Fishing report for March-June 2011
Due to other commitments & bad weather we didn’t start fishing until late March. The weather was still unsettled but the fishing wasn’t too bad, lots of Barracuda, a few Spanish Mackerel, Sailfish, Wahoo & Dogtooth Tuna. No Dorado! It’s now July & we haven’t hooked one this year. There are a few around but they’re relatively scarce & some are very small, 1kg or so; the picture in the market in Surigao City, a good source of info of what’s being caught, is pretty much the same. Possible explanations are the weather, which has been unseasonably wet, depletion of their food supply or heavy fishing & on-board processing at sea. Whatever it is, it’s a great shame because they are, in my opinion, one of the best eating fish in the sea; let’s hope they make a come back next year. Incidentally, the prize for the best Dorado in this year’s competition at the end of April went unclaimed!
Recent catches include Sailfish to 31kg, Wahoo to 12kg, Spanish Macks to 10kg, Barracuda to c.12kg. Recent losses include numerous Sailfish, a c.100kg Blue Marlin & a wild fish which I suspect was a Dogtooth of around 20kgs. Tackle failure, accounted for only one, the Marlin, where the 50lb leader broke just above the swivel after an hour; the others just spat the hook after 15-20 minutes.
February Trip
Mid Feb & my two daughters joined us from the UK to take Bluesky down to Pilar; a friend, Tony Norman, who runs a Bertram out of La Gomera in the Canary Islands joined us as well. We stopped off at Leyte for the night & the carried on to Surigao to pick up more gas, ice, etc before heading to Siargao; other than some bad fuel & several stops to clear the Racors it was a pleasant run. We stayed at Bong’s place in Pilar & ate at Jun’s which is a great combo. Fishing was disappointing, boating the Barracuda & losing the several Dorado, one at the gaff! A couple of Dogtooth strikes didn’t produce either.
January trip
We flew down in early January for another looksee & a couple of days fishing. Stephen Lanigan O’Keeffe had a nice Sailfish, approx 60lbs, & Jeff had an 8kg Yellowfin; the Sail was the first of the year. The rest of us caught some Barracuda, a couple of Dogtooth, a small Mackerel & a Dorado.We fished on Junior’s & Glen’s boats which are great value for a days fishing.
Recent Catches
This will be our spot for reporting from time to time on the noteworthy ones we and our guests landed – and the ones we should have landed but didn’t. Let’s be honest; sometimes the ones that get away are the ones that give us the most fun and bang for our buck. It’s just unfortunate that nobody has yet invented a camera that will take pictures of fish we didn’t catch. But who knows; in this wonderful digital age maybe Steve Jobs is working on it. If you get word of the iCam being in the works, lets us know.