was down here in Cabo at the exact same time and had spectacular striped marlin fishing. Both the Pacific and Sea of Cortez were alive with bait balls and feeding predators. Bait balls are huge concentrations of baitfish, and around Cabo they usually consist of sardines. If you look at a bait ball underwater it looks like a tornado as literally thousands of baitfish huddle together for protection and swim rapidly in circles. Marlin, snappers, dorado, tuna or even the unusual Brutus whale to name a few will completely devour an entire bait ball in a very short time. Not a single sardine will survive!

This year is not the same. It’s apparent the full moon has things messed up and/or the fact that Hurricane Rick pushed the marlin and the bait balls out to sea two weeks ago. Like yesterday, Grant Hartman warned us that finding marlin would be tough, however we would go to a place where a few were seen yesterday. The location was not far out of sight of Cabo and by 8am we found ourselves dragging the hookless teasers. Everyone stared with anticipation just waiting to see an explosion in our wake with a slashing bill. But like yesterday, it was all about dorado. Today we landed several nice ones. For some reason they were actually finicky and would not take my normal first choice of a large popper. Instead they just looked at it and went crazy looking for our teasers again. The only fly we fooled them on was our striped marlin fly. Hey whatever works!

I’m pretty content banging up the dorado but would love to see us get a marlin. Sammy truly expected another year like last and he and Grant have discussed a new plan for tomorrow. It appears we will be leaving early and getting home late as we will travel far north and out into the Pacific.

Global Fly Fishing Web Site