2007 Season

October 3rd 2007
The last day of fishing had to be cancelled due to windy conditions.
There are some photos of Claudio and his blue marlin on the Photo page.

October 2nd 2007
Beautiful calm conditions so Xacara went out to Azores Bank. They had 2 strikes but both failed to hook up. Tomorrow will be the last day of the season for Xacara.

October 1st 2007
Uli and Dani Laux are now fishing on Xacara. Out on Condor Bank they raised a big blue which spent a good few minutes inspecting the lures but did not strike.

September 30th 2007
Habitat and Brasilia have now completed their charter seasons. Xacara still has a few more days but today was a welcome day off for the crew.

September 29th 2007
Rather windy but Habitat and Xacara fished the north coast of the island. Unfortunately, neither had any success.

September 28th 2007
Xacara had one hook up today, but unfortunately it got away. Uli, aboard Habitat, released his third blue marlin in 2 days, estimated between 800 and 850 lbs.

September 27th 2007
Today Claudio Marsomino and Graziano Villani from Italy are fishing on Xacara and Uli and Danni Laux from Germany have returned for their second charter this year and are fishing on Habitat
. Claudio enjoyed his first experience of marlin fishing and released a 350 lb blue marlin. About half an hour later a very big blue, at least 900 lbs, came into the pattern and knocked 2 lures around but failed to hook up.
Uli had a great day. He released 2 blues, 250 lbs and 650 lbs, pulled the hooks on another and raised a fourth.

September 26th 2007
All the boats stayed in the marina today – too windy for fishing.

September 25th 2007
Nada!

September 24th 2007
At last it was Xacara’s day today. Mike McEwen’s patience was rewarded when he hooked and successfully released a 500 lb blue marlin. About half an hour later they raised a second, much larger, blue. It took a good long look at two of the lures, knocked them about a bit, but unfortunately it never hooked up.

September 23rd 2007
Nothing for Xacara today, but Brasilia had an interesting day. They have a charter keen to get a world record on light line. Today their lady angler hooked up a blue marlin on16 lb line. She fought the fish for about 5 hours before they brought it in to be weighed. Unfortunately the scale malfunctioned so they did not get a weight for it but measurements showed it was too small to be a world record.

September 22nd 2007
Apart from a half-hearted bite in the morning, it was a zero day today.

September 21st 2007
Today we welcome Mike, Kevin and Brian aboard Xacara for their first ever attempt at catching a marlin. The weather remained calm so Ian went out to the Azores Bank again seeing they had seen a big blue there yesterday. They got a bite early on but nothing for the rest of the day!

September 20th 2007
Again just 2 boats went out today. Brasilia went to Princess Alice Bank but conditions did not look good so they joined Xacara on Azores Bank. Xacara had 3 strikes. The first one was a blue marlin between 600 and 700 lbs, the second they did not see, and the third was a really big blue, minimum 900 lbs. Brasilia had one strike.

September 19th 2007
The weather was much better today and 2 boats were out fishing. Brasilia, fishing off the North coast of Faial, did not see anything. Xacara went to Condor Bank released a small blue, about 400 lbs, and caught a big dorado for dinner.

September 18th 2007
No fishing today – too windy!

September 17th 2007
Today we welcome Andrei and Kirill from Russia aboard Xacara. It is their first visit to the Azores so we hope it proves to be good one. Today, unfortunately, they saw no action at all, and neither did Brasilia.

September 16th 2007
Kees and Ed’s last day. They had a bite but it never hooked up.

September 15th 2007
Today was the Azores Blue Marlin competition. The charterers on Xacara and Double Header were not keen to take part because they did not want to have to kill a marlin should they catch one. Xacara had a zero day and Double Header released a blue marlin of 350 lbs.
3 boats from Faial took part in the competition, including Habitat. Habitat was the only one to catch a blue and brought it in to the dock to be weighed. It was 639.4 lbs and proved to be the winning fish of the competition. Congratulations to Capt Filipe and Mate Siso and the angler Fernando.

September 14th 2007
4 boats out again today but not a lot of action for anyone. Xacara pulled the hooks on a white marlin in the morning and had a mystery bite in the afternoon, Brasilia had a bite from both a white and a blue marlin, and that was the sum total!

September 13th 2007
There were 4 boats our fishing today and 5 blue marlin released. Kees Kik on Xacara released a small one of 350 lbs and a “walk-up” charter on Habitat released 2: a small one of 200 lbs and the other was 650 lbs. The other 2 blues that were released were estimated at 300 lbs and 650 lbs.

September 12th 2007
A much better today. While the island was lost under a blanket of cloud and rain, Xacara spent the day in beautiful sunshine on Azores bank and Ed van Duyn released a big blue estimated at 900 lbs, proved by the measurement of 135 inches.

September 11th 2007
Kees and Ed were on board Xacara today. There was not a lot of action on Condor bank, but they did released one white marlin.

September 10th 2007
Today was lady’s day. Linda released a beautiful 650 lb blue marlin. She likes to name her fish and this one has been called Margarita; Ed’s fish yesterday she called Marlene the Marvelous Marlin!
Habitat went 0 for 1 and Brasilia 0 for 3. There are quite a few blues here!

September 9th 2007
Ed’s patience was rewarded today. He hooked up big marlin that took off over the horizon, jumping all the way. Capt Ian chased it for miles and Ed had a hard job winding, and winding, and winding. But all the hard work was worth it because he released a 900 lb blue marlin. This was measured accurately with a measuring stick that SteveO created after Filipe weighed the 912 lber a few weeks ago. We wanted to be sure that if we call a fish 900 lbs it really is 900 lbs.

September 8th 2007
Ed and Linda Wlodarski have joined us for a 3 day charter. Their first day was unproductive.

September 7th 2007
Daniel did it at last, and did it in style. Today he released 2 blue marlin which he “caught” with 50 lb stand up tackle. First, early in the day, a white marlin came into the pattern but would not switch from the teasers to the bait. Then, a blue marlin appeared, estimated at 450 lbs and successfully switched to Daniel’s bait. They had a another strike from a blue that was unsuccessful and right at the end of the day, just as they were thinking of turning of home, a 700 lber took the hook. This was a little bigger than Daniel was expecting and the fight lasted almost an hour. At the end of it all he said he was so pleased he did not get the big one first because he did not have any strength left to fight another one. Well, done Daniel!

September 6th 2007
Another zero day for Xacara and Brasilia but Habitat had 4 strikes and released one blue marlin estimated at 450 lbs.

September 5th 2007
A zero day for Xacara today. Daniel Goez is back, trying to get a blue marlin with stand-up light tackle.

SteveO wires Dan Eriksen’s 850 lb blue marlin

September 4th 2007
3 boats out again today, but only one had any luck. Brasilia went 2 for 2 on blues.

September 3rd 2007
It was a good day for Xacara today. Early in the day they released a white marlin, then at mid-day a big blue came into the pattern and spent 5 minutes examining all the lures and the teaser, popping clips and having a nibble before finally taking the big bite and hooking up: great show for our 4 Danish anglers, and the show didn’t stop there because it was also a great jumper. It was estimated at 850 lbs. Later in the day they released one more white and another blue of about 450 lbs, and had a bite from a third blue which pulled the hooks.
Between the other 2 boats there were at least another 4 strikes and one blue was released.

September 2nd 2007
Almost nothing today, there were 3 boats out and only one of them managed to release a blue, the others didn’t even see anything.

September 1st 2007
5 boats out today. The 4 Vikings on board Xacara, Dan, Martin, Tom and Thomas, didn’t have any luck, but Stig on Habitat finally got his marlin. He had a strike quite early in the day which pulled some line before pulling the hooks but towards the end of the day his patience was rewarded with a fine 800 lb blue marlin. Between the rest of the fleet, one blue marlin estimated at 600 lbs and a white marlin were released, and there were 2 other strikes.

August 31st 2007
Xacara was supposed to have a day off today but 3 of the Nanz party decided to fish an extra day. They started late, 11.00, and as they left the harbour Ian called Filipe on Habitat to find out what conditions were like. Filipe could not talk because he was busy fighting a big blue marlin. His angler, Stig Jensen from Denmark, fished on Xacara about 5 years ago, when he caught some white marlin and this time he is after a blue. Within half an hour of arriving on Condor Bank he hooked a nice big one, about 850 lbs. He fought it long and hard for over an hour and a half but right at the transom, with the mate’s hand just a metre from the leader, it pulled the hooks! They had a couple more bites but no more hook ups. Xacara and Double Header both had zero days.

Nicole Sofranko reels in a 400 lb blue marlin

It was a great jumper

SteveO wiring Nicloe’s blue

August 30th 2007
The last charter day for the big group on Habitat and Xacara. Unfortunately, it was a zero day for all 4 boats in the fleet.

August 29th 2007
Jason Goldberg on Xacara released a small blue marlin, 400 lbs, and on Habitat they had a strike which took some line but did not stick. One of the other boats released a small blue, about 450 lbs.

August 28th 2007
Not quite so much activity today. Again there were 4 boats out on Condor bank. The all pulled hooks on one blue marlin each; Xacara’s was a really big one, the others all medium sized, 500 to 600 lbs. Early in the day Xacara released a white marlin, the only catch of the day.

August 27th 2007
The extended Nanz family is back, including brothers, half brothers, step-brothers, brothers-in-law, wife and girlfriend; a total of 8 doing a double boat charter on Xacara and Habitat. Their first day, yesterday, was a beautiful day to be out on the ocean, but unproductive for fishing.
Today was a great day. 4 boats were out. After the slow day yesterday off the north coast of Faial they decided to spread out and cover the banks. Habitat went to the Azores bank, but before long got a call from Xacara on Condor bank to say they had hooked a blue. It got away, but the signs were good, and Habitat and Brasilia joined Xacara on Condor bank. By the end of the day they all had 3 strikes and each had one successful release.
On Xacara it was Nicole Sofranko who was in the chair when the blue marlin struck and hooked up. She was literally sitting in the chair getting instruction from SteveO, this being her first experience of big game fishing, when the blue piled onto the lure and immediately started taking line. It was estimated at 400 lbs. The 2 blue marlin that they pulled the hooks on were about 850 and 650 lbs.
On Habitiat, it was Moritz who released a blue estimated at about 700 lbs. They also pulled the hooks on 2 other blues, sizes unknown to me.
Jacques on Brasilia released a blue estimated at 800 lbs and pulled the hooks on another blue and a white marlin.
Double Header did a half day charter so fished the north side of the island. They released a white marlin and jumped off a blue estimated at about 550 lbs.
The dock was a very happy place after all the boats got in: 4 boats, 4 flags, and lots of stories about the ones that got away!

August 25th 2007
Xacara has not fished for 3 days. One of the days was cancelled due to bad weather the other 2 were cancelled by the client earlier in the week. Habitat also cancelled on the windy day but fished the other 2 with Gunter Frick. Unfortunately they did not get any strikes.

Kareem’s 400 lb blue marlin

August 22nd 2007
A windy day with rough seas. Kareem was on Xacara again but they did not get a bite. Gunter Frick, fishing on Habitat, released a 600 lb blue marlin.

August 21st 2007
On the 19th and 20th there was not much to report. On the 19th 3 boats fished; there was only strike which pulled the hooks. Yesterday, 20th, only one boat fished and had no result.
Today, 3 boats are out again. Filipe reports from Habitat that they pulled the hooks on a 600 lber, and Ian reports from Xacara that Kareem has released an 800 lb blue. Kareem should not even have been here. He was scheduled to leave yesterday but on Xacara we had a last minute cancellation and Kareem made a very quick decision to take over part of the charter. This morning he was worried that it was the wrong decision – but now he knows it was the right one, and he is delighted with his big catch.

August 18th 2007
Today Xacara went out to Condor bank because 3 boats fished the North coast yesterday and between them all only one small blue was seen. Unfortunately, Condor proved unproductive even though the signs looked good.
Meanwhile, the boats on the North coast had a good day. Badr from Saudi Arabia, fishing on Habitat, fought a very big blue marlin for 4.5 hours. It was foul hooked so proved very difficult to get to the boat but Badr stuck with it and it was released in good condition. Captain Filipe reckoned it was even bigger than the one he weighed last week, possibly a grander, but seeing it was a healthy fish he did not want to kill it and called it 980 lbs.
Marcello Taddei, the angler on Habitat last week when they released a blue of 900 lbs and weighed a second one of 912 lbs, must be the luckiest angler in the world. He grabbed a ride on Brasilia and released yet another blue marlin estimated at about 900 lbs!

August 17th 2007
At last, Xacara hooked up a blue that resulted in a successful release. It was small, 400 lbs; in the last week the biggest blue marlin we have seen has been about 750 lbs.

August 16th 2007
This week all has gone quiet. After so much action last week we are all feeling a bit frustrated. The marlin are still here, we see them, have hooked up a couple of times, but there have been only 2 releases with 2 boats fishing almost every day for the others combined but only 2 hooks ups for Xacara that didn’t stick.

Marcello Taddei stands beside the 912 lb blue marlin he caught

August 12th 2007
3 boats fished today and there was only one strike that pulled the hooks within a few seconds.

August 11th 2007
There were 5 sport fishing boats out today, including a small local non-charter boat (well, what else do you do on a calm, sunny Saturday afternoon?).
Xacara had a strike that didn’t stick, maybe 500 lbs.
Habitat had an awesome day. First time marlin angler, Marcello from Italy, released a very large blue estimated at 900 lbs, then hooked up again right at the end of the day. This was another big blue and unfortunately it died so the angler asked if they could bring it in. It weighed 912 lbs. How’s that for a first ever attempt!
Between the other 3 boats there were another 5 strikes, 3 were successfully released, all estimated between 500 and 600 lbs.

August 10th 2007
Today Double Header released another blue marlin, at 500 to 550 lbs it is a bit smaller than those we have seen in the last few days.
Brasilia broke off a decent size marlin late in the day.
Another zero day for Xacara,. We hope for better luck for Krister and Annica tomorrow.

August 9th 2007
Sean and Stuart’s last day was rather unproductive, apart from another mako in the lures which SteveO was very keen to get out of the water before the mako hooked up.
Double Header had another successful day. They hooked up a blue marlin which went crazy. They got it to the transom 7 times and Mario got the double line but never quite got the leader. They reckon it weighed about 700 lbs. Eventually it jumped off.
Brasilia released a blue marlin about 750 lbs

August 8th 2007
Today, Sean’s birthday, 3 sport fishing boats were searching for blues off the north coast of the island. Double Header had a good day, releasing 2 blues estimated at 750 lbs and 950 lbs quite early in the day. At this stage the guys on Xacara had not seen anything, had no bites; deep gloom in the cockpit. Then about 3 in the afternoon there was a strike from a huge blue, a real monster that did a windscreen wiper action with its bill. Capt Ian and SteveO say the bill was enormous and they were just beginning to think about the gaffs when it pulled the hooks. Even deeper gloom! At the very end of the day they hooked up again. The fight lasted 50 minutes and made Sean a very happy man. He released a wonderful blue, possibly a grander, but they have called it 950 lbs. A really good birthday present.

Sean admires his birthday present

Capt Ian and SteveO remove the hooks

August 7th 2007
Yesterday, 6th August, we had a bite from a decent sized blue, about 700 lbs, but it pulled the hooks.
Better luck today, Sean released a 750 lb blue. The bite came really late in the day, just as they were about to bring the lures in and turn for home.

August 5th 2007 - Update
Well, it looks as if Stuart brought some luck with him this year, after just an hour and a half on the boat he hooked up and released an 800 lb blue marlin!
Habitat had a bite from a blue marlin they reckoned at 600 lbs but it did not stick.

August 5th 2007
Yesterday was a good day. 2 boats, Habitat and Xacara, were out fishing off the North coast of the island. Habitat released 2 blues, the first one as reported yesterday was 750 lbs and the second was 850 lbs. Angler Uli Laux was very happy to record 1600 lbs of blue marlin in one day!
Sean Mason on Xacara hooked a blue marlin but the hooks did not set and it got away. Today old friend Stuart Elliot joins Sean so we expect to have a rip-roaring time and hope the marlin continue to bite.

August 4th 2007
I have just received a call from Capt Filipe on Habitat to say that his angler, Uli Laux, has released a blue marlin estimated at 750 lbs. Well done, guys!

August 3rd 2007
Sean Mason is back chartering with us for the third time. Yesterday, his first day, was frustrating because everyone seemed to see blue marlin except us! Double Header hooked a huge blue, at least 900 lbs, less than a quarter mile from Xacara. Their angler did a great job fishing stand-up and it was successfully released.
Today, however, the luck was with Sean as he hooked up and released another beast of a blue, much the same size – better than 900 lbs. SteveO was delighted with the bite. The huge blue came up on the short left and played around with the lure for quite a while so all on board got a good look at it. Then it took the lure with a huge crashing strike and took off in a long series of jumps. It was Habitat’s turn to feel the frustration as they watched the fish jumping like crazy .

Sean fighting hard

Sean, the big blue and Steve engaged in battle

SteveO at work

Now we see how big it is!

July 31st 2007
After an exciting day last week Capt Ian was very frustrated not to be able to follow up because for the following 4 days we were chartered by a film company. They got some good footage but Ian was just dying to throw a lure into the water! Now we have Tracy and Colin Ross from the USA fishing with us for 2 days. Yesterday Ian returned to the area where the marlin were last week but saw nothing. Today they have gone out to Condor Bank and in mid-afternoon Tracy successfully released a blue marlin estimated at better than 650 lbs.

Tracy Ross admires the blue marlin before release

John Christensen and mako shark

July 25th 2007
Our French clients, Patrick and Vincent, fished with us another 2 days last week and hooked one more blue, estimated at about 800 lbs, but again it pulled the hooks. We had 3 days off then welcomed back John and Gitte who fished with us last year. The first day was unproductive, the second day they caught a mako shark, and today, their third and last day, they released a small blue marlin, about 400 lbs and pulled the hooks on a bigger one, about 750 lbs.
Meanwhile, a couple of days ago Brasilia released a blue of about 800 lbs and today they released one estimated at better than 900 lbs.
It’s getting hotter!

July 16th 2007
With 2 blues hooked off the north coast of the island on Sunday, that is where Xácara spent the day yesterday. Again the morning was unproductive but in the afternoon a nice size blue, perhaps 750 lbs, came into the lure pattern. It was a very lazy fish and spent about 5 minutes looking at the lures before it struck, almost in slow motion. Unfortunately, it did not hook up properly and pulled the hooks after just a few minutes.

July 15th 2007
Yesterday afternoon Habitat was taking part in a tuna fishing competition, trolling off the north coast of the island where the bonitos were running. I have no idea whether they caught any bonitos but he did catch an 800 lbs blue marlin on a rapalla! With such weak hooks on the rapalla they did not want to turn up the drag and the fight lasted almost 6 hours. They got the leader 3 or 4 times so it is technically a caught fish but in the end they broke it off, never got the rapalla back! The same afternoon one of the other boats in the competition hooked a blue marlin also off the north side of Faial, but they broke it off quickly and have no idea of the size. Meanwhile Ian had spent the morning trolling off the North coast and moved to Condor in the afternoon where they saw absolutely nothing!

July 4th 2007
Competition day! No, we didn’t win it. Lines went into the water at 8.30 in the morning. All was quiet to begin but at mid-day they had a strike. A really nice size blue marlin, between 700 and 800 lbs, hooked up and Bas was in the chair with the rod. But within a few seconds of starting to wind it in the marlin pulled the hooks. Great disappoint of course! And there was no more action by the time lines had to come out of the water at 16.30.

July 2nd 2007
First day of the season for Xácara. Bas Kanters, from Holland, who has fished with Capt Ian in other parts of the world, has at last made it to the Azores. And what a start to his charter! He released a very nice 850 lb blue marlin. Bas is taking part in the Blue Marlin World Cup on July 4th so today was a day for scouting the various fishing sites to decide which one is likely to be the most productive in a couple of days time. Well, the marlin they released today struck in the middle of nowhere as they were trolling from one bank to another!